Feasts of Mary and Our Advent Observance....

...By Archbishop Raymond Burke

Two important feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary take place during the Season of Advent: the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (a holy day of obligation) on Dec. 8 and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of America and Star of the New Evangelization, on Dec. 12. Closely related to both feasts is the Memorial of St. Juan Diego, the messenger of Our Lady of Guadalupe, on Dec. 9, which will not be celebrated liturgically this year because it falls on the Second Sunday of Advent.

The celebration of these feast days of our Blessed Mother and of St. Juan Diego help us to enter more fully into the observance of the Season of Advent.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is our model in preparing for the celebration of Christmas by disposing our hearts to welcome our Lord more fully, both as He comes to us now in the Church and as He will come to us in glory on the Last Day. She is also our intercessor who asks our Lord to give us the special graces of Advent, by which our hearts are purified of whatever hinders both our Lord’s coming to us now and our preparation to meet Him when He will come in glory. A reflection on her feasts will help us to see how the Blessed Mother is both the model of our Advent observance and our intercessor for the strong graces of the Season of Advent in our lives...

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