REJOICE WITH MARY!

A REFLECTION FOR GAUDETE SUNDAY

Many people mistakenly confuse the Immaculate Conception with the belief that our Blessed Lady herself miraculously conceived a Child while remaining a virgin.  The doctrine of the Virgin Birth, however, is an entirely separate doctrine from that of our Lady’s Immaculate Conception.  The latter refers to the conception of Mary herself in the womb of her mother St. Anne.  What makes her conception different from any other is that she alone, of all mankind, was conceived without the stain of original sin on her soul.  While I’m sure we’re all familiar with this distinction ourselves, it bears repeating for the benefit of others who so very often  confuse the Immaculate Conception with the Virgin Birth.  Time and again we hear this error perpetrated, perhaps even deliberately, in movies and on TV, and it is something which could eventually permeate into our own thinking if we are not vigilant.

On this Sunday, we see the juxtaposition of the two doctrines.  As we continue our veneration of our Lady’s Immaculate Conception during the octave of this feast, we find ourselves today approaching ever closer to the very threshold of the Virgin Birth at Christmas.  Today is already the Third Sunday in Advent, Gaudete Sunday, when we yield to the joyful anticipation of Christ’s birth, now so very close.  Mangers are popping up everywhere, and I hope each home will soon display that peaceful yet momentous scene where Blessed Mary, ever-Virgin, delivers her Son, God’s Son, to the expectant world.

In spite of the penitential nature of Advent, the anticipation of the joy we will feel on that day is so great that it must needs spill over into the days leading up to Christmas.  We are reminded everywhere by the beautiful Christmas lights in our towns that the Light of the World is fast approaching, and that unto us, very soon now, shall be born a Son.  The Son of God and man, with two natures, divine and human, every bit the only-begotten Son of Mary as he is the only-begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very God of very God.  Our rejoicing can no longer be suppressed, and so today, Gaudete Sunday, we yield to our happiness for 24 hours, before returning, refreshed, to our penances and fasting on this week’s Ember Days.

If you want to celebrate a good Advent and enjoy the true Christmas spirit when the time comes, then enjoy your Gaudete Sunday today.  Do something special, particularly if you have small children.  Take a break from the sorrowful thoughts that sometimes affect us at this time of year, when we’re perhaps haunted by the Ghost of Christmas Past and memories of a time long gone.  Instead, rejoice with the Virgin Mother, that the Light of the World shall soon dispel the darkness from our lives, and peace shall fill the souls of all men of good will.