Advent: Week 1-Day 6

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. For a defense of this beautiful teaching of the Catholic Church, check out my two-part post on the subject from two years ago. For today's purposes,  I want to focus on the First Reading and the Gospel for today. The First Reading tells the very first promise of the coming of a Savior to redeem us from our sins. This is in Genesis 3, immediately after Adam and Eve have fallen and given in to the temptation of the devil. God says to the devil, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." Jesus, of course, is the offspring who will strike at the devil's head, making "the woman" not Eve but Mary. Our Lady is the only one who is truly "at enmity" with Satan, meaning directly opposed; they are on totally opposite sides because she is without sin.

The Gospel for today is the Annunciation, in which the angel Gabriel famously calls Mary "full of grace". Only someone who is full of grace, completely overflowing with the life of God Himself, can truly be at enmity with Satan. But this grace is not something that Mary has earned for herself but is something that God, in choosing her to be the Mother of His Son, has freely and generously bestowed upon her.

You and I are also called to be at enmity with Satan; but every time we sin, we continue to make compromises with him. We, like Mary, need to be full of grace. This does not mean we strive to be perfect; that is ultimately contrary to God's will because it is relying on our own efforts apart from Him. Rather than striving to be perfect, we are simply called to be open and to receive, as Mary did -specifically, to be open to receiving the grace of God in our life. Sin gnaws away at the life of grace in us. The more we avoid sin, repent and confess our sins, and stay close to Christ, the more we open ourselves up to receive His grace.

This Advent, ask Our Lady to show you how to be open to God's grace in your life and to remove anything that is standing in His way. I pray that God will send His Holy Spirit upon you this Christmas in a new and powerful way. Don't worry about being perfect. Just keep your heart open to God, and let Him do the rest.

Pax Vobiscum