Feast of the Immaculate Conception Homily

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary
Monday; December 9, 2024
Gospel: Luke 1:26-38

Today we celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. In 1854, Pope Pius IX made the infallible statement: “The most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the savor of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of Original Sin.”

We focus on the two women in today’s readings and see how their choices have impacted our lives.

To illustrate the difference between Eve and Mary, picture an eye dropper filled with water. I am putting one drop of water in my hand. The makeup of this water is the same as any other drop of water – H2O. It is no more water or less water than any other drop. If I would put this drop of water into the ocean, it would be a part of the ocean. However, although it is part of the ocean and the ocean is a part of it, the drop is NOT the ocean. The difference between Eve and Mary is that Eve wanted to BE the ocean. Mary was content to be the drop in the ocean.

Both Eve and Mary were created without original sin. In the beginning, it was original goodness. In Genesis, we read that “God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them, and God looked at everything he had made and he found it very good.” Mary was created without Original Sin from the moment of HER conception (through her parents; Joachim and Anne), by a special grace in her role in God’s plan for humankind.

Eve wanted to be like God. Mary was content to be God’s servant. Eve (and Adam) thought God was being selfish by forbidding them to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Eve was not content to be a drop of water. She wanted to be the ocean. She saw God as selfish, wanting to keep special knowledge to Himself. She did not realize that God sets limits… to protect her.

Mary knew that she was not more than a servant, a handmaid of God. His Will was her command. When the angel Gabriel announced to her that she was to conceive through the power of the Holy Spirit and bear a son that would be called Son of God, Mary must have been confused and puzzled. While she did not understand fully what was being asked, Mary did not rebel. She simply spoke, “I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
Mary was content to be drop of water.

Eve rebelled, Mary submitted. Eve gave in to temptation. In the story, Eve eats the forbidden fruit. She sins and then invited Adam to sin, too. Eve, by trying to be more like God and rejecting her rightful relationship with Him, was separated from God through sin.
She became less and less “in His image”.
Mary never went against God’s Will. Mary, by embracing her humanness and knowing her place before God as servant, became more and more like God.

We are all born with Original Sin. We believe, that at baptism, Original Sin is eradicated. We believe that we start off with a clean slate. At that point, we have the same opportunity, as Mary, to make right choices throughout our lives…

However, like Eve (and Adam) we rebel.

The second reading makes it clear what God wants for us… to be holy and blameless in His sight…

As Mary is the “new Eve”, so Jesus is the “new Adam”. What Eve and Adam lost for us, Jesus regained. He stays in intimate contact with us through His Gift of Eucharist. It is through Christ that we have become daughters and sons of the Father and heirs of the Kingdom. With this in mind, let us approach the altar with humility and gratitude that we are that drop in the ocean.