Immaculate Conception 8.12.19 Second chance
It was a good day for us when Mary was conceived. Whether
there was any sign in nature that something remarkable was happening that day,
I do not know; but the event was worthy of some wonder from surrounding
creation.
The conception of one baby, one particular baby turned human
history on its head.
It was like a new creation of the human race. Adam and Eve
had forfeited the perfect union with Almighty God, and from then on we laboured
under original sin.
Mary was conceived without sin, giving the human race
another chance.
Adam and Eve failed to grasp the privilege extended to them.
Mary succeeded, and gave perfect return to God at every point of her life.
Into a diseased and disordered world a new stream of purity
and holiness was released.
We can become cynical as we see the world around us, riddled
with sin of every kind.
There is a purer world, not visible, but active all the
same, calling us each and all to share in the fruits of a holy life, a life
without sin.
We have tasted of this life and can tell that it is much
better than the life of sin; but we find we have to break free from the ties of
falsehood and vice.
It is like walking into a cobweb and having to fight our way
through.
Salvation is an ongoing work. What we celebrate today was a
major advance in God's plans for the world.
Mary had always been in His mind as an ideal. Now, she was
here in reality.
Soon after would come the Saviour Himself, God made Man,
saving us from within the human condition, by living as one of us.
The salvation and retrieval of the human race is at stake. The
entry of Mary is a major event in pursuit of that objective.
God surrounded her with His love and she responded. She saw
the better way.
Mary did not sin; did not want to sin. By not sinning she
grew in love of God and that made any other sin even less likely.
She makes it look easy. People who are ‘best in the world’
at something make that thing look natural, even easy.
So Mary makes it look easy to be holy. It is simply looking
at the glory of God.
The devil could not touch her with the normal tricks that
worked with everyone else.
This made her a very powerful person, having direct and
complete access to the power of God. Innocence is often portrayed as weakness,
as in a kind of naivete.
Not with Mary. She was powerful because of her innocence.
She could make miracles happen, and still can.
Now it is our turn to step up and take our part in the great
Salvation story. It is a great story and still being written. Each of us has at
least a paragraph to contribute!
Salvation for us is more complicated than for Mary, because
we have to be extricated from sin, from false ideas, disordered passions etc.
We are far from immaculate, at least to start with. We can reach
that state, slowly and surely, as we take on more and more God's view of things.
All our lives, and all of human history, we have been trying
to subvert God's plan and make it our plan instead. Very Luciferian - I will
be my own god.
If we can just accept that there is One greater than us. This
should not be so hard when it is so obvious. We are created beings, and must
never forget that.
We have a second chance in Mary. We will not allow ourselves
to be deceived again.
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