Hail, Full of Grace: Reflections on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

This Holy Day is a solemnity, as opposed to an “ordinary” feast day. According to the Catholic Dictionary, a solemnity is “The highest liturgical rank of a feast in the ecclesiastical calendar.” As such, it is celebrated in the same way that Sundays are, with a full set of readings that directly relate to the object of the feast. In general, feast days of the saints follow the regular cyclical readings for that calendar day, although some do have optional readings related to the saint being celebrated.

Mary had a special purity. According to Bishop Sheen “She existed in the Divine Mind as an Eternal Thought before there were any mothers. ... This special purity of hers we call the Immaculate Conception,” which “means that at the first moment of her conception she ... was preserved free from the stains of original sin.” (The World’s First Love)

The readings for this solemnity begin with the fall of our first parents, having been deceived and tricked by Satan in the guise of a serpent. Several passages are left out and it is worth reading the whole description to get the full effect that their disobedience has had on humanity. These include intensity of childbirth, sweat of the brow to obtain food, toil to yield food from the ground, and the classic Ash Wednesday phrase, “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This last phrase seems to refute Satan’s claim that the man and his wife would not die by disobeying God.

But then, who would expect Satan to tell the truth? As Jesus later tells us, “He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)

The reading ends with the following statement of Adam, “The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living.” This is an example of typology, a precursor of what is to come; for Mary, will become our mother and the Mother of the Church.

The responsorial refrain, “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds,” can be a reference to many things the Lord has done for us. One of the things singled out is the salvation of God. And how did salvation come into the world? Through the Word made flesh in the virgin birth. God “has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel.” This also relates to Psalm 94 which says, “For the LORD will not forsake his people, nor abandon his inheritance. Judgment shall again be just, and all the upright of heart will follow it.”

Like the responsorial, Mary, in her “Magnificat,” (Luke 1:46-55) also known as the Canticle of Mary which she recites at the Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth, speaks of the “marvelous deeds” the Lord has done for her. She also notes that God has remembered His “promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” And, prophetically, she notes “from now on will all ages call me blessed.” A fitting statement for this solemnity.

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians basically notes that all of this is part of God’s plan for salvation, “as he chose us in him [Jesus Christ], before the foundation of the world.” As in other places Paul notes that, through our relationship with Jesus, we become adopted sons and daughters of God the Father. This is our destiny according to God’s will. It is up to us to cooperate in God’s plan so that we, as loving and obedient children, may “exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped in Christ.”

The gospel selection from Luke is the story of the Annunciation and Mary’s acceptance of God’s offer to be the mother of the “Son of God.” Take careful note of the angel’s greeting. At first he does not address the Blessed Mother by name, but by her condition, and what one might consider her title: “Hail, full of grace.” This is foundational for today’s solemnity. If someone is “full of grace” there is no room for any sin whatsoever, not even original sin. Our Protestant brethren have great difficulty understanding and accepting this simple statement of fact.

Mary did not doubt the angel’s message, but she asked for understanding, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" The angel explained how the Holy Spirit would overshadow her and “Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” He will be, as Isaiah prophesied, “Emmanuel,” (Immanuel or “God with us”) (Isaiah 7:14).

In a discussion in my men’s group, with several converts, they noted that many Protestant sects downplay the role of Mary in the Incarnation and cannot understand why she is so important to the Catholic faith. Perhaps it is because they cannot understand that she is the ideal, the perfect human being, who totally submitted her will to that of God the Father. She is the example of humility to which we should all aspire. And the critical point is at the end of this passage, Mary’s fiat, given of her own free will: “Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."”

Fulton Sheen, in Life of Christ, explains the significance of this event as follows: “The person which assumed human nature was not created, as is the case of all other persons. His Person was the pre-existent Word or Logos. His human nature, on the other hand, was derived from the miraculous conception by Mary, in which the Divine overshadowing of the Spirit and the human Fiat or the consent of a woman, were most beautifully blended.”

The honoring of the Blessed Mother does not replace or interfere with our worship of Jesus because in everything she points to Him and leads us to Him.

“You see, Mary was doing the same thing that John the Baptist would do once he was born: preparing the way for Jesus, pointing to Jesus, preaching Jesus, disappearing into Jesus, stepping back and letting him appear. The greatest of all prophets (that’s what Jesus called John the Baptist) and the greatest of all women (that’s what God’s angel called Mary) both do the same thing: “He must increase; I must decrease,” as John put it (John 3:30). It’s their humility that makes them great. That’s the central theme of the ‘Magnificat’: that God exalts the humble and humbles the exalted.” Kreeft, Food for the Soul, Cycle C.