The Immaculate Conception

As we approach the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, our heartbeat should quicken as we realize the awesome importance of this feast. It proclaims to all the world the incredible Providence of God.
           
Humanity had fallen into a state of disrepair and painful distance from the Creator as a result of our first parents’ sin of disobedience. They wanted to be gods, disregarding the wisdom of God’s commandment not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Their pride made them seek to be God’s equal, or perhaps even above Him. Instead, it made them far lower than they had been in their original state.
           
God, in His wisdom and love, had a plan to redeem them from the darkness of their egotistic sin. Another Man and another Woman would enact a redemptive drama that would bring men and women of all times and places back into right relationship with the Lord. The Man would be Jesus, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, who would become incarnate, taking on our human flesh while remaining Most High God. How would such a wonder occur? He would take on flesh from the woman named Mary. Conceived in her virginal womb, Jesus Christ would enter into the world by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit and subsequent birth in the stable in Bethlehem. Because He remained the Most High God, a worthy vessel needed to be prepared for Him. He who was All-Holy, the Creator of all, came to us by the Woman Mary, who was completely free from the Original Sin of our first parents and from all sin. The Almighty and All-Holy One came to dwell in the sinless one, the Immaculate Virgin Mary. She is not simply a vehicle for Him to come. Rather, Our Lady is a woman who freely accepts the mission given to her by the Archangel Gabriel. She cooperates completely with the design of mercy by which she becomes a chosen and worthy ark who would become God’s own Mother. She said, “Let it be done unto me according to your word” (Lk 1:38).
           
The Virgin Mary’s conception without any stain of sin is not simply a necessary pre-requirement for the arrival of the Savior. It is, rather, an amazing manifestation of the outpouring of God’s mercy. Her sinless conception happened in light of the redeeming merit of her Son’s sacrifice on the Cross. We see, then, that the beauty of her coming into being is caused by the Creator’s Will and the Redeemer’s great act of love. This woman, Mary, stands at the very center of the mystery of her Son’s saving love. She is perfectly prepared to proclaim her “Fiat—“Let it be done unto me according to your word.”
           
Our Lady is so united with God’s Will that she plays a unique role in undoing Eve’s (and Adam’s) refusal to obey Him.  Her Immaculate Conception and her choosing always to do the Divine Will lead her to stand under the Tree of Life, the Cross, and to help to undo the curse that happened under the tree in the Garden of Eden.
           
Immaculate Mary also becomes the Mother of all of us as she stands at the Cross of Jesus. Her Immaculate Conception and her sinlessness throughout her life shine into our own lives. Her sinless presence, her maternal intercession and her love for us are the legacy of her Immaculate Conception impacting the world today and in every age. She gives us, poor banished children of Eve, renewed hope and light on our path that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven. 
           
My brothers and sisters, as we celebrate her glorious feast day, our hearts do quicken because we realize that the Immaculate Conception is not simply a theological proposition. Rather, it is a legacy of grace and of love flowing from God through her stainless state.

Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh