HOMILY FOR IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

 

THE SOLEMNITY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Rev. Utazi Prince Marie Benignus SFDPM

The solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mama Maria comes every December 8. This year 2019, the solemnity falls on 2^nd Sunday of Advent, and thus will be celebrated on Monday 9^th December 2019.

HOMILY FOR THE DAY

Readings:   Genesis 3: 9-15, 20;   Psalm 98: 1, 2-3, 3-4;   Ephesians 1: 3-6, 11-12;      Luke 1:26-38

Today’s readings present us with two women, their actions, and the repercussions of their actions.  We have a contrast today between Eve and Mary.   Both woman are key to the message of salvation, but from opposite perspectives.  

In the First Reading, as we explore the story of the fall from grace in Garden of Eden, we see some interesting events taking place.  God has graced Adam and Eve with a beautiful place to live, no problems, plenty of food, thus a true paradise.  Then enters the tempter, the serpent, identified often as Satan, the fallen angel.  There is the temptation to eat of something that seems “good,” even though God commanded that it should not be eaten.  The woman eats and invites her mate to join her.  Both realize their shame as they can no longer be freely open with themselves, or with God.  They have the first recorded cover-up in “history.”  When challenged by God, they do not want to admit their own part in the offense, but try to blame some else.  Adam and Eve were blessed with grace.  They chose not to fully accept the grace.  They wanted something of their own choice.  The rejected grace, the life of God with them, thus they disobeyed, they sinned.  They hid from God because they were afraid, and this is because they had rejected God’s grace, God’s gift of divine life. Yet God did not abandon them.  God promised that through the offspring of the woman, the battle between good and evil would be fought and good would ultimately win.  The Gospel leads us to the woman from whom the Promised One would come.  Mary is gifted with grace.  God gives her an abundance of grace.  The Angel Gabriel addresses her with greeting, “full of grace.”  And she responds with her “fiat” – “let it be.”  She freely chooses to accept God’s grace, God’s life within in her.  In a sense, she was offered the best grace, God’s life incarnate within her womb.  This was a huge request that God asked of her; the request came with a lot of repercussions.  This would change her life (and also the life of all people).  

As the angel of God appears to Mary, she was confused.  The angel shared God’s invitation of grace.  God wants Mary to accept God’s life within her so that God can become incarnate in and through her.  She is asked to be the mother of the Messiah.  Many things probably raced through her mind.  How was this going to happen?  What about her promise of virginity?  The angel reassures her of God’s gift of grace.  She is told it will be by the power of the Holy Spirit that she will conceive and give birth to the One Who will be called “Son of the Most High.”  More questions probably ran through her mind:  if she becomes pregnant and it is not by Joseph, Joseph will know, and by Jewish law, he has both a right and an obligation to have her stoned.  How will she explain this?  

Mary is willing to accept this grace, the gift of God’s life becoming human in and through her.  She did not reject the gift.  She listened as the angel explained a little more of God’s plan.  She was shown how God can work things out, since God has allowed Elizabeth, her elderly cousin, to be with child. She was confident (a word which means “with faith”) that God will see her through if she but listens and responds (“obeys”).  She responded to God’s grace, God’s gift of the fullness of God’s life within her.  She obediently says, “fiat” – “let it be.”  Her obedience leads to the birth of the One Who would counteract the disobedience of Adam and Eve, and all other acts of disobedience since.
       So how does that fit in with today’s Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception?  Today we celebrate that Mary was conceived in the womb of her mother (Anne) without the sin with which all other humans are conceived.   This was the beginning of Mary’s grace, the gift of God’s life within her.  Paul, in today’s letter to the Ephesians, speaks about God’s plan and God’s foreknowledge.  God always knows what will happen.  God has always known that Mary would accept this special grace. Thus Mary was allowed to receive the grace of redemption which her Son would bring through His death and resurrection.  She received this gift before the act of redemption took place in time*. 

