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Written by Communications Office
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Monday, 21 December 2009 |
  
The different communities gathered at Immaculata Retreat house last December 8, 2009 on the occasion of the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
Friar Alfonsus Panaligan, OFMConv. gave a talk on the development of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (IC) and its implication in our time. The implications he mentioned are the following: (1) The beginning of every spiritual being is important and this beginning is willed by God. God is the author of life’s beginning. He had sketched Life in his wisdom and love. God has marked already for us the beginning of our life. The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is celebration of the sanctity of life. God has willed every life at the very start of its existence. This Solemnity is a celebration against the culture of death in particular against abortion. In abortion man decides over the life of someone whose life has been already approved by God. The crime of abortion is a rebellion against the will of God. Besides it is a total and face to face rejection of God’s gift, life. (against abortion)
(2) God encompassed the life of men with his redeeming love. The Immaculate Conception portrays our God as of love who thinks of us. God has loved Mary, because His Son as man belonged in the human community, where we are, and where he is the redeemer. He became the pledge of God’s love which is stronger than sin itself. All life at whatever stage is valuable and sacred because of the seal of the love of God. The Solemnity of the IC is a celebration of the mercy of God to mankind. A mercy that is life-giving. This celebration speaks against the other form of death culture, euthanasia commonly known as mercy killing. True mercy is always salvific and promotes life at its best. Euthanasia is deciding for someone, who is not in the position to decide rightfully for his own life. God decided the life for Mary and not the contrary – death. (against euthanasia)
(3) The IC is a concrete revelation of God’s love to humanity and the fulfilment of his divine promise. The IC is the work of God’s fidelity. The salvation to be brought by the Son on the Cross has been fulfilled already at the very beginning of the life of his mother. In fact, Redemption as an immediate End of Salvation begins in the Immaculate Conception. What God has promised in the proto-evangelium, he began to fulfil in the IC. This Solemnity calls each individual’s conscience to examine his fidelity to his/her promises. Priests, friars, sisters, husbands and wives etc. are we faithful to what we have promised before God and his Church? (against infidelity)
(4) That Love of God which shows to us through this celebration testifies also that we are destined to salvation in Christ. We cannot reduce the theological significance and implications of the IC purely to morality. It is fundamentally Trinitarian the way the Gospel (Lk. 1:26-38) in today’s reading portrays. Moreover, the Canticle of Monday Evening Prayer of the Four-Week Psalter tells God’s plan for us from the very foundation of this world, Thus he chose us in Christ before the world was made to be holy and faultless before him in love, 5 marking us out for himself beforehand, to be adopted sons, through Jesus Christ. Such was his purpose and good pleasure, 6 to the praise of the glory of his grace, his free gift to us in the Beloved, 7 in whom, through his blood, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins. Such is the richness of the grace 8 which he has showered on us in all wisdom and insight. 9 He has let us know the mystery of his purpose, according to his good pleasure which he determined beforehand in Christ, (Ephesians 1:4-9).
We should not forget that our devotion to the IC is primarily Trinitarian and Christological. This solemnity is no other than the exaltation of God’s salvation fulfilled in Christ. The desire of God to save us is greater than our desire to be saved. Against hopelessness speaks the IC particularly in Philippines where is the principal Patroness. Is there still hope for our country? The answer is yes. The IC is the shining Star of our hope. How long before our hope will be fulfilled? It may take more than 1,000 years the way this doctrine took more than 1,300 years before it was finally defined as dogma of faith. (against hopelessness)
(5) I am not knowledgeable of comparative religion or different Christian Religion but as I see, we Catholics are very fortunate because of our Marian devotions and doctrine. The doctrine of the IC is a unique mark stone of the Catholic Church. The dogma itself asserts that the Catholic Christian religion is a religion of love, of fidelity, of hope, of life etc.
(6) The IC is a proof of the actual purity of God. In God everything is at its maximum. What ever God pre-conceived (from human consideration) is immaculate i.e. absolutely pure. God has pre-conceived from eternity the Immaculate Conception and that divine conception of God is in itself immaculate. Therefore, we may say that Mary’s IC is the expression or work of God’s actual purity – eternal immaculateness of God. Mary had a special privilege to participate in this divine and absolute character of God. I don’t want to push through to this philosophical and theological speculation.
(7) The history of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception reflects the character of the Virgin Mother herself, a woman of faith and patience. It took more than 1,300 years before it was finally defined as Dogma of faith. The celebration of this Feast tells us the value of enduring patience for the sake of Faith. The history of its development which underwent several challenges even from the Marian Doctors. This experience tells us that the Truth and its advocates should undergo trials. Finally, the Truth triumphs always at the end, though it may take time.
After the talk the celebration of the Eucharist presided by Fra Enrique Montero, OFMConv. followed.
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