We celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary this Friday. She is the Patroness of SVdP as well as for our country. The Feast celebrates the fact that she was without sin (the only human other than Jesus who can make that claim). She was without sin, but she was not without free will. She could have refused God, but she chose to allow God to enact His plan. We too have free will and the ability to allow God to enact his plan in and through our lives – or to reject it. We who are related to God by the grace of our baptism are given opportunity after opportunity to allow his plan to reach its fulfillment within us. Mary had ultimate trust in God’s love and plan for each of us. She gave total and complete submission to His will. We hear throughout the gospels that she “kept all these things in her heart”. She accepts with gratitude all that God gives us and seeks His will in all things. She is the model of silent suffering, merciful kindness, compassionate love, and graceful strength in the face of adversity.
As Vincentians, Mary is our eternal Mother and the embodiment of all we should aspire to be. She shows us the path to pure holiness. Do I accept all that God brings before me with gratitude and without hesitation? Do I seek and follow His guidance in all decisions. Do I allow His plan to become reality through my life? Am I the comfort to others that Mary is to me?
Father, thank you for the gift of Mary, our eternal and loving Mother. Allow me to see in her all that you call me to be. Allow me to embrace your will for my life and for the lives of those I minister to as she embraced your will. Grant me the humility, the gentleness, the selflessness, the patience and the passion to follow in the model of love and compassion our Blessed Mother has shown us. I pray all of this in your Son’s name. Amen
Deacon Mike