Fr. Nate's Letter - December 8, 2024

As you see, our outdoor nativity scene has been set up. We owe many thanks to our Men’s Club, who, no matter the weather, undertake this project of putting everything in place each year. Our nativity is definitely a favorite for many a passerby who often stop for a photo. 

When we come to this point in December, we encounter three feasts of the Blessed Mother, all within a couple of days of each other. The first being the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a dogma of our faith that celebrates the fact that Mary, because she was to be the Mother of God, by a special grace, was preserved free from any stain of original sin from the first moment of her conception in the womb of her mother Ann. The Angel Gabriel acknowledges this fact when he comes to ask Mary if she will be the Mother of God. He greets her, “Hail, Full of Grace.” Mary, under the title of her Immaculate Conception, is the patroness of our country and our Archdiocese. If you’ve ever visited Washington, D.C., you might have had the occasion to visit the enormous basilica there dedicated to our Lady under this title. This feast is usually celebrated on December 8, but because it falls on a Sunday, it is observed on Monday, December 9 this year. 

Another feast of our Lady falls on the very next day, December 10, with the feast of Our Lady of Loreto. (You may be familiar with the Litany of Our Lady, which is often referred to as the Litany of Loreto.) Another place your travels may have allowed you to visit is this shrine in central Italy, which contains the remains of the walls from the house in Nazareth of the Holy Family. I had the occasion to visit this shrine of our Lady’s house some years ago, which celebrates in so many ways the Incarnation, and the evangelical virtues as lived out by the Holy Family. When I was went to visit the ‘Holy House of Loreto,’ as it is often called, I was pleasantly surprised to learn how many different saints went there as a favored spot of pilgrimage, including a few of the saints represented in the windows in our basilica.  St. Alphonsus has a beautiful prayer reflecting on the life lived in that house, a portion of which reads: “How tender it is to think that the Son of God lived like a servant in this poor house! Now he goes to fetch water, now he opens or closes the shop, now cleans the room or he picks up pieces of wood for the fire…O wonder! See a God who cleans up, a God who serves as a waiter.”

And only a couple of days later, on December 12, we celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe, a beautiful feast that celebrates our Blessed Mother’s tender love for us. She often refers to Juan Diego, to whom she appeared in 1531, as her little son. Our Lady appeared to him five times to bring the glad tidings of redemption and conversion to the people of the Americas. One can never tire of being fascinated at all that took place in the apparition of our Lady at Guadalupe. The space here doesn’t allow us to go into too many details, but the image, you might say, is one made in heaven. 

The fact that these feast days fall when they do, and having them so close together, always seems to try and make a point to you and me about Advent. As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, who knew better how to prepare for the Lord than Mary? With all that was going on in the days prior to the Lord’s birth - and you and I know from the story that there was a lot that would have any expectant mother worried - as one of the prayers of Advent declares, “the Virgin Mother longed for him with love beyond all telling.” Even in the midst of all the chaos, if you will, of that first Christmas, there was only one thing on the mind and in the heart of the Virgin, and that was the Child about to be born. I have always felt that all these feasts point us to Mary. Alongside so many other things they wish to tell us, these feasts remind us that if you really want to know how to prepare to meet Christ, look to Mary. She knows how to welcome Jesus like no other – with a love beyond all telling. 

Wishing you all God’s blessing this week!

Keeping you in prayer – and say one for me!

-Fr. Nate