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Thursday, December 8, 2022

Luke 1:26 - 38

May It Be Done

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Mary is a wonderful example of giving herself over to God and trusting in His will. Are we as brave in our faith as Mary?

 

Early Advent often finds us with a Holy Day of Obligation, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Today we celebrate Mary’s sinlessness and the gift God gave us when He shared His mother with us. It isn’t apparent because the Gospel reading is of the Annunciation. Still, if she hadn’t been preserved from original sin, she wouldn’t have had the opportunity to offer her yes to God through the Angel Gabriel.

“May it be done to me according to your word,” Mary says, and she offers it to us too. God’s will is not always the same as ours, but it is always better for us. What God has in mind for us is so much better than what we could think of for ourselves, but it takes a certain humility and openness to be able to see that.

Who better to guide us than Mary? She said yes to God’s will in a way that didn’t hesitate or look back. There were enormous social consequences for being pregnant and unmarried (death being the worst). But her response was not just yes, but OH YES. And, because God is beyond all good, she’s also told the good news about Elizabeth’s pregnancy.

Misery loves company, but so does joy. And the joy of Mary’s yes resounds all the way down to us today.

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Daily Prayer

Jesus, thank you for sharing your mother with us and for making the yes she shared so beautiful. Let me be as open to your word as she was.

SOURCE: Creighton University Online Ministries

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Peace be with you

Where there are loneliness and sadness, God’s peace is coming. And so, during Advent, we boldly recognize all places where our world is not peaceful. Take a moment and reflect on the reading below.

They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. 1 Peter 3:11