The dignity of the human race is well portrayed when we see that God so blessed its members. The Lord loves the human race, and was pleased to be called the Son of man. He still loves this guilty earth, since He has deigned to enlighten it with one of the brightest rays of His Mother’s glory. How the world ought to exult on this feast of the Immaculate Conception! The present generation will never forget the enthusiasm with which the entire universe received the tidings of the definition of the dogma. It was an event of mysterious importance, which thus marks this second half of our century, and we shall look forward to the future with confidence. For the Holy Ghost bids us tremble for the days when truths are diminished among the children of men. He would consequently have us look on these times as blessed by God, in which we receive an increase of truth, and an increase both in light and authority. The Church always professed belief in the Immaculate Conception; it is not a new doctrine. She had always kept the 8th of December as the feast of the conception of Mary. Now we add, “Immaculate” Conception. Prayer. O Lord Jesus, Who didst, for the love of us, etc., etc. Fourteenth Day. There have been no new doctrines added to the dogmas of the Church. People are sometimes scandalized when they hear, from Protestant and infidel sources, that the Church is continually adding to her faith without any warrant from God. Such, however, is not a fact. The present living Church can add nothing to the revelation of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. St. Bernard and the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas, both teach that the Church cannot celebrate the feast of what is not holy. From time immemorial the feast of the Immaculate Conception has been celebrated; it was considered holy then, and is now no new doctrine. The nativity of the same holy Virgin is kept as a solemnity in the Church, because Mary was born full of grace. Therefore, had the first moment of Mary’s existence been one of sin, as that of all the other children of Adam, it never could have been made the subject of reverence by the Church. O Mary, thou bright ray of hope, penetrate our hearts, that we may rejoice in thy motherhood; thou art the dearest, purest, holiest Mother, whom we love most tenderly. Prayer. O Lord Jesus, Who didst, for the love of us, etc., etc. Fifteenth Day.