Laud and honor to our Lady most pure

Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (a Holy Day of Obligation) .

Gloriosa dicta sunt de te, Maria: quia fecit tibi magna qui potens est.
Of thee glorious things are said, Mary Immaculate, for whom the Mighty One has done great things.

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Behind the second curtain was a tent [or tabernacle] called the Holy of Holies. In it stood the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which there were a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant
Hebrews 9:3-4

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The ark of the old covenant held the Word of GOD written on stone tablets.
Who carried the Word of GOD Incarnate?

The ark of the old covenant held the symbol of the High Priest, the Rod of Aaron.
Who carried the High Priest of GOD?

The ark of the old covenant held the Manna, the Bread come down from Heaven.
Who carried the Bread come down from Heaven?

(adapted from Bob Stanley's Arks of the Covenant page).

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And the temple of God was opened in heaven: and the ark of his testament was seen in his temple, and there were lightnings, and voices, and an earthquake, and great hail. And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars

Rev 11:19-12:1

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“Let us chant the melody that has been taught us by the inspired harp of David, and say, ‘Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy sanctuary.’ For the Holy Virgin is in truth an ark, wrought with gold both within and without, that has received the whole treasury of the sanctuary”
St. Gregory of Neocaesarea (c. 213–c. 270)

“Mary, a virgin not only undefiled but a virgin whom grace has made inviolate, free of every stain of sin.”
St. Ambrose (340 - 397)

“A Virgin, innocent, spotless, free of all defect, untouched, unsullied, holy in soul and body, like a lily sprouting among thorns.”
St. Theodotus of Ancyra (446)

“In the womb of the her mother now begins to blossom the earth which will be the dwelling place of the Creator of the earth, the holy scepter, the new ark, the vessel of manna, … the bush which was not consumed by fire, the golden candelabrum, the living bridal room of the Lord God.”
Hymn for the feast of the Conception of St. Anne (seventh century)

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Honor and praise to thee, ever-chaste, ever-faithful, ever-blessed mother of our Lord.

Unused Quotes

Quotes gathered but not used for this thread


Blessed Theodoret of Cyrrhus (393-466)
Hebrews 9:27-28: "As it is appointed for each human being to die once, and the one who accepts death’s decree no longer sins but awaits the examination of what was done in life, so Christ the Lord, after being offered once for us and taking up our sins, will come to us again, with sin no longer in force, that is, with sin no longer occupying a place as far as human beings are concerned. He said himself, remember, when he still had a mortal body, “He committed no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth.” It should be noted, of course, that he bore the sins of many, not of all: not all came to faith, so he removed the sins of the believers only."


Letter to the Monks of Constantinople
He added "This is my body which is being broken for you for the remission of sins," and again "This is my blood which is shed for many for the remission of sins," and again "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood ye have no life in you" and "Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life" "in himself" he adds.


The Eranistes, or Polymorphus
Dialogue III.—The Impassible
Orthodoxus -- Remember then what it was which our Lord took and broke, and what He called it when He had taken it.

Eranistes -- I will answer in mystic language for the sake of the uninitiated. After taking and breaking it and giving it to His disciples He said, "This is my body which was given for you" or according to the apostle "broken" and again, "This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many."


St. Aurelius Augustin [St. Augustine]
On Marriage and Concupiscence.
Book II, Chapter 56
Why, the subject in hand is about infants, about human beings at their birth; and it is about these that he raises odium against us, because they are defined by us as guilty from the very first, because we declare them to be guilty, since Christ died for them. And why did Christ die for them if they are not guilty? It is entirely from them, yes, from them, we shall find the reason, wherefore he thought odium should be raised against me. He asks: "How are infants guilty, for whom Christ died?" We answer: Nay, how are infants not guilty, since Christ died for them? This dispute wants a judge to determine it. Let Christ be the Judge, and let Him tell us what is the object which has profited by His death? "This is my blood," He says, "which shall be shed for many for the remission of sins." Let the apostle, too, be His assessor in the judgment; since even in the apostle it is Christ Himself that speaks. Speaking of God the Father, he exclaims: "He who spared. not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all!" I suppose that he describes Christ as so delivered up for us all, that infants in this matter are not separated from ourselves. But what need is there to dwell on this point, out of which even he no longer raises a contest? For the truth is, he not only confesses that Christ died even for infants, but he also reproves us out of this admission, because we say that these same infants are guilty for whom Christ died.


