Immaculate Conception

In 1858, a little girl was gathering twigs for firewood on the slopes of a hill in a little French Village near Tarbes in Southern France. Suddenly she had a vision of a lady dressed in white and blue. She had several visions of this lady who kept on telling her to pass on the message: Pray, Pray. When the girl asked the lady her name, the Lady said in the local dialect “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

The church leaders believed in the little girl, because they said, this girl was too innocent and uneducated to come up with a title of Our Lady which was only declared a dogma of Faith by Pius the 9^th only four years earlier in 1854. The girl was too uneducated to understand the meaning:

154 years later, do we understand what it means? When I asked a catholic (I wont tell you where) – he said, it means that Mary conceived Jesus without sin. Oops ! This is not the meaning of our mystery today. It means that Mary was conceived by her parents: Joaquim and Anna without sin. From the first moment, our Blessed Mother came into being: she was sinless.

B: The early Church did not deal with this belief, partly because

• · they were still unfolding their own understanding of their belief that Jesus was divine, yet born in flesh.
• · They were unfolding their understanding of the Passion and Death and Resurrection of Jesus.
• · They were still unfolding the mystery of an invitation by the Loving and Compassionate God for us human beings to enter into “Divine Life” through a nd in Jesus

• But by the seventh century, there was a general devotion and belief that since Mary was to be the Mother of God, she was from the first moment of conception without the stain of sin.

However, in the 13^th century the great St. Thomas Aquinas said that this could not be so, because then Mary would not need to be saved by Jesus. He did not consider “retro-active” salvation.

C: Finally in the 19^th century after consulting the Bishops and the faithful, Pius 9^th declared that Mary from the first moment of conception was without sin. So what does that mean for us here in Cebu in 2008? Perhaps we are not as excited as when we heard that Pacquiao won the boxing match, but we have something more solid:

First we have someone who is our Idol – not just American or Filipino Idol – but someone who is Holy and Blessed – just like the chalice we use at the altar. Someone who is not just used for anything=2 0and everything.

Secondly: She is strong: First reading tells us, “a woman shall crush your head” She can help me when I am surrounded by sin, temptation, discouragement, depression. She has been through all that and come out victorious.

Thirdly she is given as a Mother to us. A mother who cares and who can do something about it. And so 800 years ago, St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote that beautiful prayer we say:

Remember o most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to you – and sought your help and compassion – was left unaided.

Let me end with a story of four seminarians who were strolling down in the seminary grounds. They were being watched by two priests: one was the Rector and the other the Dean of the Seminarians… Three of the seminarians were behaving in a religious and serious manner, the fourth was goofing around. As they passed the grotto with Mary s statue, they passed by without pausing, except for one seminarian. He stopped said a short prayer and quickly joined the others. Ah said the Rector – I wonder how many of those seminarians will persevere and continue to become priests. Only one, replied the dean. Oh, I am sure that Joe will be the first to go… he is always goofing around. Joe will be the only one to stay replied the Dean… he is the only one who knows that he is under Mary’s care. He stopped and said Hello to her…in the middle of all his goofing around.

Mary conceived without sin, Pray for us who have recourse to you.