It is understandable that people confuse the Immaculate Conception with the Annunciation. After all, the Gospel readings are the same. Luke’s gospel has the Angel Gabriel appearing to the young Virgin Mary to announce that she is to be the Mother of the Redeemer. With Mary’s humble acceptance of God’s gift, we become the beneficiaries.
The telling words of the Archangel that separate this Holy Day from the Annunciation are: “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” These words form the basis of the Church’s teaching on the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary which states that “in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, (Mary) was preserved free from all stain of original sin….” Even though Jesus had not yet been born to her, it is through his merits that Mary is preserved from original sin.
The same grace that saved Mary from original sin also sets us free. It is through God’s grace that we become holy, adopted daughters and sons of the Most High. God is love (1 John 4:16) - and love does not create barriers. Love does not remember offenses or brood over injuries. Love does not calculate or impose conditions. St. Alphonsus Liguori would say that we have a God who is crazy in love with us. Today we celebrate this God who cannot wait for us to join in the divine life of the Trinity.
God prepared the Virgin Mary for her role in salvation history by the singular grace of her Immaculate Conception. Mary’s “yes”in the Annunciatioin has transformed human history. Through God’s unsurpassable generosity and mercy, we, too, are “full of grace.”
Advent Blessings,
Fr. Kevin MacDonald, C.Ss.R.
POWERED BY BLUBRRY
