Archbishop Vincent Nichols will celebrate Mass at Westminster Cathedral for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception at 5.30 on Wednesday 8 December.
Earlier in the day, he gave the homily at a service of Vespers at Westminster Cathedral which was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
The full text of the his Homily for the Mass can be found below.
The Gospel of St Luke sets the scene for this Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the opening chapter of Luke’s Gospel the Angel Gabriel comes to Mary and greets her with the well-known words: ‘Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.’
This greeting is more properly translated as ‘Mary, Rejoice!’ for it is drawn from the Greek tradition of greetings, rather than the Jewish tradition. Indeed, if it had been a Jewish greeting, the word used would have been ‘Peace’, ‘Shalom’. But it is Rejoice!
These very first words of the Gospel message contain an openness beyond the Jewish world. Here is a strong hint that this message of God’s loving presence among us is for all people. No-one is to be excluded. It is a message of joy for all.
The source of this joy is also clear: through Mary one is to come who will embody this presence of the Lord in our midst. And she is given this role precisely as a woman.
Cardinal Hume reflected often on the genius of the feminine as seen in Mary. He wrote: ‘It is a feminine trait to listen, to receive, to watch. Perhaps that is why more women pray than men. Perhaps that is why among contemplatives there are more women than men. It is a feminine trait, also, to see, to observe and to have a practical mind.’
Mary is prepared by God for this role of being mother to the Eternal Word made flesh. From the moment when her life took its beginning, in the womb of her mother St Anne, she was destined to be unique among the children of God. She was protected from the corrosive effect of original sin which marks us all with a divided self, a conflict of desires and a weakness of will. This unique gift given to Mary is celebrated on this Feast Day.
Cardinal Hume spelt out for us all one consequence of her Immaculate Conception. He said: ‘We make a grave mistake in our spiritual life if Mary has no part in it. Immaculately conceived, she is able to love as can no other creature: she has loved the God whom she served from early childhood, the Son whom she bore, and ourselves who, by this same Son, were commended to her at the most solemn moment of his life.’
Let us, then, allow Mary to accompany us. She can help us to prepare ourselves to recognise, in the child of Bethlehem, the Son of God. He is the one who will set us free from sin. Amen.
+Vincent Nichols
8 December 2010.
Pope Pius IX
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception celebrates the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the womb of Saint Anne.
On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX officially declared the Immaculate Conception a dogma of the Church. As the Holy Father wrote in the Apostolic Constitution Ineffabilis Deus, 'We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.'
