December 9, 2018
Second Sunday of Advent
 

            Saturday, December, 8, the Holy Mother Church commemorates and celebrates the Church’s dogmatic teaching that the Blessed Mother was given the gift from God of being conceived without original sin. That is to say, that from the moment of her conception, Mary was given the grace not only of freedom from original sin, but of being the only human being other than her Divine Don who lived a life without sin. The Church teaches that the Blessed Mother was given this special Grace of liberation from the effects of sin in part because she would be the Mother of God, she would bear the second person of the Blessed Trinity in her womb for nine months.

            As any scholar of the Old Testament could tell us, God could not dwell in the presence of sin. The Virgin Mary was an important part of God’s plan for our salvation. Isaiah, the prophet said of her, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you this sign: the virgin will be with Child, and bear a son, and shall name him, Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). To prepare Mary for her special role as the mother of His Divine Son, God made her free from Original Sin from the moment she was conceived. Mary was in a perfect state of grace from the first moment when she came into being and remained free from sin throughout her life. Because of this, she was able to cooperate in God’s plan for our salvation.     

            Even though the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was infallibly defined in 1854 by Pope Pius IX, the Immaculate Conception is something that has been believed as a matter of reality in our faith for centuries.

            In the year 1846, the Bishops of the United States unanimously chose Our Lady as the patroness of the United States under the title of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. So, we have a lot to be thankful for.

            With our parish built 1848 and named after Our Blessed Virgin Mary by the first pastor, we have a special reason to celebrate this day. Even though many still prefer calling our Church of Mary’s as though we were merged, our wish is that many will always remember the words of the intercessory prayer: “ O Mary conceived with sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” The Church is asking us this weekend to attend Mass two times, and that is one to fulfill the holy of obligation in honor of Our Blessed Mother and the other, as our regular Sunday Mass. Endeavor to join us in celebrating God’s blessings through Our Immaculate ever-Virgin Mary for our church for 170 years here in Yonkers.  As we prepare the way this Second Sunday of Advent, may our Blessed Mother intercede for us.

Mass Schedule for the week of
 December 9, 2018 to December 16, 2018
Mass are daily at 8:15 and 12:05 in English and in Spanish on Thursdays at 7:00pm
Below are the Special Intentions for this week