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Homily – Dec. 8, 2021 / Immaculate Conception
"Catholic Answers" Content / Reference:( https://www.catholic.com/tract/immaculate-conception-and-assumption)
[__01_] Many years ago, I went to a restaurant at
which a musical band was not only performing “live” for the people eating and
drinking in the restaurant but the musical band was also recording all of their
songs, their entire performance.
As a result, the sound people had set
up the room in such a way to capture the sound but also to preserve the room in
advance – from any “faults” or “flaws”
The people making the recording did not want
any the sound of glasses knocking together or forks falling on the floor. They did not tell us to turn of or silence
our mobile phones, because this was so long ago, that none of us had cell
phones!
But, if we did, we would have been
told to silence or turn off our devices. The recording engineer wanted to
create an ideal “recording studio” like environment, even though were not in a
recording studio. They wanted an environment of purity, integrity, harmony in
the “natural world”.
Is that possible?
For them, it was worth trying for…
[__02_] I use this musical recording example to
suggest what the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception means and what it does
not mean.
What it does not means is that Mary as
our Blessed Mother Mary is regarded as some type of goddess or or is any way
not a natural human being. Mary is a
human person, as you and I are.
Yet, we also believe that for Jesus
himself to be born in a state of purity, integrity and harmony with both God
and all of humanity, it was necessary that God should create – in advance –
Mary with a soul free from original sin, without the fault or flaw of original
sin.
So, the Immaculate Conception refers
to Mary being conceived without original sin.
Mary was conceived naturally by a
mother and father who loved her cared for her.
It’s important to understand what the
doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is and what it is not. Some people think
the term refers to Christ’s conception in Mary’s womb without the intervention
of a human father; but that is the Virgin Birth. Others think the Immaculate
Conception means Mary was conceived “by the power of the Holy Spirit,” in the
way Jesus was, but that, too, is incorrect. Mary was conceived by the Holy
Spirit.
The essence of original sin consists in the
deprivation of sanctifying grace, and original sin causes corruption.
Mary
was preserved from these defects by God’s grace; from the first instant of her
existence she was in the state of sanctifying grace and was free from the
corrupt nature original sin brings.
And, since Jesus would be conceived of the
Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus also was kept free from original
sin.
It does not mean that Mary did not exist in
the world or that Mary had superpowers, but only that God foresaw the need to
create a new place, a new tabernacle, a new ark for his word. Jesus is this word.
Just as the sound engineers wanted to create
a pure and harmonious environment for their music – yet in a restaurant where
there would naturally be distractions and other noises – the Lord God wanted to
create a pure and harmonious environment for Jesus to come into the world,
where he could grow and take on our human nature while also having a divine
nature.
Jesus is one person with a divine nature and
human nature.
We
honor Mary the mother of God on this feast day.
Recently, I heard a priest on the Catholic
radio station (Father Richard Simon) explain it this way – that the Immaculate
Conception is given to us so that we might understand the purpose of the Church
as our mother and as the source eternal life and grace.
Right now – and throughout history – when we
look around at the church, at members of the church – at the clergy, at priests
– at me – we may see people we deem to be unholy and not very good witnesses of
Christ and his love. We may judge ourselves to be not very good witnesses.
And, so, if there are all these not very good
witnesses, how can we say that there is a “holy Catholic church”?
We can say and profess and believe there is a
holy Catholic Church because the church was conceived – originally – with
exactly 1 member and she was free from sin.
Mary of Nazareth was the first parishioner, first parish council member,
first finance council member, first lector who read the word of God, and first
minister of the Eucharist who beheld the Blessed Sacrament.
Mary does not equal the church per se, but it
is Mary’s holiness – provided for in advance and her YES – Mary’s YES to God
“let it be done to me according to your word” that allows the church to come
about through the Birth of Christ.
And, as soon as Jesus conceived the Holy
Spirit, he was the Savior to be protected, guarded.
The Immaculate Conception doctrine reminds
that the church began – in holiness – with exactly one member. It continues in
holiness through its holiness given by God and also by the striving and choices
we are still trying to make.
Catholic
Answers/Catholic.Com Content:
Mary, too, required a Savior. Like all other
descendants of Adam, she was subject to the necessity of contracting original
sin. But by a special intervention of God, undertaken at the instant she was
conceived, she was preserved from the stain of original sin and its
consequences. She was therefore redeemed by the grace of Christ, but in a
special way—by anticipation.
Consider an analogy: Suppose a man falls into
a deep pit, and someone reaches down to pull him out. The man has been “saved”
from the pit. Now imagine a woman walking along, and she too is about to topple
into the pit, but at the very moment that she is to fall in, someone holds her
back and prevents her. She too has been saved from the pit, but in an even
better way: She was not simply taken out of the pit, she was prevented from
getting stained by the mud in the first place. This is the illustration
Christians have used for a thousand years to explain how Mary was saved by
Christ. By receiving Christ’s grace at her conception, she had his grace
applied to her before she was able to become mired in original sin and its
stain.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states
that she was “redeemed in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of
her Son” (CCC 492). She has more reason to call God her Savior than we do,
because he saved her in an even more glorious manner!
To use “fall into the pit example” – we might
also that Mary is saved because Jesus is the one who by God’s plan goes down
into the pit and gives up his life for all of us.
The objection is also raised that if Mary
were without sin, she would be equal to God. In the beginning, God created
Adam, Eve, and the angels without sin, but none were equal to God. Most of the angels
never sinned, and all souls in heaven are without sin. Sinning does not make
one human.
We also recognize – in this teaching – that Jesus wants to make his presence his holiness known not just as an ancient “recording” that was made once and is being played back from a studio or broadcast station over and over…but that Jesus’s word is meant to be ”played” to be “lived” and to be “performed” in your life and my life each day.
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