Monsignor Enrique Díaz Díaz shares with Exaudi readers his reflection on the Gospel of this Sunday, December 8, 2024.
Genesis 3:9-15.20: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers”
Responsorial Psalm 97: “Let us sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done wonders”
Ephesians 1:3-6.11-12: “God chose us in Christ, before the creation of the world”
St. Luke 1:26-38: “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you”
The feast of the Immaculate Conception gives the time of Advent a very special meaning. Returning to the angel’s greeting that asks Mary to rejoice because the Lord is with her, we rejoice because the presence of the Savior is already felt in our midst. In a world where sadness and defeat in the face of evil seem to reign, the feast of the Immaculate Conception assures us that the true Eve was created alongside the true Adam: Mary.
It is difficult to face our realities so mixed with good and evil. It is difficult to stay on the path when it seems that evil and violence are triumphing. The feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary is based on this reality of the presence of evil, but where good prevails. We cannot hide that evil invades human spheres, we cannot deny its presence in our lives, but this feast gives us hope and certainty that the true disciple of Jesus is capable of overcoming all evil through the triumph of the Risen Lord.
From the first reading we find how Eve dressed us in mourning and deprived us of God, but in Mary, by virtue of the resurrection of Jesus, we find new paths that lead us to peace and help us overcome so many evils. I like to imagine Mary in a simple way, with all the illusions and limitations that a young girl of her time and environment might have. Simple, without the clothing and lofty epithets that devotion and Christian faith have placed on her. But thus, in her simplicity, I imagine her with a purity of heart and an inner peace that are manifested in the attitudes with which she assumes her responsibilities as a mother, as a disciple attentive to the Word, as a witness to Life and as a support for the incipient community.
Just as we understand the mystery of the Immaculate Conception, the Church reflects the thought that has been maintained throughout the centuries that Mary, “full of grace” by God, had been redeemed from her conception. This gift to Mary is due, as St. Paul says, to the fact that God in Christ chose her and chose us to be holy and blameless in his eyes, through love. In Mary this was done in a very beautiful way, and it gives us pleasure to remember it. But at the same time that we sing to her and praise her, we become aware of our daily struggle against all evil, we take on her example of openness and willingness to the Word, and we commit ourselves to building the community. Only in Christ and his Word can we overcome sin.
It is true that sin has been present since the beginning of human history, but it is also true that we are not condemned to defeat and that in Christ we have the hope of victory over sin. Mary is recognized as the one full of grace, the one full of favors, but she also reminds us that God’s choice is always a gift, a grace, a gift that fulfills. However, great God’s gift may be, it never breaks man’s freedom or destroys his authentic being. And therein lies the great wealth and also the terrible struggle of every human being: to confront his freedom in order to achieve its fullness; it is capable of the greatest generosity, but also of the worst atrocities. The gift of freedom is admirable and terrible, and is often only respected by God.
But we must not be afraid to confront our struggle against evil, because just as with Mary, the angel assures each one of us: “The Lord is with you.” Man is not alone in his struggle against evil, he is accompanied at all times by God, and in these days we remember with joy that he makes himself present and visible in his Son Jesus, who takes on our flesh and makes hope reborn. The greeting given to Mary is also valid for each one of us, because we have been chosen by God, and we carry with us the risen Jesus. Every Christian is a bearer of Christ. By praising Mary, recognizing her in her Immaculate Conception, may the hope-filled decision to fight against evil and to know that we are capable of overcoming it in Christ Jesus be revived in us. May this feast rekindle our hope and our desire to achieve victory, not through our own merits, but thanks to the Resurrection of Jesus. “You are all beautiful, O Mother of the Savior! You are the glory of God, the work of his love.”
God, Father of love and tenderness, grant that as we contemplate Mary full of grace, we may discover that we have been called to share in Jesus’ triumph over sin and death. Amen.
