Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary | USCCB
Today the church
commemorates the immaculate conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, sinless from
the very first moment of her conception in her mother’s womb. Many people
mistakenly think that this feast commemorates Mary conceiving Jesus in her
womb, but that’s not the case at all. It is the moment in her mother, Anna’s
womb, that Mary is conceived. Counting forward to 9 months you will see that
it’s September 8th, the feast of the birth of the Blessed Virgin
Mary.
Pope
Pius IX on
December 8th, 1854 declared that, "The most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her
conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by almighty God, in view
of the merits of Jesus Christ, the saviour of the human race, was preserved
free from all stain of original sin."
We see in
our gospel for today that, due to these graces, Mary was willing to fulfill the
call to be the Mother of God. We first hear the Angel Gabriel say, “Hail, Full
of Grace, the Lord is with you.” Mary is startled at first by this visit from
Gabriel. Then, Gabriel explained that she had been chosen to be the Mother of
the saviour. She was at first unsure what that meant. But, as soon as Gabriel
explained how it was to come about, Mary said very willingly, “Behold, I am the
handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Mary,
because of the grace given to her by God at her conception, was willing and
ready to do what was asked of her by the Angel Gabriel.
We, too, are
called to be open to bringing Christ into the world today as Mary did more than
2,000 years ago. Mary had the privilege of being without sin due to the grace
of her immaculate conception, but we, as Catholic Christians, are able to gain
the graces needed to bring Christ into the world. First, through the gift of
the sacrament of confession, we receive forgiveness of our sins and then we
receive the graces necessary to bring us closer to God. Then, with each time we
receive our Lord in Holy Communion, we leave the church to bring Christ into
the world as Mary did those many years ago.
One name for
Mary is Theotokos, which means
Christ-bearer. We, too, once we receive Holy Communion, become Christ-bearers,
called to bring Christ to all those we meet once we leave the church.
As we leave church, let us be grateful for the “yes” that Mary gave to
be the Mother of God. And let us also say “yes” in bringing Christ into this
world that needs to know the love, peace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
From Arlene B. Muller
ReplyDeleteOn one hand, it is true that the Extraordinary Grace that GOD gave Our Lady by making her free from original sin from the moment of her conception helped to enable to remain free from sin all her life, helped to enable to say "YES" to becoming the Mother of JESUS CHRIST, Who is the Incarnate Son of GOD/fully GOD & fully Man/Our Savior, Messiah & LORD, & helped enable her to be 100% faithful while enduring the trials & sufferings as well as the joys in carrying out all the responsibilities this role entailed.
On the other hand, it is also true that because from eternity GOD chose Mary to be the Mother of Our LORD & foreknew that she would say "YES" to His call, GOD ensured that Mary would be conceived without original sin so that no stain of sin would ever touch the sinless Son of GOD until the time He, as the spotless Lamb of GOD, would take upon Himself all our sins & all the sons of everyone in the world, past, present & future. So to those who believe that as Catholics we are too focused on Mary, we can say that our belief that Our Lady was conceived without original sin and that she, unlike Adam & Eve & to her credit, made use of the graces given to her, remained sinless all throughout her entire life, is not just because of who Mary is but, even more importantly, because of WHO JESUS IS & His mission of redeeming the world.
When we receive the Sacrament of Baptism, we are cleansed from original sin, & if we are baptized after we are old enough to be held accountable for committing any sin, we are cleansed from those sins as well. But unlike Our Lady we still retain a sin nature, which St. Paul calls "the flesh", so we still have a part of ourselves that has an inclination toward sin, for which we need the grace of GOD & some effort on our part to resist. Thank GOD that Our LORD JESUS also gave us in the Church the Sacrament of Reconciliation/Penance/confession so that we can confess our sins & be absolved/cleansed from them.
When we are in the state of grace, the Triune GOD lives within us and, YES, we bear CHRIST to the world and even more so when we receive the Real Presence of Our LORD JESUS in the Holy Eucharist. That is why at the end of Mass the priest or Deacon commissions us to go in peace to love & serve the LORD and to glorify the LORD with our lives!