Today we celebrate one
of the most splendid mysteries of the Church, and one that has been the topic
of much controversy over the centuries: the
feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
I am not so sure
that I have the necessary skills to prove by Scripture the doctrine of the
Immaculate Conception, as your parish priest I just invite you to look on the
purity of Mary with admiration, with a sincere heart. We have a lot to learn
from her: she is the first believer in Jesus, she is the first Christian. We
look on Mary as a model for our spiritual life and us. The virgin is not far
away in time to be an example for each one of us, at least I feel her presence
very close, and I am convinced that in this parish we love her very much. You
know, every day we struggle against temptation and sin, or because of events in
the past that have hurt us, so we
can and we should pray to Mary to help us on our journey, to help us fight
temptation and sin.
In our first
reading we heard about Eve leading Adam into sin[1]. Today
we see that our blessed Mother is the New Eve because at the Annunciation and through
her whole life she restored the
relationship broken by the first Eve. Today we wee that she is the New Eve
because she is the mother of all those born into new life through the grace in
Christ. This is a joyous occasion; this is a reason to thank her for her life
and her obedience to God the Father.
[So] Today we
celebrate the Eucharist in honor of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception, and not
just because of this special grace given to her but also because we regard Mary
in a special way a mother to all of us, a mother whom we love and a mother who
loves us, a mother to whom we can tell everything, a mother who wants what is
best for us. The Virgin is always present. Our blessed mother cares for the
children of the Church at all times. Are we aware of this?
Our blessed
Mother is honored by the Church and has been since the beginning, but not
worshipped, asked for her prayers, but not prayed to, recognized as having a
special relationship with Christ, but never taking His place. Mary’s role is to
point the way to her Son. We have to be very clear on this point.
Our blessed
mother is important because of her humanity and her proximity to the divine. St
Alphonsus Ligouri in his great book The
Glories of Mary[2]
suggested a great metaphor that could help us to understand the Immaculate Conception.
That metaphor is the consecration of an Altar: Mary is consecrated by her Immaculate
Conception to become a sanctuary fitting for the incarnate God. A stone table
or an empty building becomes a holy place through sanctification[3],
trough grace, trough the anointing.
So, in
celebrating the feast, we do two things: firstly,
we recognize God’s goodness towards Mary, his saving work of Grace on her life
from the moment of her conception, and secondly,
it is an example to us of God’s Grace intended for us, and which we will surely
inherit because it was bought for us by the blood of the Lamb. We must be aware
of this and be very grateful. So today we celebrate the Mass, because we are
grateful and want to say this to God.
Already very
close to Christmas we need to be attentive on the presence and protection of
our blessed Mother, and to wait in hope and prayer. Let us be sure that our
Lady waits with us this Advent Season for the redemption of all humankind. This
is a big consolation, a big reason for joy, a reason to celebrate, and a time
to keep silence and give thanks to God. Amen ■
