Mary is Spotless, and All Beautiful

Today’s proper preface for the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is a synthesis of this mystery:

For you preserved the most Blessed Virgin Mary
from all stain of original sin,
so that in her, endowed with the rich fullness of your grace,
you might prepare a worthy Mother for your Son
and signify the beginning of the Church,
his beautiful Bride without spot or wrinkle.

She, the most pure Virgin, was to bring forth a Son,
the innocent Lamb who would wipe away our offenses;
you placed her above all others
to be for your people an advocate of grace
and a model of holiness.

And so, in company with the choirs of Angels,
we praise you, and with joy we proclaim: Holy….

A meditation on trust in God, preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre, Toronto, on the eve of the solemnity of the Immaculate conception.

Thumbnail: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Immaculate Conception, 1767, Prado, Madrid.