Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Shrine of St Francis
at Mount Saint Francis;
one of many

Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.

To appreciate the “marvelous deeds” God has done, we often have to back away from our customs and habits and see with fresh eyes.

Well into the second millennium, the traditional explanation for Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection was God’s forgiving our sins. It was understood, indeed taken for granted, that there would have been no savior had Adam and Eve not sinned. We still hear that understanding on Holy Saturday Evening when the cantor sings, "O happy fault that merited such a redeemer." 

In the 14^th century Blessed John Duns Scotus challenged this tradition. The Franciscan saw way beyond the “problem of evil;” he saw the Glory of God filling the universe. Scotus taught that God intended Jesus’ birth in our world since the very beginning. Creation is not complete until it is filled with the physical presence of the Word Made Flesh. Shockingly, our salvation did not begin with our sin! It’s just not that important.

The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is built upon Scotus’ Franciscan vision, but Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Dominican spirituality has dominated Roman Catholic theology. And so our vision of Mary is neither well understood nor appreciated. Devout Catholics simply nod their heads and say, “Of course she did not sin.” without appreciation for the depth and beauty of this teaching.

God planned in the fullness of time to bless the earth with Mary, who was called and willingly volunteered to be the Mother of God. Her being without sin is only the beginning of her blessings. She grew from grace to grace, from virginal innocence to fruitful maternity to all-sacrificing Madonna to the final rapture of her Assumption. 

She is worthy to be the Mother of God. That statement should take your breath away. Is it possible that a woman is worthy to be the Mother of God? The English poet and Anglican priest John Donne, marveled:

Ere by the spheres time was created thou
Wast in His mind, who is thy Son, and Brother ;
Whom thou conceivest, conceived ; yea, thou art now
Thy Maker's maker, and thy Father's mother,
Thou hast light in dark, and shutt'st in little room
Immensity, cloister'd in thy dear womb. 

What follows is beyond wonderful: Her very presence makes our world worthy to receive the Son of God.

Today’s feast invites us to Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.

For once we’re going to forget our disappointments and heartaches and sins and praise God for the beauty and holiness and goodness of Mary. Isn’t she marvelous? Aren’t you glad you can claim her as your sister, daughter, mother and friend? Aren’t you glad that God has blessed her, giving her the singular honor of being the Mother of God? She is “our tainted nature’s solitary boast” as William Wordsworth said.

The Christian religion has more important things to do than save souls, even my soul. We must praise God for the wonderful things he has done for Mary and the saints. We must praise God for Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God. We must praise God for the astonishing beauty and complexity and kaleidoscopic wonder of creation. If we do these things well, we can expect God to sweep us into the heavenly choir with its everlasting ministry of song.