With Me

With Me

December 8, 2012

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!"  The man replied, "The woman whom you put here with me--she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it."  The LORD God then asked the woman, "Why did you do such a thing?"  The woman answered, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it."  Genesis 3:11-13

In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped in Christ.  Ephesians 1:11-12

But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.  Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  Luke 1:29-30

Piety

May we live up to the example Mary brings to the world. May we imitate her "Yes" and obtain the promises that her example holds. 

Study

Today's solemn feast foreshadowing the Advent and Christmas cycle is not just about Mary. Certainly the story includes Mary but it neither starts nor ends with her.

We start today reflecting on the choices that we make every day because we are Adams and Eves.  We have everything that is good and we must choose to turn away from that which draws us from Good.

If the serpent represents the magnet pulling us to evil and away from Good, Mary is the magnet pulling us to God and God to us.   She, though troubled, agrees to be this tool, this negotiator, this intermediary. 

Action

In her birth, life and afterlife, Mary is the path and the example for our journey.  God is with her through her even before the Annunciation.  But her action and decision with Gabriel make her the point at which the cross is planted into the earth.  Mary says, "Yes." 

Yet the Annunciation is not the end of the story.  It is, after all, only the first of the twenty mysteries upon which we meditate in the Rosary.  We are the continuation of the story.  Who is with you on your journey?  What choices will you make today?  What magnet is working on your life?