The Feast of the Immaculate Conception
Gn 3:9-15,20
Ps 98:1-4
Eph 1:3-6, 11-12
Lk 1:26-38
Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, was declared by Pius IX in 1854. It states that "from the first moment of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, Mary was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin."
This feast has a long and controversial history. Reading even an abbreviated account of the history gives the impression that comparedto the 12th and 13th century debates about the Immaculate Conception the current debates on global warning have been pleasant, civilized, and even cordial. Much of the debate centered on determining the moment when Mary's soul was sanctified; was it before, during or after its entry into her body? These are arguments don't surface often today. Thus, rather than focusing on the metaphysical we are better served by considering the scriptural text.
The reading from Genesis and the recounting of the Annunciation from Luke’s Gospel form a set of parentheses. Action and reaction. Doing and undoing. Disobedience and obedience.
The sin of Adam and Eve had little, or more likely, nothing to do with an apple or any other kind of fruit in the concrete sense. The interchange with the serpent about the fruit found on the tree in the center of the garden, the tree which God explicitly forbade Adam and Eve to taste, is a metaphor for something very complex and uniquely human, the action of free will. The ability to say yes or no. The choice to obey or disobey. Even today much of human sin turns on the same axis of obedience and disobedience that we first hear in the ancient Book of Genesis.
We heard of Eve's disobedience. Despite being aware of the injunction not to eat of the fruit of the tree, it took little persuasion on the part of the serpent for Eve to choose to eat the fruit and share it with Adam. The ancient author certainly understood modern human nature well. It is amazing how little persuasion we need to intentionally sin, indeed, sometimes it becomes habitual. The contrast between Eve's disobedience and Mary's radical obedience could not be more dramatic.
Because she was preserved from original sin, Mary's yes, Mary's obedience to the will of God, could be perfect. There was fear and confusion on Mary's part; we hear it in her words in the Gospel, “How can this be?” What thoughts went through her mind as she said these words? What went through her mind when she heard the angel's message?
The answer matters little because we hear her yes. We hear the yes that changed the history of the world up to and including this moment and all moments to come. It is a yes that echoed through the universe more loudly than the cumulative volume of all the bombs ever dropped in the 20th century, the bloodiest in history. It is a yes that continues to echo through the universe today. A yes that will continue to echo even after the universe has ended and history is no more.
If you listen closely you can hear those words even now:
Ecce ancilla domini,
fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum
“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
May it be done to me according to your word.”
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