MEDITATION: After centuries of waiting for the long-expected Messiah, God's messenger, the angel Gabriel, announced the glorious event to a young woman who lived in of Nazareth, an obscure village in Galilee. The virgin's name was Mary (Hebrew, Miryam, "the exalted one"). The angel told Mary that she had found favor with God and would bear a son who was to be named Jesus (Hebrew, Yeshua, "Yahweh saves"). Mary was deeply troubled by the angel's message as she was a virgin. She was told not to be afraid as God's Son would be conceived by the Holy Spirit. This "Son of the Most High" would rule eternally over the "house of Jacob" (v. 32-33) fulfilling the promises made to King David (2 Samuel 7:16). Mary responded with faithful submission to the will of God (fiat, "Let it be done"). Even before her son's birth, Mary prayed the prayer that Jesus taught: "Thy will be done." Mary's disposition of humility, faithfulness and praise are necessary virtues for all Christians who bear Christ to the world.
PRAYER: Blessed Mother, pray that I might always live in union with your son Jesus. ​

 

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

In 1854, Pope Pius IX’s solemn declaration “Ineffabilis Deus”(“Ineffable God”) clarified with finality the long-held belief of the Church that Mary was conceived free from original sin. In proclaiming the Immaculate Conception of Mary as a dogma of the Church, the pope expressed precisely and clearly that Mary was conceived free from the stain of original sin. This privilege of Mary derives from God having chosen her as Mother of the Savior; thus she received the benefits of salvation in Christ from the very moment of her conception. This great gift to Mary, an ordinary human being just like us, was fitting because she was destined to be Mother of God. The purity and holiness of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a model for all Christians. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) no.490 says of the Immaculate Conception of Mary: To become the mother of the Savior, Mary “was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role.” The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as “full of grace.” In fact, in order for Mary to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God’s grace. CCC no. 491 says: Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, “full of grace” through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1844: “The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.” (Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 1854.) CCC no 493 states that the Fathers of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God “the All-Holy” (Panagia) and celebrate her as “free from any stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature.” By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long.

The Scriptural Evidence of the Dogma of Immaculate Conception

Evidence 1

"And the angel came in unto her, and said, hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women." - Luke 1:28. It is the term "full of grace" that is emphasized by the Church when dealing with Mary's Immaculate Conception. The title "full of grace" comes from the Greek word kecharitomene, which describes a "perfection" and "abundance" of grace. In other words, Mary was proclaimed by the angel to be with a perfection of grace, which was a very powerful statement. Indeed, God has prepared her for this defining moment. Chosen from the beginning of time to be the mother of the Savior, Mary has been shaped by God to be a pure, spotless sanctuary in which his Son will dwell. Luke 1:28 happens to be the only place in the Bible where anyone is addressed with the important title of "full of grace." As St. John Paul II once commented, “‘Full of grace’ is the name Mary possesses in the eyes of God”. The all-holy Son of God will enter the world through the womb of a woman who is “full of grace.” While the phrase “full of grace” does not definitively prove the Immaculate Conception (the word itself doesn’t mean “you who were conceived full of grace”), it does tell us she already had a profound grace working in her before the angel Gabriel even appeared to her. The word could be translated with the phrase “you who have been and continued to be graced.” Though some Bibles translate this word as “favored one,” it actually indicates much more than God looking with favor on Mary.

By being called kecharitomene, Mary is being depicted as someone who has already experienced the same grace as the Christians in Ephesians 1:6,  someone who already has received forgiveness of sins and redemption and has become a child of God. It’s no wonder one of the Mass readings for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is from this very passage in Ephesians 1.

Evidence 2

Luke 1:35 shows Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant. According to the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant was the pure and holy vessel that held the Ten Commandments (the Old Covenant). The Ark was so holy in fact, that if anyone were to touch it they could actually fall down and die! It was housed in the Holy of Holies, which was a perfectly clean place where the Jewish high priests could enter only once a year according to their law (cf. Lev. 16:2-4). So how are Mary and the Ark related? The same language that describes God's "dwelling" place for the Old Ark is used again for Mary's overshadowing by the Holy Spirit. Put another way, the Old Ark held God's Ten Commandments and could not be touched by human hands because of its holiness. Mary, the New Ark, holds the New Covenant in her womb, which is Jesus Christ. How much holier is Christ than the Ten Commandments? It only makes sense that for Mary to hold God in her womb, she too would be completely pure and without any sin.

