"I am the Immaculate Conception"

Luke 1: 26-38 (excerpt below)

And coming to her, the angel said, "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,” Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus. . .
Mary said to the angel . . .  “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word . . ."

I remember an incident in fourth grade Catholic school when, after a playground break, we lined up before Sister as we entered the classroom.  What we needed to do was extend our hands so that she could inspect our fingernails for signs of dirt. If hands and fingernails were dirty, we needed to go and wash them before coming to class. Good hygiene was always expected of course. She was kind and simply looked at our hands/nails then commented whether we needed to clean them or not.

I remember putting out my hands to her.  She said, "Timothy, you're fingernails are always immaculate." (No, I was not a teacher's pet!)  But, I stood there puzzled for a moment because I had no idea what the word "immaculate" meant but it sounded like I didn't need to wash them. Later that day I asked my Mother what the sister meant by the word "immaculate." When she told me it meant that my nails were always clean, I wondered how often sister really looked at them but I was grateful for the compliment. I'm not sure Mom agreed with sister on that one.

The Dogma (infallible teaching) of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, proclaimed by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854 is defined by these words: “in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin.”

While such language and definition belong to the realm of the theological world, the average Catholic in the pews may wonder what this infallible teaching has to do with their everyday lives. The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, while a beautiful Feast and Doctrine of our Church, may seem a bit too ethereal or lofty to be of concrete application.

However, today’s beautiful Solemnity is for us as a Christian people in the midst of this Advent journey towards the newborn light of Christmas, a great feast of Christian hope. In Mary’s singular grace of being conceived without the inherited weakness of original sin that we all inherit, God verified the truth of the incarnation but also the dignity of every human person. In short, Mary had nothing to do with this but God had everything to do with this. This was not Mary’s work but God’s. It was God’s choice of Mary as a worthy human mother who would bear the perfect son of God in human flesh and bone: A perfect Mother without sin who alone could conceive a child without sin.

“Hail, full of Grace!” addressed the Angel. Not, “Hello Mary” but rather this messenger from God proclaimed the state of Mary’s soul as “full of Grace.” For those of us who are not “full of grace” this woman becomes a kind of icon; a sign to follow to her Son, Christ Our Lord.

But, Mary is not a holy card or a wooden or marble statue in a parish Church. She did not stand in a corner with fair skin and blue eyes looking all the world as if she were Norwegian.  But she was likely of smaller stature, with dark hair, dark eyes, and darker skin looking like her own race of people – the Jews of ancient times. I frankly imagine her to be as masculine as she was feminine. She needed both sensitivity and fortitude; compassion and determination.

Mary was a living breathing human being who walked this earth. Her character could not have been weak and sentimental but needed to be strong and courageous. Her perfect sinless nature stands to reason as she prepared for the trials ahead of her which began when she was falsely suspected of adultery when found with child before her formal marriage to Joseph. She would need a supernatural grace to sustain her for the difficulties ahead of her. For those of us who have smaller crosses to carry, Mary is ready as a guide

IIn other words, Mary is one of us. As a member of the human race with both a human mother and father, she was chosen by God to be immaculate (without sin). The early Church believed this, the Scriptures imply this: Genesis 3:15, Luke 1:28, and it is a belief held within the body of believers, passed down to our time.

So what’s the relevance for our lives? As the angel said to Mary: “. . . nothing will be impossible for God.” As God spoke to Mary, he speaks to every human person who searches him out. God made the impossible – possible in Mary and given her to us as a directional signal that will lead us to only one final destination: Christ Jesus himself. Now, go check those fingernails or better yet, our souls before God.

                                     The famous Grotto at Lourdes, France