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

But all the sublimity of Mary’s moral personality,
all the depth of her virginal devotion,
and all the strength of her faith culminate
in the word which she spoke to the angel:
‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord,
be it done unto me according to thy word.’
These were no common, everyday words…
They were words out of the depths and recesses of a soul
that was pure and noble beyond all earthly measure,
words that were her being, her expression, her achievement… 

– Karl Adam 

    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 Christ 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 is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary! 

Image source: Master of 1456, Madonna on a Crescent Moon (15th c.), https://catholicstrength.com/2016/12/06/the-biblical-basis-for-marys-immaculate-conception/

Quotation source 1
Quotation source 2