The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Excerpt from Archbishop Romulo G. Valles’ homily during the Holy Mass of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary last December 8, 2018 @ San Pedro Cathedral, San Pedro St. Davao City.

Happy Fiesta! Viva Maria! Viva Maria! As I said, today is universal solemnity. The entire church celebrates the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Mother. More popular but we are discussing about it. It is “Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary”. So it is a big feast. Ang category niya is Solemnity in church calendar. By the way, this is the only Holy Day of Obligation that is remaining and celebrated in weekdays, others medyo quite easy because they are Sundays or pasko which is difficult to evade. December 8 is like a day within the week. For the first time in the Philippines, this year it is a non-working holiday. Wala na jud tay rason na dili ta manimba. It was signed into law by President Duterte himself. So, we also thank him for this gracious act that for Catholics in the entire nation. It is now relatively easy to come together and celebrate this wonderful fiesta because we have been also tag for many years now as “El Pueblo Amante de Maria” or “People in love with Mary”.

Now, about the feast, how do we go about it? Because we know and I hope we know and realize, we, belonging to the great vast humanity, siya Immaculate, kita hugaw. Preserved from sin and stain… her being immaculately conceived is an act of God. Immaculate Conception is in all over the bible… She stood at the foot of the cross… He began to look at Mary. They began to ask how did she became the mother of God. How did it happen? We heard the gospel story. The angel came into her. How can this be? The angel explain to her. And in the church, deeper faith or the logic of faith. How can she be the mother of our savior when she is like us, stained by sin and dirt? How can she be the opposite? She must been prepared by God, the act of God spared, exception by the stain of sin.

A few years after the beginning of the church, the whole realization, when she was conceived in the womb of St. Anne then the whole logic was believing in the grace of God. Nothing is impossible. Slowly the whole church begin to realize when she was conceived spare from the power of sin. And that is what we are celebrating. In fact, she is not the center. The center is God. The act of God. How powerful God is to prepare for the birth of Jesus. The prayer of the church tells us “O God who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary prepare a worthy dwelling from your son. Grant we pray that as you preserve her from every stain by virtue of the death of you which you foreshadow. So through her intercession, we may be cleanse and admitted to your presence.” And so, brothers and sisters, I think the liturgy today is strongly inviting us. What is the lesson in this tragic and darkness, why there is light?

Today in this great feast, we know that the big event, the gracious act of God. For us, in our desire to be cleansed and go to heaven and the first step is not us; It is God who always the loving and merciful God. Before we think before going to God, he always the one who takes not only one step but many step searching for us. Immaculate Conception is very possible because nothing is impossible in God’s loving desire. Even in gospel reading “God sent an angel to Mary.” Every spiritual blessing, he searches for us. Even Mary, representing us had a kind of shadow. How can this be? And the angel explained to her, at the end the angel said “Mary nothing is impossible for God.” And Mary said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord.” So the agenda for us, we allow also the power and mercy of God to happen to us by saying “I am the handmaid of the Lord” so that we can be cleansed and the mercy of God would push us to go to the presence of God. In this feast, we open our eyes to the every present enmity. The enmity will always come so nice, beautiful, and attractive and is very difficult to appreciate. This feast is a good reminder for us that the enmity is going on, only we know that we will be victorious in the end if we also make our decision. We should learn from the first reading today, that with Mary who was able to say the crucial yes, may we take a serious yes to the Lord, take sides with enmity and remain in faith, fast and confidence that nothing is impossible with the love and power of God. Nothing is impossible if we take the Blessed Virgin Mary as our mother.