Genesis 3:9–15, 20
Psalm 98:1, 2–3ab, 3cd–4
Ephesians 1:3–6, 11–12
Luke 1:26–38
The Immaculate Conception is God’s work, creating Mary for the purpose for which He brought her into being – to be the mother of the messiah, the hope of Israel and the savior of the world. In Mary, we see pure humanity.
Mary is saved from the beginning of her existence, giving human nature a “clean start.” The pure idea God has of humanity is given an existence in a human person, who is supplied with the graces necessary to cooperate.
There is a growth in Mary. She begins where we end up. Her human nature still has to be stretched in capacity to “take God straight” in the Incarnation, when she gives her fiat to the message of the angel and to continue to consent, “Thy will be done,” as her Son embraces His own death on the cross.
From the divine gift of the Immaculate Conception, we learn many things. God is God. He is sovereign. Our sin does not and cannot impede His will. He is creator, and He is all-good. He has chosen to share that very goodness with His creatures, starting with Mary in view of her role in salvation history.
God is provident. He prepares us for what He intends us to be and do for Him. We can trust God to have an answer for every circumstance.
We must cooperate with grace. God gave Mary the help she needed, giving humanity itself a “jump start” in the process of accepting salvation in Christ. But she had to assent to it freely, responding to the fullness of grace within her own person.
We can look at Mary to discover what God wants for us. The Immaculate Conception gives us a glimpse of what God wants us to be as His creatures, free from sin, perfected by grace, entirely reliant on the merits of Christ, living for Jesus and accepting the salvation He offers.
Mary accepted with love her own call to be Jesus’ mother, and she gave herself fully to Him. In return, He gave her to us, as the prime example of what He can do in our human nature.
With Mary, we can express gratitude for our very being. In the Magnificat, Mary says, “My being proclaims the greatness of the Lord.” She is our mother in the order of grace, and she continues to pray for us and with us.
Mary is the Immaculate Conception. Her human nature is the renewed nature God gives through the merits of her Son. By cooperation with the great graces given to her, Mary becomes the pure vessel that gives us salvation in the person of her divine Son.
May we be sons and daughters worthy of such a mother! Let us respond as she does, confident of her intercession for us: Let it be done to us, according to Your Word.
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is the patronal feast of the United States of America. On this day, let us pray for our country and its leaders. May we be open to the action of grace that allows us to be a beacon of hope for the world, living in freedom and in a manner that supports true justice for all.