Readings for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Genesis 3:9-15, 20; Psalm 98; Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12; Luke 1:26-38
"Be it done unto me according to thy word." Luke 1:38
Without those words from Mary, God's plan to redeem mankind from the slavery of sin could not have commenced. Today the Church's celebrates Mary's Immaculate Conception--her preservation from the stain of original sin--and in so doing, also celebrates her free consent to bear the Son of God in her womb and to give birth to the Savior of the world. For Mary's fiat is the perfect model of obedience to God's will and reveals to us what true freedom really is.
If you've read this blog at all, you probably know my love for Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen (that's his picture at the top of the page). For this special day, I thought I would leave you with some quotes from his wonderful book on Mary called "The World's First Love." Any words of my own would pale in comparison to what he has written. I've taken several different quotes and put them all together below.
"The purest liberty is that which is given, not that which is taken. God's way with man is not dictatorship, but cooperation. If He would redeem humanity, it would be with human consent and not against it. God could destroy evil, but only at the cost of human freedom, and that would be too high a price to pay for the destruction of dictatorship on earth--to have a dictator in Heaven. Before remaking humanity, God willed to consult with humanity, so that there would be no destruction of human dignity; the particular person whom He consulted was a woman. As from the first Adam came the first Even, so now, in the rebirth of man's dignity, the new Adam will come from the new Eve. And in Mary's free consent we have the only human nature that we ever born in perfect liberty. When, therefore, Mary had heard how this was to take place, she uttered the words that are the greatest pledge of liberty and the greatest charter of freedom the world has ever heard: 'Be it done unto me according to thy word.' Teach us then [O Mary], that there is no freedom except in doing, out of love, what thou didst do in the Annunciation, namely, saying Yes to what Jesus asks."
God love you.
