[TCCM] TODAY Holy Day 2023

[Michael Medas]

TODAY is a Holy Day of Obligation | Masses: 12:05pm & 5:15pm  Join us!
We celebrate the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Mother, Mary.

What is the Immaculate Conception?  “The Immaculate Conception is a Catholic dogma that states that Mary, whose conception was brought about the normal way, was conceived without original sin or its stain. That’s what ‘immaculate’ means: without stain.  On December 8th we celebrate this gift given to Mary, in preparation for the incarnation of our Saviour, Jesus.

The essence of original sin consists in the deprivation of sanctifying grace, and its stain is a corrupt nature. Mary was preserved from these defects by God’s grace; from the first instant of her existence, she was in the state of sanctifying grace and was free from the corrupt nature original sin brings.

When discussing the Immaculate Conception, an implicit reference may be found in the angel’s greeting to Mary. The angel Gabriel said, ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you’ (Luke 1:28). The phrase ‘full of grace’ is a translation of the Greek word kecharitomene. It therefore expresses a characteristic quality of Mary.

The grace given to Mary is at once permanent and of a unique kind. Kecharitomene is a perfect passive participle of charitoo, meaning ‘to fill or endow with grace.’ Since this term is in the perfect tense, it indicates that Mary was graced in the past but with continuing effects in the present. So, the grace Mary enjoyed was not a result of the angel’s visit. In fact, Catholics hold, it extended over the whole of her life, from conception onward. She was in a state of sanctifying grace from the first moment of her existence.”

Blessings and peace,

Fr Michael

Reverend Michael B. Medas, MSW
Catholic Chaplain | Director of Catholic Ministry
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
W11-012
40 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02139



“Jesus loves you always, even when you don’t feel worthy.
When not accepted by others, even by yourself sometimes,
He is the one who always accepts you.  Only believe, you are precious to Him.
Bring all you are suffering to His feet, only open your heart to be loved by Him as you are.
He will do the rest.”  Saint Mother Teresa

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/tccm/attachments/20231208/11b59ac7/attachment.htm>