Immaculate Conception - Fr. Pete Iorio
December 8, 2021 - 8:30 AM, 7:00 PM
Audio Recording
Back to the Future is a movie from 1985 and tells the story of a teenager who was able to travel through time back to the 1950s. Marty McFly was able to meet teenage versions of his parents, and he has a mission. He must make sure that they fall in love with each other, or he will cease to exist. It was a clever and entertaining movie with a lifesaving theme as well.
I as priest have a mission of sorts, to make sure that you fall in love with God who already loves you immensely. The movie helps me to understand the
theological concept of the Immaculate Conception that we celebrate today. We have to understand that God does have the big picture in mind and went
“back to the future” in choosing Mary to be the sinless mother of his only begotten son. The opening prayer of mass states that God preserved Mary from every stain. This language implies that she is preserved from sin because of her the death of her son, Jesus. But think about that. When she was conceived in her mother’s womb, she had not given birth to her son yet. The prayer says that God foresaw Jesus’ death which was his loving redeeming action on the cross. The prayer over the offerings that I will pray shortly says that Mary received this gift of God as a “prevenient grace.” Prevenient is not a word that I commonly say or hear, but it means that the gift came out of normal order. Of course, this requires us to think in a divine cosmic way in addition to our human linear way.
The teaching on the immaculate conception of Mary in the womb of her mother whom we call St. Anne helps us understand as much as we can, the plan that
God had for Jesus and his mother. While we do not find this is the Scriptures, the Church gives us the story of the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary. I think we can greatly be inspired by Mary who is a teenager like many of you here tonight. She says YES to God to be the mother of his son. She has trust and faith even though she does not know what the future will bring. She is a great model of faith for us, no matter what our age is… those of us with many years ahead of us, and those of us who are at the twilight of our lives here on earth.
Our mission as Christians is to live our lives the best way we can given our circumstance in life. Saying YES to God and trusting Him brings about God’s Plan for the world even though we do not know what the future will bring. We can also ask Mary to help us trust God and also to be our spiritual mother who gives us tender loving care as well as wisdom.
El Evangelio no contiene la doctrina de la inmaculada concepción de Maria en el vientre de su madre Santa Ana. Dios preparó Maria para su papel particular de ser la madre de su hijo amado y la hizo sin pecado. Hoy en esta solemnidad escuchamos el evangelio de la anunciación del Ángel Gabriel a Maria.
Recordamos la concepción de Jesús en el vientre de su madre Maria. En la Anunciación, el Ángel anunció a la virgen de Nazaret: «El Espíritu Santo
descenderá sobre ti y el poder del Altísimo te cubrirá con su sombra. Por eso, el Santo, que va a nacer de ti, será llamado Hijo de Dios». Las dos personas requeridas para la Encarnación fueron, en otras palabras, el Espíritu Santo y la Santísima Madre.
Maria es madre de Jesús y al mismo tiempo madre de todos los miembros de su cuerpo místico o sea el Cuerpo de Cristo. Desde la Cruz, Jesús pronunció
estas palabras a San Juan: «Ahí está tu madre». Le estaba regalando a María no solo a Juan, sino que a través de Juan a toda la Iglesia. María sería la madre de todos los amados discípulos de Jesús a lo largo de todos los siglos.
Ahora podemos establecer la conexión entre de los 2 eventos importantes: al convertirse en la madre de Cristo, María, por extensión, se convertiría en
madre de todos aquellos miembros del Cuerpo Místico de Cristo a lo largo del espacio y del tiempo. Del mismo modo en que el Espíritu Santo y la Santísima
Madre fueron necesarios para dar lugar a la Encarnación en la historia, esos mismos dos agentes, Maria y el Espíritu Santo, son necesarios para dar lugar al nacimiento de Cristo en nuestras almas.
Según el cuarto mandamiento, debemos honrar a nuestra madre y a nuestro padre. En una manera muy especial hoy en esta solemnidad, honramos a
nuestra madre Maria. Me encanta el honor que los hispanos da a este misterio al inicio de la celebración del sacramento de reconciliación: Ave Maria
Purísima sin pecado concebida. Esta es la doctrina de la inmaculada concepción y quizás no la sabias.