Feast of the Immaculate Conception: 09.12.24
St. Leo’s Convent @ 10am
Introduction:
I often think the package is a good image for today. Mary is the package that delivered Jesus into the world. Sometimes a package has words on it, like ‘Fragile’ or ‘ This Side Up’ or ‘Tear Here’. Let’s for a moment reflect on the package we all are, as we are invited to continue to carry Jesus into the world. Sometimes we are the ones who are fragile, upside down or torn and so we pause a moment as we prepare to honour the Feast of the Immaculate Conception …
Homily:
“Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the kings horses and all the kings men,
Couldn’t put humpty together again”
But God can and God will. No matter how messed up our life has become, we all need to realise we are made by God, loved by God, held by God and forgiven by God.
Handmade is a phrase we will often see these very days as we turn to shopping for gifts. ‘Handmade’ is on a par with the word ‘Organic’ or ‘Original’. All suggesting that there is nothing false, artificial or fake in the particular item we are considering purchasing. I think the feast we are anticipating today, that of the Immaculate Conception, is a hard one for many to understand. It’s often confused with the birth of Christ and his conception, but the dates simply don’t add up; this is all about Mary and how she was handmade to give birth to Jesus from her own conception. In other words sinless from the very beginning, from her time in the womb of her mother Anne.
We are not handmade, but we are made in God’s image and likeness. While not one of us is sinless like Our Lady, we are very special in her eyes.
Luke’s gospel brings us upfront with the mystery of the Rosary we know as The Annunciation – the visit of the Angel Gabriel to a young woman by the name of Mary who lived in Nazareth. From that gospel text we get the very well-known phrase, often repeated in the Roman Missal “The Lord is with you”[1] – in the Missal we pray “the Lord be with you”. . If we remember just that in life, it will be hugely comforting to us, that the Lord is with us, He is holding us, He has our back, we won’t go too far wrong.
Mary responded to God’s call through the voice of the angel Gabriel. It was an unflinching Yes. Yes to being the mother of Jesus. Yes to allowing her womb carry His body. Yes to acknowledging that from the earliest moment she was handmade!
We conclude with a Litany to Mary …
Mary of the Annunciation
Teach us how to respond with faith to divine mystery
Mary at Elizabeth’s
Teach us to be generous with our capacity to care
Mary giving birth to Jesus
Teach us to look for your son in our adverse conditions.
Mary fleeing into the strange land of Egypt
Teach us to welcome strangers from foreign lands
Mary at the Presentation of Jesus,
Teach us how to accept the conditions of loving fully
Mary in the Temple where your Jesus preached
Teach us to be diligent in finding our spiritual treasure.
Mary at home in Nazareth with your family
Teach us to value the gift of our relationships
Mary at the wedding feast of Cana
Teach us how to humbly ask for what is needed
Mary meeting Jesus on the way to Calvary
Teach us to meet our pain with compassion
Mary standing beneath the cross
Teach us to be present to the suffering ones of our world
Mary receiving your crucified Son in your arms
Teach us the we, too, can embrace our losses with courage.
Mary at the tomb,
Teach us not to be afraid to enter into grief
Mary in the Upper room with disciples,
Teach us the strength of community and the power of prayer.
[1] Lk.1:28