Saturday Reflections on the 1st Week of Advent…the Immaculate!

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

What does the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception say?
It says that: …from the first moment of conception, when Mary was conceived in the womb of her mother St. Anne, she was completely free from original sin.

All of us were conceived with original sin. Mary was never conceived with original sin. That is what the feast of the Immaculate Conception means.

It means that Mary was prevented from any stain of sin from the first moment of her conception.

Does that mean that Mary does not need redemption from Jesus Christ? No.

When Mary was delivered from original sin, it was by the merits of redemption of Jesus Christ. Mary was saved from original sin not for her sake but for the sake of Jesus Christ.

Why was Mary freed from original sin from the first moment of her concepcion?

It is because the Father wants to have a perfect instrument, a stainless container to contain the body of Christ for nine months.
If Jesus would get a body from one who had sins, His dignity would be stained.

The Father prepared Mary and prevented any sin from touching Mary because this woman would become the container of Jesus Christ and the Father wanted the container to be totally pure from the first moment of her conception. Mary was immaculately conceived not because of her but because of Jesus.

Why de we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception?

Mary is a human being like all of us. Mary is not a goddess. We don’t worship or adore Mary.

Mary is a human being like all of us and we are proud because a human being like one of us was chosen by God to stainless, to be immaculate, to sinless.

But why?

A fellow human being and creature of God was blessed. And this should make us even proud to have a human being like Mary who was blessed by God. That’s why we are proud of Mary.

We cannot adore Mary because adoration belongs to God.

We cannot kneel down to worship Mary because worship belongs to God. But we are grateful, we are proud, of a beautiful sinless woman like her because she is one of us-human.

Mary was chosen, sinless, stainless. We are proud of her. Mary gives us every opportunity, every occasion to stand ten feet tall because she is one of us.

Perhaps and I guess we can no longer imitate Mary in her innocence. Perhaps we can no longer imitate Mary in her sinlessness.= we have committed enumerable sins. But even if we cannot imitate Mary in her innocence, we can still imitate Mary in her obedience to God.

We, who have been made ugly by sins, who have so many bruises, so many scars of sins, can still be made beautiful if we will follow the obedience of Mary.

No longer innocent, we do not ask the Lord to restore our innocence. That is too late. But we can ask Him to make us more obedient so that in being obedient, we become more beautiful before God and before the Church.