Thursday of this week is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. It is a Holy Day of Obligation.
Sadly, not that many Catholics care or it does not even enter their minds that the Church requires us to attend Holy Mass or that it is for our own good to do so. We live in this crazy time in which everything is a free choice and there is no duty to obey legitimate authority.
It might be that our love for the Church and for Our Lady has grown cold. But Mary is our mother, the mother of all who live in Christ, and it belongs to the nature of a mother that her love toward her children never grows cold. There are ways to grow closer to Our Lady.
Next Sunday is the Third Sunday in Advent. The Gospel focuses on the evident dejection of John the Baptist or the dejection of John’s disciples. Or, perhaps John sent his disciples to Jesus in the hope that they would follow Him, “the one who is to come.”
Jesus assures them by the tremendous good He has already done that He is the Messiah. Then Our Lord highly praises John, yet reveals to his disciples their own greatness. Two virtues that can assist the many graces Christ provides for us, his followers, are patience and zeal.
If you find the linked Doctrinal Homily Outlines helpful for yourself and others, please tell your friends.
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