Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (I)

This evening we celebrate one of the glorious mysteries of the Church, a mystery that has been the topic of much controversy over the centuries: the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary… I am not so sure that I have the necessary skills to prove by Scripture the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, but I believe that I have to talk about the importance of our blessed Mother in our spirituality and in the life of our parish community [1].

Our blessed Mother was born without sin, and this is what makes her especial, so we need to pay close attention to her and to her presence in our lives. But attention not because of what she has done. No. We need to pay attention to her because of what God has done for her and how she has responded. We need to pay attention to her because we cannot live this Advent season and prepare for the coming of the Lord unless we pay attention to that singular woman who was the vessel of the coming of the Lord into our world.

In a sense, the greeting of St. Gabriel says everything: Hail, Full of Grace. Hail to you whom God fills with his love. This is not a question of what she did to merit this honor and love. This is a question of what God does. This woman was so loved by God that she was conceived without sin, so she is the Immaculate Conception. The point is that a proper devotion to the Virgin always ends, or should end in our Lord.

And you know, Mary did not know this at the moment when she heard Gabriel's greeting. She had no idea of her singularity in God's eyes. And even more importantly she did not see her life unfolding in the manner that it would, I mean, she did not understand that she was to be the new Arch of the Covenant. I am sure that she had her own plans, her own ideas, her own future mapped out. But none of that seemed to matter. All that was important was that God led her in another direction and she was willing to follow. She allowed God to determine how God would come into the world. She let God do it God's way.

This is the most important teaching of our blessed Mother for us during this Advent season and in particular this evening.

She teaches us the importance of being prepared for the coming of Christ, the importance of letting God come to us in His own way and in His own fashion.

Sometimes we are so selfish that we want God to fit our plans, when the reality is that we must adjust to his plans.

This day we could ask for the grace, the gift, to be more docile, more obedient, and less arrogant. This evening we can ask the gift of having the ability to adjust our lives to His designs, which are always designs of love and tenderness…

You know, the miracle of Christmas is not that God comes. The miracle of Christmas is that we, like Mary, are open enough to find God when He appears ■