Immaculate Conception (2006-C)
Immaculate.
Brilliant as a thousand suns at which the naked
eye can look without being blinded.
More transparent than the purest blue waters of
the Caribbean, in which all can be seen.
More limpid and candescent than the eyes of a
child which reflect the inner light and joy of being alive.
The Immaculate Heart of Mary never beats out of rhythm with the timing
of God’s own heart.
She echoes back to us the times of God and deflects onto us the breath of God.
Ablaze with the fire of the Holy Spirit, the love
of her heart knows no irregularities, no shadows, no conniving, no subtlety of manipulation.
It has no history of prevarication, no lingering
wound, except that of the sword that once pierced it.
And so we can be fearless in coming to the Immaculate Heart.
We can be sure that our own hearts will be embraced
by her, whatever our pain, our sin or our wretchedness.
Refuge of sinners, Comforter of the afflicted,
Her whole heart is for each of us and for all of us.
Imperceptibly, tenderly and with utter compassion
she draws us away from our sin, our devious mind-sets, our treacherous attitudes.
Her Immaculate Heart is like a protective vehicle
which transports us from the darkness of iniquity into the wonderful light of her Son.
Although Immaculate, she was not exempt from the battle with evil,
but from its victory.
Like the Immaculate Son, she was tempted in every way that we are, but is without sin.
Therefore, she knows our struggles from the inside. Indeed, she knows them better than we do ourselves.
Therefore again, her compassion is as wide as
the embrace with which she shelters all the children the Redeemer gave her.
When the majesty of Christ overpowers us, the
majesty of the Immaculate soothes and consoles us.
In his wisdom, Jesus gives us the Immaculate to
ready us for the sight of his glory.
She washes our eyes to be able to gaze on him.
She tells us the secrets of his Heart, the pathway to intimacy with God.
The Immaculate is the first-fruits of the final glory of the redeemed.
As she now is, we shall one day be, for no sin
can enter the presence of the Eternal God.
Immaculate is not a fable, a delusion, the dream of the romantic.
Immaculate is rather the naked reality, the consummate realization of how the human soul will be in the Kingdom of
Heaven.
As we look to Her, cry to her, appeal to her, ours is the sweet and solemn duty to prepare now for what we shall then
be: immaculate among the immaculate, immortal among the immortal, holy among the holy.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, Immaculate Mother of God, draw us into the sphere of your relentless and indomitable care!
Mother us into authentic and steadfast love for Christ Jesus and, when he comes again in glory to judge the living
and the dead, say to him on our behalf: “these are the children you gave me from the Cross; now I return them, immaculate,
holy and laden with love into your Sacred and Immaculate Heart.”
Msgr. Peter Magee
December 8th, 2006
Annunciation, DC: 6.30 am
