Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church

Homily for December 8, 2004
Liturgical Year A-Cycle I
 Immaculate Conception
By Dcn. Bob Villarreal
Topic: Thy will be Done
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Gospel :
Luke 1: 26-38
The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the  house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you." But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end." But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" And the angel said to her in reply, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God." Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.
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The Immaculate Conception
Catechism of the Catholic Chruch--2nd edition
(490-492)

To become the mother of the Savior, Mary "was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role." The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as "full of grace". In fact, in order for Mary to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God's grace.

Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, "full of grace" through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854:
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.

 The "splendor of an entirely unique holiness" by which Mary is "enriched from the first instant of her conception" comes wholly from Christ: she is "redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son". The Father blessed Mary more than any other created person "in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" and chose her "in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love".
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We are celebrating our Mother today!

We work and live in a rather affluent, scientific and somewhat secular society here in Los Alamos.  Most non-Catholic and even some Catholics are not comfortable in speaking about Mary.

If someone should introduce himself or herself while you are having a brew at Starbucks and asks you, "Why do you believe that Mary was conceived without sin?" How would you respond?

Saying, "Because I'm Catholic," is not good enough.  It gets you around the question but does not answer the question.

So, what would your response be?

Ask him or her this, "If you could have created your Mother and preserved her from original sin, would you?"  Of course you would!

But could you? No, you could not.  But Jesus could and so, Jesus did.  This was an extraordinary act of love.  But how do we know that Jesus did this?

Because when she was asked, Mary did not respond in the world's most common prayer which is "Thy will be changed," or "Thy will be according to my prayer." Instead, Mary responded with the world's greatest prayer.  "Thy will be done."  Mary accepted a supernatural event to occur in her life without making any reservations.  She was offered a part in divinity to be the Mother of the Son of God and she accepted without reservation.

Yes, Mary is our spiritual Mother because she is the Mother of Jesus and when we partake of his Body and Blood we become children of God. 

Yes, we are celebrating our Mother today at this Mass!