THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, PATRONAL FEAST DAY OF THE USA (SOLEMNITY)

Hail, full of grace! 

The Scripture passages(Luke 1:26-38) that we hear in today’s Mass have long inspired the Church’s teaching about the immaculate nature of Mary’s conception. But it’s worth considering why God even bothered to reveal this astounding truth to us. Here’s a spoiler: it’s because the grace Mary received at her conception foreshadows the grace that is ours now and that will be fully revealed when we join her in heaven.

What were the first words the angel Gabriel said when he appeared to Mary? “Hail, full of grace!” (Luke 1:28). These are the same words we pray in the Hail Mary. The Greek word for “grace” (charitoo) speaks of blessings that have already been given but that are still being poured out. As one theologian has put it, Mary was “completely, perfectly, enduringly bestowed by God with unmerited grace.” So on this feast of the Immaculate Conception, we celebrate that God, in his mercy, poured his grace into Mary and continues to pour it out as an abundant, ongoing gift to every one of his children.

This is your heritage! You may not have been conceived free from original sin as Mary was, but that doesn’t mean God is withholding grace from you. On the contrary, he wants nothing more than to fill you to overflowing with his grace so that you can overcome the allure of sin and eventually come to see him face-to-face in your heavenly home. As Paul said in today’s second reading (Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12), God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens” (Ephesians 1:3, emphasis added). In other words, in Christ, God has made it possible for us one day to be like Mary: perfectly holy and united with Jesus in eternal life.

Go ahead and tell yourself this today: “I am filled with grace!” Rejoice in what God has done for you. Celebrate his mercy and his love. And thank Mary for being such a beautiful model of what it means to live in the grace that God has lavished upon you!

“Thank you, Lord, for giving us Immaculate Mary as our Mother and our great model of faith!”

Luke 1:26-38
Genesis 3:9-15, 20
Psalm 98:1-4
Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12

WORD AMONG US