Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
December 8, 2021
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Psalm 98: 1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4
When Adam and Eve decided they didn’t need to be obedient to God, they thrust themselves into a state of alienation from God–into constitutional sinfulness. Human beings from now on would be born into a state of detachment from God. We call this state “original sin.”
Every human person is infected with original sin. Each of us enters the world separated from God. We are born sinners.
There’s one exception. That exception is Mary, the mother of Jesus. Our faith teaches us that in view of the role she would play in the salvation of humankind, she was exempted from the infection of sinfulness. That exception is what we celebrate today: Mary’s sinlessness. For her the Lord has done marvelous deeds.
