Thursday, December 07, 2006
Immaculate Conception of the Bl. Virgin Mary
December 8, 2006
Immaculate Conception of the Bl. Virgin Mary
GENESIS 3:9-15, 20
After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the LORD God called to the
man and asked him, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the
garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself." Then
he asked, "Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from
the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!" The man replied, "The
woman whom you put here with me- she gave me fruit from the tree, and
so I ate it." The LORD God then asked the woman, "Why did you do such a
thing?" The woman answered, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate
it." Then the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done
this, you shall be banned from all the animals and from all the wild
creatures; on your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat all
the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and
between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you
strike at his heel." The man called his wife Eve, because she became
the mother of all the living.
EPHESIANS 1:3-6, 11-12
Brothers and sisters: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in
the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world,
to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for
adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of
his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us
in the beloved. In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the
purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the
intention of his will, so that we might exist for the praise of his
glory, we who first hoped in Christ.
LUKE 1:26-38
The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called
Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of
David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming to her, he said,
"Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you." But she was greatly
troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might
be. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have
found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a
son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called
Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of
David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and
of his Kingdom there will be no end." But Mary said to the angel, "How
can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" And the angel said
to her in reply, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of
the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will
be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month
for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God."
Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me
according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.
REFLECTION
Our Lady was conceived sinless, untouched by original sin, and never
once in her life did she commit a sin. We were conceived
sinful-original sin certainly had an impact on us-and since our
birth we have freely and deliberately chosen to sin repeatedly.
Our experience with the compelling attractiveness of sin makes
sinlessness seem absolutely impossible. If we focus on Mary's
sinlessness, therefore, we can neither identify with her nor chose to
imitate her. Mary's sinlessness is something we admire from afar; our
own inability to resist temptation shows us how little like Mary we
are. Her struggle to believe, to maintain her trust in God: we can
understand that; we ourselves have experienced it. We can look to Mary
then as our model and inspiration.
PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
- for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
- for the eternal repose of the soul of Marcelina Tan. Eternal rest
grant unto her and may perpetual light shine upon her. May she and
all the souls of the dearly departed rest in peace.
- for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Prayer Intention: Johnson H. Gotamco
- for world peace and reconciliation.
Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our
prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.
Have a good day!
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
Feel free to forward this to your friends, family and associates!
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DAILY-HOMILY" group.
To subscribe email: dailyhomily@gmail.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to Daily_Homily-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit: http://homily.dailyfoodforthought.org/
Feel free to forward this to your friends, family and associates!
© 2006 Daily-Homily
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
