Students, faculty, and staff gathered in the Chapel of the North American Martyrs to celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a solemnity to which Jesuit High School has been devoted since its founding as the College of the Immaculate Conception. In honor of the occasion, students wore coats and ties in place of the traditional khaki uniforms—an outward sign of reverence for one of the most significant feast days in the Church and in Jesuit’s history. Each year, this December 8 celebration invites the community to reflect on Mary’s singular role in salvation history and to seek her continued intercession.

During the Mass, Fr. John Brown, S.J., and co-celebrant Fr. William Farge, S.J., echoed in the homily the Church’s teaching that while the feast honors Mary, it ultimately reveals the grandeur of God’s saving love in Christ. Mary was preserved from sin not for her own sake, but so she could become the pure tabernacle of the Incarnation—the bridge between fallen humanity and divine grace. In her Immaculate Conception, we glimpse God’s plan for our redemption, the first chapter of the story fulfilled in Christ, the new Adam. Her courageous fiat at the Annunciation models the trust and openness God desires of each of us, inviting believers to let grace reshape the heart and make us vessels of Christ’s love in the world.

The Jesuit choir, under the direction of Patrick Cragin ’06 and Dr. Mark T. Duggan ’04, elevated the liturgy with hymns that deepened the atmosphere of prayer and unity. Their music helped frame the celebration as both a remembrance of what God did for Mary and a call for the school community to embrace the holiness to which all are invited. Mary’s purity—entirely God’s gift—reminds us that true dignity comes not from human achievement but from divine grace working in our weakness.

As Blue Jays continue their Advent journey, today’s liturgy offered a renewed invitation to imitate Mary’s humility, courage, and fidelity. In challenging times marked by division and uncertainty, the Immaculate Conception stands as a sign of hope that sin is never the final word and that God’s mercy always goes before us. Under Mary’s enduring protection, generations of Blue Jays are united in the mission to become men of faith and men for others.