Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 Lectionary: 689

The man called his wife Eve,
because she became the mother of all the living.

There are few references to Eve after the incident in the Garden; she is named only twice in the New Testament, (2 Cor 11:3 and I Tim 2:13) and they are not flattering. But on this feast of the Immaculate Conception, as we remember the most wonderful daughter of Eve, we do well to recall the rest of her story from the Book of Genesis. 

We can suppose that she and Adam regretted what they had done and its terrible consequences; and then we should notice what happened next. After Adam gave her a most wonderful title, "the mother of all the living," Eve heroically came forward. 

"The man had intercourse with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, saying, 'I have produced a male child with the help of the LORD.' 

Next she gave birth to his brother Abel."

Despite the pain that the Lord had imposed upon her childbearing, Eve's expression is grateful and joyous; and she is equally satisfied with the gift of a second son. She has produced two images of God! What could be sad about that? 

In Louisiana I knew a woman whose son murdered his brother. When he returned from prison he lived with her. I knew the fellow; he was not very bright. He was later convicted of a second murder. I asked his mother why she had taken him in. She said he had nowhere else to go. Some time later, I buried the old woman from our Church in Louisiana, and he attended the funeral, chained between two prison guards.

The story continues:

Adam again had intercourse with his wife, and she gave birth to a son whom she called Seth. “God has granted me another offspring in place of Abel,” she said, “because Cain killed him.”

Eve speaks realistically of what has happened; and Seth, her third son, proves to be a man of worth. For, 

"To Seth, in turn, a son was born, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to invoke the LORD by name."

Knowing and invoking the name of the LORD -- the most sacred name which devout Jews in the Lord's time never spoke -- are certainly extraordinary blessings given to the children of Adam and Eve. Despite the good start and bad decision, their story does not end badly. Although Adam disappears from the story, Eve's courageous generosity prevails. (See the starred footnote in the NABRE.)

Today we celebrate the most wonderful daughter of Eve, a woman who contributes to her ancestor's heroic tradition. She has no reason for shame in her ancestry, nor in her innumerable children. Given an extraordinary grace, she was conceived without sin and is worthy "to invoke the LORD by name." 

In a most wonderful fashion the Mother of God became the Mother of all, 

...to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God. (John 1:12-13)