Historical Evidence

Pope Pius IX officially defined the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in the year 1854. He did so with the understanding that this belief would help the Catholic faithful grow spiritually towards Christ. The belief that Mary was without sin was not "invented" as numerous people mistakenly think. Many are still under the false impression that the Immaculate Conception was not believed until the year 1854 when it was defined. What they fail to realize is that the belief itself has extremely strong roots in Church writings going well back into the 4th century.  "Every personal sin must be excluded from the Blessed Virgin Mary for the sake of the honor of God." - St. Augustine, 390 AD. "Mary, a virgin not only undefiled but a virgin whom grace has made inviolate, free from every stain." - St. Ambrose of Milan, 340-370 AD. "You, and your Mother are alone in this. You are wholly beautiful in every respect. There is in you, Lord, no stain, nor any spot in your Mother." - St. Ephraem, 350 AD.

In fact, there are literally dozens of cases where early Church fathers have mentioned Mary as being without sin, using such words as "All-Holy One," "All-Sinless One," and "Immaculate."

The Solemnity of Immaculate Conception is All About Jesus

To Catholics, the belief in the Immaculate Conception is as much about Christ as it is about Mary! Jesus was so holy, so awesome, and so divine, that He made a woman perfectly pure just so He could enter the world through her. How does that take away from Christ? The Immaculate Conception simply reinforces how powerful and perfect Jesus Christ truly is.

The dogma of Immaculate Conception is just about Catholics exaggerating Mary’s role, putting her on par with Jesus. From the outside, some might look at Catholic Marian doctrines this way: Jesus is a king, so Catholics make Mary a queen. Jesus ascended into heaven, so Catholics say Mary was assumed into heaven. Jesus was like us in all things but sin, so Catholics make up the idea of the Immaculate Conception to make Mary untouched by sin, as well.

Everything Catholics believe about Mary, however, is there not to focus our attention solely on her, but to help us understand and love Jesus more. This is especially the case with the Immaculate Conception.

God didn’t make Mary “full of grace” for her own sake, but to prepare her for the Child who would dwell in her womb and help us understand the mystery of her Son better.

Is Mary Saved From Original Sin?

Is Mary spared from the effects of original sin? Doesn’t she need salvation like everyone else?

Mary is completely dependent on Christ’s work of salvation. But there are two ways one can be saved. One can be saved from a great disaster either by being rescued from it or by being prevented from falling into it in the first place. If your daughter, who does not swim, falls into the swimming pool, you can jump in to save her. But if you happened to notice her leaning over the pool, about to fall in, you could catch her just before she hits the water. In both cases, you have saved your daughter. The same is true with how our Heavenly Father can save people from sin. He saves the rest of the human family after we have entered this world devoid of the life of God, wounded by original sin. But he could save an individual before being wounded by sin, by filling her with his life from the moment of her conception, by creating her “full of grace.”

Why Don't Eastern Catholics Celebrate the Immaculate Conception?

The Eastern Catholics most assuredly celebrate Mary being conceived, and they believe that Mary was conceived without the guilt of original sin. However, it is not the highlight of the feast for the Eastern Catholics because they believe it is the ordinary circumstance for every conception.

Let’s start by discussing original sin. Roman Catholicism, following St. Augustine’s theology and the Western translation of Romans 5:12, teaches that the first sin of Adam and Eve resulted in a globally inherited guilt for that first sin.

In the East, the theology on the first sin of Adam and Eve developed around a different translation of Romans 5:12, and so they do not believe that all of mankind inherited the guilt of the first sin. Instead, from an Eastern perspective, the main, globally inherited effect of the first sin is death. (It’s important to note that neither of those explanations are exhaustive regarding each church’s theology on the first sin and its effects; I’m sticking to simply what is necessary for understanding the question at hand).

Given the Roman perspective on the first sin, one can see that Mary being conceived without the guilt of original sin is something extraordinary and merits special celebration in that spirituality. However, for the Eastern Catholic, Mary being conceived without the guilt of that first sin is rather ordinary and does not differ from any other conception in that regard.

O DIVINE WORD, WHO TOOK FLESH FOR HUMAN SAKE, REDEEM US IN OUR SITUATION