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. Music: J. S. Bach, Prelude (Cello Suite No. 3, BWV 1009) on Museopen.org. Thumbnail: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Immaculate Conception, 1767, Prado, Madrid.