8 December 2018
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before him (Cf. Ephesians 1:4). Few of us on Earth can say, right now, that we are truly holy and without blemish before God. We all have big or little proclivities and priorities that rear their heads and distract us or even prevent us from the dedicated service of God alone, from holiness. And we all have blemishes, faults, sins, bad habits, neuroses, etc. Some are big and some are little. Our truest selves have not emerged yet, because we are still obscured by blemishes and still misguided by unholy priorities. And yet, we are who we are. God loves us despite our blemishes, despite our unholy conduct. Therefore, we have to accept our shortcomings while, at the same time, striving to overcome them, with the help of God’s grace.
The Blessed Virgin Mary, whose immaculate conception is celebrated today by the Roman Catholic Church, was holy and without blemish from the first moment of her conception. I am not saying that she never stubbed a toe or broke a dish. I am saying that, by a special privilege of God’s grace, she was interiorly dedicated to God’s service for her entire earthly life. Moreover, she carried out that service without any fault, without any sin. This should not cause us puzzlement but rather rejoicing, because it is proof that goodness and holiness are not unattainable ideals, but real possibilities in the Christian economy of salvation. Through the intercession of Immaculate Virgin, may God who chose us in Christ make us holy and without blemish before him.