Full of Grace - in Perfect Harmony and Union with God - Dec 4, 2022

This week, on Thursday, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is an important Feast Day, not least of which is because this is the patronal feast of the United States of America. So pray for our country that day.

Unfortunately, I have found that there is not infrequently some confusion and mis-understanding about this feast. First of all, this is about the conception of Mary, not Jesus. Perhaps because of the anticipation and nearness of Christmas, people sometimes mistakenly associate the Immaculate Conception with the conception of Jesus. But that occurred nine months prior to Christmas, and we celebrate that on March 25 in the Feast of the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel “announced” to Mary that she was chosen to be the Mother of God’s Son, Jesus.

The Feast we observe this week, the Immaculate Conception of Mary. refers rather to the conception of Mary in her mother’s womb. Her mother is traditionally known as Anna. While Mary’s conception occurred in the usual way, what was special about it, and what we celebrate in this Feast, is that it was “immaculate”. In other words, Mary’s
conception was not negatively affected by original sin.

All the rest of us, from our beginning, have carried the burden of original sin. Unfortunately original sin has been taught as a dark mark on our soul from our earliest times, leading us to selfishness, lying, laziness and all the other bad habits and sinful inclinations we carry around with us. However, such an understanding is poor theology.

Original sin is not something that is there, like a dirty mark on the soul, but rather something that should be there that is missing. As St. Thomas Aquinas taught, original sin is “analogous” to sin; that is, original sin is like sin in its effects. It is not so much a mark that is there that needs to be cleansed and taken away, but rather a lack, an emptiness of something that should by rights be there, but is in fact missing, that is absent. Original sin is not a presence, but an absence. It is the absence of the union with God we were created to have. It is the absence of grace. That is what original sin is.

So when the Angel Gabriel addresses Mary at the Annunciation (Jesus’ conception) the Angel calls her “full of grace”. That is, from the first moment of her being, Mary was not lacking what was supposed to be there all along: God’s grace and love. Mary was conceived “immaculately” in that from the very beginning she was full of God’s grace and love.

Therefore Mary is an exemplar and model of what all of us are called to be, what all of us look forward to in heaven, namely being full of grace, in perfect harmony and union with God. 

Mary is therefore an example and sign of hope for all of us. We hope to be full of grace in the Resurrection, and Mary shows us what that will be like. So in the Immaculate Conception we see our destiny as fully in union and harmony with God. And that is a very good thing.

Happy Feast Day!