Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 Lectionary: 689

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavens,
as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world,
to be holy and without blemish before him.

I was quite taken with Redemptoris Mater by Pope Saint John Paul II. I was not only taken with, I was also taken out of a certain degree of cynicism about the Church's teaching about Mary. 

I was especially impressed by the Saint's reading of Saint Paul's hymn, found in the first chapter of his Epistle to the Ephesians. Although the Apostle was speaking of everyone who believes in Jesus -- those who are chosen to receive "every spiritual blessing in the heavens" -- the words apply especially to the Virgin Mother of God. Every "but.." I had ever heard about why we should not honor Mary was blown away. 

I was so enthused that, upon moving to Jennings, LA and being welcomed by both Catholic and Protestant ministers, I wanted to speak to the Protestant congregations about the encyclical. (The ministers were polite but never took me up on it.)

When Gabriel called Mary by a new name, "Full of Grace," he recognized that she was blessed "in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens." That blessing was so intense -- beyond all imagination! -- that she became literally pregnant with grace. The Word of God took flesh within her body. 

But, of course, the blessing could not take effect without her ready consent, without her reply, "Be it done to me according to your word." The Church has traditionally called that statement her fiat, a Latin word meaning "So be it." Or perhaps, "Make it so!" for the Angel trembled before the Queen of Angels and would obey her command. 

Our God might use his enemies, giving them a blindness which cannot see what even a blind person can see, but he does not use his faithful. Mary would never be like the unfortunate women who are forced, or paid, to carry a stranger's child. 

On the contrary, our God was as pleased with her willingness as he was with the Lord Jesus when he was baptized. The universe heard his announcement, "This is my beloved son!" It takes little imagination to hear his shout of delight upon Mary's fiat. (Saint Francis called her the "spouse of the Holy Spirit.")

Clearly, she had been chosen by God and in Jesus, before the foundation of the world. That is what we mean by Immaculate Conception. More than exempt from the guilt of Original Sin, she received the grace of Immaculation which provided her with the courage and insight to do God's will. Always free to choose, she would no more choose to sin than you or I might choose to shoot ourselves. It's just not something we would think of, much less plan and do. 

But we are not so blessed, and we're apt to act foolishly when tempted. As Saint Ignatius of Loyola taught, good people are tempted by good things. Mary saw through the Tempters ruses and let herself be guided by the wise and joyous spirit of God. Even letting her Son leave home and set out on the Road to Calvary, as difficult as it was, was the right thing to do, as directed by God; and she chose to do so. 

We are chosen to be "holy and without blemish" before God. If we're familiar with the call to holiness, we still find it hard to imagine ourselves as without blemish. But that is the promise; Saint Paul pointed directly at it in the same Letter to the Ephesians: 

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (5:25-27) 

That water is the bath of our Baptism even as we're also washed in the Blood of the Lamb with our Eucharist. 

When we celebrate Mary's Immaculate Conception we celebrate the promise given to us, and the fulfillment of that promise we see in her. As we come to know her we're all the more assured of the Lord's promise and grace. They will be satisfied.