Word to the Wise
Thursday, December 8, 2011 - Dec. 8 - The Immaculate Conception the Blessed Virgin Mary
[Gen 3:9-15, 20; Eph 1:3-6, 11-12; Luke 1:26-38,760][The angel Gabriel said]: "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you." But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be,. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God...."
The very rich "Marian" theological tradition of the Catholic church can, in my opinion, be summed up in the words of the angel Gabriel to Mary: "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God." Because of this, she has certainly found favor with believers! Scripturally, her encounter with Gabriel and her subsequent visit with Elizabeth which occasions the "Magnificat," provide us with a framework for much of what has developed since. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception is an example of this. The "Preface" for today's Eucharistic celebration gives us a list of major "Marian" theological points: "a worthy Mother for your son," "the beginning of the Church," "advocate of grace," "model of holiness." One can find the official elaboration of these important points in the Second Vatican Council's document on the Church, Lumen Gentium and Pope Paul VI's document on Marian devotion, Marialis Cultus.
I simply want to point to the fact that this feast of the Immaculate Conception occurs just before another major Marian celebration, Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is, from my pastoral experience, far most celebrated in the U.S.A., than today's feast, and, unlike today's feast, is not a holyday of obligation! Today's feast really focuses on the person of Mary and her privileged status in the sight of God. The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe focuses on what Mary means for humankind! As Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mary becomes (in a manner of speaking) the "maternal face of God."
Both feast days are rather grand in scope. For myself, I look to the image of a frightened young Jewish woman who, while pregnant, makes a journey to her cousin's house for three months and then six months later, almost due, makes another trip to Bethlehem and delivers a child in a stable! This image makes her self-giving in this Advent/Christmas season a more realistic model to me. Immaculate Conception - yes! Our Lady of Guadalupe - yes! But above all, MARY, the mother of Jesus, our sister, and mother to us all. AMEN