Celebration for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception - December 8, 2009

Monrovians - Unite!  Know your local Churches and Spiritual traditions.

Monday, December 7, 2009, at Immaculate Conception Church, as many as 3,000 Monrovians will gather at 740 S. Shamrock Avenue, between 5:30 pm and 6:00 p.m. for a Celebration for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the Son of God.  The Feast Day is actually December 8th, so the celebration will take place on its Eve.

Also celebrated will be the first anniversary of the Perpetual Adoration Chapel.

There will be a procession through the streets of Monrovia with the Blessed Sacrament, and the Church welcomes all Immaculate Conception families and friends to join the celebration.  Also present will be the Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that is currently on pilgrimage.

There will be adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the Church from 5:30 to 6:00 p.m., at which time the procession through the streets of Monrovia will begin.  After the procession, a Vigil Mass for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary will take place, and the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe will be on display until approximately 10 pm.

At right is some of the stained glass in the Church that depicts the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

The celebration of the beginning of Advent, and also the beginning of the Church Year.  Advent is the season leading up to Christmas, at which Catholics celebrate Christ's coming into the world.  Catholics and Greek Orthodox believe that since God wanted a perfect vessel for His Son, Jesus, that by God's grace Mary was sinless when Christ was born.  Catholics believe that, to honor Jesus, Mary was born without Original Sin - i.e., Immaculate.  This celebration begins the new year, which is organized by, and celebrates, various aspects of  the Birth, Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus.