12/8, Feast of the Immaculate Conception
I rejoice heartily in the Lord,
in my God is the joy of my soul;
for he has clothed me with a robe of
salvation,
and wrapped me in a mantle of justice,
like a bride adorned with her jewels.
After thinking about this antiphon for a
bit, I was struck by the parallels of the couplets in the first four
lines. First, we rejoice because of
God's joy. Next, we have salvation
thanks to God's justice. I think this is
particularly important as we begin the Year of Mercy to remember that mercy
(salvation) is necessary within the context of God's justice. If there were no possibility of judgment, no
possibility of divine wrath, there would be no need for mercy. Returning to Sunday, how are we rejoicing in
the joy God has given us? And, how are
we remaining worthy of salvation in the face of divine justice?
A quick reminder: today is the Feast of
the Immaculate Conception, a Holy Day of Obligation in the United States. This is perhaps the most confusing or
confused feast. This is not the
conception of Jesus (it's only 17 days before His birth, c'mon people). That in fact would
be the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, or 9 months before December
25. Today we celebrate the conception of
Mary, the Mother of God, conceived without sin for she must be without sin in
order to be the Mother of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment