Each year during the Advent season on December 8, the Church celebrates the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Some Catholics will mistakenly believe that this feast refers to Jesus’ conception, when it is actually the celebration of Mary being conceived without sin. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that through “the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, ‘full of grace’ through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception.” In 1854, Pope Pius IX declared this teaching to be an infallible dogma of the Church.
God’s grace has a real affect on our lives today 2,000 years after Christ’s death and resurrection through many different ways, including the sacraments of the Church. God’s graces reached out to Mary even before her own birth, so that she was conceived in her mother’s womb without inheriting the original sin of Adam and Eve. Every year on this day, in the feast of the Immaculate Conception, we honor the way that God chose Mary, a young Jewish woman, through the gift of motherhood, to actively participate in the history of salvation and in the redemption of the world. In a sermon written by St Anselm used in the Office of readings for today, he writes: “Blessed Lady, sky and stars, earth and rivers, day and night – everything that is subject to the power or use of man – rejoice that through you they are in some sense restored to their lost beauty and are endowed with inexpressible new grace… The universe rejoices with new and indefinable loveliness. Not only does it feel the unseen presence of God himself, its Creator, it sees him openly, working and making it holy. These great blessings spring from the blessed fruit of Mary’s womb."
It is both a wonder and a mystery that God the Father began the redemption of the world by choosing Mary to play a vital role in his plan. Mary is referred to as the New Eve, since her humility and obedience began a process that undid the damage done by Eve’s disobedience and arrogance. The Bishops of the United States found inspiration in Mary’s unique role in the history of salvation and in her motherly love for us. Even before Pope Pius IX declared the Immaculate Conception to be dogma, they requested that Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception be named as the patron saint of our country.
As we celebrate this great feast day during these weeks of preparation and waiting during Advent, we pray that Mary’s example of trust in God will help us during these months of the pandemic. As the Angel Gabriel greets Mary with the first words announced to her in the Gospel: “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you,” let us all recognize the special grace of the Lord that is with our Blessed Mother. May we offer thanks to the Father for the gift of Mary, our mother. Mary, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, pray for us.
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