HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Homily for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Genesis 3:9-16,20. Psalm 98:1,2-3ab,3cd-4. Ephesians 1:3-6,11-12. Luke 1:26-38.

"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. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854: 'The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin'" (CCC 491).

To St. Bernadette who had questioned her many times, the Blessed Virgin Mary answered, "I am the Immaculate Conception". With these words our Lady clearly revealed that she is not only conceived without sin, but she is moreover the very "Immaculate Conception". The Immaculate Conception is the name which reveals with precision who Mary is. It not only affirms a quality but it exactly defines her person. Mary is radically holy in the totality of her existence, from the very beginning.

From the first instance of her natural existence the Blessed Virgin Mary remains associated with her Son in the Redemption of humanity through her unique and exalted election by God. She is the woman referred to in the First Reading of today's Mass. After the first sin committed by Adam and Eve, the specific original sin, God said to the serpent: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Gen.3:15). Mary is the new Eve from which a new race, the Church, will be born. Mary takes the place of Eve but in the opposite way. Just as Eve is the cause along with Adam of the universal fall into sin, so Mary is for all the cause of salvation by her obedience in cooperating with Christ in our redemption.

In the Second Reading, St. Paul says: "Blesed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved" (Eph.1:3-6).

Today we can apply these words in a special way to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In Christ Jesus, God and Father of our Lord has chosen her to be holy and immaculate. He has chosen her to be immaculate from the first moment of her conception by her human parents. He has chosen her in consideration of Christ so that in the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God she might find the 'divine favour' in all its fullness.

From the greetings of the angel Gabriel in today's Gospel when he said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" (Luke 1:28) and from Elizabeth who was filled with the Holy Spirit, she said, "You are most blessed among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!" (Luke 1:43). In her Magnificat, Mary said, "He has looked upon his servant in her lowlibess, and from now on all generations will call me blessed" (Luke 1:48).

According to theologians, the full of grace in Mary's case was the principal ground and characteristic of her human nature. Every aspect of her being shone with the splendour of that harmony with which God had originally wanted to endow all humanity. She was free from actual sin and from even the slightest moral imperfection. She had no need to struggle against disordered passions, nor did she suffer interior temptations. Exempt from the consequences of concupiscense, she felt no attraction towards sin or to any of the allurements of the devil. Then, through the merits of Christ, Mary received the fulness of grace from the Redemption. We understood clearly that God prepared with infinite love the one who was to become the Mother of his Son: How would we have acted if we could have chosen our own mother? I'm sure we would have chosen the one we love, adorning her with every possible grace. That is what Christ did. Being all-powerful, all-wise, Love itself (1 John 4:8), his power carried out his will.

Some consequences of original sin are shame, alienation from God, enmity among humans and hostility between nature and humans. This situation was caused by the disobedience of Adam and Eve, our first parents. God however would not abandon humans in their state of alienation and shame. He would redeem us and restore our original status as holy and blameless children of God. In God's plan of redemption, the Son of God would become a human person to restore the human race. And for this to happen, God has prepared the Blessed Virgin Mary who has found favour with Him, who will conceive and bear the "Son of the Most High".

God has great respect for us and that is why He first created us in His image and likeness. The Annunciation of the angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary is also a sign of this. However, this respect is owed directly to the fact that God respects the free will He has given to us. He needed Mary's collaboration in the Incarnation of His Son and decided it was necessary to inform her. God's plans never renders our free will irrelevant. For this reason, it is not a mistake to celebrate and emulate Mary's "Yes" in this whole affair.

When God wants to use us for a particular mission, He usually requires a "yes" which we are expected to give freely. Many times God will come up with a proposal which we, from our human inclinations, refuse to accept. We all need a very clear discernment to understand when God is truly speaking to us and making those proposals that could change not only our lives but also the lives of others for good as in the Annunciation.

Through accepting to be the Mother of God in Christ Jesus, Mary cooperated with God in taking us out of shame and hiding which Adam and Eve put the whole human race as a result of their sin of disobedience to God, as the First Reading teaches us, and brought us to Jesus who through His death on the cross brought us reconciliation with God the Father.

May God grant us the grace to say "Yes" to His plans for us in emulation of the Blessed Virgin Mary so as to do His will in all situation through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Have a blessed day