IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
St. Augustine said, "Christian, become what you are".
Mary is our model in this evolution of our faith, of this becoming what we are.
Although it was only on 8th Dec 1854 that Pope Pius IX solemnly declared that Our Lady was conceived free from original sin and that this was then a dogma of faith to be believed in by all the faithful, it had been the belief of the faithful for centuries before that. As it were to confirm the Pope’s pronouncement, when Our Lady appeared in Lourdes four years later in 1858 she said to St. Bernadette “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Our Lady herself confirmed the Pope’s declaration that she was immaculate.
We believe that this special grace was given to Our Lady in advance because of her Son Jesus dying and rising. Time means nothing to God. God who had planned that his Son would become flesh and dwell among us, also planned that an Immaculate Mother would give birth to Jesus.
Even from the moment of her conception she was free of original sin, the sin we are all born with. Sometimes mothers complain because the Church says children are born with original sin. They say “but my child has not sinned yet. How can the Church say my child has original sin?” But original sin is not the result of doing something wrong; original sin is a state of sinfulness that we inherit from humanity even though as infants we committed no sin. We believe that Mary was uniquely chosen by God and preserved from this sin. The Father loved Jesus so much that he chose a mother completely free of sin for him.
So we say she was pre-redeemed. It is as if she walking in the forest and there was pit up ahead. But she didn’t fall into it; she was saved from falling into it. The rest of us did fall into that pit of sinfulness and have to save from it by coming out of it. Mary and we are both saved from sinfulness by Jesus but in different ways.
Even though the Gospel is about the conception and birth of Jesus we can get hints of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception in it. Gabriel described Mary as “highly favored” or “full of grace” and the Lord is with her. Also she has “won God’s favor.” These are little glimpses of the special privilege God gave Mary in preserving her free from original sin.
We get another hint of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception in the Bible. Mary carried Jesus in her womb for nine months and we think of this especially during this Advent season. One of the titles given to Mary is Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament was a chest made of wood for carrying the two stone tablets containing the commandments which God gave Moses (Ex 25:16). So we could say the ark contained the word of God and Mary contained Jesus who was the Word of God in her womb, so for that reason Mary is sometimes called Ark of the Covenant. In the Old Testament those who were called on to move the Ark of the Covenant could not be sinners because the ark was considered so holy since it carried God’s word (1 Chron 15:14). In like manner, Mary, who is the new Ark of the Covenant, could not be touched by sin. It makes perfect sense that God would specially prepare Mary in holiness to carry Jesus in her womb. God and sin are opposites, and God prepared the sinless Virgin Mary to be a fitting mother to Jesus his Son. It is also fitting that Mary who was free from sin from the first moment of her existence was assumed body and soul to the glory of heaven at the end of her earthly life.
Mary was certainly not following her own agenda or doing her own will or building her own kingdom when she said ‘Yes’ to the angel Gabriel to become the mother of Jesus. Think of the consequences it could have had for her. She could have been stoned to death according to the law of that time. For that reason Mary knew that from the human point of view she may not even be able to bring her pregnancy to its full term but she had faith to believe that what is impossible for us is possible for God. And so with that faith she said yes. She surrendered into the hands of God, and it really was surrendering because she did not know what the consequences would be. But she had faith to believe that no matter what difficulties would follow God would provide a way out and a remedy. Mary’s final words to the angel are a model for each of us, “I am the Lord’s servant, let what you have said be done to me.” And because Mary surrendered to God, Jesus came.
Mary shows us how to be a follower of Jesus, making a loving surrender into the hands of God who loves us. When we wonder if we can make such an act of trust and abandonment into the hands of God let us remember that when God calls us he also gives us the grace. Even when something seems impossible believe like Mary that when God calls you he will also supply you with the grace.
We are all faced with a decision like Mary. Will we surrender to God and allow God to do what from our human point of view seems impossible When Mary surrendered, Jesus came. Remember what St. Augustine said, "Christian, become what you are".
Let us pray together:
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee,Blessed are thou among womenand blessed is the fruit of thy womb, JesusHoly Mary, mother of God,pray for us sinners,now and at the hour of our death. Amen.