Key Verse to Meditate: Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word" (Lk 1:38).

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,

Today the Church keeps the solemnity of the Immaculate conception of our Blessed Virgin Mary.  The solemnity also reminds us of the dogma of the Immaculate conception drawn by Pope Pius IX in the year 1854 which promulgated the truth that "Mary was preserved from every stain of sin from the first moment of her existence".  This dogma of the Church Later would be confirmed by the apparition of our lady in Lourdes, in 1858, to little Bernadette, revealing her name: ‘I am the Immaculate Conception.’ This singular privilege to Mother Mary goes to explain her mission to conceive the incarnate Word and therefore to carry with her, in her womb, the God made man Jesus and to give human nature to the incarnate Word.

The celebration of the mystery of the Immaculate Conception is a source of inner light, hope and comfort for each one of us. In the midst of the trials of life and temptations that each of us experience in our lives as individuals and as human person, Mary, Mother the immaculate of Christ, tells us that Grace is greater than sin, that God's mercy is more powerful than evil and knows how to transform it into good. This realization in itself, will move us to new life of hope in Christ.

The First Reading

In the first reading of today from the book of Genesis, we have the account of original sin. Through this story the author intends to explain the state of evil inclination in which every man finds himself, and which we experience every day. We know that God created us free just like our first parents and, as free individuals, we often turn our backs on the Creator. However, in addition to the disobedience of Adam and Eve, we are also given an indirect reference to our lady: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring: this will crush your head and you will sneak up on her heel ". This is a clear reference to Mary most holy, the one who will give the world Jesus, who will save people from their sins. God found Eve disobedient to his promise and she was Punished. Eve became the mother of all living creature in the beginning of the creation. Mother Mary too became the mother of all due to her obedience to God’s will.

The Second Reading

In the second reading, St. Paul writes, “He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him in love” (Eph 1:4). Similarly, Mary was chosen by God from all eternity to be the mother of the Savior.

Just as Mary was blessed with grace to live a life of holiness, so too are we called to be holy and blameless in God’s presence. God has poured out His spiritual blessings upon us (cf. Eph 1:3), inviting us to live lives that reflect His divine image.

Mary’s immaculate life inspires us to strive for holiness. She demonstrates the beauty and heights of God’s plan for humanity: to be “holy and immaculate in love” (Eph 1:4). This is not only a challenge but also our mission – to reflect the image of our Creator and live in the fullness of His grace.

The Gospel Reading: Hail, Full of Grace

In today’s first reading, we heard of Eve, the first woman, whose disobedience to God’s command brought sin into the world. By contrast, in the Gospel, we see the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose obedience to God’s will brought about the salvation of humanity.

In today’s Gospel, we are presented with the scene of the Annunciation and Mother Mary’s profound “yes” to the will of God. The first aspect for our reflection is that Mary was filled with the fullness of God’s grace. The angel Gabriel greeted her with the words, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28). In that moment, Mary, the humble handmaiden, became entirely possessed by God. She serves as the perfect example of someone who wholeheartedly welcomes the divine presence.

This greeting reveals Mary’s deepest identity: she is "full of grace," the one who carries the fullness of God’s presence in her life. God bestowed upon her countless gifts, preparing her for her extraordinary role as the Mother of the Savior. From the moment of her conception, Mary was the object of God’s singular Favor. Chosen in His eternal plan to be the Mother of His Son, she was preserved from original sin. Thus, the angel’s greeting implicitly conveys her being “always full of God’s love and grace.”

Mary, the Woman of Faith

Another aspect that emerges from the reading of today, is the aspect of faith. Mary was a woman of great faith and a woman who had a strong faith in the ‘Word of God’. When so young, though she didn’t understand much, she was able to say with a strong faith, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."  (Lk 1:38). Her ‘yes’ to the divine plan is the example for all the believers. From the life of our blessed mother, we understand one thing that, when God commands, he also gives the grace, strength and the means to respond.  In the OT, we see that Abraham conceived Isaac for faith in God's promise "and became the father of many peoples" (Rom 4: 18-22). So, we must also say that Mary conceived Jesus through faith.

Mary before she could conceive Jesus in her body, she conceived Jesus in her faith. Jesus was born to Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is always God who takes initiative but always through the co-operation of the human beings.  Believing is always our response in faith listening to the word of God, receiving His plans in faith and cooperating with him in humble obedience. As St. Paul writes to the Romans telling, ‘For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved (Rom 10:10), Faith always needs our faith in God to the extent that we can also proclaim it as did Maria.

Here am I, the servant of the Lord

Once our blessed mother came to know the will of God for herself in becoming the mother of our saviour, she simply bowed her head and said, ‘Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her. (Lk 1:38). She may not have understood fully the plan of God initially, but she had the courage to take that bold step in saying Yes to the Lord, saying, ‘let it be to me’. Mary believed in God, though she did not see it clearly at that moment. From her faith we can say that was the birth of Jesus and the birth of the Church, for she is the mother of the Church. When her aged cousin Elizabeth said, ‘And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord." (Lk 1:45), yes it was indeed expressing the internal disposition of Mary and her attitude towards the plan of God. Because she abandoned herself to the plan of God, that she is forever going to be called blessed by all the generations. ‘Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed (Lk 1:48).

