Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Mary is a wonderful example of giving herself over to God and trusting in His will. Are we as brave in our faith as Mary?

Early Advent often finds us with a Holy Day of Obligation, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Today we celebrate Mary’s sinlessness and the gift God gave us when He shared His mother with us. It isn’t apparent because the Gospel reading is of the Annunciation. Still, if she hadn’t been preserved from original sin, she wouldn’t have had the opportunity to offer her yes to God through the Angel Gabriel.

“May it be done to me according to your word,” Mary says, and she offers it to us too. God’s will is not always the same as ours, but it is always better for us. What God has in mind for us is so much better than what we could think of for ourselves, but it takes a certain humility and openness to be able to see that.

Who better to guide us than Mary? She said yes to God’s will in a way that didn’t hesitate or look back. There were enormous social consequences for being pregnant and unmarried (death being the worst). But her response was not just yes, but OH YES. And, because God is beyond all good, she’s also told the good news about Elizabeth’s pregnancy.

Misery loves company, but so does joy. And the joy of Mary’s yes resounds all the way down to us today.