I wish you a very happy feast of the Immaculate Conception. You’ll find excellent patristic catenas, on every aspect of the dogma, at New Advent, and a nice backgrounder at EarlyChristians.org.

In the East, Mary is all-holy, panagia. In the West, we celebrate her as sinless. These are two complementary aspects of the same truth. (And maybe the most perfect illustration of the difference between a “half full” and “half empty” approach to theology!) God infused the world with beauty at the conception of the Blessed Virgin. Don’t let the day go by in an ordinary way! Here’s some extraordinary reading for starters.