Thursday, December 8th the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Mass at 12 noon & 6:30p.

We celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, a Holy Day of Obligation, on December 8. In 1854, Pope Pius IX declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception:

The Most Holy Virgin Mary was, in the very first moment of her conception, by a unique gift of grace and privilege of Almighty God and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ the Redeemer of mankind, preserved free from all stain of original sin.” (Ineffabilis Deus, Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius IX on the Immaculate Conception) Thus, the Church teaches that the Blessed Mother was redeemed by Her Son, just as we are, but by a Divine anticipation of the merits of the Word-made-flesh. Like Eve before her, she was not subject to the Fall and thus to the prince of this world. However, unlike Eve, she would never surrender that freedom which God’s grace provided her. (Source: ewtn.com/catholicism/seasons-and-feast-days/immaculate-conception-20466)