Hail, Full of Grace! The Lord is with You”
Today's Mass Readings
Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a day of celebration for the Church throughout the world and especially for the parish of the Immaculate Conception!
Both the solemnity itself and the readings which the Church has selected for it, push us to meditate seriously on the reality of sin. That Mary was conceived without sin may at first seem a bit distant from the heart of the of the Church’s teaching about Jesus. However, the Church has always associated this teaching very closely with how it understands Jesus – it was part of God’s eternal plan that Mary become the mother of Jesus, and in so doing become the mother of God. Yet, as it is with our Lord and His plans, Mary had to give her “yes,” her acceptance to God’s plans. We have her words to Gabriel in St. Luke’s Gospel, “I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” It is Mary’s response that drives us back, all the way to the beginning in reflection of human beings and their freedom. In the first reading, we see the results of Adam and Eve’s move against God’s will. This is necessarily a move away from freedom and toward enslavement. This seems counter-intuitive, isn’t freedom being able to do whatever I want? Of course, we hear this appeal often – “it’s your free choice,” “do your own thing,” “have it your way,” “be your own person.” We know, however, from the example of Adam and Eve that doing whatever I want actually leads to the enslavement of sin, not true freedom.
What does this enslavement to sin look like? Think about the burden that materialism puts on us… we have to wax the car to keep it shiny, we are compelled to buy the newest cell phone, television, or kitchen gadget, we surf the Internet for hours because we can. Think of how we become slaves to a particular television show or to our desire for sexual pleasure. These things take time, energy, and attention away from those things which really draw us closer to God. Sin clouds our vision, making it more difficult to hear God’s voice and to pursue true freedom, which is doing God’s will.
It is clarity of vision and alignment with God’s will that we celebrate in the person of Mary today. She was free from sin and pursued true freedom, that is God’s will, with abandon unlike Adam and Eve. For this reason, she has been called “The New Eve.”
We are called to model her freedom. As we celebrate this solemnity and continue to prepare for Christmas, let do three things: 1) Ask our Blessed mother to intercede for us to her Son, who died to free us from sin, that He might help us discern His will and follow it in freedom. 2) Let us continue to seek Christ in the sacraments – especially reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist. 3) Let us find one place in our lives where sin has taken control and limited our freedom. Is it enslavement to shopping? To tasty food? To television? To our job? To our sexual desire? Let us ask someone close to us in our lives to help us break free of this particular sinful habit, maybe by looking over how we spend our money or by helping us set limits on how we spend our time. For it is in humility and with others that we find true freedom in Christ!
- Timothy Gabrielli