Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Popes)
Psalm 102 : 1-2, 3-4, 8 and 10
Praise YHVH, my soul; all my being, praise His holy Name! Praise YHVH, my soul, and do not forget all His kindness.
He forgives all your sins and heals all your sickness; He redeems your life from destruction and crowns you with love and compassion.
YHVH is gracious and merciful, abounding in love and slow to anger. He does not treat us according to our sins, nor does He punish us as we deserve.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Popes)
Isaiah 40 : 25-31
To whom, then, will you liken Me or make Me equal? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and see : who has created all this? He has ordered them as a starry host and called them each by name. So mighty is His power, so great His strength, that not one of them is missing.
How can you say, o Jacob, how can you complain, o Israel, that your destiny is hidden from Me, that your rights are ignored by YHVH? Have you not known, have you not heard that YHVH is an everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth? He does not grow tired or weary, His knowledge is without limit.
He gives strength to the enfeebled, He gives vigour to the wearied. Youth may grow tired and faint, young men will stumble and fall, but those who hope in YHVH will renew their strength. They will soar as with eagle’s wings; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and never tire.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the occasion of the Feast of Our Lady of Loreto, a popular Marian pilgrimage site in the city of Loreto in Italy where the Holy House of Nazareth, the very House where Jesus our Lord, Mary His mother and St. Joseph, His foster father had been living in when they were all staying in Nazareth during the younger years of the Lord before He began His ministry. On this day, we rejoice and honour Mary, the Mother of the Holy Family and the patroness of the great Shrine of Loreto and the Holy House of Nazareth, our great patroness and intercessor, the Mother of God and our loving mother as well. We thank her for her constant love and compassionate care for each and every one of us.
The story of the Holy House of Nazareth was truly a story of great miracle and wonders of God, as studies had scientifically proven that the materials used in the House enshrined within the great Basilica now known as the Basilica of the Holy House or Basilica della Santa Casa, was indeed originating from around the time of the Lord’s ministry about two millennia ago, using the materials that were common in the region of Nazareth and Galilee at the time. How the House then ended up in its current location was explained through Church tradition and history, eyewitnesses and visionaries who saw the Holy House of Nazareth being transported by the Angels of God from the original site in Nazareth when the land was in turmoil and conflicts during the end of the era of the Crusades.
At first, the Angels miraculously transported and bore the Holy House from Nazareth to the site of Tersatto in Croatia, and then afterwards, as according to tradition, the pilgrims coming to the House were often waylaid by bandits, the Holy House was once again transported by the Angels to Italy, where after another few occasions of movements and translations, eventually the Holy House settled at the current site in Loreto, Italy, where it had remained for more than seven centuries since. This translation of the Holy House has also been supported by visionaries such as Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, who received a vision about the event, centuries after the actual event has taken place, and even she originally could not fully comprehend what she had seen, as she described how the Holy House of Nazareth was borne by seven Angels across the sea.
Regardless of the full truth of how the Holy House was moved from Nazareth to its current location, its historicity and authenticity, we must realise just how popular this devotion is, as many pilgrims and devotees came regularly to the site of the Basilica of the Holy House, seeking the intercession of Mary, Our Lady of Loreto. And through this inspiring story of the Holy House once inhabited by the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we are all reminded of the exemplary faith that Mary has shown us all in her complete and total obedience to the will of God, and in her desire to glorify the Lord as well as the love which she has shown to her Son, in caring for Him and bringing Him up with faith and love.
In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard of the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah from God which was delivered to King Ahaz, the King of Judah about the coming of the Messiah or Saviour of the world, and how this would happen through a woman who has never borne a child, which all would indeed be fulfilled through Mary and her bearing of her Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, more than seven centuries after the prophet Isaiah had spoken of this prophecy before King Ahaz. And we ought to notice the manner with which King Ahaz responded to the words of the prophet Isaiah asking him to ask for a sign from God, as King Ahaz said that he would not ask as he did not want to put God to the test.
