Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Luke 1: 26-38

Introduction

An orchestra is only as good as its harmony. A single wrong note can completely ruin the beauty and joy of any song. In the Book of Genesis we hear God conducting the harmony of His creation and he introduces two protagonists, Adam and Eve, to whom he gives the ability to follow his musical score and direction or not. Unfortunately, it only takes them until the third chapter of the first book of the Bible to strike the wrong note.

Original Sin

Original Sin is a note of pride, mistrust, and arrogance. It is a note embodying the cry of the serpent, “Non serviam,” “I will not serve.” And it rings out over all creation and into the depths of humanity causing enmity between God and man.

Adam and Eve notice this disharmony in their nakedness. Before sin entered the world, they gazed upon each other with purity of heart. Now their gaze has been distorted – their hearts soiled by sin. As a result, the serpent is sent crawling away and humanity is banished from the garden.

But, in the hands of a master conductor, the wrong note can be the first note in a new song.

Genesis predicts the restoration of the orchestra. “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel,” we hear in the first reading. The plan of restoration and the beginning of a new song for humanity starts in the conception of a young girl by the name of Miriam, the daughter of Joachim and Anne. By way of the future merits of her divine son, Mary begins her existence free from the effects of the wrong note.

She is full of grace, the angel tells us, precisely because nothing of her is in the serpent and nothing of the serpent is in her. She and he are at “enmity.”

God brings about His victory

In Mary, the Immaculate Conception, we see how God brings about his victory and the restoration of harmony through the anawim or holy remnant of Israel.

St. Paul say to the Ephesians that God has had a plan for us “before the foundation of the world.” He destined us to be his adopted children and “to be holy and without blemish before him.” We were meant to be like the lambs of sacrifice which are brought to the Temple without blemish; that is, without sin.

Yet, mankind strayed from holiness. But God will not be defeated. He forms a rescue mission. He has a plan of salvation. He sets apart an anawim – a holy remnant – who remains faithful to Him. The word in Hebrew means “those who are bowed down.”

Mary is the exemplar of this holy remnant. She is the embodiment of the true Zion, the pure living dwelling place of God. She is the perfect house for God. Her life boldly proclaims that God has not failed.

She says “yes” to the Lord and becomes his living Temple. Through her, the Temple presence of God, stifled in the garden of Eden, breaks forth definitively into the world. Her immaculate conception is a living sign and beacon of the new note that God has used to start a new song and restore harmony to his creation. In her begins the glorious victory of grace and holiness.

Sin and death are not the last word. He comes to us through Mary to bear our sins to death. It is through Mary that God takes humanity’s defeat and turns it into divine victory.

Man trusts God again

In Mary, mankind also begins to trust God again.

Adam and Eve think that God, in some way, is taking something away from them. They harbor suspicion and mistrust in the garden. They view God to be a rival. When they taste the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they are reaching out to shape the world by themselves. To make themselves into a god. They trust in deceit rather than in truth.

Mary on the other hand completely reverses this wrong note. She is totally dependent upon God and trusts him implicitly. She gives herself over to him completely and will do nothing but His will – not her own. She profoundly recognizes that her very existence, every breath, is dependent upon Him. “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”

The non serviam of the serpent becomes the serviam of the handmaid. If we live in opposition to God, if we view him as our enemy, then we end up destroying not only ourselves but the world.

On the other hand, if the devil is at enmity with us and we with him, it means that our friendship with God is governed by our total “fiat.” We love him. We trust him, and we depend on him for everything. This is not only a good way to live our lives. It is a life in accord with who we are. While we say that the Immaculate Conception is an exception to humanity's fate, in fact, the Immaculate Conception is the premier example of what it means to be fully human. In her God brings about his victory and restoration of humanity and, in her, humanity turns back to Him in complete dependence and trust.

Conclusion

On our patronal feast day we give thanks to God for Our Lady. Whenever we look toward the stain glass window which graces the front of this church, we see the brightness of light shining through. We can only make out the image of the Blessed Mother if there is light shining through. It is no accident that the light first hits the choir loft. The light that is Christ shines through the Immaculate Mother in order to restore the harmony torn asunder by Adam’s sin. The light that is Christ shines through the Immaculate Mother in order to raise our voices to heaven. The light that is Christ shines through the Immaculate Mother in order to take the wrong note of sin and death and begin a new song – the song of redemption.