Feast of The Immaculate Conception - And No We Don't Worship Mary

People that are not Catholic are horrified that we Catholics have such a great reverence for Mary, the Mother of Jesus. They think that we actually worship Mary but nothing could be farther from the truth. Mary is but a created being and read her words in holy Scripture, they are always most humble and always point to Jesus and never to her.   In recorded history the first person to show such great reverence for Mary was Elizabeth and her baby St, John the Baptist who was developing in her womb. St. Elizabeth said that her baby leaped in her womb at the site of Mary who was carrying God the Son, Jesus in her womb. 

Prior to this visitation of Mary to her kinsman something wonderful happened to Mary.  The angel Gabriel came to her and spoke with her telling her first that she was "full of grace."  Remember that this is BEFORE she accepted the challenge to become the mother of Jesus. The angel Gabriel did not bring the grace to Mary, she already had it by gift of God.  Remember that this is at least thirty three years before the death of Jesus on the Cross.  We were all under the disadvantage of the original sin of Adam and Eve.  So then how could Mary be "full of grace?"

Mary was full of grace because of God.  God does not live in time or space, He has no limitations as to what He can do.  He knew that His Son Jesus would die on the Cross for the sins of all mankind and he applied the saving death of Jesus to Mary before the physical death of Jesus in anticipation.  So, Mary too was saved by the death of Jesus just as you or I was when Jesus died on the cross.

How can this be?  Maybe this little story will make it easier to understand. When you or I was born we had the stain of Adam and Eve's sin upon our soul. In effect it as if we were walking on a path and fell into a pit from which there was no hope of climbing out and where we were stained with mud and dirt from our fall. With the death of Jesus we were lifted from the pit and cleaned up and restored to grace by Jesus.  

Mary faced the very same challenge except for one thing.  Upon her birth she was carried over the pit in anticipation of the death of Jesus on the Cross. She never came into contact with dirt and dust and mud of the pit.  Mary was saved by Christ just as we were except she never had the taint of that original sin.  This was granted to her as a special favor of God for the woman that He hoped would become the Mother of God.

It is very important to realize that Mary was not robbed of her free will. She could have told Gabriel to "be gone."  This would mean that another would have had to be found to the mother of Jesus.  But Mary was predisposed to say yes. Her soul, her whole being was turned to God and she wanted with all her heart to do His will.  

So on December 8th every year we Catholics gather to honor the Mother of God.  With the great honor heaped upon her you would think that she could get a swelled head.  But no.  Mary speaks infrequently in scripture but when she speaks her few words speak volumes in proving her love for God and how very humble she is. Her most erudite speech comes at the Wedding Feast at Cana.  Recall that the party would end almost before it began because they had run out of wine.  Mary brought the matter to the attention of her Son and he asked; "What concern is this of mine?"  He wasn't quite yet ready to begin his public mission.  She looked at him and told the servants to "Do whatever He tell you to do." These words are the wisest ever written in the Bible. 

So on this day, even if you are not a Catholic, it might be a good idea to think about Mary, the Mother of God and her humility.  We Catholics honor her today because Jesus who lived a perfectly sinless life, who obeyed all the commandments, including the fourth commandment, "Honor thy father and thy mother."  As adopted members into the Household of God, Mary is our mother too and like Jesus we honor her as mother just as Jesus did.  If you non-Catholics out there have any problem with revering Mary, I suggest you that you take it up with Jesus because he started it. 

Still no takers for the "Convert a Catholic" challenge.  Certainly there must be one person out there, a member of one of the thirty-thousand plus denominations that can convince this cradle Catholic to give up the Church.  Accept the challenge by leaving me a comment or you can reach me by email by clicking on the link.

I Want To Convert You Michael

On this great feast of the Immaculate Conception which celebrates Mary being born without original sin, my hope for you is that you find the light of Christ in your life and that He may guide you to your heavenly home.  God bless you! 

Easter Sunday

Today is Easter Sunday the day that we celebrate the rising to new life of Jesus. If Jesus had just died and we found his tomb with bones and dust well then Jesus would have just been another deluded man who was punished for blaspheming God. The fact is that Jesus did rise from the dead and today death has lost its power over us. We are the Resurrection People.  

