AM THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION." Those words, uttered by the Mother of God herself to Saint Bernadette Soubirous in the Grotto of Massabielle near Lourdes, France, on March 25, 1858, was a Heavenly ratification of the solemn, infallible proclamation of the doctrine of her Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854, in the Bull Ineffabilis Deus.

"I AM THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION."

Our Lady was conceived in the womb of her holy mother, Good Saint Anne, without any stain of Original or Actual Sin in anticipation of the merits that would be won by her Divine Son, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, on the wood of the Holy Cross. She, the Singular Vessel of Devotion, had the perfect integrity of Adam and Eve before their Fall from Grace in the Garden of Eden.

It is important, therefore, to get the doctrine of Original Sin right in order to understand the great miracle worked by God in the soul of the fairest flower of our race, Our Lady, from the very first moment of her Immaculate Conception. To get anything about the doctrine of Original Sin wrong leads to the efforts on the part of Modernists to deconstruct the doctrinal definitions of Original Sin and of the Immaculate Conception.

Alas, the Catholic Church, our Holy Mother on earth, our Mater and Magister, is as spotless as the Immaculate Blessed Virgin Mary. Holy Mother Church does not deconstruct infallible dogmatic definitions. Holy Mother Church cannot do so, which is why we need to pray to Our Lady, she who is the Mediatrix of All Graces and our Immaculate Queen, to help us to make no concessions to the counterfeit church of conciliarism that has promulgated an abominable "liturgy" and whose officials feel feel to "reinterpret" dogmatic truths according to Modernist propositions that have been condemned by the authority of our spotless Mother on earth, Holy Mother Church.

Mindful of the effects of our own sins on our immortal souls and of our need to make reparation for them to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, may we make the Secret prayer for today's Holy Mass our own:

"Receive the saving Victim we offer to Thee, O Lord, on the solemn feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: and grant that, as we confess that by Thy prevenient grace she was kept free from every stain of sin; so, by her intercession, we may be delivered from all our offenses. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God."

A blessed Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary to you all! 

This article, which was  substantially revised and enlarged reflection three years ago, on the life and the tireless apostolic work of the great Jesuit missionary and one the original members of Saint Ignatius of Loyola’s Company of Jesus, Saint Francis Xavier.

The title of the revised article reflects the disparaging term that Jorge Mario Bergoglio used to compare believing Catholics with modern-day faithful, believing Mohammedans who take the words of the blasphemous Koran seriously by committing acts of wanton murder against “infidels.” Saint Francis Xavier worked tirelessly for the conversion of those who belonged to false religions. Then again, he was a true Jesuit priest. Jorge Mario Bergoglio is a lay Jesuit revolutionary masquerading as a “pope," a man who expelled himself from the bosom of the Catholic Church in his youth as he mocked the Immemorial Mass of Tradition and taught to disparage Catholic doctrine as being in opposition to the Gospel of Christ the King.

A Novena in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which begins today and ends on December 11, 2019, can be found in the appendix to this reflection.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Francis Xavier, S.J., pray for us.

Access to the internet is spotty these days.

Here is a spiritual resource of three novenas that each Catholic should pray.

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

Saint Andrew the Apostle, pray for us.

This is a republished reflection about Pope Saint Clement that includes the following passage from Dom Prosper Gueranger's The Liturgical Year:

With only one exception, all of the documents which attest Clement's intervention in the affairs of distant churches have perished with time; but the one that remains shows us in full action the monarchical power of the bishop of Rome at that primitive epoch. The church of Corinth was disturbed with intestine quarrels caused by jealously against certain pastors. These divisions, the germ of which had appeared even in St. Paul's time, had destroyed all peace, and were causing scandal to the very pagans. The Corinthians at last felt the necessity of putting an end to a disorder which might be prejudicial to the extension of the Christian faith; and for this purpose it was requisite to seek assistance from outside. The apostle had all departed this life, except St. John, who was still the light of the Church. It was not great distance from Corinth to Ephesus where the apostle resided: yet it was not to Ephesus but to Rome that the church of Corinth turned. Clement examined the case referred to his judgment by that church, and sent to Corinth five commissaries to represent the Apostolic See. They were bearers of a letter, which St. Irenaeus calls potentissimas litteras. It was considered at the time so beautiful and so apostolic, that it was long read in many churches as a sort of continuation of the canonical Scriptures. Its tone is dignified but paternal, according to St. Peter's advice to pastors. There is nothing in it of a domineering spirit; but the grave and solemn language bespeaks the universal pastor, whom none can disobey without disobeying God Himself. These words so solemn and so firm wrought the desired effect: peace was re-established in the church of Corinth, and the messengers of the Roman Pontiff soon brought back the happy news. A century later, St. Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, expressed to Pope St. Soter the gratitude still felt by his flock towards Clement for the service he had rendered. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year.)

Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B,, understood that was and can be no such thing as "resistance" to a true and legitimate Successor of Saint Peter.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Pope Saint Clement, pray for us.

Today is the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is a short reflection on the feast day, which is followed by an appendix including the description of the Presentation of Our Lady as found in The New English Edition of The Mystical City of God.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.