DIARY:
Ruminations, Occasional thoughts & happenings - as they
arise
Conception & Birth - 8th December
Just been to Mass this evening - a Holy Day of Obligation in
the Catholic Church, celebrating the fact, promulgated by the church in 1854 as
a truth to be believed by all, that Mary the mother of Christ was herself
conceived, in her mother Anna's womb, without the after effects of original sin,
i.e. she was conceived and born sinless, unlike every other human being (except
Jesus of course).
The feast day is called The Immaculate Conception, which is often confused with
Mary's conception of her son Jesus. - dealt with here
(The Incarnation) and here
(Mary, Mother of Christ). Nope, it ain't that! It's to
do with Mary's own personal conception! (see here-
The Immaculate Conception.)
Quite a lot for people to believe, and one can only believe
if one accepts Christ's guarantee that He will always be with His church and
ensure that it teaches truth and only truth. (This is what the dogma of
Infallibility is all about.)
Anyway, that's where I was this evening, celebrating the
beauty of a woman who is, I believe, the most beautiful woman ever to be born -
not that she may have been recognised as such by her neighbours in Nazareth, or
her friends in Jerusalem - unlike Chris de Burg's daughter, 
chosen as Miss
World in China two days ago.
Ireland's Rosanna Davison, 19, crowned Miss World at the end of the beauty pageant, held this year for the first time in China.
Mary's beauty would have been chiefly of the soul, of
personality, shining through her physical exterior - not decrying the
beauty of Miss de Burg / Rosanna Davison
here - just adverting to a beauty never seen before in the
world, a young woman being prepared by God as a fitting person to be His mother.
A wonderful thought and a beautiful Eucharistic celebration
this evening, centered
upon Christ but acknowledging the beauty and worth of His mother.
I look forward, with all believing Christians, to seeing her
in person,
becoming aware of her, when I die. Both of us saved by the greatness and
goodness of her son, but she much more beautiful than me - or anyone else - for she was and is totally
sinless and I - well, the least said about this the better - just another
sinner, with sins removed 'as far away as the East is from the West', because of
my sorrow for them.
Oh, another thing about today! My young son Conor celebrates his
22nd birthday today, and, ehem!, yesterday was my birthday, the 71st.
I can't believe so many years have passed - like a breath in the night!
May Our Lady look upon both of us with love, in the presence of her great and
wonderful son.
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