The Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Feast December,18th
(Tridium December 15th-17th)

My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.
 And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.

     The Liturgical Year opens with the season of Advent. This period of preparation for the great solemnity, celebrating the coming of the Son of God among men, represents the long period of waiting which preceded the appearing of the Redeemer. It is a time of hope, full of the longings and aspirations, not only of the Prophets who announced the coming of the Savior, but especially of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who awaits the fulfillment of the message brought by the Angel.

     At the tenth Council of Toledo, in the year 656, the bishops of Spain decreed that a solemn feast with an octave should be celebrated in that country on December 18th, in honor of the Annunciation. By choosing the date the Spanish Church could celebrate a joyous festival, which falls in the Lenten Season. For a long period, this day in Advent, a week before the fest of the Nativity, was observed throughout Spain in commemoration of the Angel's message and the mystery of the Incarnation.

     However, eventually the Spanish hierarchy conformed to the general custom of the Western Church. But since December 18th had become very dear to the people as one of our Lady's Feasts and was considered a day of special graces for expectant mothers, it continued to be observed, but under a new title-The Feast of  the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1725 Pope Benedict the XIII introduced this feast into the Roman States, and gradually it spread to other lands. It never became a feast of the Universal Church.

     The spirit from which this feast had its origin should pervade the devotional life of Catholics, the spirit which animated the Blessed Virgin when the time of her Son's birth was drawing near. It is impossible to form any adequate idea of the thoughts that flooded the mind and heart of Mary. Her heart burned with a fervor of divine love such as never before or since has enkindled a human heart, save the heart of the God-Man, hidden for none months in her chaste womb.

     Holy Mother Church wishes you to be filled with the interior dispositions in which our Lady expected the coming of the Savior, and thus you will prepare for His last Advent on Judgment Day. In union with Mary, your heart should yield itself up to an absolute confidence in Him Who is to come, so that the graces of His Nativity may be brought to you in abundance, and Jesus may be born anew in your heart.