A spotless and pure abode for our Lord (Joe Heschmeyer)

   The Virgin Mary is given more graces than any creature in history, because she has the most special and unique role, as the hinge of the Incarnation, the woman from whom Jesus takes flesh, the woman who conceives, bears, births, and raises Jesus Christ, mothering him, serving him, and following him even to the cross. For nine months, she was his sanctuary and his earthly Temple. 

   God preserves her from sin so that the Ark of the New Covenant will be a spotless and pure abode for our Lord. In exchange for the much that she has been given, much is expected. This is fulfilled in her ready responsiveness to Christ, but it doesn’t stop with the end of her earthly life. After all, the Virgin Mary is given to the world for all of us, because she’s given to the world for the sake of Jesus’ mission. And that mission is ongoing. So it is because God chose Mary from all eternity, purified her, and brought about the Incarnation (and our subsequent salvation) through her free cooperation that we can count on her to continue to give freely and generously from the wealth of graces which she has received. Santa Maria, Immaculata, ora pro nobis! 

--Joe Heschmeyer 

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the

Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary! 

Image source: Frederick James Shields, The Annunciation (1894), https://wikioo.org/paintings.php?refarticle=AQV4E3&titlepainting=The%20Annunciation&artistname=Frederick%20James%20Shields 

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