Immaculate Conception Dec 8

Hi folks,

Since tomorrow is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, I thought it would be a good time to re-post this one about Mary Mother of God. But first let me add a couple things for this post.

The Immaculate Conception is described in Luke 1:35
And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God.

This is the moment Mary became the New Ark of the Covenant, which replaces the one completed by Moses and set up in the Temple tent, and then was overshadowed by the Lord. Exodus 40:34

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the Glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

I also found this beautiful video on You Tube with music from Francesca Battistelli, enjoy.

From October post:
Mother of God

The Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, Luke 1:26-38 NAB

 The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

How many of us would answer God's request like that? If this incredibly strange and wonderful Angel came to us and told us that God wanted us to bear his child? Or, some other task?

 “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Strong words from a 15 year old girl who was engaged to an older man.  How was this very young woman able to say “Yes to God” so easily? This was a major life changing request and yet, she says, “May it be done according to your word” and agrees to be the mother of the Christ Child!

This was a special woman, chosen in advance by God, selected to be the New Tabernacle of God, to be the corridor through which God would walk among men, as a human man!
What an incredible honor! Mary was special in the eyes of God, so much so that he trusted her with his baby son. To nurse him, to care for him, teach him to walk, wipe his tears when he skinned his knees, kiss them to make them better. A woman that from the beginning knew that she would see her son suffer and die at the hands of the very men who had taught the scriptures and prophesies of his coming.

Could I do it? I can't imagine having to watch my son die in such a horrible way, or any way for that matter. My son was the greatest treasure ever given to me. How about you? What would you have done when Gabriel came to you?

I'm sure I'd be terrified, despite all the science fiction movies I've seen of some pretty, but imaginary, incredible things. Television has kind of numbed us to the possibility of God making an appearance to us. People would think us crazy, want to shove drugs down our throats to make the voices go away, to convince us it was all an hallucination.

Mary is very special in the Catholic Church. We don't worship her, we only worship God, but we honor her or in precise words, venerate her, as the Mother of God (Mt 1:23,Lk 1:43, Gal 4:4) and pray to her to pray to her son for us. It's the same as I asking you to pray for me, or you asking friends and family to pray for you. All those Saints that have gone to Heaven before us, all our family members, can still hear us.(Eph 2:19,Rm 15:30,Lk 34-38) We can still ask them to pray for us.
We know that Jesus loved his Mother above all humans on Earth, and would never deny her, just as he did not deny her at the wedding in Cana. Like any good Jewish son, he knew what his mother wanted him to do and he did it. Mary knew he would, she even told the servants to "Do whatever he tells you." 

Sure we can pray to Jesus directly, but we can also ask Mary to intercede for us. No matter how desperate a situation, Mary is our Mother and will always be there for us, to comfort us, and to intercede for us. 

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and Blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Luke 1:39-45

During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

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Blessings,
The Catholic Lady ©