Those words were met with immediate criticism from Isaiah who said that the King was essentially being a hypocrite as he and the people had long disobeyed the Lord and put the Lord to the test on many occasions, refusing to listen to the words of the Lord and obey His commandments. In fact, by refusing to obey the Lord Who asked King Ahaz to ask for a sign from Him, it was itself a sign of disobedience and even lack of faith in God. This can be contrasted with the attitude which Mary has shown in our Gospel passage today, when the Archangel Gabriel brought forth for her the Good News of the coming of God’s Saviour, Who would come forth through her womb, and born from her. While Mary was uncertain about what she had heard, as at that time she was still quite young in age, but she trusted in the Lord and obeyed Him.
Her words, ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said,’ are the marks of obedience, faith and true humility, as she accepted the great mission and responsibility which she had been entrusted with by God. And for this great faith and obedience, her virtues and great love, this is why we truly venerate and honour Mary above all the other saints, and we truly love her as our own beloved Mother, as our great role model, a guide and someone who has always encouraged us in the journey that each and every one of us undertake in the path towards her Son, our Lord and Saviour. And that is why we also rejoice today, as we rejoice in the great inspiration and hope which Mary, Our Lady of Loreto, has brought upon us all.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we continue to progress through this season of Advent, let us all therefore strive to focus our attention once again on the Lord, putting Him at the centre of our lives and existence. Let us all resist the temptations of sin and evil, and be inspired as always by the great examples and inspiration from the holy saints, especially that of Mary, Our Lady of Loreto, the Holy Mother of God, who is also our loving mother. As we strive to live our lives more faithfully in God, let us continue to journey towards Him patiently and courageously, doing whatever we can to proclaim His glory by our own exemplary and worthy lives, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto)
Matthew 18 : 12-14
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “What do you think of this? If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them strays, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside, and go to look for the stray one? And I tell you, when he finally finds it, he is more pleased about it, than about the ninety-nine that did not go astray.”
“It is the same with your Father in heaven. Your Father in heaven does not want even one of these little ones to perish.”
Alternative reading (Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto)
Luke 1 : 26-38
In the sixth month, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth. He was sent to a young virgin, who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the family of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
The Angel came to her and said, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” Mary was troubled at these words, wondering what this greeting could mean. But the Angel said, “Do not fear, Mary, for God has looked kindly on you. You shall conceive and bear a Son, and you shall call Him Jesus. He will be great, and shall rightly be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the kingdom of David, His ancestor; He will rule over the people of Jacob forever, and His reign shall have no end.”
Then Mary said to the Angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” And the Angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the Holy Child to be born of you shall be called Son of God. Even your relative Elizabeth is expecting a son in her old age, although she was unable to have a child; and she is now in her sixth month. With God nothing is impossible.”
Then Mary said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said.” And the Angel left her.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto)
Psalm 95 : 1-2, 3 and 10ac, 11-12a, 12b-13
Sing to YHVH a new song, sing to YHVH, all the earth! Sing to YHVH, praise His Name; proclaim His salvation, day after day.
Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds. Say among the nations, “He will judge the peoples with justice.”
Let the heavens be glad, the earth rejoice; let the sea and all that fills it resound; let the fields exult and everything in them.
Let the forest, all the trees, sing for joy. Let them sing before YHVH Who comes to judge the earth. He will rule the world with justice, and the peoples, with fairness.
Alternative reading (Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto)
Luke 1 : 46-47, 48-49, 50-51, 52-53, 54-55
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exults in God, my Saviour!
He has looked upon His servant, in her lowliness, and people, forever, will call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, Holy is His Name!
From age to age, His mercy extends to those who live in His presence. He has acted with power and done wonders, and scattered the proud with their plans.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and lifted up those who are downtrodden. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.
He held out His hand to Israel, His servant, for He remembered His mercy, even as He promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto)
Isaiah 40 : 1-11
Be comforted, My people, be strengthened, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, proclaim to her that her time of bondage is at an end, that her guilt has been paid for, that from the hand of YHVH she has received double punishment for all her iniquity.
A voice cries, “In the wilderness prepare the way for YHVH. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley will be raised up; every mountain and hill will be laid low. The stumbling blocks shall become level and the rugged places smooth. The glory of YHVH will be revealed, and all mortals together will see it; for the mouth of YHVH has spoken.”
