In this time of preparation for the coming of Christ at the end of the ages, we consider how God prepared the first coming of Our Savior. And in the great mystery we contemplate today, the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we see God marvelously at work in preparing the world for His coming. Saint Paul tells the Ephesians that “[the Father] chose us in [Christ], before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him.” (Ephesians 1:4) What every disciple of Christ may hope for is seen most fully in that most perfect disciple: the first one to believe in Christ, the greatest hearer of the Word of God, the one through whom God fulfilled the promise made in Genesis to defeat the ancient temptor and to lead us back to the justice in which God created us to live.
From the very first moment of her existence, God was preparing Mary to welcome the coming of Christ. From the very beginning of her life, Mary found favor with God. And when the angel announced to her the vocation to be the mother of the Son of the Most High, Mary continued to welcome the grace of God which had been at work in her. “May it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)
Let us ask Mary who listened so attentively to the Divine Voice calling to her, let us ask her to pray for us, that we too may hear God’s loving call to us, and that like her we may welcome the coming of the God who comes to give us the grace to fulfill this call to holiness, this call to live in the presence of God who comes to be with us.