by Fr. Tommy Lane
On June 22, 1998, the Church of Corpus Christi in Moyross in Limerick was destroyed by fire causing an estimated £250,000 worth of damage. At first it was thought the fire started because of a candle that had fallen on the floor, but the forensic examination showed that the fire started in an extension cable for the organ. It overheated because it was left rolled up instead of being fully extended. The fire was so strong that even the marble melted. Yet a wooden statue of Our Lady survived, although the statue was blackened and scorched. The statue had a marble base which was destroyed. There was a plaster canopy over the statue which was also destroyed. The damage around the statue was so severe because it was located close to the point where the fire started. The Limerick Leader newspaper quoted the caretaker saying, “I can’t understand how the statue of Our Lady survived when everything else around it went to pieces.” The sacristan was quoted saying, “God certainly works in mysterious ways.” They planned to re-install the statue of Our Lady in the church after it is renovated. (This was reported in The Curate’s Diary in July 1998.)
We are all born with original sin. Baptism, as well as bringing us into the Catholic Church, also washes away original sin. Today we honor Our Lady because she was conceived free from original sin. From the first moment of her existence, Our Lady was not contaminated by original sin just as the statue of Our Lady in Limerick survived the fire when everything else around it was destroyed. Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception was a special grace given to Our Lady in advance because of her Son Jesus dying and rising. God is outside of time and God who had planned that his Son would become flesh and dwell among us, also planned that an Immaculate Mother would give birth to Jesus.
Although it was only on December 8, 1854, that Pope Pius IX solemnly declared that Our Lady was conceived free from original sin and that this was then a dogma of faith to be believed by all the faithful, it had been the belief of the faithful for centuries before that. When Our Lady appeared in Lourdes four years later in 1858, she said to St. Bernadette, “I am the Immaculate Conception” confirming the Pope’s decision to declare the dogma of the Immaculate Conception four years earlier.
We look on the purity of Mary with admiration. She is the first believer in Jesus. She is the first Christian. We look on Mary as a model for us. Every day we struggle against temptation and sin, or because of events in the past that have hurt us. We can and should pray to Mary to help us on our journey, to help us fight temptation and sin. In our first reading, we heard about Eve leading Adam into sin. Mary is the New Eve because at the Annunciation, and all through her life, Mary restored the relationship broken by the first Eve. She is the New Eve because she is the mother of all those born into new life through the grace in Christ. For this reason another translation of Gen 3:15 in the first reading today reads as Mary crushing Satan’s head. In our moments of trial we can turn to Mary for help. She, like us, had to struggle with what it means to be a follower of Jesus. In the temple, Simeon predicted that a sword of sorrow would pierce her soul (Luke 2:35). When Jesus was lost, she had to learn that Jesus’ heavenly Father comes first (Luke 2:49). Mary too had to take up her cross after Jesus even though she was immaculate.
Today we celebrate in honor of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception and not just because of this special grace given to her but also because we regard Mary in a special way as a mother to all of us, a mother whom we love and a mother who loves us, a mother to whom we can tell everything, a mother who wants what is best for us.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee,
Blessed are thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Copyright © Fr. Tommy Lane 1998
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 Lady Conceived without Sin 2020
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
Related Homilies: Homilies on the Gospel (Fourth Sunday of Advent Year B)
Four Marian Dogmas (end of pdf)
First reading Where are you?