A Mother's Heart...
Eugene de Mazenod's Gift to the Oblate Congragation
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A Mother's Heart... Eugene de Mazenod's Gift to the Oblate Congragation
Henriette Kelker
1 March, 1999
Page 4
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception
Father, the image of the Virgin is found in the Church. Mary had faith that your Spirit prepared and a love that never knew sin, for you kept her sinless from the first moment of her conception. Trace in our actions the lines of her love, in our hearts her readiness of faith. Prepare once again a world for your Son who loves and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
- Evening Prayer, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
The feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, is the Oblate's feast day. An ancient feast, it was acknowledged and celebrated in the Church long before the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary was promulgated in 1854. It celebrates the conception of the Holy Virgin through the union of her parents, Joachim and Anne. She, chosen from all eternity to be the Mother of the Incarnate Word, was created full of grace and free from sin. This teaching suggests that creation comes to be, not in guilt, but in God's grace. God's blessed yes to the delight of creation is prior to every denial, every no of the human being. The redemptive grace of the creator is at work from the very foundations of the world, from the moment each of us is conceived.
Today the great mystery which has been announced from eternity ... appears in the arms of Anne; Mary, the Maiden of God is prepared to be a dwelling of the King of Eternity who will renew our human nature.
- Vespers for the Maternity of Anne
In the ancient Church, and today in the Eastern Church, December 9 is the Feast of the Maternity of Anne, Mother of the Virgin Mary. It celebrates God's gift of fruitfulness in the barren womb of Anne, the birth of the Holy Virgin Mary. Out of barrenness, poverty, springs forth the maiden, who gives birth to Christ in the world.
Bishop Grandin and the Oblates saw the central place poverty plays in the Christian life. From the barrenness of Anne, the emptiness of the Holy Virgin, to Bishop Grandin's self-assessment as a weak, "bent reed" with little to recommend him for the great task at hand all is the ground of the Kingdom of God.
David J. Goa
Curator Folklife
Provincial Museum of Alberta
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