Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

In this message, the speaker discusses the significance of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the role of the Holy Spirit. They emphasize the importance of preparing ourselves to encounter God's grace through prayer and reflection on the Gospel. The passage from Luke's Gospel about the annunciation of Jesus's birth to Mary is read and analyzed, highlighting the humble and gracious nature of Mary, the angel Gabriel, and the Holy Spirit. The listener is encouraged to meditate on the message and allow the Holy Spirit to work within them. The speaker concludes by expressing joy in sharing the gospel. Greetings Friends, What a joy to share the Gospel. In these early days of Advent, the Church offers us this awesome solemnity in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her Immaculate Conception. It's really an invitation to contemplate the gift of grace that is Christmas, the coming of Jesus into the world through the prism of the work of the Holy Spirit in Mary, our Blessed Mother. There is in the prayer over the gifts at the beginning of the Liturgy of the Eucharist this beautiful prayer of praise to God, thanking God for the gift of His prevenient grace to Mary, prevenient, a rather archaic word for sure, but one filled with significance. It reminds us that God goes out ahead of His plans for us with grace to prepare our hearts for the work He will ask of us. God has a request, an urgent request to make of the Blessed Virgin Mary on behalf of humanity. But He goes ahead of that request with a grace, preveniently preserving Mary from the stain of original sin, that Mary in freedom might respond with generosity, great trust and deep peace in the sovereign plan of God for her and for humanity. Oh friends, to prepare ourselves to encounter this movement of grace made present to us in the Gospel, let's take a moment to quiet ourselves. If you will, take a deep breath slowly in and slowly out. Come Lord Jesus, allow Your Holy Spirit to bring Your Word to life in me. May I hear Your voice, Good Shepherd. We begin our prayer with the Gospel by reading the passage so as to become familiar with it and to prepare ourselves for the work of the Holy Spirit mediated through the Gospel. Friends, remember, we are convinced that the Divine Spirit moves with the Word to act in our lives. On the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, we read from Luke's Gospel, chapter 1, verses 26 through 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 is 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. And the angel departed from her. Luke unfolds for us in this marvelous narrative the great mystery of the annunciation of Jesus's birth to our Mother Mary. Note the central actors in this narrative. There is, of course, right there in the middle, the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is humble, gentle, so unassuming. There is almost nothing within the first part of this narrative that attracts us to her. Even though she's absolutely central to the narrative, she is almost hidden, that is, up until the very end when she makes her consent, Be it done unto me according to your word. There is, then, of course, the angel Gabriel, this heavenly messenger who comes with good news and yet with a message that is filled with mystery and one that must strike Mary in the most incredible way. The angel is certainly a middle person, and that brings us to the third and perhaps greatest protagonist in the narrative, and that is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, we are told, will come upon Mary, and the power of the Most High will overshadow her. The work of our redemption, the work of Mary's redemption, pre-veniently from the first moments of her conception, is a divine work. We do not save ourselves. We are certainly not saved by Mary. This is a work of God who comes upon us just as he came upon the Blessed Virgin Mary. Turning to read the Gospel a second time, let me invite you, my friends, to keep your eyes fixed on these three protagonists of the story, Mary, that angel, and the Holy Spirit. Watch their interaction, the mutuality of their relationship, and watch also your own spirit. How does the Word speak to you? What does it move within you? And so, once again, we open ourselves to the Word as we read Luke chapter 1 verses 25 through 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 is 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. We come now to the second step of our prayer with the gospel, meditation. Here we pause to ponder and reflect on what has stood out to us, that word or phrase or image from the gospel that has moved within us as we've read, as we've listened to the gospel. You know, what really stands out to me, almost unavoidably so, is how deeply imbued this whole passage is with grace. Let me put it another way, it is the graciousness that fills the whole narrative that just really stands out to me. God, to begin with, God finds Mary in her home in Nazareth. This is not one of those spectacular, mountaintop theophanies which we see so frequently in the Scriptures. No, God descends the mountain of His transcendence and greets Mary. He comes to her where she lives. There is such humility on the part of God, who as well appears not in His own person but through the mediation of an angel. There is such gentleness in God's approach of Mary. Mary too is so humble. She speaks so gently. How can this be? And yet she is not defensive. She is not filled with anxiety or fear. She simply seeks to know and to understand. And there is that gracious descent of the Holy Spirit that the angel tells us about, but notice he doesn't describe it, for it is so gentle, so mysterious, beyond description. And then, of course, the culmination of the whole story, Mary's gracious ascent, which has a certain strength to it and yet possesses obedient surrender. May it be done unto me according to your word. Friends, let me invite you again to continue to sit with this gospel passage. What is stirred within you? Where do you sense the Holy Spirit acting internally through the listening to this gospel? Before leaving prayer, be sure to intentionally place that word, that movement of the Spirit, deep within your own spirit. Embrace that movement so that the Lord might bring it growth throughout this day. And friends, it is a joy to share the gospel with you.