Happy Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception … and the beginning of the beautiful “Days of Mary” that light up every Advent Season. Here are Saints Joachim and Anna, parents of Mary according to ancient Christian tradition, who were “there” (and did their part) in the events that led up to Mary’s being conceived without original sin. The Byzantine icon represents the Eastern churches’ celebration (tomorrow) of “The Conception [of Mary, in the womb of] Saint Anne.” The miracle was Mary’s being preserved from the “inheritance” of the sin of Adam and Eve (which otherwise marks every human being from the moment they are generated with a “fallen human nature”) by virtue of God’s foreknowledge of the redeeming merits of her Son. Thus, the grace of salvation “begins” with Jesus’s mother, like the first light in the morning sky before the dawn. Tomorrow (in the Western Church) is the feast of the humble man who was entrusted 1500 years later with an utterly unique “sign” of Mary’s unconditional maternal love for every human being - the poor indigenous Mexica peasant who I believe to be among the greatest of all the saints: Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. His tilma still bears today the astonishing, scientifically inexplicable image of “Our Lady of Guadalupe.” Friday, December 12 is the celebration of Nuestra Señora who gave us her image on that day in 1531, and who remains “present” in her “house,” the basilica on Tepeyac hill in Mexico City (virtually the center of the “American continent”). She heals the wounds of all her sons and daughters. She is a sign of unity, solidarity, and hope.
