Holy Mother Mary

Holy Mother Mary

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is easy to confuse with the feast of Annunciation. That is the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mather Mary through the overshadowing of the Spirit of God. Still more today’s gospel reading makes this  more difficult. The gospel reading is about God’s Annunciation to Mother Mary.

But today’s feast is not about the conception of Jesus. It is about the conception of Mary within the womb of her mother, St. Anne. So why does the Holy Mother Church presents the gospel reading of the Annunciation to Mary the Mother of Jesus? It is because of the first words of the Angel Gabriel to Mary, “Hail, full of Grace.” Mary was full of Grace even before she consented to the Word becoming flesh within her. But why was she full of Grace, and how did this happen? These are the questions that the Holy Mother Church answers through the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

For our salvation, God decided to send his only begotten son, in the fullness of time, to be born as One of Us (Gal 4:4). The logos (Word) became flesh (Jn 1:14). The mankind had lost the intimate relationship with God in the garden of Eden. How could the Holy of Holies enter the womb of a person that was not holy? A person would have to be holy from the first moment of her conception. God can do all things. He made Mary holy at the moment of her conception within Anne. And she remained chaste after giving birth to Jesus for – “the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut” (Ezk. 44:3).

Theologians would call this prevenient grace, grace that anticipated the redemption of man by Jesus. When Joachim and Anne, the parents of Mary made a new life, Mary’s life was made holy by God. That is the Immaculate Conception. That is why the angel said to Mary, “Hail, Full of Grace.” Mary was fully human. She was not a goddess. But she was human. She was someone who was made holy by the extraordinary grace of God. She had the ability to choose God’s way or to reject God’s way. When she said to the angel, “Be it done to me according to your will,” she was acting on the Grace she had received at her conception. This is what we celebrate today.

Many of us wear the miraculous medal. This was the image seen in a vision by St. Catherine LaBoure on Nov 27, 1830. Around the image of Mary are the words, “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” Because of her holiness, Mary has a special place among our spiritual brothers and sisters in heaven. She is the best of us. We do not worship Mary. We celebrate her place in heaven as we ask her to intercede for us. And so we say the Hail Mary and we pray, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.” We are asking Mary to intercede for us with God at all times but particularly at the point of our death. We need to trust that she will intercede for us with her Son.