“Like a Beacon of Light”
By
Robert John Colon

Like “a beacon of light for humanity in all the ages” (1) – such is the way which the Immaculate Conception shines. “'Tota pulchra es Maria - You are all fair, O Mary'” (2). The Church has addressed the Mother of Jesus Christ in this way; so fitting, you might say, a way to address her on the day the Church celebrates her Immaculate Conception.

It was Bl. Pius IX, on 8 December 1854, who proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (3). More than 150 years later, we too can celebrate “the Immaculate Conception… an extraordinary gift and an ineffable privilege” (4). Let us look at this year’s December 8 as not only a Holy Day of Obligation, but also as a Holy Day of Privilege. “At the beginning of the third millennium,” the Immaculate Conception “guides us to believe and hope in God, in his salvation and in eternal life” (5). The Blessed Virgin Mary’s “sublime beauty, which mirrors that of Christ, is for all believers a pledge of the victory of divine Grace over sin and death” (6).

The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception does not mean that Mary was not redeemed. She “was redeemed from the moment of her conception” (7). “The grace of Christ the Redeemer acted in her in anticipation, preserving her from original sin and from any contagion of guilt…. This is why Mary is 'full of grace' (Lk 1: 28)” (8).

In “the Mother of Christ and our Mother the vocation of every human being is perfectly fulfilled. All men and women, according to St Paul, are called to be holy and blameless in God's sight, full of love (cf. Eph 1: 4, 5)” (9). This vocation may seem, at times, almost impossible to fulfill. The Gospel According to Luke does tell us: “For with God nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1: 37 Revised Standard Version: Catholic Edition {RSV:CE} [Ignatius Press, San Francisco]). We might look at ourselves and see failure to do God’s Will; we might experience discouragement. Let us come to God or keep coming to God if the case may be, and let us leave behind any attitude of trying to ignore God and His Merciful Love; let us leave behind any despair, and any willingness to allow ourselves to be discouraged by our own weakness. Let us “turn to Mary, conscious of our weakness, but sure of her constant help as our Mother” (10).

First completed on November 19, 2006, the Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time.


(1) John Paul II, Angelus, 8 December 2004, (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/angelus/2004/documents/hf_jp-ii_ang_20041208_immaculate_en.html).

(2) John Paul II, Angelus, 8 December 2003, (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/angelus/2003/documents/hf_jp-ii_ang_20031208_en.html).

(3) See John Paul II, Angelus, 8 December 2004, (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/angelus/2004/documents/hf_jp-ii_ang_20041208_immaculate_en.html).

(4) John Paul II, Angelus, 8 December 1998, (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/angelus/1998/documents/hf_jp-ii_ang_08121998_en.html) (Copyright, Libreria Editrice Vaticana).

(5) John Paul II, Angelus, 8 December 2004, (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/angelus/2004/documents/hf_jp-ii_ang_20041208_immaculate_en.html).

(6) John Paul II, Angelus, 8 December 2004, (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/angelus/2004/documents/hf_jp-ii_ang_20041208_immaculate_en.html).

(7) Catechism of the Catholic Church (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1994; English translation for the United States of America – United States Catholic Conference, Inc.–Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1994), number 491.

(8) John Paul II, Angelus, 8 December 2003, (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/angelus/2003/documents/hf_jp-ii_ang_20031208_en.html).

(9) Benedict XVI, Angelus, 8 December 2005, (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/angelus/2005/documents/hf_ben-xvi_ang_20051208_immaculate_en.html) (Copyright 2005, Libreria Editrice Vaticana).

(10) John Paul II, Angelus, 8 December 2002, (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/angelus/2002/documents/hf_jp-ii_ang_20021208_en.html) (emphasis added).