Many have tried to capture the mystery of the Immaculate Conception
“All fair are you O Mary! The original stain is not in you.” This prayer which expresses the Church’s marvel at the mystery of the Immaculate Conception finds its culmination on the eighth of December when the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. On this day we are given the Gospel passage about the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, in this way, we join the Archangel Gabriel to look at this young Jewish girl in Nazareth. However what a pure spirit, as Archangel, picks up can be obscure to our perception tarnished by the original sin and by our personal sins. The Archangel looking at Mary saw the masterpiece of God’s creation when he said: “Hail Mary full of grace.” He was able to detect the beauty of her soul. Mary was free from sin: both original sin and personal sins. However this beauty had its purpose, she was to be part of the God’s plan of salvation by becoming the Mother of God’s only Son Jesus Christ. She who was to be the first evangeliser shows us that evangelizing isn’t about giving clever answers to atheists to convince them that they are wrong but that evangelisation is about the deep integrity of one’s life. Evangelisers submit their thoughts, plans, desires, actions etc. to this one project - to become a channel of God coming into another person’s life.
Today as we are surrounded by secularisation, which also finds its way into believers’ minds and hearts, we do need this feast day of the Immaculate Conception to remind ourselves that an evangeliser doesn’t work eight hours a day but their life is totally orientated towards the mission of Jesus Christ. The Gospel which we read on this Solemnity tells us how Mary concluded the conversation with Gabriel saying: “I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let what you have said be done to me.” These concluding words of Mary are important for us who are not pure spirits, like the Archangel Gabriel, and cannot look into Our Lady’s Soul. In those words she spoke we detect her submission to the will of God. They expose what she didn’t want to make a spectacle of. Her submission to the will of God gives away her sinless state. She is in the habitual state of grace which becomes apparent in how she wants to do the will of God. Any sin is choosing against the will of God, it is choosing not to serve God. Mary’s acceptance of the will of God connected her to the salvation mission of Jesus. By committing her life to Christ she became his Mother and the messenger of his Divine Message.
“All fair are you O Mary! The original stain is not in you.”
Today as we are surrounded by secularisation, which also finds its way into believers’ minds and hearts, we do need this feast day of the Immaculate Conception to remind ourselves that an evangeliser doesn’t work eight hours a day but their life is totally orientated towards the mission of Jesus Christ. The Gospel which we read on this Solemnity tells us how Mary concluded the conversation with Gabriel saying: “I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let what you have said be done to me.” These concluding words of Mary are important for us who are not pure spirits, like the Archangel Gabriel, and cannot look into Our Lady’s Soul. In those words she spoke we detect her submission to the will of God. They expose what she didn’t want to make a spectacle of. Her submission to the will of God gives away her sinless state. She is in the habitual state of grace which becomes apparent in how she wants to do the will of God. Any sin is choosing against the will of God, it is choosing not to serve God. Mary’s acceptance of the will of God connected her to the salvation mission of Jesus. By committing her life to Christ she became his Mother and the messenger of his Divine Message.
“All fair are you O Mary! The original stain is not in you.”
Annunciation of Our Lady. Gabriel detects her sinless soul.
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