December 16, 2020
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on December 8, 2020 at St. Austin Catholic Parish in Austin, TX. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Genesis 3:9-15, 20; Psalm 98; Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12; and Luke 1:26-38.
This is the patronal feast day of the United States! Despite our gospel telling us about about Jesus’ conception, today we celebrate that Mary herself was conceived without sin. This raises two questions. First, why isn’t Mary’s Immaculate Conception recorded in the Bible? The answer is: why would it be? No book of the New Testament was written for the purpose of teaching us about Mary. The gospels were written to explain who Jesus is. Luke writes about Mary to show us how she is the model Christian.
The second question: Why is this the patronal feast day of the United States? A friend of mine gave me a new explanation a few years ago: the United States is the country of second chances, and the Immaculate Conception celebrates a second chance for the human race. Our first reading is of how we, as humans, messed up that “first chance.”
But like most solemnities of the Church, the key to its significance can be found in the second reading. Ephesians explains that all of us – like Mary – were “chose[n]… before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish.” Let us implore God to restore us to the destiny God intends for us.
I used to live down the street from the Shrine of the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. It’s among the largest churches in the world, and it’s very unusual looking. As one Paulist has said, “You look at it, and you immediately think: ‘This must have been designed by a committee.’” It has a spire, an arch, a dome, and over 60 side chapels different artistic styles, each celebrating a distinct ethnic group within the Church of the United States.
If the National Shrine is supposed to be a church for all people in this country, I think it’s appropriate that the architecture itself speaks of diversity. It celebrates the universal nature of the American Church. Our church was built up by a wide variety of people of great faith. Most traveled long distances to get here – some came by choice, some came by force. Others were already here, but had their homeland taken away from them. A few achieved wealth and prestige, but most labored all their lives in anonymity.
And when I think about all these people who built up the American Church, especially on December 8, I think of my paternal grandmother, whose birthday was today. She died before I was three, but she holds a special place in my heart. Her life was typical of early 20th-century Eastern Europeans who emigrated to the United States. She came here not knowing anyone except for my grandfather, whom I don’t think she knew that well, either. He was a young man from a neighboring village who came back to Europe to find a wife. Immediately after the wedding, she moved from her village of less than 900 people in the recently fractured Austro-Hungarian Empire to the heart of the steel industry in Western Pennsylvania, and with only a first-grade education, she eventually learned to communicate in seven different languages. She worked hard, both as a “day worker” cleaning other people’s houses, but also in her legendary, over-the-top hospitality. Her love and devotion to family were obvious to anyone who met her.
Is it any wonder that Mary of the Immaculate Conception is the patron saint of the United States? She has so much in common with people like my grandmother. Mary came from humble circumstances. We know of her great love and devotion to her family. And we’re pretty sure that she, like my grandmother, was in her teens when she was betrothed to a man she probably didn’t know that well. She was asked to travel great distances.
Mary was also asked to do things that she didn’t understand. There are internet memes making fun of the song, “Mary Did You Know?,” asking if Mary knew that her baby boy would eventually walk on water, give sight to the blind, calm the storm, rule all nations, and save all humanity. The meme shows Mary saying, “Yes, I knew.” That’s not the case. Gabriel left out a lot of details. He didn’t mention her son would have a divine nature, perform miracles, and redeem the universe. He didn’t mention Herod’s desire to kill her son, her young family being forced to flee to Egypt, or her witnessing her son’s crucifixion. In the moments after Gabriel’s invitation, Mary was probably more concerned that her finace might reject her and that her neighbors might stone her to death.
Today, we celebrate that Mary was born without sin. But rather than concentrating on how Mary is different from us, let’s reflect on what we have in common with her. Even though Mary was immaculately conceived, she was not an automaton. When Gabriel asked Mary to cooperate with God’s plans, she had the freedom to say no. But despite all the uncertainty about that future, Mary said yes!
We don’t know exactly what God has planned for each of us in this lifetime. And God’s mind is so vast, that even when we make choices against God’s will, God can still find ways to invite us again and again into the master plans for reconciling the world. Through Jeremiah, God promises us that these are “plans for your welfare, not for woe; plans to give you a future full of hope.”
God calls all of us, like Mary, to trust in a future filled with both love and uncertainty. As Ephesians declares: “[God] chose us in [Christ], before the foundation of the world…. In love he destined us.” It is up to us, at moments of uncertainty, to decide if we will trust in the destiny God has for us. Adam and Eve failed to trust in God’s plan, trying to forge a future that wasn’t dependent on God.
We have the same choices available to us as Adam, as Eve, and as Mary. We can choose – by God’s grace, as individuals and as a community of faith – to say “yes!” to God’s plans at every point along the way.
My grandmother was called to accept a future of uncertainty. She agreed to marry a man she barely knew and to move to another continent. God continually invites each of us to step into a future in which we don’t know what will happen. This feast reminds us that God has plans for each of us, and some day those plans will make sense. Let’s take a moment to give thanks for all those who came before us and trusted God in the face of uncertainty, including the Native Americans, the slaves, and the immigrants who built up this nation.
I’d especially like to pray for my grandmother, whose name was Mary.