Do you remember Ash Wednesday?  Forty days seemed like such a long period of time.  For my wife and I the time moved swiftly because as members of the choir at our church we spent long hours in practice.  It is lucky for us that we have a very Christian woman as the choir director. She has multiple talents and knows how to get the very best out of her choir members.  So the practices seemed to make lent simply fly by.  As you know from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday is forty days, Sunday's are not counted in the calculation.  Easter for many people has come and gone.  But for us the celebration is just getting started!  From Easter to Pentecost is fifty days.  So we had forty days to mourn over our sins and now we have fifty days to rejoice that Jesus has given us the ultimate victory.  "Death where is thy victory, Death where is thy sting?"    This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.

WE ARE THE RESURRECTION PEOPLE

Have You Ever Considered How Fragile Life Is?

Have you ever considered how fragil life is? 

When we are young our view of the world is the view of one who is immortal and by this I mean immortality in the sense that our flesh will never die, we can take chances, and we have a "it can't happen to me" attitude.  We age a bit and our attitude changes a bit and we see that "it CAN happen to me" and we begin to be a bit more careful. Finally as the time our sunset approaches we realize how short our time on earth has been and we finally understand the fragility and wonder of life.

You are a walking talking miracle a marvel of design with each cog in place and all controlled by a magnificant computer called "The Brain." 

Even before your life began you proved how strong you were. The sperm that fertilized the egg in your mother's womb had to beat all of the other competitors in this race to create life, and you won that race, proving your self to be the strongest of the strong.  You are also the beloved of God becasue it was His will that gave you strength to win the race. He had and has a vision of you and guess what you are the exact person that he envisioned.  There is no one just like you in the entire universe. You may have a twin brother or sister and be as identical as two peas in a pod so much so that nobody can tell you apart.  God knows the difference and he loves each separately.

But the title of this entry has to do with the fragility of life.  Holy Saturday 2011 dawned as just another day.  I was planning to get ready for the Easter Vigil Mass at our new Church, St. Mary of Vernon in Indian Creek Illinois and my wife was finishing her ablutions when suddenly I had a chest pain that would not go away. I thought it was indigestion but then it started crawling down my left arm and I recognized the enemy for what it was.  I called to my wife and she quicky dressed and we drove six blocks to the hospital.  If you ever want to get through the paperwork and waiting time of the Emergency Room, here is what you do.  Come in as a past middle aged man, overweight, underexercised, and complain of chest pains. You see when I did that the doors swung open and in minutes I was in a hospital gurney, hooked up to an EKG, an IV and the center of attention.  My heart had four places where the arteries were blocked.  I was whisked down to the cat lab and was soon the proud owner of a stent that opened the artery that was 90% blocked.  Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday came with me in the hospital. On Monday the doctor inserted three more stents to open three other arteries that were severly blocked.  Had I not listened to the message my body was giving and had I not gotten to the hospital quickly I could have died, killed by a clot no bigger than a pencil eraser.  As it is, I got there in that golden hour when they could actually fix the issue and do so before my heart was damaged.

But look at how life is so very fragile. The smallest thing could end it, even while you are reading this.  Do not be afraid, I am sure you will rise from bed tomorrow.  But think of these things:

Is there anything that you have always wanted to do but were afraid to do it because it might be risky?  Do it anyway.

Is there someone you want to visit, an old friend, a brother, a sister, a mother, do it soon for life is too short not to.

Is there someone you need to forgive? Forgive soon before you lose the chance to do so . Funny thing about resentments is that they hurt us much more than the person we are holding a grudge against.

Do you take time to laugh, at things around you, at yourself perhaps, do it soon becasue a joyful spirit does not have time to be anything other than joyful

Do you pray, do you have a spiritual life?  I hope that you do and I hope that you spend some time being with God.  You need not speak in "thees and thou's" to him, speak to him as a friend for He is that to be sure.

Life is very fragile. Embrace it, love it, honor it.