Two beautiful paintings of the Blessed Mother were blessed at Our Lady of Grace (OLG) Church on the eve of the Immaculate Conception. They depict the Assumption and the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and are now located high above either side of the church’s doors upon exiting.
The lights finally came back on at the San Damiano Mission Catholic Church after nearly nine months when the pandemic began. Parishioners were welcomed back with masked smiles and open arms as Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio celebrated the reopening Mass, which took place on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.
Mary, conceived without sin, is a “masterpiece” who reflects “the beauty of God who is all love, grace and self-giving,” Pope Francis said on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
This week we will celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The Declaration of the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was made on Dec. 8, 1854 by Pope Pius IX. The Holy Father explained in this Declaration that Mary was preserved from Original Sin by a “singular grace and privilege given to her by God, `in view of the merits of Jesus Christ’ as redeemer of the human race.”
