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.”