by Fr. Tommy Lane
It gives us great joy to celebrate the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady today because she is our spiritual mother. The Immaculate Conception of Our Lady means Our Lady was not born with original sin. We are all born with original sin. Original sin does not mean that we have committed a sin, rather it is the state in which we are born. A description of original sin that I find helpful is one by Cardinal Ratzinger before he became Pope Benedict XVI. He said that original sin means a damaged relationship with God because of the sin of Adam and Eve, which leaves us prone to sin, suffering and eventually death (God and the World: Believing and Living in Our Time: A Conversation with Peter Seewald p304. See also Catechism of the Catholic Church 404-405). For centuries people questioned if Our Lady could have had original sin but as the years went by, people realized more and more that since God was beginning something new with Our Lady, she could not have been touched by this damaged relationship, original sin. Our Lady was immaculately conceived and never had original sin. She was not prone to sin like we are. Our Lady confirmed that four years after the Pope’s pronouncement when she appeared in Lourdes in 1858 and said, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Everyone says their mother is the best in the world. The mother of Jesus was the best of the best.
In Our Lady’s Magnificat we hear, “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” (Luke 1:47) “My Savior.” She had to be saved by Jesus’ death like all of us, but through a unique grace, she was saved and preserved from sin at the moment of her conception. That is why part of the opening prayer of today’s Mass was, “you preserved her from every stain by virtue of the Death of your Son, which you foresaw” and the prayer over the bread and wine later in this Mass says that she was “untouched by any stain of sin” on account of God’s “prevenient grace,” prevenient meaning “coming beforehand.” It means the grace of Jesus’ death was given to her even before Jesus was born. The second reading today reminds us that God chose us in Christ before the world was made. How much more that applies to Our Lady.
When choosing Scripture readings for today’s Mass, the Church offers us readings that relate to what we celebrate today, readings that contain hints and suggestions of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception. The first reading tells us of the consequences of the first sin of Adam and Eve. It says the offspring of Eve would crush/strike the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15). Jesus is that offspring many generations later who crushed the head of the serpent through his death on Calvary. When St. Jerome translated the Old Testament from its original Hebrew into Latin, he did not write that “he,” Christ, would crush the head of the serpent but that “she,” meaning Our Lady, would crush the head of the serpent. Our Lady crushing the serpent already begins at her Immaculate Conception. When Our Lady appeared to St. Catherine Labouré and showed her the image of the miraculous medal and asked that we wear it, the front of that medal has Our Lady crushing the serpent surrounded with the words, “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.”
The second reading reminds us that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. We heard:
Blessed be God the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with all the spiritual
blessings of heaven in Christ.
Thus he chose us in Christ before the
world was made
to be holy and faultless before him in
love. (Eph 1:3-4)
We are chosen by the Father in Christ before the world was made. How much more that applies to Our Lady whom God preserved from original sin in her Immaculate Conception.
In the Gospel we heard the angel Gabriel say to Mary, “Hail, full of grace.” (Luke 1:28) Luke wrote his Gospel in Greek, and in his Greek this has much more meaning. In Luke’s Greek it means that something happened to Our Lady at one point in time in the past and has consequences ever since. It is impossible in an English translation to do justice to what Luke wrote. We would have to write something like this: “Hail you who were made holy at one instant in time in the past and as a result are holy ever since.” So, when we hear “full of grace,” what it means is Our Lady was made holy in an instant in time in the past and carries the consequences of that holiness ever since. We know of course that refers to Our Lady’s immaculate conception.
Today is not just a celebration of what God has done for Our Lady but also a celebration of what God has done for us because Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception was God preparing for our salvation in Jesus. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve we are all born with a damaged relationship with God but the beginning of the solution to the sin of Adam and Eve happened in Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception. She is the one who crushes the serpent. She was made holy at an instant in time in the past and bears the consequences of that holiness ever since. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2020
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for December 8: The Immaculate Conception of Our Lady
The Immaculate Conception of Our Lady implicit in Sacred Scripture 2023
Our Tainted Nature’s Solitary Boast 2016
God made a gathering of all graces called Mary
Immaculate Conception and the Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Immaculate Conception of Our Lady and the Miraculous Medal
Immaculate Conception of Our Lady
Related Homilies: Homilies on the Gospel (Fourth Sunday of Advent Year B)
Four Marian Dogmas (end of pdf)
First reading Where are you?