A voice says, “Cry.” and I say, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty as the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower wilts, when the breath of YHVH blows upon it. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will forever stand.”
Go up onto the high mountain, messenger of Good News to Zion, lift up your voice with strength, fear not to cry aloud when you tell Jerusalem and announce to the cities of Judah : Here is your God! Here comes YHVH Sabaoth with might; His strong arm rules for Him; His reward is with Him, and here before Him is His booty. Like a shepherd He tends His flock : He gathers the lambs in His arms, He carries them in His bosom, gently leading those that are with young.
Alternative reading (Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto)
Isaiah 7 : 10-14 and Isaiah 8 : 10
Once again YHVH addressed Ahaz, “Ask for a sign from YHVH your God, let it come either from the deepest depths or from the heights of heaven.”
But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask, I will not put YHVH to the test.” Then Isaiah said, “Now listen, descendants of David. Have you not been satisfied trying the patience of people, that you also try the patience of my God? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign : The Virgin is with Child and bears a Son and calls His Name Immanuel.”
“Devise a plan and it will be thwarted, make a resolve and it will not stand, for God-is-with-us.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the occasion of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, marking the moment when Mary was conceived immaculate, full of grace and free from the taint of original sin, at the moment of her conception in the womb of her mother, St. Anne. This celebration is also something that is very important for our faith as Christians because they are very closely related to the crux of the story of our salvation. This is because Mary herself is the Mother of God through her motherhood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God Most High, the Divine Word of God incarnate in the flesh, becoming the Son of Man and Saviour of the world.
In order to understand the significance and reason why we Christians believe in the Immaculate Conception of Mary, which is one of the Four Marian Dogmas, or the core teachings and beliefs of the Church on Mary, we must first look upon the historical example of God manifesting Himself in this world, as He made His appearances to us throughout history as recorded in the Scriptures, and also the nature of sin, which is why the ‘Immaculate’ or sinless nature of Mary is highlighted so prominently especially today. First of all, God created each and every one of us mankind perfect and blameless, and He intended for us all to be just as immaculate and pure as Mary has been designed. However, our inability to resist the temptations of the evil one led us to our downfall.
Sin came forth from our refusal to obey the Lord and His commandments, as we gave in to the temptations and our desire for worldly matters, ambitions, desire for knowledge and power which Satan offered to our ancestors, to Adam and Eve as we heard in our first reading today from the Book of Genesis, and as a result, the corruption of sin came and enter into our hearts, minds and bodies, corrupting us and our souls, tainting them such that we become sundered from God, our Lord, Master and Creator. And that was why mankind were cast out of the Garden of Eden as no corruption and evil can stand in God’s Presence and survive, as God is all good and perfect, and no evil can be in His Presence. That is why except for very few select ones like Abraham, Moses, Elijah and some others, no one could see God and remain alive.
When the Lord gave His Law and commandments to His people through Moses, He commanded Moses to make an Ark to carry the two tablets of the Law of God, the manna, the bread from Heaven that God had given to His people to eat, as well as the staff of Aaron by which God had performed His miracles before the people and also shepherded His people, the Israelites. All of these were placed in the Ark of the Covenant, which was made from gold and other precious materials, and according to the Scriptures, God hallowed and blessed it, and His Presence would regularly come down and rest upon the Cherubim that were carved and made on top of the Ark of the Covenant. And this Ark was so holy and blessed, that no one could touch it, and in one occasion, a priest who accidentally touched the Ark was immediately struck dead.
Again, this highlighted how sin and evil has no place in the Presence of God, and sin would have obliterated us in His Presence. And how is this related to Mary and her Immaculate Conception? That is because Mary is the vessel through whom God would bring forth His salvation into this world, as He sent unto us all His Son, the Son of God Most High that had willingly embraced our humanity and our human nature, that God Himself, the Lord and Master of all the whole Universe and existence became manifested in the flesh in the womb of Mary, who therefore became God’s Mother. If the Ark of the Covenant itself has been made so holy and inviolable, then all the more the one to bear God Himself in the flesh should also be made holy, and this is where it is indeed important that Mary should be made ‘Immaculate’, free from all taints of original sin.
