Feast of the Immaculate Conception - 2007
1
Have you ever felt so ashamed that you ran away and hid?
Have you ever not wanted to face something or do something,
so you pretended that it wasn’t in there?
Today’s first reading is about a man, Adam, who was ashamed and he ran away.
God calls out to him and asks: “Where are you?
And Adam responds: “I was ashamed so I hid myself.”
The Feast that we celebrate is about doing the opposite.
Have you ever heard a story about Mary
where she responded by running away?
2
The stories about Mary tell us the opposite.
She is told some amazing things by angels and through her own mother’s heart.
She does not run away but towards.
The gospel tells us about the annunciation.
Mary is told that she would bring to birth a son
who will be called the Son of the Most High.
That would frighten most of us!
What does Mary do?
As this gospel continues we find Mary running.
She is running towards Elizabeth with amazing news.
Elizabeth has amazing news for her – “Blessed are you among women!”
That is frightening in a too much to handle kind of a way.
Mary does not run away but towards God as she sings of God’s magnificence.
Mary’s response, whether to the Annunciation or the news of Jesus’ arrest
is to run towards because that is who she was.
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We celebrate this feast today because of our belief about Mary.
Because she was to bear the Son of God, she must have been a worthy temple.
Mary was immaculate,
that is without sin, because of her purpose in God’s plan.
Her innocence gave her the ability not to be afraid and to be open to the mystery of God.
Our sinful nature gives us the ability to choose fear
and then often times an excuse not to run towards.
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The Church in the United States chose Mary, under the title of this feast,
because it too was to bring to birth great promise
and its hope was innocent.
It’s hope is greater than its fear.
That is not to say that our nation’s freedom is without its cost.
It is to say that its intentions, its goals are essentially motivated by the good
and the rights of every man and woman.
We are a great nation because we have individuals
who choose the greatness found in freedom over the isolation found in fear.
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Let’s make sure we understand the theology of this feast.
It is about Mary,
because she was chosen from among women to bring us the Savior of the world.
Therefore we profess that she was sinless – a holy temple.
She was immaculately conceived
–
that means that she was born without the stain of original sin like us.
It has nothing to do with the biological conception in and of its self.
All acts of love that bring to birth another face of God are immaculate.
The difference with us is that we tend to run away from our innocence
opening the door to sin.
Some theologians suggest that we should title this feast
the Feast of Conception of the Immaculate Virgin Mary
to emphasize that it is Mary who is Immaculate and not the conception
which leads us towards the idea that Ann didn’t experience
the mystery and pain of human birth.
It then leads us to then also suggest that Mary didn’t either
and Jesus somehow appeared in the manger.
Mary ran towards the mystery of God
because she believed in what the angel had told her. God had chosen her.
This feast does not profess that Mary didn’t have choices,
that she came into the world
programmed to be the Mother of God and that was her only thought.
That would make Mary an example for us that wasn’t real or anything like us.
What we celebrate is that Mary’s heart was pure and it enabled her to trust
in the Word spoken to her.
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Have you ever been so excited about something that you just couldn’t wait until it came?
Have you ever been let down?
Have your expectations not been fulfilled once or twice?
Mary lived life motivated by her response to the angel:
“May it be done to me according you’re your Word.”
She said yes. Not just then, but always, and through her that spoken word became living.
Through her example may we remember that we too believe in the words of St. Paul
known commonly as the Ephesians Hymn:
“In Him we were chosen,
destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to
the intention of his will, so that we might exist for the purpose of his glory,
we who first hoped in Christ.”
As we celebrate this feast, may we be inspired by Mary’s example
And not run away, not hide, but run towards things we may not understand trusting that
God is always there, too.
