Today’s gospel is about the birth of Jesus. Today’s feast is about the birth of Mary. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception was added to the Church’s calendar to celebrate that Mary was “full of grace” from the first moment of her existence. This was a singular gift of God. But as St. Augustine used to remind his congregation Mary was still a member of the Church, her dignity comes not from biology (giving birth to Jesus) but from fidelity (believing in Jesus as the Son of God.) While this provides an opportunity to reverence the Blessed Mother we should be reminded that she is an example for us to follow. Of course, we have not been full of grace from the first moment of our existence. If an angel appeared to us she would probably say, “Hail, full of mess” but would then add to us as Gabriel said to Mary, “the Lord is with you.” The Lord was with Mary, the Lord is with us, not because of anything we’ve done (Mary hadn’t said “yes” yet) but because of God’s gift. St. Paul says, God chose us in Jesus, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. Immaculate reception. Catholics baptize infants to stress this fact. There are traditions which wait until someone is old enough to choose God. We baptize infants because God has chosen us and is with us and will help us to imitate Mary in our “yes” to God’s will for our lives.
