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The Christmas Cycle
Ember Friday
“Thou art near, O Lord, and all Thy ways are truth” (Introit). God is near today in the Virgin
Mary. She has conceived the Son of God in order to bring Him to us. We are witnesses of the
blessings which she brings today to the house of Elizabeth; she brings Christ with her. Through
her Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Ghost, and John the Baptist is sanctified in his mother’s
womb. Mary is the Mother of God and the channel of all grace.
Mary, having conceived the Son of God, hastens to the hill country, to the city of Juda, and greets
her cousin, Elizabeth. At Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth feels the infant whom she has conceived
( John the Baptist) leap for joy in her womb. Elizabeth is herself filled with the Holy Ghost and
learns the secret that has been confided to Mary: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed
is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to
me? . . . And blessed art thou that thou hast believed” (Gospel). Mary is the living monstrance
that presents Christ and His grace to men. Through Mary, John the Baptist is sanctified in his
mother’s womb, cleansed from the stains of Original Sin, and clothed with the garment of
sanctifying grace. Mary would gladly have withdrawn from the world to live in the solitude and
obscurity of Nazareth after having conceived the Son of God, but God calls her to the service of
charity, and she recognizes no call but the will of God. She does not shrink from any exertion;
she is not dismayed by any obstacle or difficulty. He who is filled with Christ is filled with zeal
and love and determination. How do we stand in this regard?
The stational church for today’s Mass is the church of the Twelve Apostles in Rome. Mary
is the apostle of the liturgy, the Mediatrix of all grace. She is the root from which springs the full
bloom, Christ. “And of His fullness we all have received, and grace for grace” ( Jn 1:16). But all
of this grace we receive through the instrumentality of Mary. Today we, like John the Baptist,
are sanctified by Mary’s visit. With hearts full of thankfulness we say with the Gradual: “Lord,
Thou hast blessed Thy land [Mary and through her the Church and its members]; Thou hast
turned away the captivity of Jacob” (the captivity of sin, the devil, and eternal damnation).
Everything through Mary.
“Behold the Lord shall come, and all His saints with Him: and there shall be in that day a great
light” (Communion). The coming of Christ in Holy Communion is the prelude to the coming
of Christ at the end of time, when He will appear accompanied by His saints and angels to lead
us and the Church to an eternal communion with Him in heaven. Holy Communion is for us
a pledge of the possession of God in the eternal light of heaven.
Through Mary Christ accomplishes the salvation of many souls. He took her as His mother
in order that in His earthly life He might have a new Eve to assist Him, the new Adam. As she
cooperated in the winning of all the graces which Christ has merited for us, so now that she is
in heaven she enjoys the privilege of dispensing all the graces which Christ wishes to give us.
Every grace which we receive, Mary helped to win for us. For this reason she is also charged
with the dispensation of these graces. We receive all grace from God through Christ and His
Blessed Mother. Thus Christ wishes to honor His mother, and we should gratefully seek from
her all the graces that we need. She is the humble, obedient handmaid of Christ, the pure Virgin.
In the liturgy the blessed Mother of God, the Mediatrix of grace, is a symbol of the Church.
The Church bears Christ in her virginal bosom (the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle). She
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