December 8, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the BVM
Daily Readings: Gn 3:9-15, 20, Eph 1:3-6, 11-12, Gospel Lk 1:26-38
Two different women are presented in the readings today for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In Genesis, Eve said she was tricked by the serpent into disobeying God. The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.”
I wondered, why didn't Eve challenge the serpent's claims? Did she ever think about what would happen to her and Adam if she disobeyed God? Why didn’t she ask God the reason why they were not allowed to touch or even eat from that particular tree?
Now in the Gospel, Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel. At first Mary was concerned. Who wouldn’t be? She was just told that will be the mother of the Son of God but she was already betrothed to Joseph.
Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”
I’m not saying that Mary questioned the message with arrogance. I think naturally, as a young girl, receiving that kind of information, it would come as a shock, and it was a right question to ask.
The angel assured Mary not to be afraid and that nothing is impossible with Him.
In the end, after listening to Gabriel’s explanation, Mary said her “yes” to God.
Our lives were given by God with the will for us to choose. Do we say yes with blind faith or do we say yes with our hearts full of faith in God? Do we say yes even if we know that this will lead us to own destruction? Do we say yes to God but our actions say otherwise? Do we say yes because we know that there is nothing to fear with God on our side?
It is only natural for us to question God sometimes. If that is the case, then we should be more focused and give more time to our prayers. We discern, keep quiet and listen, just like what Mary did. We do not just ask him “why” and then distract ourselves with worldly things.
At the end of the day, our final reply to God is what matters. Our decisions, our actions will matter to God.
Let us ask Mary’s guidance with this prayer from Pope Francis: Mary, Mother of Jesus, you who accepted, teach us how to accept; you who adored, teach us how to adore; you who followed, teach us how to follow. Amen.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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