December 8 2020 - Immaculate Conception - God could do it, He saw its fittingness, He did do it

About seven hundred years ago, there was a little Franciscan Friar by the name of John Duns Scotus, teaching Theology at the University of Paris, probably the most important school in the world in the 1300s.  One day, one of his students asked him to explain the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, and he said simply, in Latin of course,” potuit, decuit, ergo fecit”.Four simple words.  God could do it, it was fitting and decent that he would do it; therefore, he did it.

Could God preserve Mary from all stain of original sin from the moment of her conception?  Absolutely.  The Archangel Gabriel in the Gospel today said it perfectly: “nothing is impossible for God”.  

Was it fitting? When we consider the fittingness of something we do not deny that God could have done things otherwise. It is fitting that “he who was like us in all things but sin” would draw his humanity from one who is sinless. 

Did he do it?  Yes!  Not only is it the consistent teaching of the Church for nearly two thousand years, but we have biblical evidence for the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. When Gabriel met Mary, he greets her with a very specific word, a very unique word. “Hail, full of grace!” is a somewhat inadequate translation of the Greek word kecharitomene, a word not found anywhere else in scripture. The Greek word is literally translated “she who has been made and continues to be full of grace”. 

It would have been strange for Gabriel to greet a woman who had Original Sin that she was made and continues to be full of grace.  Rather, Gabriel rightly describes Our Lady’s spiritual ontology here. She was made full of God’s grace at the moment of her conception, and she has not lost grace, as did Adam and Eve through sin, but has continued to remain full of grace throughout her life. 

St. Ambrose, whose feast we celebrated yesterday, said beautifully, “Mary, a Virgin not only undefiled but a Virgin whom grace has made inviolate, free of every stain of sin.”

Why is this an important feast for the Church to celebrate? Well, it is right and just to celebrate the mighty and wonderful works of God, and Our Lady, the Immaculate Conception, is the greatest thing God has ever created. A human creature with a heart and a soul and a body so full of grace she is worthy to become the mother of God. And if that were the only reason, it would still be fitting for the Church to establish a solemnity, the highest class of liturgical feast, to celebrate the Immaculate Conception.

We honor her also because she is an image of hope, and icon of hope. Our Lady shows us what humanity looks like when it is fully conformed to God. Perfect faith, perfect hope, perfect charity, perfect surrender to the will of God, perfect selflessness. By applying the fruits of Christ’s redemption to Mary from the moment of her conception, God has made her whole life an icon of what he will one day do for all of us.

Mary thus shows us what we an be–and will become–as a result of Christ’s death on the Cross, if we only persevere in the Christian life.

May God be praised on this great feast of his greatest work. And may Our Lady help us this day and all days be conformed like her to her Son for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

That Mary’s maternal care and heavenly intercession will help us all to reach the moral greatness befitting true children of God.  

That through Immaculate Mary, Queen of Peace, hatred, violence, and cruelty will cease in the world.  

For blessings on all expectant mothers, newborn infants, and young families. 

That from the moment of conception all children will be preserved from bodily harm; for the overturning of unjust laws that permit the destruction of innocent life; and that the minds of all may be enlightened to know the dignity of every human life.  

For all those who have died, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for all who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.  

We pray, O Lord our God, that the Virgin Mary, who merited to bear God and man in her chaste womb, may commend the prayers of your faithful in your sight. Through Christ our Lord.