We are, once more, making our way through this Advent season, preparing our minds and hearts to meet Jesus again, at His birth and at His second coming. 

 

As we do so, we are constantly accompanied by Mary.

 

Two thousand years ago, she was there. At her very first moment of existence, she received the great gift of being conceived without the original sin that the rest of us have tragically inherited from Adam and Eve. We celebrate that grace given to Mary each Advent on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

 

The importance of that moment is not always sufficiently recognized among the faithful. After the fall of the human race through sin, God began His great plan of our renewal. We were to be offered once more the chance for fulfillment of our nature by spending eternity in heaven with the Triune God.

 

To carry out His plan, God chose the people of Israel. For centuries then, through the prophets and by His own presence, the Israelites were prepared to be those from whom the Son of God would come forth. They would also be given the first opportunity to receive Him.

 

The end of the preparation and the beginning of the fulfillment began with a daughter of Israel. In Mary, God gave the great privilege of being born full of grace. Mary, in receiving that grace, became like Eve before her sin.

 

The Immaculate Conception of Mary started the final stage of God’s plan leading to Christmas, and the birth of our Savior. Mary lived that gift by never once sinning, never once placing herself in opposition to God. As part of Advent, we celebrate Mary’s fiat, her order, and her answer of yes to God’s request through the Archangel Gabriel that she be the mother of Jesus.

 

On Christmas Day, our hearts rejoice in God’s love because the Son of God actually takes on our human nature. He who is the destroyer of sin issues forth from a mother who was never touched by evil.

 

Today, Dec. 8, is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. It is also the day that we, as Americans, celebrate Mary as our special intercessor and patroness. 

 

Yes, it is a holy day of obligation, but how great it should be for us to go to Mass, not just in fulfillment of an obligation, but out of a joy of heart. 

 

Mary conceived without sin, pray for us and with us!

 

Four days later, on Dec. 12, we are reminded that Mary is not simply a memory but rather she is a living presence. On that day we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

 

Like the events of Fatima and Lourdes, that Feast commemorates Mary living her motherhood of us in the course of history. 

 

In 1531, at a moment of lowliness and despair among the native population of Mexico, Mary appeared to Juan Diego. As a result of her words to him and Juan’s witness to Mary’s presence, millions were converted and the faith remains in Mexico to this day.

 

How grateful we are that Pope St. John Paul II declared the Virgin of Guadalupe to be the Mother of the Americas, including us. How thankful I am for the presence of so many of our brothers and sisters of Mexican heritage here in the Diocese of Rockford, carrying on the celebration and veneration of Mary’s appearance.

 

As we get ready for Christmas, we need to make the effort to prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus once more. 

 

Offer prayers at home, with your family. Make sure to attend Mass and make a Christmas confession. And recall how Mary is present throughout Advent.

 

Her sinless presence is a reminder of what each of us is called to be.