Bishop Kevin Farrell

The Chief Shepherd of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas

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Devotion to Mary is an essential part of our Catholic faith

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Devotion to Mary

Devotion to Mary is an essential part of our Catholic faith. For Catholic children learning the Hail Mary is an important spiritual rite of passage. There are many traditions about the Blessed Virgin. She has revealed herself in numerous apparitions. Some, including those at Lourdes, at Fatima and Tepeyac, have been accepted by the Church as conforming to Catholic teaching. Others are under discernment.

Mary has been the subject of two ex-cathedra definitions of Catholic doctrine. The first, by Pope Pius IX in 1864, concerned Mary’s Immaculate Conception; the second by Pope Pius XII in 1950, involved her Assumption into heaven. These two events are now dogma. Beyond that, Mary’s role in the Redemption has been debated in councils and by theologians through the ages and still is today.

I like to think that her role is best described in the story of the Wedding Feast at Cana (John 2: 1-12). When the wedding steward reveals they have run out of wine, Mary mentions it to Jesus, who responds that his hour has not come. Nevertheless, she tells the steward, “Do whatever he tells you.” Jesus responds by turning water into wine.

This Gospel passage reveals two important things about Mary. First, her role is to point us toward Jesus, telling us to do whatever he says, to follow him and become disciples. Second, we see that her intercession with her son is powerful and that we may turn to her in prayerful petition.

December is an important Marian month that gives us the opportunity to honor our Blessed Mother in a special way. Early in the month we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8. Then, on Dec. 12, we commemorate her apparition to St. Juan Diego as a Mestizo woman as a reminder that Spaniards, Indians, and the new race emerging from their union – the Mestizo,  the dignity of all human beings created in the image and likeness of God.

Let us pray that we have the courage to heed Mary’s call to become disciples of her son and to treat all of our brothers and sisters as fellow children of God.

Our National Feast Day

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December 8 is more than the celebration of the conception of the Blessed Virgin without original sin. It is the national feast day of the United States.

Bishop John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in the United States consecrated the United States to the Immaculate Conception in 1792. This might come as a surprise to those who remember that the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was not proclaimed officially until Pope Pius IX issued Ineffabilis Deus (Ineffable God) on December 8, 1854.

The dogma of Mary’s Immaculate Conception refers to the fact that by a special grace of God when Mary was conceived in the womb of her mother, whom tradition calls St. Anne, she was conceived without original sin, as would be appropriate for the one chosen to be the mother of Jesus. Although the dogma was not proclaimed officially until 1854, the feast has a long history in the church.

Eastern Christians began celebrating a feast of St. Anne’s conception as early as the eighth century. It was celebrated on December 9. About 200 years later, Christians in the West began observing the feast, but, as the conception of Mary without original sin. It was made universal in 1476 as the Feast of the Conception of Mary.

So Bishop Carroll’s devotion to Mary as the Immaculate Conception was part of an ancient tradition in the Church. His consecration of the United States to the Immaculate Conception was formalized by Pope Pius IX in 1847, five years before he proclaimed the dogma.

Many will remember the story of St. Bernadette Soubirous, the French peasant girl to whom the Blessed Virgin appeared at Lourdes in 1858. When St. Bernadette asked for her name, Mary responded “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

Bishop Carroll’s consecration is recognized by the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. It is the largest Catholic church in the United States, the eighth largest religious structure in the world and the tallest habitable building in Washington, D.C. Only the Washington Monument is taller.

Happy Feast Day America!