Immaculate Conception (2022-12-08)

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Immaculate Conception:  "Predestination"

[Section 01]    San Diego, San Francisco or New  York. These are three possible destinations.  These are cities and geographical destinations in the United States.

          Are you are a sports fan familiar with these as possible destinations that were in the news just recently yesterday?

          Specifically, if you were a NYY New York Yankees MLB baseball fan, these three destinations were of great interest, because there are baseball teams in each city – San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres and New York Yankees.

          And, perhaps today is a good day for you if you are Yankees’ fan, because a favorite player selected his destination and “New York” rather than “SF” or “SD”

In other words, the famous player – Aaron Judge’s destination is not “SF” or “SD” but rather “NY” Aaron Judge  was successfully recruited and signed to a 9-year contract by NYY.

This was really not a change in direction because Aaron Judge has been playing for the NY Yankees for years, but there was no guarantee he would remain. Players move around to different teams.

But, for NYY fans, it seemed “predestined” or “predetermined” that Mr. Aaron Judge would remain in NY because he has  a history in NY. It seems that it was meant to be.

If Aaron Judge’s destination were SF or SD, the baseball world would seem upside down. That might be a bit of hyperbole. That’s how sports fans sometimes feel.  And that's often what we mean by predestination in an every day way.

 

[Section 02] To borrow a term from Christianity and Church teaching, we say that something is meant to be if there is “predestination”

We use the term “pre-destination” and “predestined” and God’s plan to describe God’s revelation through Jesus Christ and the plan involving the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Blessed Mother.

As we sing in hymn # 783, Immaculate Mary --- “Mary was predestined for Christ by eternal decree, God wills you both virgin and mother to be”

St. Irenaeus said of the Blessed Virgin Mary that …. “by being obedient Mary became the cause of salvation for the whole human race.”

Our celebration today is that Mary was conceived without original sin as part of this predestination.

Then again, “predestination” is not a guaranteed outcome when it involves human beings.

Mary was part of God’s special plan and given the opportunity – but not the obligation – to participate in God’s plan.

But then again, does predestination is predestination a guarantee of a particular outcome or result? Is that what predestination means? It's actually not what predestined. Some people think that's what predestination means. Yankees fans might think that's what predestination means.

 

Adam and Eve were also given the opportunity – but not the obligation to participate in God’s plan.  Adam and Eve – similar to the Blessed Virgin Mary – were also conceived / created without original sin.  However, Adam and Eve behaved differently than the Blessed Mother who followed years later.

They had a much better contract or covenant than Aaron Judge …and we do too.

The state we are in – being born with original sin is meant to remind us not that we should be broken and beaten down ….but that all of us – regardless of material wealth or talent or status or social standing are equal.

But, we also giving Mary’s life as an analogy to apply to our lives.

What is the opportunity presented to Mary as a young person – it is to be the mother or God. And, for this reason, Mary was conceived without original sin, what we celebrate today on Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Mary says YES to God and the Holy Spirit that Jesus can be conceived in her womb, for Mary becomes the first tabernacle of the Blessed Sacrament. This does not that mean that Mary is a goddess or deity, but that Mary is worthy of praise and emulation.

Mary’s is an analogy of motherhood and maternity. We aret taught by our own mothers – and fathers – that being loved is more important than being liked. Or loving is more important than getting likes or even liking other people.

We got this from our mother and fathers who taught us that we live in a world in which we cannot control the outcome of our actions. So when we honor our father and mother, we are honoring God as well.

Jesus taught us to love our enemies to forgive those who hurt us to love those who dislike you to love those whom you dislike. These are analogies by which we are called to live our lives.

By receiving the Blessed Sacrament in the Holy Eucharist which we receive at Mass, Jesus is conceived in you and me as well. Not in the exact same way, the analogy is imperfect.

But it's also imperfect, you know, but there's other analogies that are kind of imperfect in the Bible, but they're meant to raise our consciousness. For example, St. Paul says that we are fellow workers, that we are joint heirs with Christ. But that doesn't mean we're digitally equal with Jesus himself. Nevertheless, we are striving each day to be more and more like Jesus. And to remind us that also by analogy, by our baptism, we are truly one race, one baptism one people want in dignity equal before God, with a destination: Heaven.  [END]