Abraham conceived Isaac out of faith in God's promise "and became the father of many peoples" (cf. Rom 4: 18-22). Likewise, Mary conceived Jesus through faith. The virginal conception of Jesus was the work of the Holy Spirit, but through the faith of Mary. It is always God who works, but through the collaboration of man. To believe, in fact, is to respond with trust to the word of God, to accept his plans as if they were one's own and to submit in obedience to his will in order to collaborate with them. Faith always requires complete trust in God. Once the word of God was recognized as true, Mary let herself guided by God’s will: "Here I am, I am the servant of the Lord, what you said to me "(Lk 1:38).

The Virginal Conception of Jesus

The virginal conception of Jesus was the work of the Holy Spirit, but through the faith of Mary. It is always God who works, but through the collaboration of man. To believe is to respond with confidence to the word of God, to accept his plans as if they were his own and to submit in obedience to his will to collaborate. Faith requires trust in God. As St. Paul says, "with the heart one believes to obtain justice and with one's mouth one makes the profession of faith to have salvation" (Rom 10,10). Once the word of God was recognized as true in the life of her cousin Elizabeth, Mary believed in the plan of God, by abandoning herself to his will: "Here I am, I am the handmaid of the Lord me what you said "(Lk 1:38). From this faith only Jesus was born and also the Church. St. Elizabeth was right when she exclaimed: "Blessed is she who believed in the fulfilment of the words of the Lord" (Lk 1:45). As per the Magnificat, we realise that, every generation today proclaims mother Mary as blessed (cf. Lk 1:48) because of her faith and adherence to the ‘Word of God’, because she had conceived the ‘Word’ in her womb.

The Election of Mother Mary as the Mother of God

The election of Mother Mary to be the mother of God was destined by God long before time. In the second reading of today, St. Paul would say that, God has already predestined to live in Christ: just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will (Eph 1:4-5). This becomes revealed in the New Testament, When the angel of the Lord comes to reveal the plan of God to Mother Mary: "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David (Lk 1:30-32). I am not sure if our Lady understood the plan of God, when it was revealed to her. How can we expect the virgin of Nazareth to understand the predestined salvific plan of God?

Hail Mary Full of Grace

Grace was given to her right from the first moment of her conception :Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God.  And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. (Lk 1:30-32). That’s what the angel reminded her with his greetings: "Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you." (Lk 1:28). She was indeed the favoured one of God, the humble handmaid chosen to bear the son of God to the world. She did not see the path clearly at the beginning. But when she began to accept the will of God, then things began to unfold for her: "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." (Lk 1:38).

It is with the obedience to the word of God that one is able to understand and believe in the will of God. A Heart that is open to listen to God’s word, is the heart that is full of grace. Grace is already given to each one of us too. But along with the hearing of the word, it is faith that completes the obedience to God’s will.

Points for personal Reflection

From our childhood we have recited the prayer "Hail Mary". But do we realise the implication of this powerful prayer for our lives? From the moment she was conceived by her parents, Mary was the object of a singular predilection on the part of God, who, in his eternal plan, chose her to be the mother of his Son made man and, consequently, preserved her from original sin. Therefore, the angel addresses her with this name, which implicitly means: "always full of the love of God", of his grace. Each one of us are full grace because we have Christ in our lives. We need to take this grace to perfection, by co-operating with God’s grace which is available to us all the time.

Unfortunately, in our everyday living we experience evil, which manifests itself in many ways in relationships and events and in our personal and family lives. We must recognise that, this evil has its roots in the heart of men and women. We all have a wounded heart, sick, and unable to heal itself. But the blood of Christ has brought healing to our hearts and our lives. Sacred Scripture reveals to us that at the origin of all evil there is disobedience to the will of God. Death takes dominion over us, because human freedom has succumbed to the temptation of the Evil One. It is a daily fight that we need to put up with and be vigilant. But God does not fail in his plan of love and life: through a long and patient journey of reconciliation he has prepared the new and eternal covenant, sealed in the blood of his Son, who to be able to offer himself in atonement is "born of woman "(Gal 4, 4). This woman, the Virgin Mary, benefited in advance from the redemptive death of her Son and from conception was preserved from the evil effects of original sin.

Conclusion

The solemnity of the Immaculate conception invites every disciple of the Lord to Look at Mary the Immaculate one to offer our bodies as ‘temple of the incarnate word’ by listening to God’s word and by accepting to Co-operate with God’s plan for our lives.

We celebrate many feasts of our Lady. But this solemnity of the immaculate conception at the time of advent really makes us to understand that our salvation was realised through the instrumentality of Mother Mary. When we read the Gospel passage of the angel meeting Mother Mary, we are always reminded to look at Mary, the perfect model of how to listen to God’s word in Silence and meditate upon it (Lk 2:19.52). Mother Mary was chosen by God from all eternity to be the Mother of the Saviour, as expressed by St. Paul in the second reading of Today: just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love (Eph 1:4).  We too have been thought about by God and Chosen by God for all eternity to be holy and blameless before his presence. This would be our greatest challenge, namely to live as grace filled and at the same time to possess an immaculate heart.

Do I realise in my life that, a life of grace is possible, when the Spirit of God over shadows me?

Do I imitate the faith and the obedience of mother Mary in my life?

Do I believe that, with God, nothing is impossible?

Do I have the heart to accept the will of God like our Blessed mother? Above all, Am I open to God’s word?