“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”
8th December 2017.
------------------------------------------------
FRIDAY, FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Reading 1: Gen 3:9-15,20 When man and woman disobeyed God and fell into sin, God promised salvation from sin through another man and woman, namely, Christ and his Mother.
Res. Psalm: Ps 97:1-4 The Lord has wrought his salvation. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Reading 2: Eph1:3-6,11-12 In his love for us God has adopted us as his sons and daughters. Hence we too are called to a holy and blameless life.
Gospel: Lk 1:26-38 Mary’s greatness and holiness are due to God’s grace and her cooperation with that grace.
------------------------------------------------
GOLD TO BE UNEARTHED
Gold was one of the first metals to attract human attention. But when it is mined, it can be with a mixture of impurities, like platinum, aluminum, etc. Many a prospector discovered to his bitter disappointment that all that glitters is not gold. However, when we say that Mary was conceived without original sin we are saying that she was pure gold. Right from the moment of her conception she was radically holy. Though made of ‘the stuff of this earth’ she had no impurities in her. From the beginning of her life she belonged totally to the kingdom of God. Never, not even for a moment, did she belong to the kingdom of Satan. And all this she owed to a special act of God. In order to prepare her to be a worthy mother for his Son, he allowed her to enjoy in advance the benefits of Christ’s redemption.
Every person is born of sin because we participate in the sin of Adam. But in all the aspects of life there is a word called ‘exception’. So the exception was given to Mary because she was chosen by the Lord to be the Mother of His Son. Mary was not burdened with a defective human nature with which we are born. She came into the world with a perfect human nature like that of Eve and Adam before they sinned and fell from grace. God gave this perfect human nature to Mary not because she did something great but because she was going to do something great. So while her Immaculate Conception was a special grace from God, from then on it was her task to remain pure and spotless. This she did, we are all thus called “before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love” (Eph. 1:4).
Left to her own power, Mary would be a sinner, and is included in the Scripture that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Her holiness is the result of God's grace alone, and her openness to it. Her being kept from sin is only possible through the clear act of god's grace through the Son she was to bear. So Mary's Immaculate Conception is not an attempt to give honor to Mary for Mary's sake but for Christ’s sake. Christ's sinlessness is by His own merit as the second person of the Trinity. Mary's sinlessness is by grace alone, and her cooperation with it. The early Church always venerated Mary as special among all the saints, both for her participation in the Incarnation of her son, Jesus Christ, and for the holiness that came from that participation.
This does not mean that Mary’s life was easier than ours, or that it was sunshine all the way. If anything, the opposite is nearer the truth. Her sinlessness made her more vulnerable, just as exceptionally beautiful flowers are very frail. But, like pure gold, she was more flexible in the hands of God. She was more ready to do his will rather than her own. She did not offer resistance to what his grace wanted to do in her and through her. And like pure gold she was an excellent conductor of God’s light and love.
Just as all metals, even rocks, have traces of gold in them, so we have gold in us. But it is not yet of the 24 carat variety. We have impurities mixed in with it that dim its luster, and which make it more resistant to the hands of the Craftsman, and a more imperfect conductor of his light and love. Because of this we are less available to God. But Christ has redeemed us. He has made it possible for us to refine the gold in us. This process was begun at our Baptism, and will go on right through life. It will entail a lot of pain, sacrifice, and struggle. But Mary our Mother will help us. She shows us what it means to be redeemed. In her we see what we are called to become — radically holy and totally free. We have no need to go chasing all over the world in search of gold. We all have gold inside us. It just needs a little refining.
Prayer: Lord, I desire to be with You forever in Heaven. Lord make me pure in my thoughts, words and deeds. Help me to build a glorious life in Heaven by surrendering to your grace. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.