That is because mankind have been tainted by the taint of original sin due to our rebellion against God, and just as mentioned, sin has made us defiled, corrupted and unworthy of God. How can then God be born through a woman who had been defiled and corrupted by sin and evil? How can He spend nine months in the womb of Mary if Mary herself is suffering the same corruption of sin and evil? If we truly believe that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God, the Divine Word of God incarnate, truly God and truly Man, then we must also believe that God, by His power and will, He Who does things that may seem impossible for us, can keep Mary from being corrupted by the taint of sin. That is what the Church teaches us, that by the singular grace of God, Mary, the Mother of God, was conceived without sin, and remained pure and full of grace all her life.
That is further affirmed in our Gospel passage today from the Gospel according to St. Luke in which the account of the Archangel Gabriel announcing the coming of the Saviour to Mary was told to us. The Archangel Gabriel greeted Mary with the words that we are surely familiar with, ‘Hail Mary, full of grace.’, and for someone to be in the state of fullness of grace means that she truly enjoys the complete favour of God and no sin is found in her at all. This affirms the Church teachings that had been preserved from the days of the Apostles that Mary, the Mother of God has indeed been conceived without sin, and remained pure and blameless throughout all of her life, and this made her to be fully worthy to bear the Lord and Saviour Himself in her, and to be the Mother of God.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have discussed earlier and remembered from the Scripture readings today, let us all therefore celebrate and rejoice greatly in commemorating the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, who is also our loving Mother. We rejoice in her great faith and commitment to the mission which she has embraced and accepted with great love and commitment. And in Mary, conceived without sin we have seen a great role model and inspiration for all of us to follow in our own lives and faith, to do what God has entrusted to us to do, and to be truly faithful and striving to be free from sin and wickedness of this world in our respective lives. In Mary, in her fullness of grace, we see the inspiration and model for us to follow, in aspiring for this state of grace and obedience to God.
Ultimately, all of us are called to be reconciled with God and to be reunited with Him, and in order for that to happen, we should repent from our many sins and reject the temptations of sin and evil. We must no longer be stubborn and resist God’s calling for us all to follow Him. We must embrace God’s ever generous love and mercy, His kindness and compassion which He has always presented to us, loving and forgiving us our sins whenever we come back to Him with sorrowful and contrite hearts. May God, our ever loving Father and Creator, Our Lord and Saviour continue to love us and show His mercy on us, and may His Blessed Mother, Mary, conceived without sin, continue to intercede for us always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 1 : 26-38
In the sixth month, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth. He was sent to a young virgin, who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the family of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
The Angel came to her and said, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” Mary was troubled at these words, wondering what this greeting could mean. But the Angel said, “Do not fear, Mary, for God has looked kindly on you. You shall conceive and bear a Son, and you shall call Him Jesus. He will be great, and shall rightly be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the kingdom of David, His ancestor; He will rule over the people of Jacob forever, and His reign shall have no end.”
Then Mary said to the Angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” And the Angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the Holy Child to be born of you shall be called Son of God. Even your relative Elizabeth is expecting a son in her old age, although she was unable to have a child; and she is now in her sixth month. With God nothing is impossible.”
Then Mary said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said.” And the Angel left her.
Liturgical Colour : White
Ephesians 1 : 3-6, 11-12
Blessed be God, the Father of Christ Jesus our Lord, Who, in Christ, has blessed us from heaven, with every spiritual blessing. God chose us, in Christ, before the creation of the world, to be holy, and without sin in His presence.
From eternity He destined us, in love, to be His adopted sons and daughters, through Christ Jesus, thus fulfilling His free and generous will. This goal suited Him : that His loving-kindness, which He granted us in His beloved might finally receive all glory and praise.
By a decree of Him, Who disposes all things, according to His own plan and decision, we, the Jews, have been chosen and called, and we were awaiting the Messiah, for the praise of His glory.
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3bc-4
Sing to YHVH a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.
YHVH has shown His salvation, revealing His justice to the nations. He has not forgotten His love, nor His faithfulness to Israel.
The farthest ends of the earth all have seen God’s saving power. All you, lands, make a joyful noise to YHVH, break into song and sing praise.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 