Wednesday, December 8, 2021

 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)

Today we celebrate Mary being conceived in the womb of her mother.  The event marks the beginning of the immediate preparation of our redemption.  As a special grace from God, Mary does not inherit whatever DNA disorders the nature of the rest of humanity.  She is not inclined to sin.  She is, as it is said, "immaculately conceived."  All other human beings besides Mary’s son, Jesus, are affected by Adam and Eve’s sin reviewed in today’s first reading.  They disobeyed God’s command not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and bad. 

Today’s second reading reveals part of God’s plan of redemption.  His Son, the same Jesus, has joined us to the Father as adopted children.  Jesus has purified us of the sin of our human parents.  Now we no longer follow our desires but do God’s will.  Mary exemplifies submission to God’s will in today’s gospel.  She is challenged by the request that she undertake an enormous responsibility.  She overcomes her fear to fulfill the request to birth to God’s Son.

We celebrate Mary as the greatest of saints. She never sinned. She showed great courage. And, close to her son, she has proven the most reliable intercessor. We should not hesitate to ask her assistance.  In our becoming sisters and brothers of Jesus through faith, we receive Mary as our mother.

Tuesday, December 8, 2020

 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)

Sin like sewerage contaminates everything it touches.  The primordial sin of Adam and Eve rejects God’s authority.  Its perversion  does not end there, however.  Both proceed to wrongly cast blame on others.  The man accuses the woman of giving him the forbidden fruit.  The woman says the devil tricked her into eating it. 

The pollution of sin is not definitively arrested until Jesus dies on the cross.  Even then, as we know, sin seeps through cracks in human make-up.  Mary, however, shows herself in today’s gospel as the one exception to the universal occasion of sin.  Faced with a divine mandate, she has no concern for herself.  Her question about how she was to conceive and bear a son is a call for orders on what to do.  Despite being given an exotic answer, she answers definitively.  She will do what God wants.

Today we ponder the exception of Mary to the universality of sins in human persons.  We may see it in two ways.  First, we notice that what happens to Mary happens to us at Baptism.  Christ frees us from sin so that our lives might, as the reading from Ephesians claims, give him fitting praise.  Second, in Mary’s singular case, sin has not tainted her makeup.  From the beginning, her will is dominated by her intellect which, in turn, is fixed on the Holy.  She can tell the angel in today’s gospel without reservation, “’May it be done to me according to your word.’”

Friday, December 8, 2017

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)

Sin has been in the news a lot lately.  Not just the crimes that typically make the headlines, but the kinds that most people think of when they hear the word.  A Hollywood producer has been accused of multiple sex offenses, so have politicians, and entertainers.  One hopes that the revelations will lead to a widespread cleanup in the media as well as in people’s personal lives.  Today’s feast could serve as a prescription for the reform.

Mary’s Immaculate Conception looks forward to Christ’s saving work on behalf of all humankind.  The first reading intimates the problem.  Adam and Eve’s sin unleashed on the world a tempest of sexual desire that has never abated.  The couple pants for and, at the same time, is ready to betray one another.  Their descendants through the ages will inherit these conflicting passions.  But the hope for peace is not extinguished.  God sends His angel to Mary whom He has prepared to mother a savior.  Her willingness to accept the responsibility sets in motion the world’s redemption.  Mary’s son Jesus will atone for sin so that humans can, as noted in the second reading, become “holy and without blemish.”

For our part we must keep sexual desires properly directed.  This means strict control of Internet sites and general avoidance of lust.  More than that, we call on Christ to cleanse our eyes to see every person as a sister or brother.  He remains are last, best hope.

Thursday, December 8, 2016

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)

Today’s reading from the Letter to the Ephesians tells of God’s plan to make us His people.  It says that we were chosen before the world was founded. But the drama of salvation begins in the first reading. Our ancestors are seen alienating themselves from God and one another.  The same alienation due to sin keeps us from being a united people under God today.

God’s plan has an unexpected agent.  In the gospel passage Mary is a young virgin whose nature has been uncorrupted by sin.  She is actually asked whether she wants to participate in the drama of salvation.  Will she allow herself to be the mother of God’s Son?  It may arouse suspicion of her virtue and even disgust from the self-exalted.  But as right-minded as she is, how can she refuse God’s request?  Her acceptance of the responsibility – “’May it be done to me according to your word’” -- leads to the coming of Jesus and our eventual adoption into God’s family.

Today is given to contemplating this mystery.  We should see Mary as not so different from us.  She is not hindered by selfishness, but we can limit that disgrace by regularly denying ourselves in favor of others.  More importantly, she is propelled by the love of God.  We too have a share in that love through our Baptism.  This is to say that we, similar to Mary, might be agents of a united humanity under God’s care.