{"id":7297,"date":"2021-12-08T19:56:34","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T00:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=7297"},"modified":"2021-12-08T19:56:34","modified_gmt":"2021-12-09T00:56:34","slug":"the-immaculate-conception-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/the-immaculate-conception-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary\/","title":{"rendered":"The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary<\/a>
Genesis 3:9-15, 20
Psalm 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4 (1)
Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12
Luke 1:26-38
December 8, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our readings today begin in the Garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve were there in paradise until the cunning serpent came and tricked them into eating the forbidden fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, Adam became afraid when he heard God in the garden.  Adam feared because he knew he was naked for he had sinned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adam was not alone in his sin.  He had eaten the forbidden fruit at Eve\u2019s prompting.  Eve in turn had eaten the forbidden fruit because the serpent had tricked her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The devil is cunning.\u00a0 He knows how to twist words to make us think something is okay when it isn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We call the eating of the forbidden fruit \u201coriginal sin.\u201d  We all have this within us.  It is removed in Baptism.  As humans, we commit sin.  What are we supposed to do?  How can we overcome sin by ourselves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong.  We must<\/u><\/em><\/strong> make every<\/u><\/em><\/strong> effort to avoid sin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet it is difficult.  We have all sinned.  What are we to do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We turn to God.  In Adam, in Original Sin, all die.  God has the remedy.  God sends Jesus, who is \u201cwithout blemish<\/em>\u201d to save us.  \u201cFor just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life<\/em>\u201d (1 Corinthians 15:22).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, Jesus is without blemish.  Jesus is like us in all things but sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.  Our gospel today tells us of the time of Jesus\u2019 Conception.  Given that Jesus has no sin and that the gospel mentions his conception, it might be easy to think it is his conception that this solemnity is about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not Jesus\u2019 conception that we celebrate today.  We celebrate Jesus\u2019 birth at Christmas on December 25th<\/sup>.  We celebrate his conception nine months before that on March 25th<\/sup> on the Feast of the Annunciation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, whose conception do we celebrate today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whose birth do we celebrate nine months after today on September 8th<\/sup>?  Mary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to be worthy to carry Jesus, who is without sin, in her womb, Mary had to be without sin herself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bible tells us that Mary is without sin.  Where?  When the angel Gabriel greets Mary with the words, \u201cHail, full of grace<\/u><\/strong>!  The Lord is with you.<\/em>\u201d  To be \u201cfull of grace<\/em>\u201d is to be without sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Original Sin came with Adam and Eve.  Jesus becomes the New Adam as the one without sin.  Mary becomes the new Eve.  Just as Eve became \u201cthe mother of all the living<\/em>,\u201d Mary becomes our mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We sin because we have free will.  God does not force us to do what He knows is good for us.  God did not force Mary to be the mother of Jesus.  It was her choice.  What was her response?  \u201cBehold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word<\/em>.\u201d  This is known as Mary\u2019s fiat.  It is her yes.  We thank Mary for her yes for from it Jesus came into the world to save us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God knew Mary would say yes.  God also knew she would need to be without sin.  Thus, God saw fit that when Mary was conceived in her own mother\u2019s womb, she was conceived without sin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the Immaculate Conception that we celebrate today.  We call God\u2019s grace in this \u201cprevenient,\u201d meaning that God, who knew Mary would say yes, gave her the grace before she said yes to be conceived without sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary is without sin.  We have sin.  Yet, we can be saved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have sin.  God knows this.  God loves us anyway.  \u201cGod proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us<\/em>\u201d (Romans 5:8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember, even though you are a sinner, God loves you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin MaryGenesis 3:9-15, 20Psalm 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4 (1)Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12Luke 1:26-38December 8, 2021 Our readings today begin in the Garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve were there in paradise until the cunning serpent came and tricked them into eating the forbidden fruit. After that, Adam became afraid when he …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82,94],"tags":[91,130],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-1TH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7297"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7297"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7298,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7297\/revisions\/7298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}