Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Mary’s of the Lake:

◆  Every year, on the December 8^th we celebrate The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1846 the Bishop of the United States unanimously chose Mary as the patroness of the Country under the title of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. This Patronal Feast is normally a holy day of obligation. However, this year this Feast falls on the Second Sunday of Advent and is therefore not celebrated as a Holy Day of Obligation. The Feastday is instead transferred to Monday, Dec. 9^th, but the obligation is lifted. In other words, going to Mass is not obligatory for the faithful. However, we do have an 8:30 AM Mass in Lakewood on MON Dec 9 (Wabeno at 4:00 PM). You are encouraged to go to church this day to worship God, to honor Mary and to pray for the Country.


◆  The I. C. is the belief that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was graced by God in such a unique way that she was preserved from sin from the first moment of her existence.  Immaculate refers to the absence of sin, and Conception refers to Mary's very beginning.  Again, this Feast is about Mary’s Conception. People may misunderstand the Feast to be about Jesus’ Conception (perhaps, because from the Gospel of the Feast we hear, ‘You will conceive in your womb and bear a son.’ Again, the Immaculate Conception celebrates our Lady’s conception free from the effects of the sin of Adam (usually referred to as ‘original sin’) from the first instant of her conception, and hence we celebrate her birth 9 months later on September 8^th. We celebrate the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary in the Annunciation March 25^th, and hence we celebrate His Birth 9 months later on Dec 25^th. At the Annunciation Mary was greeted as ‘Full of Grace.’ In other words, there was no moment in Mary’s life when God’s grace did not fill her. God chose this woman, who was ‘full of grace’ to conceive and bear the Son of God, and give birth to the source of all holiness and grace!

◆  The belief in Mary's immaculate conception dates back to the early days of the Church. However, only in 1854, after consultation with the world's bishops, Pope Pius IX formally declared the belief of the I. C. to be a dogma of the Catholic Church.   In the dogma, it was written that: The Blessed Virgin ‘was, from the first moment of her conception, by the singular grace and privilege of Almighty God and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ the Savior of the human race, preserved free from all stain of original sin.’ The I. C. is celebrated on December 8 and is ranked as a solemnity. 

Fr. Philip