The Feast Of The Immaculate Conception Of The Blessed Virgin Mary!

Mary is given to us as our mother: she is the Immaculate Conception!

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary!

Gen 3:9-15, 20
Eph 1:3-6, 11-12
Lk 1:26-38

When we talk about Mary’s role in the history of salvation, it reminds me of what St. Maximillian Kolbe says about Mary. He says; “You can’t love Mary too much, that, the more we love Mary the more we love Jesus. They are the same flesh and blood.

Today is the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the moment her soul was created and infused into her body, it was free from original sin and filled with sanctifying grace. Her soul was never stained by original sin, nor by the depraved emotions, passions, and weaknesses consequent on that sin, but created in a state of original sanctity, innocence, and justice.

Our first reading today reminds us that the very first sin ruptured that perfect connection between God and humans. God had wanted us all “to be holy and without blemish,” as Paul put it in the Ephesians. But not until the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was chosen by God to bear God’s Son, was someone born without the stain of original sin.

She also through her fiat, cooperated in the works of salvation. Filled with God’s grace, she chose to accept God’s will, impossible as it seemed at the time. God’s plan included all beings choosing to remain sinless. In Mary, God chose a woman who would once again have that initial choice. To say Yes to God. Filled with grace and unstained by original sin, she was offered the same choice as Adam and Eve. She chose God’s plan. Just as she chose to accept God’s plan, may we all choose to accept God’s plan.

On the 8th of December 1954, in the bull Ineffablis Deus. In his proclamation of the dogma of Immaculate Conception, Pope Pius IX, bathed with tears in his eyes he says;
“For honor and glory of the undivided Blessed Trinity, for the glory and adornment of the Virgin Mother of God, for the exaltation of the Catholic faith, and for the furtherance of the Catholic religion by the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul and by our own, we declare, pronounce and define the doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace of the Omnipotent God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind, was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin, has been revealed by God, and therefore should firmly and constantly be believed by all the faithful”.

The Pope’s declaration was not a mere proclamation at all. This dogma has been in the heart of the faithful and many theologians have wrestled on the discussion. The Vatican city wanted this to be proclaimed while others were deluded by their own ideas. Some felt Mary does not need to cooperate with the works of salvation. She is already saved by God.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraph 492 says that,“the ‘splendor of an entirely unique holiness’ by which Mary is ‘enriched from the first instant of her conception’ comes wholly from Christ.”But he saved her from having ever committed a sin. Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6. She needed more her Son, the Saviour for she was saved from original sin by the merits of her son. She became full of grace. That is the name God chose for her. Luke 1:28.

At Mary’s conception, the Lord was already preparing the world for the Incarnation of his Son within her virginal womb. Mary’s purity, moreover, makes her closer to us than anyone else, for sin is what divides, while grace unites and heals. Mary loves us with perfect, maternal selflessness. The Immaculate Conception overcomes the trickery of the serpent, begins God’s recreating work of salvation, and renders Mary, in a new way, “the mother of all the living.” Immaculate Mary, your praises we sing!

Let us pray

Most Holy Trinity: Our Father in Heaven, who chose Mary as the fair- est of your daughters; Holy Spirit, who chose Mary as your spouse; God the Son, who chose Mary as your Mother; in union with Mary, we adore your majesty and acknowledge your supreme, eternal dominion and authority.

Most Holy Trinity, we put the our nation into the hands of Mary Immaculate in order that she may present the country to you. Through her we wish to thank you for the great nesources of this land and for the freedom which has been its heritage. Through the intercess- ion of Mary, have mercy on the Catholic Church in the the entire world and in Nigeria! Grant us peace and security

Have mercy on our President and all the officers of our government. Grant us a fruitful economy born of justice, equity and charity. Have mercy on our leaders, capital, industry and labor. Protect the family life of the our nation. Guard the innocence of our children. Grant the precious gift of many religious vocations. Through the intercession of our Mother, have mercy on the sick, the poor, the tempted, sinners – on all who are in need.

Mary, Immaculate Virgin, Our Mother, Patroness of our land, we praise you and honor you and give ourselves to you. Protect us from every harm. Pray for us, that by acting always according to your will and the Will of your Divine Son, we may live and die pleasing to God. Amen.

Fr Joseph Osho