On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants
Chapter 16.
Why the Gift of Faith is Not Given to All.

Faith, then, as well in its beginning as in its completion, is God's gift; and let no one have any doubt whatever, unless he desires to resist the plainest sacred writings, that this gift is given to some, while to some it is not given. But why it is not given to all ought not to disturb the believer, who believes that from one all have gone into a condemnation, which undoubtedly is most righteous; so that even if none were delivered therefrom, there would be no just cause for finding fault with God. Whence it is plain that it is a great grace for many to be delivered, and to acknowledge in those that are not delivered what would be due to themselves; so that he that glorieth may glory not in his own merits, which he sees to be equalled in those that are condemned, but in the Lord. But why He delivers one rather than another,-" His judgments are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out."70 For it is better in this case for us to hear or to say, "O man, who art thou that repliest against God?"71 than to dare to speak as if we could know what He has chosen to be kept secret. Since, moreover, He could not will anything unrighteous.


Reply to Faustus the Manichaean, Book XII
42. ... We see Him washing His garments in wine; for He is one with the glorious Church, which He presents to Himself, not having spot or wrinkle; to whom also it is said by Isaiah: "Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow."[69] How is this done but by the remission of sins? And the wine is none other than that of which it is said that it is "shed for many, for the remission of sins." Christ is the cluster that hung on the pole. So it is added, "and His clothes in the blood of the grape." Again, what is said of His eyes being bright with wine, is understood by those members of His body who are enabled, in holy aberration of mind from the current of earthly things, to gaze on the eternal light of wisdom. So Paul says in a passage quoted before: "If we be beside ourselves, it is to God." Those are the eyes bright with wine. But he adds: "If we be sober, it is for your sakes." The babes needing to be fed with milk are not forgotten, as is denoted by the words, "His teeth are whiter than milk."

69 Isa. i. 18


On Merit and the Forgiveness of Sins, and the Baptism of Infants (Book II)
CHAP. 49
An Objection of the Pelagians

Our body, therefore, is dead because of sin, but Christ's body only died without sin, in order that, having poured out His blood without fault, "the bonds" which contain the register of all faults "might be blotted out," by which they who now believe in Him were formerly held as debtors by the devil. And accordingly He says, "This is my blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."

St. Thomas Aquinas/St. John Chrysostom
Catena Aurea
Matthew 26:28. For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Chrys.: And in calling it blood, He foreshews His Passion, “My blood ... which shall be shed for many.” Also the purpose for which He died, adding, “For the remission of sins;” as much as to say, The blood of the lamb was shed in Egypt for the salvation of the first born of the Israelites, this My Blood is shed for the remission of sins.

St. John Chrysostom
Homily VII on Romans
Tell me, dost thou not perceive that thou art plotting against the sheep of Christ when thou warrest with His Shepherd? those sheep for whom also Christ shed His Blood, and bade us both to do and to suffer all things?

St. Cyprian
The Epistles of Cyprian Epistle LXII.
2. Know then that I have been admonished that, in offering the cup, the tradition of the Lord4 must be observed, and that nothing must be done by us but what the Lord first did on our behalf, as that the cup which is offered in remembrance of Him should be offered mingled with wine. For when Christ says, "I am the true vine" the blood of Christ is assuredly not water, but wine; neither can His blood by which we are redeemed and quickened appear to be in the cup, when in the cup there is no wine whereby the blood of Christ is shown forth, which is declared by the sacrament and testimony of all the Scriptures.


St. Paul
1 Corinthians 11:2
I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you.

Eusebius of Caesarea: Against Hierocles

From Book VII, Chapter 1 :

To us, that is, who in Galilee of the Gentiles have believed on Him, to whom He has brought light and joy, and the new and fresh drink of the mystery of the new Covenant: according to the prophecy which says:

"First drink this, drink quickly—land of Zabulon, and land of Nephthalim, and the rest who dwell by the coast, across Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: O people that sat in darkness, behold a great light, and to them that sat in darkness and the shadow of death a light is risen."

These are they who from the Gentiles believed in the Christ of God, and the disciples and apostles of our Saviour, whom He called from the land of Zabulon and Nephthalim, and chose for the preachers of His Gospel. To them therefore who believed, the Angel of Great Counsel is given as a son to bring them salvation, but to them who disbelieved fire and burning.