The Solemnity of
the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(Genesis 3:9-15.20; Ephesians 1:3-6.11-12; Luke 1:26-38)
Persian carpets are among the finest on earth. A princely one used to take years to
produce. Many tribe members contributed
to the effort. But a Persian carpet was
never made to be perfect. Because the makers
believed that perfection was an attribute of God alone, they would create a
flaw in the carpet’s composition.
Something similar can be said of every human being. All have been conceived with sin. All but two, that is. Jesus, being the Son of God, was perfect from
the start. Mary, his mother, was also conceived
without sin in virtue of her being selected to bring Christ into the world.
The first reading relates part of the story of human
sin. The primal man and woman disobey
God and hide from him. When they are
interrogated about the crime, it is revealed how they followed their animal
instinct rather than the divine command given to them. Their sin was repeated in every human life
until Mary’s. As the gospel today
relates, by a special grace she resists the instinctual desire to flee the
angel with the strange news. Indeed, she
embraces the opportunity to do the Lord’s will.
Today we celebrate what God did in Mary and what God is
doing in each of us through Jesus, Mary’s son.
In baptismal faith we have been given the grace to reject base
conniving. We can resist the animal
instincts of promiscuous sex, domination, and covetousness. When we do, we will, like Mary, hear the
words of the angel pronounced over us: “…you have found favor with God.”
