Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Glorious things are spoken of you, O Mary, for from you arose the sun of justice, Christ our God. (Communion Antiphon)

The solemnity of the Immaculate Conception invites us to experience ourselves as graced by the boundless grace that God gives us every day. The first reading of today’s liturgy from the book of Genesis presents the account of the sins of our forebears, a reminder of how vulnerable we are as human beings. The Genesis account also reminds us of the boundless goodness of God, who is never willing to discard us no matter our actions. Therefore we can proclaim with gratitude the words that the angel directed to Mary in the Gospel of Luke: “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you!”

Saint Thomas Aquinas said that “Mary was full of grace with regard to the overflow of the grace of the soul into the body… and with great regard to the overflow of grace through all men. It is a great thing for a saint to have enough grace for his own salvation, even greater for him to have enough for the salvation of many; but the supreme greatness is to have so much that it suffices for all; and this was the case with Christ and with the Blessed Virgin Mary.”

Mary was preserved from sin from the moment of her conception by the merits of Jesus, not yet born and yet acting with love and mercy from eternity, preparing Mary to be, as the opening collect declares, “a worthy dwelling” for Him. This celebration reminds us that there are no limits to the grace of God. We are called to believe and trust that this good news is also directed to each one of us. As children of our first parents, we continue harming each other, however, we are called as children cared by a loving God, to a life of new possibilities, a life where grace is more powerful than sin. May we celebrate with Mary Immaculate the gift of grace given to each one of us and be transformed by that boundless grace to be people in the image and likeness of God.