Monday 9th December, The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We celebrate Mary who, from the first instant of her existence in the womb of her mother Anne, was ‘by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God, and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved free from all stain of original sin’.
Friday 13th December, St Lucy, virgin and martyr, desiring to remain consecrated to Christ alone, was martyred in 304 in Sicily during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian.
Saturday 14th December, St. John of the Cross, priest and doctor of the Church, 1542-1591, a Carmelite who, despite opposition and imprisonment, worked for spreading the reform of the Carmelites. He was a man of prayer, an outstanding poet, a spiritual writer declared doctor of the Church.