Like the dawn and the fullness of day, the Christmas and Advent seasons are filled with the mysteries of signs and symbols, pre-figuration and fulfillment. The Church’s liturgies press us into the powerful movement of this redemptive plan of God, reminding us of the promises and figures of the Old Testament, particularly in the prophet Isaiah, and the events and figures present around the conception and birth of Christ. There is the interplay between the past and the future, which is its fulfillment, that leads us squarely to the fullness of the present moment in the presence of the Savior and Redeemer who has come.
Mary the Freeborn Woman
In the Immaculate Conception, we celebrate the full preservation of Mary from any stain of original sin. She is truly the freeborn woman,[i] and image of the Church,[ii] set free by Jesus, her Son, in advance and in anticipation of her unique and privileged role as the Mother of God. In many ways, her conception is in anticipation of His. She was made the perfect ark and tabernacle, ready to receive in the fullness of time our Incarnate God.
Hic Verbum Caro Factum Est
When we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Loreto, we are celebrating the mystery of the hidden life and vocation of the holy family, but the actual house in Loreto, Italy, is the holy house of Nazareth. It is physically the place, though it has been moved from the Holy Land to Italy. In this house Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Across his altar it reads, “Hic Verbum Caro Factum Est”, “The Word was Made Flesh Here.
“Today you will know the Lord is coming, and in the morning you will see His glory”
With the last invitatory antiphon of Advent we sing, “Today you will know the Lord is coming, and in the morning you will see His glory.”[iii] Our pulses quicken. The great day of the coming of our God is here. These words harken to the words from Exodus, “In the evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD…”[iv] And what were His signs? The cloud of the Presence of God, food to eat in the desert, and manna, the bread from heaven. Again and again throughout history, the Lord calls and directs his people; and we see the definitive moment arrive in the incarnation and birth of Christ. The Lord is present in His Church, sustaining us by His Presence and feeding us with His Body and Blood, the bread from heaven.
Christ dwelt for nine months in the tabernacle of Mary’s womb. He dwells until the end of the ages in the tabernacle of the Church’s faith. He will dwell forever in the knowledge and love of each faithful soul.[v]
On January 1, we celebrate the great Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Mary stands at her place at the head of our calendar year as the Mother of God. He is the Lord of time, and He gives us Mary as our mother, in this time and place. Mary was given to us particularly by Christ from the cross. She is the mother of Grace because she is the mother of Christ. Mary is a type of the Church. In Mary and the Church, we find our place as members of the body of Christ, our head. We are one with him; we are freed from sin and regenerated by grace in the sacrament of Baptism.
We read of this connectedness between Mary and the Church and souls in a sermon by Blessed Issac of Stella from the Church’s Office of Readings in the second week of advent:
In the inspired Scriptures, what is said in a universal sense of the virgin mother, the Church, is understood in an individual sense of the Virgin Mary, and what is said in a particular sense of the virgin mother Mary is rightly understood in a general sense of the virgin mother, the Church. When either is spoken of, the meaning can be understood of both, almost without qualification…These words are used in a universal sense of the Church, in a special sense of Mary, in a particular sense of the individual Christian. They are used by God’s Wisdom in person, the Word of the Father.
This is why Scripture says: I will dwell in the inheritance of the Lord. The Lord’s inheritance is, in a general sense, the Church; in a special sense, Mary; in an individual sense, the Christian.
Christ dwelt for nine months in the tabernacle of Mary’s womb. He dwells until the end of the ages in the tabernacle of the Church’s faith. He will dwell forever in the knowledge and love of each faithful soul.[vi]
Let us reflect with joy on the love of God. The hymn below comes from the Summit Hymnal, which was developed and produced by the Dominican Nuns of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary of Summit, New Jersey. It is placed in arrangement for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Holy light on earth’s horizon,
Star of hope to fallen man,
Light amid the world of shadows,
Dawn of God’s redemptive plan.
Chosen from eternal ages,
Thou alone of all our race
By thy Son’s atoning merits
Wast conceived in perfect grace.
Mother of the world’s Redeemer
Promised from the dawn of time;
How could one so highly favored
Share the guilt of Adam’s crime?
Sun and moon and stars adorn thee,
Sinless Eve, triumphant sign;
Thou are thee who crushed the serpent,
Mary pledge of life divine.
Earth below and highest heaven
Praise the splendor of thy state;
Thou who now art crowned in glory
Wast conceived immaculate.
Hail, beloved of the Father,
Mother of His only Son,
Mystic bride of Love Eternal:
Hail thou fair and spotless one! [vii]
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Rimini, Pietro da. The Nativity and Other Episodes from the Childhood of Christ. 1330. Tempera on Panel. WikiMedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pietro_Da_Rimini_-_The_Nativity_and_Other_Episodes_from_the_Childhood_of_Christ_-_WGA17713.jpg
Works Cited:
[i] Gal. 4:22
[ii] Blessed Isaac of Stella. “Mary and the Church.” Week 2 Saturday – office of readings. Accessed December 16, 2024. https://www.liturgies.net/Liturgies/Catholic/loh/advent/week2saturdayor.htm. Sermo 51: PL 194, 1862-1865
[iii] “Inviatory Antiphon December 24.” ebreviary.com. Accessed December 22, 2024. https://www.ebreviary.com/ebreviary/usa2/ebusassfprayer4c.nsf/576f0c20d0d4344d852573f2000b9ba2/ac77ed1a899db6a2852589380062810b/$FILE/0623__Morn_Sun.pdf.
[iv] Exodus 16:6-7, NIV
[v] Ibid.
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] “Alma lux,” Latin (17th Century); Translation by [Edward Caswall], in Summit Hymnal, edited by [the Dominican Nuns, Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary] (Summit, NJ: DNS, 1983), hymn395.
Posted for the Christmas Season 2024-2025
Epiphany, January 5, 2025
