Feast of the Immaculate Conception
On 8 December each year the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated.
O gentle maid, O lovely-hearted woman,
Sprung from the seed of patriarchs and kings,
Conceived immaculate, divinely destined Virgin!
When the poet Sr M Faith OP in her poem 'Annunciation' thus addresses Mary of Nazareth, she is referring to the belief that God granted special grace to the Mother of God in that, upon her conception, she received a gift of grace usually received during the Sacrament of Baptism.
This gift was of value for the future Mother of God as preparation for her holy mission, to contain God within her prior to delivering Him to a suffering world crying out for His Redemption.
Ark of the New Covenant
As the Ark of the New Covenant, Mary required special graces for her mission, and received the Immaculate Conception as preparation for her call.
In the Old Testament, the Written Word of God, the Ten Commandments, and the Miraculous Bread from Heaven - the Manna - were in the same place as the Holy Ark.
In the New Testament, the Ark of the New Testament, the Blessed Virgin Mary, contained the Word of God, Jesus Christ, the Living Bread from Heaven.
The Ark of the Old Covenant contained the Rod of Aaron, which signified the true High Priest.
The Ark of the New Covenant contained Jesus Christ, Who is called the High Priest (Hebrews 3 verse 1.)
The Ark of the Old Testament was overshadowed by the Presence and Power of God (Exodus Chapter 40 verses 34 and 35).
In the New Testament, Mary of Nazareth is overshadowed by the Presence and Power of God (Luke Chapter 1 verse 35).
The belief of the Immaculate Conception of Mary of Nazareth is that the future Mother of God was overshadowed by the Presence and Power of God at her conception preparatory to her call and Second Overshadowing by the Presence and Power of God.
The second Overshadowing was at the Incarnation of God into her womb prior to Jesus being birthed as Saviour and King of all the world.
Ineffabilis Deus
Pope Pius IX (1846 - 1878) wrote Ineffabilis Deus, in which the Immaculate Conception is ascribed to a singular grace and privilege from Almighty God, granted in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the World's Saviour.
Lourdes, France
On several occasions during the course of the year 1858, Mary of Nazareth appeared to Bernadette Soubirous, a little shepherdess, in a grotto at Massabielle in Lourdes, France.
Asked for her name, she replied: "I am the Immaculate Conception."
She asked Bernadette to pray for the conversion of sinners.
Instructed by the Lady, Bernadette, digging with her hands in the soil, found a spring in the grotto.
A number of authenticated miracles have been ascribed by users of this water.
Poetry in Praise of Mary
In America, which falls under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception, many twentieth century poets sang the praises of Mary.
Like flowers of various shapes and colours, grown from a packet of mixed seeds, their poetry ranges from the cheerfully colloquial to the profoundly contemplative.
Among the former variety is found 'Our Lady of America', a simple verse for youth by Sr Maryanna OP, published in the November 1947 issue of Junior Catholic Mission.
Marked by simplicity and rhythm, it contains no trace of sentimentality.
Mary Immaculate, Lady blue-gowned,
slippered in moonbeams, Virgin star-crowned,
bend down from heaven to bless this our land,
prairie and mountain and city and strand.
Watch over Washington, pray for St Paul,
Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles - all
cities that linked form a rosary chain
from Oregon's Portland to Portland in Maine.
On village and hamlet, on country and town,
Mary of Nazareth, gently look down.
The fine poetry of the poets has not known as much exposure as deserves, burgeoning as it does with a sense of faith, love and hopefulness that make the reading of it an ever fresh delight.
Much of the work was published only in religious magazines and then forgotten, along with some of its creators.
Though the majority of these poets never achieved any marked degree of fame, a few had their poetry published in general or personal anthologies.
In one of the former we find 'Mary Immaculate' by Sr Angela Marie.
The third stanza starts off with a metaphoric explanation of the Immaculate Conception of Mary:
Upon this earth 'neath Anne's
sweet breast a seed is stirred,
virgin-veiled; the Word
of God bends low with grace.
Mother Mary Bertrand OM in her Song of the South Winds (For Our Lady's Birthplace) give a description of Anne's womb while she carried Mary.
She regards this as a thurible containing burning incense.
The poet equates the moment of Mary's conception with the budding of a lily whose fragrance overwhelms the sweetness of the perfumes borne on the wind from Egypt and the East to her Palestinian home:
... the hours burnt silver in your censer
and the perfumes of Egypt and the East
were dulled by the budding of a lily
that one white morning hour released.
Sr Maryanna OP metaphorically describes Anne's pregnancy as the spinning of thread upon a loom:
Anne was the spinner,
Anne spun the thread
Petal-soft, rosewhite,
Filament starbright
To which an angel said:
Hail, full of grace!
Sr M Julian RSM gives an encapsulated account of a Lourdes pilgrimage with its links to Mary's Immaculate Conception in a characteristically concise poem titled 'For Our Lady of Lourdes'.
'Blessed are they who have not seen ...'
but who have sought
on mountain paths
your beauty poised
above a winter rose.
'Blessed are they ...'
for life shall be for them
this only: your name
and the fair music of your smile.
Sr Mary Lucina in her poem 'To Our Lady on December 8', which may be found in the December 1971 issue of the periodical 'Sisters Today', uses the symbolism of pure snow to celebrate Mary's Immaculate Conception.
This conceit is frequently found in the oeuvre of the American nun-poets of the twentieth century.
The poet differentiates between the symbolism of snow and that of the heat of a candle's flame.
Thus she contrasts Mary's spotless purity, which lights up the world's darkness, with the warmth of her motherly love, which embraces eternity:
Down in the courtyard
flakes fall on your shrine,
a white oasis in our winter.
Snowy pines enclose you
in a cathedral.
Everywhere darkness stretches
like an immense grave.
Stars hide
the sky is moonless.
But below in the courtyard
you burn like a candle,
your flame travelling light years
beyond the pines.
On a profoundly spiritual level, the contemplative Jessica Powers (Sr Miriam of the Holy Spirit OCD) captures the essence of Mary's Immaculate Conception in her composition 'The Immaculate Heart':
Light is intensely the inhabitant
of this unsullied place of consecration,
the Virgin's heart. Light is itself the air
and firmament and sea and foliage.
Her thoughts are Godward mirror, one in their
orientation.
At the same time the poet expresses the fulfilment of the promise of the Immaculate Conception.
In the absence of anything evil, from the very moment of her conception, Mary of Nazareth's natural inclination of heart was towards God, enfolding His grace with total openness.
Mary bore God's every feature in the loving environ of her soul, and within the Ark of her human body.
Marian Library Dayton
That many American nun-poets of the twentieth century were teachers is clear from their religious poetry, in which religious instruction is combined with literary fluency in a way which is most convincing and yet easily understandable.
Their poetry contains not only vivid descriptions of the qualities of faith, hope and love but also has great pedagogic value.
The Marian Library at the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio, is a custodian of an extensive collection of poetry in honour of the Blessed Virgin.
See links
Marian Library at University of Dayton Ohio
http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/library.html
The Mary Page, University of Dayton
http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/
Immaculate Mary, Lourdes Hymn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcs6WPjZi0k
With thanks to Marian Library and Youtube
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