Mary: The Worthy Vessel for Jesus - Weekday Homily Video

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is one of the most important solemnities about our Blessed Mother. Pope Pius IX declared in 1854 that Our Blessed Mother, through a special grace, was preserved free from original sin right from the moment she was conceived in her mother, Anna’s, womb. It is part of the reason when the angel Gabriel came to tell her that God had chosen her as the mother of Jesus, the angel called her “full of grace.” She did not have a quarter of the grace, or have half of the grace, but she was full of grace!

Appointed Before Birth

When our ancestors Adam and Eve sinned against God, human nature was infected by sin. As part of God’s plan to save humanity, He preserved Our Blessed Mother from the stain of sin so that His Son who is all holy, would find a worthy vessel that would receive His Son here on earth. The preservation of Our Blessed Mother for a special mission started at the time of her conception in the womb of her mother, Anna. 

Our belief in the Immaculate Conception is part of a wider belief within the Catholic faith of a provident God who plans, who provides for the future, who prepares His children for special assignments long before they are even born. The belief in the Immaculate Conception is about a God who looks into the future, chooses people for special tasks, and equips them with special abilities for them to fulfill the tasks He has in mind for them especially in the drama of human salvation. There are several men and women in scripture that God appointed and anointed before they were even born.

Long before Our Blessed Mother came onto the scene, the Lord told the Prophet Jeremiah that “Before I formed you in your mother’s womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” The Lord appointed and anointed the Prophet Jeremiah way before Jeremiah dropped in his mother’s womb.

In celebrating the Immaculate Conception, we celebrate Mary being preserved by God from the stain of sin way ahead of time, so that God’s Son would find a holy temple when He came here on earth. It is one of the greatest privileges or honors that any human being has ever been given. It is what the Psalmist and Mary herself sings about when she says that God has done great things.

Two Thoughts for Reflection

One thing we learn from this day of the Immaculate Conception is that when God wants to use us for some purpose in this world, He does not abandon us to our strength and our wits to figure out how to go about the assignment. He has a plan for us and the grace that goes with it.

We also learn that we continue to live in a broken and fragmented world that is wounded by sin. That woundedness, the propensity to sin, is what we see in the wars and conflicts in our world, in the massive corruption, in the hatred, in the murders, and in the various addictions our world is struggling with. Our first reading told us of on an ongoing battle between good and evil, between God and Satan. Our Blessed Mother is part of God’s grand plan to bring healing, harmony, and victory in our lives and in our world. The closer we stay to her, the easier and faster it will be for God’s plan for the world to be fully realized.

Personal Experience of the Solemnity

On a personal level, this solemnity is special to me. On the 8^th of December 1999, I was a seminarian doing my novitiate or spiritual year in one part of Uganda where there was a war going on between the government and a terrorist group – the Allied Democratic Forces. Our novitiate is near a big army barracks and a big government prison. There was suspicion and fear that the rebels would come down from the mountains and attack anyone of these institutions, and we would be caught up in the battle. Our novitiate staff asked for permission from our Provincial to move the novitiate from its location should an attack happen.

Sure enough, on the 8th of December 1999, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the rebels attacked the army barracks and the prison, and we were caught up in this war situation. We had to flee the novitiate, run into the forest, and spend the whole night huddled and listening to the heavy exchange of gunfire. In the morning when the guns quieted down, we had to temporarily abandon the novitiate and move to a safer place without losing the novitiate days required of us by Canon Law. This Solemnity reminds me of the brokenness of human nature (and I saw it dramatized that novitiate night!), and how Our Blessed Mother was preserved from it all.

As we continue with our Mass, may we ask our Lord to plant within us the desire for sanctity in our lives; and may He grant us the grace each one of us needs to walk in holiness and openness to His plans. Amen.

• Today’s Readings

• Father Fred's inspirational homily was recorded live during Mass at the Father Peyton Center this morning. Please view the video on our Facebook page. (You don't need a Facebook account to view.) 

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