Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Tomorrow, December 8th, marks the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, so I decided that today's post would be all about Mary, the Mother of Jesus!

I have always been interested in learning about Mary's role in the Catholic Church because to non-Catholics, this devotion can be very confusing and is easily misunderstood. When we learned about Mary in RCIA a few weeks ago, there was a lot

of clarity brought to my understanding of Mary - but everything we learned was from the Catechism, and while the information was fascinating and important to know, doctrine is not the most emotion-inspiring. Knowing that the Feast of the Immaculate Conception was just around the corner, I asked J to talk to me about Mary because she has a deep love for and connection to Mary that is inspiring.

Before I get to my conversation with J, I want to share one of the clarifying pieces of information that I have been told in regards to Catholicism. The Immaculate Conception does not refer to when Mary conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit, but rather that Mary's conception was immaculate. Immaculate, meaning free from mistake/free from sin, means that Mary was born without original sin. Why? Because God knew that she would one day give birth to Jesus, and in order for the Son of God to become man, he must do so in a perfect manner, one free from the stain of sin.

When J was talking to me about Mary, one of the first things she told me about was when Jesus announced Mary as Mother of the Church. In John 19:26-27, Jesus says to Mary, "Woman, behold, your son." then to John, "Behold, your mother." We then discussed how Mary is the mother of everyone in the Church. She is not only the model of purity and womanhood that all women should strive to replicate, but she is also the person we can go to for guidance and intercession.

Though Mary was born without sin, she was still human, not divine. Therefore we go to her not because she has the power to make things happen, but to ask for her intercession so that she will go to

Jesus on our behalf. Why do we need Mary to do that? Because Jesus does what his mother tells him to do - evidenced by the wedding feast at Cana and Jesus' first public miracle. Mary told Jesus to act, and so he did. Because of that relationship, we can go to Mary when we need a little extra help getting our prayer to Jesus.

Mary is fully human, and therefore someone that we can relate to more easily than we could to Jesus as a divine being. As your mother, my mother, everyone's mother, we can reach out to her in times of joy, sorrow, need. By reflecting on her life, we can find comfort and guidance toward being more faithful, pure and building our trust in God. Mary suffered greatly, but continued to trust God's plan for her son, and for the whole world. She remained faithful and filled her life with actions to glorify God. Mary is a great example for every human being to turn to in troubling times because she will always point us back to God.

He said to his mother, 'Woman, behold, your son.' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold, your mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. ~John 19:26-27

Pax,
Kay