“I am the Immaculate Conception.” The Blessed Mother confirmed her title during her 16th apparition to an illiterate, 14-year-old-girl named Bernadette Soubirous at Massabielle, in Lourdes, on 25 March 1858. The title Immaculate Conception was accorded to her by Pope Pius IX on 8 December 1854 when he defined “the doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of her conception … was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin…” Hence, the universal Church celebrates today, on December 8, a dogma that was defined by man, but later affirmed by the Blessed Mother herself—the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
One hundred and sixty-five years have passed since the promulgation of the dogma and Catholics around the world venerate the blessed Mother as the Immaculate Conception. The dogma tell us of the Mother of Jesus as the absolutely exceptional woman, exempted from original sin and its tragic consequences—not because of her own merit, but by a unique divine privilege—confirmed in grace, preserved from making mistakes, blessed in all her works.
This way of presenting the image of Mary makes us feel envy of her! We wonder what this wonderful woman has in common with us. We, the poor descendants of Adam, are forced to endure, through no fault, a punishment of sin that we have not committed! She is too far away from our condition; she is not our travelling companion who shares with us our doubts and uncertainties in our journey of faith because she was preserved from original sin.
This veneration of the Mother of Jesus is a source of division and friction in the ecumenical dialogue, especially with our brothers and sisters in the Protestant and the Orthodox Churches. Hence, it is important to understand the meaning of the dogma today by re-reading it in the light of biblical revelation.
The Mary of the Gospel is not immune to the struggles of human lives, instead she is very close to us: a girl in love with the young Joseph with whom she designed a family according to the tradition of her people. Then she is a mother, woman of faith, who each day had to confront difficulties and temptations similar to ours. She is not an exception but a particular person in whom God has found the full availability to realise his plan of salvation.
God bestows gifts on his people in order to give them a mission to carry out. Mary was “full of grace” because it was the plan of God that we become rich in grace and he wanted to fill us with every blessing. Which means in the divine plan of God, every child of God is filled with grace and filled with every spiritual blessing.
What makes Mary different from us is her willingness to say “yes” to the plan of God in spite of the possibility of being shamed and stoned to death. She carried on with her “yes” until the foot of the Cross and beyond so that the Word could continue to become flesh and world might attain salvation. The gospels describe her doubts, questions and moving journey of faith. She gladly accepted her difficult vocation.
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is a reminder of our own origins as holy and immaculate in the plan of God and our vocation to respond to the Word that the Word continue to become flesh in our times through our lives. jose
