“He Has Done Marvelous Deeds”
December 8, 2007

Readings for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Reading 1: Gen. 3:9–15, 20

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 98:1, 2–3ab, 3cd–4

Reading 2: Eph. 1:3–6, 11–12

Gospel: Lk. 1:26–38

Link to Readings

By Monsignor Charles M. Mangan

“Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous deeds.”

It is always fitting that we praise God for the wonders He has worked. One such wonder is His Mother. The Almighty fashioned Mary in an incredible manner. At the exact moment of her conception in the womb of her mother Saint Anne, Mary was preserved from Original Sin.

This marvelous deed is the focus of today’s Holy Day of Obligation. God is so awesome that He was able to keep Mary free from the stain of Adam and Eve which you and I inherited.

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception provides us with a special opportunity: to consider what God has done in the life of Our Blessed Mother. The Lord had a unique plan for Mary. She would become the Mother of God. Therefore, the Lord shielded her from the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Our Lady did not contract the separation from God that resulted because of the evil choice made in the Garden of Eden.

The Best Possible Mother

When we ponder the mystery of the Immaculate Conception, that Mary was conceived without Original Sin, we notice how good God is. He wanted to ensure that Jesus Christ the Son of God would have a worthy Mother. By preparing Mary to become the Mother of Our Savior, the Lord raised her up to an exalted level of sanctity. Jesus would have the very best mother possible.

Eve, who is our first mother, was not the best possible mother. She and Adam decided to disobey God. Our first parents were tainted because of their refusal to heed God’s reasonable command.

The same cannot be said for Mary. There was never a time when Our Blessed Mother rejected God and His directives. Mary always loved God and obeyed Him.

What God did in preserving Mary from Original Sin helps us. When we look at Mary, we see our model of holiness. Mary is as human as we are. She lived in the midst of our broken and sinful world. Yet, she pushed aside sin and welcomed all that God required of her.

Not only was Mary preserved from Original Sin but she also avoided Actual Sin—those thoughts, desires, words, and deeds that are not of God.

Choose Jesus

Mary offers us proof that we, as she did, can embrace God’s will and do as He directs us. We, too, can avoid Actual Sin and live virtuous lives in imitation of Jesus Christ and His sinless Mother.

Is holiness really possible for us? We listen again to the words of the Archangel Gabriel to Our Lady in the Gospel passage we just heard: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

We need not fear. Holiness is possible for us. We can become more fully the disciples of Jesus. By cooperating with the Holy Spirit, we grow in our likeness to Christ.

True, our souls were burdened by Original Sin. But we were baptized in the pure waters of Christ. Then Original Sin was washed away from our souls. Our parents and godparents helped us to make a choice for Jesus. We decided to follow Him. We decided to avoid sin. We decided to love Him and to keep His commandments.

Each day we ratify that choice. We choose Jesus and His plan for us. We reject Satan and his works and all his empty promises.

Thanks be to God, it was the Lord Who first chose us. Saint Paul wrote in his Letter to the Ephesians that we have been chosen “so that we might exist for the praise of His glory.”

God thought so much of each of us that He chose us to be His special friends. He was not content that we would remain in Original Sin. Instead, He called us out of sin to Himself.

If today’s Feast is about considering what God did in the Life of Mary, it is also about what God has done in our lives. He has done marvelous deeds for each of us because of our relationship to Jesus and His Mother.

Jesus Christ has worked countless miracles of grace deep within us. Every time we pray, worthily receive the Sacraments, and perform some acts of charity and penance, the Risen Lord Jesus draws us closer to Himself.

A Hail Mary a Day

Our joy is immense! Mary is the Immaculate Conception. She herself confirmed it when she visited Saint Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France nearly 150 years ago.

Today is the beginning of the Lourdes Jubilee Year. That Mary is the Immaculate Conception affects each of us. She is our sinless Mother because she is the sinless Mother of Jesus Christ, Who is Our Redeemer and Brother. Our Blessed Mother’s sinlessness encourages us to pursue the Face of Christ.

Imagine if a year from today, December 8, 2008, the conclusion of the Lourdes Jubilee Year, you and I really had become more like Mary. Think about this: what if, at the end of the next twelve months, we really had become more loving, humble, forgiving, and courageous?

This is the greatest gift that Our Lord Jesus desires from us: our sincere growth in holiness.

Here is a simple but powerful assignment for each of us. Let us pray one Hail Mary daily for the next year, asking God that He will grant us the grace to become more like Mary. We have no doubt that He will give this grace to each of us when we request it.

In all things our response to God is to be similar to Mary’s: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”

“O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.”

Monsignor Charles Mangan is a priest of the Diocese of Sioux Falls, SD, a member of CUF's advisory council, and a frequent contributor to Lay Witness. He currently works in Rome as a member of the Vatican's Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life.

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