Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
In the Baltimore Catechism there are many questions and answers. While I did not grow up in the era of having to memorize it, I have learned a few questions and their answers. The question, “Why did God make you?” jumped into my head in reflecting on today’s readings. The answer makes clear what otherwise seems a difficult existential question. God made me to know, love and serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next. It means that we need to live as faithful disciples.
By way of contrast, the first reading gives us the prime example of not living faithfully, via the story of Adam and Eve. It is striking that both Adam and Eve passed the blame forward as to why they ate the fruit; the woman whom you put here, the serpent tricked me. This section of scripture is often called “The Fall.” This story paints the picture which theologians have described as the origin of sin. As the mother of all of the living, Eve passed on to all of us that which began with her disobedience, “Original Sin.”
Fortunately for us, the “necessary sin” of Adam and Eve was not the end of the story, hence today’s Solemnity. As the one who bore our savior, Mary became our new mother. Mary, the church teaches, was redeemed from the moment of her conception and therefore “full of grace.” This Marian feast calls to our attention that, we too, have been created by God for a purpose from the time of our very conception. Paul reminds us that through Mary’s Son Jesus we have all been blessed “with every spiritual blessing …destined in accord with the One” who made us.
We like Mary have been called for a purpose. Do we recognize our purpose? Are we actively living the call God has in mind for us? The promptings of the Spirit may be more subtle than an angel in our midst. During this Advent season, the Spirit is certainly calling us to be more like Mary. We are being prompted to open our hearts to the marvelous deeds of the Lord. When we make abundant room for the Lord in our hearts we like Mary, will live with a purpose that is according to God’s word.
-Michael Montgomery