9781644135945

The Christmas Cycle
people” (Antiphons at Vespers). “There is no defilement in her; she is a ray of the eternal sun, a
mirror without spot; she is brighter than the sun, whiter than snow” (Responsory at Matins).
So also must each one be in whom God will take up His abode; bright, pure, spotless, a clear
mirror of the glory and holiness of God. God comes only to the pure.
“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord” (Introit). Joyfully we add our prayers of thanksgiving
to those the Church sends up to the throne of God in thanksgiving for Mary’s Immaculate
Conception. Her gratitude is ours also. We realize that the immaculate Mother, like ourselves,
is a member of the mystical body. Her purity, her abundant grace, her virtues, belong also to
us. She has received this immense treasure, not so much for her own benefit as for that of her
children and for that of the entire mystical body. By reason of her stainless and matchless purity
she dared to conceive the Son of God. By virtue of her Immaculate Conception, this second Eve,
the spotless helpmate of the second Adam, shared with her Son in the work of redemption and
helped us to obtain the mercy of God, forgiveness for our sins, and temporal and eternal salvation.
All the spiritual favors we obtain from God come to us through Christ and His blessed mother.
Mary’s Immaculate Conception, her purity, and her abundant graces, therefore, belong
also to us who are members of the mystical body of Christ. Since we are united to her through
the mystical body, we may truly sing with her and with the Church: “I will greatly rejoice in
the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments
of salvation, and with the robe of justice He hath covered me, as a bridegroom decked with a
crown, and as a bride adorned with her jewels” (Introit).
“Thou art all fair, O Mary, and the stain of Original Sin is not in thee.” “Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women” (Offertory).
Hail Mary, full of grace, holier than the saints, more exalted than the heavens, more glorious
than the cherubim, more honorable than the seraphim, and of all creatures the most worthy of
veneration. Hail, O dove, who brings to us the fruit of the olive and announces to us a Savior
from the spiritual deluge and a harbor of safety. . . . Hail, glorious paradise of God, planted today
in the East by His most benevolent and omnipotent hand, . . . and producing the matchless rose
for the cure of those who have drunk the destructive and bitter potion of death. 2
“Thou art all fair, O Mary.” The soul that is to be the dwelling place of God must indeed be
pure. “Holiness becometh Thy house, O Lord” (Ps 92:5). Purity, holiness, and sanctifying grace
are the things that have value in the sight of God. The position we hold in life, earthly greatness,
bodily beauty, the esteem of men, honor and earthly glory, all these have little importance in
the eyes of God. “Draw us to thee, O immaculate Virgin.” We long for purity. Grant us purity,
O pure Virgin.
Prayer
O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, didst make ready a worthy dwelling
place for Thy Son: grant, we beseech Thee, that, as through the foreseen death of the same
Son, Thou didst preserve His mother from all stain of sin, so may we likewise be pure in heart
through her intercession and may come to Thee. Through the same Jesus Christ Thy Son, our
Lord. Amen.
2
St. Germanus; lesson at Matins.
31