IMMACULATE CONCPETION -2016

Genesis 3:9-15, 20; Eph. 1: 3-6, 11-12; Luke 1: 26-38)

What is so special about the Immaculate Conception, about the fact that from the first moment of her existence Mary was protected by God from the stain and effects of original sin?

Why did the Church make this Solemnity one of the seven days of holy obligation?

There are two reasons.

First, the Immaculate Conception reminds us of the most basic truth of the Catholic faith and of human existence: we need a Savior.

Today's First Reading reminds us that the human race is fallen. All the suffering, injustice, and misery in the world flow from original sin, the rebellion of the human race against their Creator. That rebellion was a mortal wound to human nature.

It was like an astronaut on a space walk disconnecting the cable that links him to the space station: if no one reaches out to reconnect him, he will float away into oblivion.

After our rebellion against God, we needed him to reach out to us, we needed a Savior.

The Immaculate Conception reminds us of this, because Mary didn't do it herself. This miraculous privilege of being completely protected from the stain and effects of original sin, of being created "full of grace", was a pure gift of God. He filled her with grace from the very first moment of her existence in order to make her a fitting mother for the coming Savior.

When Adam disobeyed, he wasn't alone; Eve was with him. Adam and Eve together were created in God’s image, and together they were entrusted with caring for the world, and together they gave into temptation and caused the fall. And so, when the time came for God to redeem the human race, he considered it appropriate to give us not only a new Adam, Jesus, but also a new Eve, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Jesus alone is the Savior, because he alone is divine, but he has chosen to involve Mary in his work of salvation in a special way. That is why she was preserved from the stain of original sin, from the very first moment of her existence.

The Church's liturgical calendar did not purposely place today's Solemnity in the middle of Advent. We remember and celebrate the Immaculate Conception on December 8th because we celebrate Mary’s birthday (which had made it into the liturgical calendar first) nine months later, on September 8th- Mary's conception was calculated backwards from her birthday, independently of Advent. But providence has made this apparent coincidence into a meaningful God-incidence. Advent is the time when we remember how dark the world was before Christ, and how dark and horrible it still is wherever hearts have not yet welcomed Christ's grace.

The Immaculate Conception was God's way of giving Jesus a worthy mother on earth, and of giving us a worthy mother in heaven. We should thank him for this great gift, and the best way to do that is to follow in our mother's footsteps, answering every call that God sends to our hearts and consciences in the same way that Mary answered her call, by saying: "May it be done to me according to your word."

Every mother wants her children to inherit or acquire all her good qualities. Hence, our Immaculate and holy mother wants us to be holy and pure children. The original sin from which Mary was preserved is the original sin from which we, too, have been freed. The grace of Christ that was hers is the same grace of Christ that is ours. Mary is significant for us because the central factors in her life are the central factors in our own. Perhaps the lesson is that, no matter in which direction we may be facing, we need Mary Immaculate in our lives in order to remember who Christ is and who we ourselves are.

On this feast day, let us ask her to be with us, to guide us, to protect us through her prayers of intercession with her Son, and to share her privilege with us, making our bodies worthy resting places for her son.