On Monday, Dec. 9, Rosary Academy held a Mass for the Immaculate Conception. During this Mass, we celebrated the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, and the purity of her conception. We look to Mary as an example of how to honor God’s requests and imitate Mary’s faith in saying yes to God.
During the readings, we learned about Adam becoming aware of himself and his nakedness. Adam and God then had a conversation about sin, and God banished him and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. What we can take from this is to try not to sin during this Advent season. In our homily, Father Ian talked about Advent and how we can prepare ourselves through prayer and celebrating Mary and her son, Jesus, for the coming of Christ.
When asked about the significance of the Immaculate Conception, Religion Teacher Mrs. Vasquez ’16 stated: “The Immaculate Conception is important to understand who Mary is. To be immaculately conceived is to have a sinless origin. The pureness of our Mother enables her to say yes to bearing the Christ and providing a way for salvation to enter the earthly realm. She sets the example for every person for what it means to be humble, strong, caring and pivotal.”
After a beautiful Mass, the Christina Burmeister Memorial Scholarship was handed out. This scholarship went to a student described as smart, capable and sweet: the Royal Reporter’s very own Editor-in-Chief, Christina Vaughan ’26! Congratulations Christina, the Royal Reporter could not be prouder.
As a student body, we recognized the Golden Graduates and their time at Rosary. They received a special Rosary blessing from students, staff and Father Ian. It was an awesome opportunity to see them and make them feel welcome in their Rosary community.
Many enjoyed this beautiful and heartfelt mass. When asked about enjoying Mass, Mrs. Vasquez expressed, “What I enjoyed most about our Mass on Monday was the student participation from the readers, to the choir, to the Eucharist ministers, to the congregation. I was in admiration of the female voices that overtook the Mass responses. It is such a special gift that we are in a primarily female environment, and we have the opportunity to follow in Mary’s yes by remembering and committing ourselves to the sacrifice of her son in the holy mass!”
Sophomore Sarah Conley agrees with Mrs. Vasquez. She claimed, “I think the Mass was beautiful and brought such a meaningful look to Christmas, especially since so many of us lose sight of the reason why we celebrate Christmas. With so many finals and tests for our class, it was a nice break to connect with God and have a sense of peace and calm for a bit.”
It is safe to say that Rosary Academy was very successful in hosting this Mass. All students, staff and anyone else in attendance enjoyed learning about the Immaculate Conception and our pure Mother Mary, mother to the highest.
