Word to the Wise
Wednesday, December 8, 2010 - The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
[Genesis 3:9-15, 20; Ephesians 1:3-6; Luke 1:26-38]Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. [Luke]<br /> In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will.....[Ephesians]
The dogma and feast of the Immaculate Conception celebrate the life of the Virgin Mary from its very moment of conception - most particularly that she was free of the impact of Original Sin. Since the American Bishops many years ago dedicated our nation to Mary under her title of the Immaculate Conception, the feast day was made a holy day of obligation in this country. Of course, this now results in the somewhat strange phenomenon that fewer people attend on this date than on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe which falls on December 12th. I suspect the good bishops will eventually work out the matter.
One aspect of Mary's participation in God's plan shows clearly in the scripture for the feast. It is her openness, despite her doubts, to God's plan for salvation. Perhaps there are some, using a modern metaphor, who would say that she was "programmed" to be so from the very beginning. This would take too long to go into theologically here. We can read the entire gospels and see that this openness cost her a great deal. She may not have been subject to the stain of original sin, but she suffered because of the conduct of others! One can only imagine the awkwardness caused by the discovery of her pregnancy, even if she was betrothed to a good man! What mother is not hurt by attacks on her children! The scripture shows us that she remained faithful to the last with Jesus and shared in the coming of the Spirit in Jerusalem.
While this feast has a decidedly different "flavor" than the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, both honor the same woman but perhaps for different reasons. It's part of the richness of the Catholic devotional imagination interacting with God's plan. AMEN