Five Simple Words

(The following is a homily given to the Catholic Community of Enid on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 12/08/15)

Reading 1 Gn 3:9-15, 20

Responsorial Psalm PS 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4

Reading 2 Eph 1:3-6, 11-12

Gospel Lk 1:26-38

Today we celebrate a doctrine, summed up in five simple words, that has paved a way to salvation for us.  Five simple words which speak to us about the extraordinary Grace of God; of the humility of his most beautiful masterpiece of creations; and speak to who God is for those who believe in Him, and who we can be if we say “yes” to God.

Five simple words – “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

The Immaculate Conception of the blessed Virgin Mary was a belief held by the church since late antiquity, but it had not been made officially dogma until Pope Pius IX did so in the year 1854. 

This dogma helps us understand how Mary could have been exempt from the stain of original sin.  It tells us that “by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ,” Mary had been freed of the debt of original sin before it came due for her.  It shows us that she was just as in need of the redemption of her son as we are, but precisely because she was to be the Mother of God, she was to receive her redemption in advance so as to “make straight the path of the Lord.” (see John 1:23)

But when Our Lady came to a 14-year-old peasant girl in France named Bernadette Soubirous in 1858, she qualified the statement.  Bernadette had asked her for a name, not knowing who the “beautiful lady” was who visited her near the waters of the Pau River.  Finally, she received these five words: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

By saying this, Our Lady unlocked for us not only how she had been freed of original sin, but why.  Our Lady’s very identity – her very existence -- comes from the extraordinary gift of grace given to her by God from the moment she came to be. She had not simply been immaculately conceived, as if receiving a token of friendship with our God, or removing a dirty garment.  No: she is born of grace.  She is the masterpiece of God’s handiwork.  And she points to what we are called to be as well.

My brothers and sisters, The Immaculate Conception is the person of the Blessed Virgin, redeemed by the blood of her savior and her son.  She calls her children to share in this gift of redemption by recognizing Who bestows such grace.  Our Lady did not save us.  That was not her role, nor was it within her capacity to fill. What our Lady did do is say “yes” to God (see Lk 1:378), and so pave a way for us to follow to salvation. 

May we follow the way she has paved for us.  May we recognize in her a sign which points us to Christ Jesus, who is our brother by his human nature given to him through his Mother, and who is our God by his nature as the only Begotten Son of the Most High.