H. E. Archbishop Bashar Warda Celebrates the Divine Liturgy with the Chaldean Daughters of Mary Immaculate Conception 

On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, celebrated on December 8, which is also a big feast day for the the Chaldean daughters of Mary, Archbishop Warda celebrated the Divine Liturgy at St Joseph’s Novitate for the Chaldean Daughters of Mary. Sisters from different congregations of the Archdiocese participanted in this Mass, along with a number of the faithful laity. 

Happy and Blessed Feast of the Immaculate Conception for all. 

H. G. Archbishop Bashar Warda’s Homily:

“Hail Mary full of grace” this was the greeting of Heaven to Our Blessed Mother when the Angel visited her. For he did not call her by her name, rather, by her state: full of grace, for she is not the grace herself, neither the giver of the grace, rather she is whom accepted grace with a robust faith. 

Since its foundation, the Church meditated upon this heavenly greeting, seeing in Mary the mother who gave flesh to our Lord Jesus Christ, and took care of Him. Thus, God blessed her with an exceptional grace because of her son Jesus, and she was saved from sin, as a pure vessel. 

Therefore, after centuries of meditation and prayer, on December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX declared the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which stated: “ Concerning the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, ancient indeed is that devotion of the faithful based on the belief that her soul, in the first instant of its creation … was, by a special grace and privilege of God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Her Son and the Redeemer of the human race, preserved free from all stain of original sin.” Which means that Mary was kept pure from all sin, a pure vessel for her son Jesus Christ who bestowed upon her this merit. For God justified her and prepared her, as He prepared the first creation for Adam, and she responded to him with full obedience “And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”. 

Our Blessed mother realized the will of God, as St Paul says “even as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.” For this was God’s plan which was corrupted by the First Man, and was later fulfilled by Jesus Christ, as He loved the Church and gave Himself up for her,  that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27). Thus, she was a sign for the state of man before sin, and an anticipation of his condition by the salvation we granted through Jesus Christ. 

Our holy mother, the Church, teaches us that Mary, in view of the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, was made pure without any flaw from the moment of her conception in the womb of Anne her mother, with a special grace and privilege from Almighty God. 

And Mary always kept this purity and chastity, and thus she gave herself fully to God. However, this grace and this privilege did not cancel or reduce her efforts in seeking to be as God wants her to be, rather she remained faithful to her vocation and was able to declare her “fiat”, her Yes, which God always awaits from man. She declared this through her obedience to God, and God only accepts this “Yes” from a person with freewill, which means that Our Lord awaits our free consent to participate with Him in the salvation of the world, and He blesses those who hear His word and live it, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

How do we celebrate this Feast today?

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God?“ says St Paul in his Letter to the Corinthians. 

We were called, like Mary, to be “temples of the Holy Spirit”, this is the good news for us, that God seeks to make us a dwelling place for Him. The good news is that, even though we are sinners, God still believes in us and chooses us a temple for Himself. Today’s feast is a feast where we thank God for his choice of Our Lady, who kept her life entirely for God, and became the mother and teacher of the Church, and a role model for us to walk toward God in a world challenging us with temptations. 

The immaculate Conception means looking into the world with pure eyes, and treating the world with a pure heart, receiving it with a humble soul and embracing it with mercy and charity, and by this way we become like Mary, allowing God’s grace to overcome the sin within us and within the world, so that the world may become “very good” as it was in the beginning (Genesis 1:31) 

We are delighted today to be celebrating this feast, with you our sisters, the Chaldean Daughters of Mary, on your feast day, that this day may be another opportunity for us to express and renew our Thanksgiving to God for everything He made for Our blessed mother, and our gratitude to everything this congregation has offered to the Church. God’s choice and vocation for you within this congregation implies a mission for you to live the life of Mary within His church, in a sincere and loyal environment. 

I also express my thanks to you for your free pastoral service which you give to this archdiocese, praying that God may accept your service, and that you may follow the steps of Our Blessed Mother, who knew how to thank God and was certain that He would always accompany her, even throughout pain and suffering. 

I pray that God would make of your life a song of thanksgiving, a project of service and a testimony to the great works of God. 

May God bless you.