The Miracle of the Immaculate Conception

Gospel Reflection on Luke 1: 26-3, 8 December 2023

Internet Image from Facebook, Church of St. Mary

     Today we celebrate the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. What we believe about this dogma, a defining assertion of the Catholic faith, cannot be stated often enough as it is so frequently misunderstood, even among Catholics. In simplest terms, it is the first miracle of the Incarnation, accomplished in her, who from the first instant of her conception, is “full of grace.”

     Many years ago, early in my inquiry into the Catholic faith, as someone coming from an evangelical protestant background, I was intrigued at the belief in the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I asked countless Catholics about the meaning of the Immaculate Conception. I got several vague and strange answers. The best answer I received, was that it was the beginning of the miracle of the incarnation of the Child Jesus and our redemption. When I pressed for more, I was told that Mary was a miracle from the moment of her conception, a sacred vessel, specially prepared in heaven. She is the perfect Ark of the Covenant. The imperfect Ark of the Covenant being that which stood in the Holy of Holies of the ancient Jewish temple.

     Scripture describes that God instructed the Israelites to line the interior of the Ark of the Covenant with pure gold, and place within it; a gold jar containing manna, the tablets of the covenant (the law), and the priestly staff of Aaron, the first High Priest (Hebrews 9:4, and Exodus 25). God told the people of Israel that the Ark was the place where He would meet them, the place where heaven touches earth in a very “Real” way. That man-made ark was the imperfect image of how God would miraculously prepare Mary from the moment of her conception, lined with grace more precious than gold, as the place where Mary would give birth to Emmanuel, “God with us,” the bread of life, the fulfillment of the law, and the true high priest that through His suffering and death would reconcile the world to God. Mary is a vessel miraculously and perfectly prepared for our salvation.

     Sacred Scripture records the angel’s first greeting of Mary announcing that she is already “full of grace” and “blessed.” (Luke 1:28 Vulgate) The angel does not say that Mary WILL be full of grace or that she WILL be blessed but, she already is, through the action of God’s “prevenient grace,” antecedent to human action, already miraculously bursting with these qualities.

     C.S. Lewis’ describes a miracle as “an interference with Nature by supernatural power.” (Lewis 5) Nature operates as God designed it. A miracle occurs when God, with divine intention, interrupts His own natural design to specifically bring about His will. The Latin origin of interference is “interrumpere." It means to rupture, break apart. Certainly, God who created all things can stand outside of His creation to interrupt it.

     We believe of the Immaculate Conception that,

The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin. (CCC 491)

     God interrupted, “broke through,” the natural order such that Mary, for the purpose of our salvation, was specially prepared, “full of grace” and “blessed,” to bear our Redeemer into the world. Her free-will never compromised, our Lady’s response, as a result of prevenient grace, was one of complete surrender to God’s will; “May it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) Mary is the miracle of a vessel perfectly formed to become a conduit of grace. Through Mary, the whole world is blessed.

     Every Sacrament is a pouring of God’s grace into our finite bodies, filling those who are open to divine mercy, with the eternal “bread of life,” the fulfillment of the Law, and the Highest Priest, Jesus. In this outpouring of grace, we are changed from finite to infinite if we continue to live in that grace. Unfortunately, our nature, unlike that of the Blessed Virgin Mary, remains tainted with concupiscence. In Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist, God acts to fill us with Himself. God interrupts the natural order with sacramental, supernatural, grace and by His miracle makes of us a beautiful vessel of holiness. If we would only open ourselves to surrendering our will to God’s, we too, “pregnant with Emmanuel” become a vessel specially prepared to bear Christ into the world.

    In this Advent Season and every day after, have the same docility of spirit of our heavenly Mother to commit yourselves to God, then see the miracle that your life becomes.

Come Lord Jesus do not delay!

Endnotes:

Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2nd Ed. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997. Print.

Facebook. (n.d.). Church of St. Mary - Closter, N.J. https://www.facebook.com/stmarycloster/

Lewis, C. S. Miracles (Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

The Holy Bible, Translated from the Latin Vulgate. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009. Print