We
gather this evening, as we always gather, to praise and worship the Father
through Jesus His Son, and in particular we celebrate the mystery of the
Immaculate Conception of Our Blessed Mother, Mary. And a great mystery it is – how among the
billions of persons who’ve walked the earth, other than that same Jesus Christ,
Mary is the only person ever conceived without sin, without original sin or any
tendency to sin, pure and spotless.
It’s
a significant day, to be sure, a most significant day in salvation history that
we celebrate, for at the Immaculate Conception, God first “intervened,” if you
will, God first stepped into time and created in the womb of Mary’s mother a
most fitting vessel, a most holy and fitting tabernacle who would eventually
carry within her God’s only Son, our Lord and Savior.
And
we celebrate that she is “full of grace” which means not only that she is pure
and sinless, but also that she is completely fruitful – her entire life has
borne fruit, from the moment of her conception, all her life, most especially
in her “yes” to God at the Annunciation and her giving birth to our Savior, and
yes, even for all eternity.
Quite
a mystery, huh? But we who’ve braved a
blustery December evening to come to Mass, might ask – well what exactly does
this have to do with me, in my life, here and now?
Now
if you were to ask me that, I might be inclined to say we don’t need to have a
takeaway from every Mass, from every readings, from every homily? Isn’t it enough to gather and celebrate, to
worship, to rejoice in God’s wondrous gift to us in the Immaculate Conception?
But
understanding Mary’s role in our salvation, and especially this day her role as
the Immaculate Conception – this is very practical – very applicable to our
lives here and now.
How?
Let me tell a little story. My wife and
I spent our late September wedding anniversary a few years back hiking in the
Adirondacks. We set out on a perfect Saturday
morning to climb two of the high peaks. Drinking
coffee at a morning campfire and making breakfast, we got a late start on what
would be a twenty mile round trip hike.
As the day wore on and we got nearer the first peak, I started to panic,
realizing that the sun was already dipping in the western sky, and calculating
in my head whether we could make it the ten miles through the woods back to the
car. Only a quarter mile or so from the
peak, I said “we’ve got to turn around and go back. I don’t want to spend the night in the woods.”
Long
story short, despite making great time down the trail, we ran out of daylight
and soon it was pitch black in the woods, with one headlamp between us, no cell
service, no overnight clothes, no tent.
We kept going and going until finally I realized we were on a path we
hadn’t been on before. The trail markers
were still blue, but I knew we needed to be going southwest and we were heading
straight north. We had missed a turn. I knew we were off course only because
the moon was rising behind us. Thank God
it wasn’t a moonless night.
We
turned around and re-traced our path for a mile or so, then turned around again
and then again. Completely dark,
completely lost in the woods. No map. No
compass. Very little food. Getting
cold. We were both starting to panic.
The
story has a happy ending, obviously – as I sat down on a bridge to eat a carrot,
I happened to notice a sign on a tree that pointed the way out. And at nearly 10pm we were safely back at the
car.
What’s
the point of this story? On this
journey, I was unprepared. No map. No food.
Most importantly no compass. It
was luck (and many prayers answered) that got us out of the woods that
night.
Life
isn’t all that different, is it? It can
be quite frightening, cold, dark and we often can feel very lost. We can follow the wrong signs along the way,
toward the only destination that matters, eternal joy with Our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Mary,
the Immaculate Conception, is our compass on that journey. A compass always points to one point, true
north. No matter where we are, the
compass always points to that one place.
Properly using a compass we can always find our way.
Like
a compass, Mary always points to one point, her Son, Jesus Christ. Her entire life, from the moment of her
conception, to His birth in the stable, by His side on Calvary – her entire
life was about pointing the way to her Divine Son. And her entire eternity is about pointing the
way to her Divine Son as well.
She
is a sure and certain instrument, always pointing us to her Son. No matter the false signposts this world
gives us, no matter the temptations the enemy places before us to distract us
and have us lose our way, no matter how lost we are in the woods of life, we
can always rely on His mother, Our Mother, to point the way to her Son.
Sure,
there’s a chance we’ll find our way to her Son without her to guide us. Our separated protestant brothers and sisters
for the most part claim no devotion to Mary, claim no need of her. To me that’s like setting out in the woods
without a compass. You might find your
way, but why chance it?
And
the fact that she is the Immaculate Conception means this – she’s completely
reliable. There is no risk, no chance,
of her ever leading us astray by sin or scandal. If we place our trust in people, we know from
experience that we will always, to some extent or another, be let down. No fear of that with Mary. If we place our trust in her, we can be
assured that she will always lead us to her Son.
Isn’t
that cause for rejoicing? We are so blessed
to have the salvation Jesus Christ offers us by His death and resurrection, and
we are so blessed to have His Blessed Mother to always lead us back to Him if
we only ask her.
So
let us rejoice and give thanks to God for His great gift to us - His Immaculate
Daughter, our Immaculate Mother, a sure and certain guide to lead us to Jesus,
who will lead us to our heavenly homeland.
And let us pray, Hail
Mary….
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