Mass Readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/120814.cfm
I
saw Father Morgan at a function on Thursday evening, and he asked me if I’d be
open to preaching on Monday for the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and I
said “sure.” Then Thursday night and all
day Friday and into Saturday I started to freak out a bit – what am I going to
say about Mary, the Immaculate Conception, conceived in the womb of her mother
St. Anne, without stain of original sin? And I wondered - what can I say that
will make a difference in your lives and mine?
And
the more I thought about it, the more and more I felt unworthy. Unworthy.
I mean, who am I, sinful as I am, to stand up here and speak of the Holy
Mother of Our Blessed Lord? And I mean
holy not only as in free from original sin, free from any sin or defilement,
but holy as it really means, set apart, completely “other.” The more I contemplated her holiness, her
spotlessness, well, the more “other” I felt, the more I felt my own sinfulness
and defilement, and the more I realized how far below I am to the ideal.
And
as I contemplated her up here and us down here, it occurred to me how necessary
it was that she be conceived without sin.
Here was the Blessed Mother of Our Lord, chosen before the world began
to uniquely cooperate in our redemption by bringing the only Son of God into
the world, chosen by God to be the first tabernacle of Our Blessed Lord. I ask you to look up there to the high
altar. See the beautiful, bright, golden
tabernacle in which Our Lord is reserved.
Beautiful and sacred as it is, Mary was ever so much more sacred, as she
was the first tabernacle, carrying within her God Himself! So it makes perfect sense that God would have
created this woman without stain of sin, holy and immaculate, as it was her
mission from the moment of her conception to carry within her Jesus, and bring
to us her Son’s salvation!
That’s
all well and good, it’s a non-negotiable dogma of the Church, believed by the
faithful for centuries, going back to the earliest days of the Church, even if
it was only defined as a dogma 160 years ago, but what does that have to do
with you and me?
And
what comes to mind is that you, and I, are also tabernacles of Our Blessed
Lord. Now none of us were conceived immaculate, but nonetheless whenever we eat
and drink of the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord, we, too, hold
within us Jesus Himself. So, sinners
that we are, we are obliged to be as free from sin, as free from stain or
defilement, as we can possibly be when we receive Him into us!
It
didn’t take too much contemplation on the mystery of this feast, on the ideal
of this immaculate mother of Christ, and I concluded I needed to get myself to
the Sacrament of Reconciliation. For
even though you and I are not without sin, when we step out of the confessional,
that is as close as we’re going to get on this side of the grass. Now surely the Sacrament doesn’t inoculate us
from sinning again. But frequently
confessing our sins and seeking God’s mercy in the Sacrament, and frequently
receiving the Lord in Holy Communion, Christ works within us, sanctifying us,
making us more and more holy.
For
while we were not conceived without sin, to be without sin is our goal, and
indeed, our eternal destiny if we’re to be counted among the saints. For
nothing stained or defiled or sinful will be found in heaven. Our Lord Jesus will, by His death and
resurrection, free us once and for all from sin and lead us, a holy and
immaculate people, as His gift to His heavenly Father.
So
let us call upon Mary, Mother of God and Holy Immaculate Conception, to pray
for us:
Hail Mary, Full of Grace…
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