In honor of the Immaculate Conception, God’s Masterpiece and the Cause of our joy:

As I kneel before you,
As I bow my head in prayer,
Take this day, make it yours
and fill me with your love.

Ave Maria,
Gratia plena,
Dominus tecum,
Benedicta tu.

All I have I give you,
Every dream and wish are yours,
Mother of Christ,
Mother of mine, present them to my Lord.

As I kneel before you,
And I see your smiling face,
Ev’ry thought, ev’ry word
Is lost in your embrace.

Words: Maria Parkinson

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Edit: 12/10

Those are words which remind me of Lourdes every time i hear them. That song is what i felt before her. In Lourdes, she revealed her identity to St. Bernadette as Immaculate Conception… and that’s how she revealed herself to me.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee

My mom taught my sister and i this prayer . But it was shortly before Lourdes that i began to grasp the meaning.

Mary is perfect, created without spot or wrinkle, pure and all-holy. At the moment of her conception in her mother’s womb, God preserved Mary from a lack of sanctifying grace (the lack is known as original sin), in anticipation of the atoning merits of Jesus Christ on the Cross. She was redeemed in advance so that she could be a worthy dwelling place of the Most High—to be the one in whom the Word would take Flesh.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is all beautiful inside and out–Immaculate. My encounter with this purity, with purity personified, made it unthinkable for me to willfully and intentionally commit mortal sin.

The Immaculate Conception is the dawn of hope–the advent–forth from whom rises the Sun of Justice, Christ our God!

Praise to the LORD for His Masterpiece–His Mother!