The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception 2023
I rejoice heartily in the Lord,
in my God is the joy of my soul;
for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation,
and wrapped me in a mantle of justice,
like a bride adorned with her jewels.
- Isaiah 61:10; Entrance Antiphon for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
When, in 1854, Blessed Pope Pius IX solemnly defined the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he was giving full voice to an ancient and venerable tradition: “The Virgin Mary, in the first moment of her conception, by a singular privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin” (Ineffabilis Deus).
The Immaculate Conception by Francisco de Zurbarán in the Museu del Prado (1630)
Although it might seem out of place in the quiet, dark procession of these Advent days, this celebration of the Immaculate Conception, embodies the promise of Advent. “In this feast,” Henri Nouwen, “it seems that all the quiet beauty of Advent suddenly bursts forth into exuberance and exultation. In Mary we see all the beauty of Advent concentrated.” He continues:
"Mary was one in whom the waiting of Israel is most wholly and purely manifested;
she was the last of the remnant of Israel for whom God shows his mercy and fulfills his promises;
she was the faithful one—filled with grace—who believed that the promise made to her by the Lord would be fulfilled;
she was the lowly handmaid, the obedient servant, the quiet contemplative.
Mary is the most prepared to receive the Lord."
The gift of this feast is that it focuses our attention to how God fulfilled the promises made to our ancestors not only in history, but in a person, this “woman of grace.” The mystery of the Immaculate Conception invites us to reflect on the nature of the mystery that is God’s very self—a mystery of infinite value and meaning that will always extend beyond what our minds can grasp, but which, as the Letter to the Ephesians reminds us, “destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ.” In Mary’s grace-filled “Yes,” what was hidden to past generations was revealed. History is changed.
At its best, our devotion to the Mother of God, expressed in liturgical prayer and in those words we speak to God in the depths of our hearts, celebrates the part Mary played in the decisive moments of salvation history. Her holiness, already fully realized at her Immaculate Conception, but increasing even more through her obedience and cooperation in the work of her Son, is an image of the holiness of the Church (Preface of the Immaculate Conception), and the promise made to each of us in and through her Son.
The mystery of the Immaculate Conception—the mystery of Mary herself—reminds us that Mary is not “over there” and we are “over here.” As Pope Francis has reminded us, “We are connected… God rests his loving gaze on” each one of us. Like Mary, each of us, from all time, “were chosen by God to live a holy life, free from sin.” Our commitment as disciples of Mary’s Son demands that recognize our deepest vocation: to be loved by God and, like Mary’s Son, to share that love with others.
O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin
prepared a worthy dwelling for your Son,
grant, we pray, that as you preserved her from every stain
by virtue of the Death of your Son, which you foresaw,
so, through her intercession,
we, too, may be cleansed and admitted to your presence.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
