Because December 8th fell on a Sunday this year, the celebration of the Immaculate Conception of Mary was moved to today. It is still a Holy Day, it just isn't a Holy Day of Obligation and we have the normal, weekday Mass schedule.
When we celebrate the Immaculate Conception on December 8th each
year, it is a common mistake to think we are celebrating the Immaculate
Conception of Jesus. At Mass on the Immaculate Conception the Gospel is
always the Annunciation. Because the Archangel Gabrial appears to Mary
to tell her about the child she would have, sometimes people think that
is the conception which is called immaculate. But the Immaculate
Conception is about the conception that prepared Mary for this moment;
the time where she would choose whether or not to participate in God's
plan for salvation.
In the Gospel, the angel Gabriel
says, "Hail Mary full of Grace." In Greek the word used, κεχαριτωμένη,
is a perfect passive participle of χαριτοω meaning "to fill or endow
with grace." The tense indicates that Mary was graced from the instant
she first existed in her mother's (Anne's) womb (well before Gabriel
visited) and ever since. It might be best understood as her being so
full of grace that sin can not enter her.
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