A Glimpse Into A Sinless World – Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Sermon by Father Levine

Fr. Joseph Levine; Holy Family Catholic Church and Missions, Burns, Oregon; December 9, 2024

Today’s 1^st reading from Genesis shows us a world of sin, with which we are sadly familiar; or at least we are familiar with the thinking and acting of Adam and Eve, but might not be so familiar with the voice of God. We are familiar with the thinking and acting of Adam and Eve, who having done wrong, want to hide their wrongdoing and avoid blame. We are also familiar with their separation from God. Where are you? The voice of God here, speaking to Adam and Eve, is the voice of a gentle and loving father calling his erring children back to the right way. Indeed, Adam and Eve act as children who have been caught doing something wrong. The way back involves owning up to what they have done.

We also hear the voice of God speaking very differently to the serpent: Cursed are you. As Adam and Eve hear the divine judgment pronounced against the demonic serpent, they also hear – before the judgment is pronounced against their own sin – the promise of hope, the “proto-Gospel.” Here is a new woman, unlike Eve, who is at enmity with the serpent, in whom the serpent has no part, and who through her offspring will vanquish the serpent, crushing his head.

The Fathers of the Church were quick to see the contrast between Eve and Mary as revealed in the Gospel of the Annunciation. The virgin Eve listened to the fallen angel and opened the door for sin and death to enter the world; The Blessed Virgin Mary listened to the holy angel and opened the door for grace and salvation to enter the world. The Latin Fathers were quick to catch a divine play on words – Ave Maria. The angel’s greeting to Mary “Ave” reversed “Eva’s” name.

The 1^st reading shows us a sinful world with which we are all too familiar; the Gospel gives us a glimpse into a sinless world, beyond our experience. It is, however, a sinless world that touches our lives, giving us a new life; it is, indeed, a bit like having our mother tell us about when our father proposed marriage to her.

This is, perhaps, the most beautiful passage in the whole of sacred Scripture; the most beautiful words ever written in any human language. In whatever language it is said, are there any words so melodious as “Hail Mary, full of grace”?

We must be careful in the presence of the beauty of this sinless world, beyond our experience. We easily run the danger of projecting our own sinful experience into our understanding of the Virgin as she is revealed in this Gospel. Alas, I think many contemporary portrayals of Mary, especially musical and cinematic, fall into this error. Rather, we need to let the light of the Immaculate Virgin transform our way of seeing.

The words of God to the serpent – I will put enmity between you and the woman – and the words of the angel to Mary – full of grace –reveal the reality of the Immaculate Conception. Evil never had any part of Mary, but she was full of grace from her conception, always belonged completely to God, always perfect in holiness.

What would this have meant for her own experience of life?

From the dawning of her consciousness she would never have had any awareness of the slightest sin, tendency to sin, or even disorder in her soul, in her mind, imagination, memory, or emotion. She would never have experienced any separation from God. She would never have heard that divine voice calling to her, Where are you?  That does not, however, mean that she would have been aware of the gift of her Immaculate Conception that lay at the origin of her experience.

She would have seen sin in the world around her much more keenly than we do. She would not have, however, separated herself over against the sinful world in pharisaical fashion, thinking to herself, “What a bunch of sinners they are; I am not like them.” Rather, seeing sin in the world, her innocent heart, the heart of a young girl, would have been deeply grieved at the offense against God whom she loved above things. At the same time, she would have experienced a deep compassion and pity for sinners, seeing clearly their misery, even when they “enjoyed” an illusory happiness. How can we comprehend this deep sorrow of the innocent girl in the presence of sin, while at the same time, her innermost soul was untouched, unperturbed, an ocean of peace and joy in the presence of God?

She never experienced any separation from God. St. Luke makes this clear by her reaction to the visit of the angel. Earlier he recounted the Gabriel’s visit to Zechariah, the father of St. John the Baptist: Zechariah was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear fell upon him. (Lk 1:12) The sinful man is overwhelmed and fearful in the presence of God’s holiness. St. Peter, when Jesus was in the boat with him, commanding him to cast out the nets, and experiencing the miraculous catch, fell to his knees before Jesus, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. (Lk 5:8)

The Virgin Mary, however, is not at all perturbed by the mere appearance of the heavenly messenger. One might guess that such visitations were a common occurrence in her young life. She was used to the ministrations of the Queen’s servants, but did not yet realize that the reason was that she herself was the Queen. Hitherto, they had acted to her somewhat as the tutors of a royal child, respectful, but commanding. Here the holy angel acts as the messenger of the divine bridegroom, humbly seeking her consent. As a man goes on his knees to ask the hand of a woman in marriage, so God, in the person of the angel, seeks the consent of Mary.

Upon hearing a greeting such that no heavenly messenger had ever before directed to a human being, seeing the reverence the angel was showing to her person, she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Her perplexity revolved around the angel’s words. While she knew that she was richly blessed by God, she did not otherwise have a high opinion of herself or consider herself at all worthy of the divine favor. While mighty in the strength of her virtue, that all came from God; she was aware of her own weakness. The greeting seemed quite out of proportion to the conception she had of herself.

Do not fear Mary, you have found grace with God. The angel’s original greeting already revealed the Immaculate Conception, that was the source of the Virgin’s puzzlement. Now, the angel confirms that revelation and begins to make known the reason: You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him, Jesus.

In the Annunciation, the Virgin, who had no experience of sin, no experience of separation from God, who knew that she had been abundantly blessed by the divine favor, without knowing why, now learns that the root of all these divine favors is that she has been indeed exempt from all sin, at her very origin, in view of her predestined role as the Mother of God.

What did this new knowledge mean to her? Did it lead to a sense of self-exaltation on account of her greatness? Unthinkable in the sinless Virgin! She herself gives us some intimation when she responds to the praise of her cousin Elizabeth: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior. (Lk 1:46-47)

She already knew that she belonged completely to God; she already knew that all the good she saw within herself was a pure gift of his grace. The angel’s message opened to her a vast new horizon, a whole new dimension, showing that the gift of grace was – shall we say – exponentially greater that she could have ever conceived. Her words my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord is a recognition that everything within her is a pure gift of God, a recognition of how completely and uniquely she belongs to God. She looks within and finds that her soul is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. (Wis 7:26)

To this she adds the words, My spirit rejoices in God my savior.  Her savior is Jesus, the Savior, her Son, on whose account she has received the gift that has freed her from ever being touched by the least sin and united her to God. In her are fulfilled the words of the prophet Isaiah: I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness … as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Is 61:10) That is how God has looked upon the lowliness of his handmaid. (cf. Lk 1:48)

Yet, she has not received this for herself alone; she proclaims his mercy is from generation to generation to those who fear him. (Lk 1:50) In the Blessed Virgin Mary we contemplate the fullness of grace, the wonderful gift of God’s mercy to men, the spiritual blessings in which we are called to share. As the Virgin lived the life of grace in the midst of a sinful world, so the life of grace must transform our sinful souls. What we see in the Virgin is the life to which we are called, for as from her body she gave birth to Jesus, the Son of God, through her compassion at the foot of the Cross she became our Mother in the order of grace, laboring to bring us to birth in the life of grace and seeking in all things to foster our growth in grace that with her we might be united to God forever, rejoicing in God our Savior and hers.