Reason #497 that I love my Catholic university: the
homilies are (almost) always awesome!!!!!
Last week, at one of the daily Masses I heard an
amazing homily in which the friar mentioned the Immaculate Conception. He was
preaching on the fact that so many young Catholics at my university worry so
much about “looking” holy than actually being
holy. “Some people who look holy are not, but some people who don’t look holy
are,” was his tag line. A very poignant example of his theme was that of Mother
Mary. He described a paradox: as
an unwed mother in the ancient Near East, Mary was viewed as a harlot when she
was actually the Immaculate Conception!
A HARLOT?! Our
Lady placed on the same level as a woman who sold her body, a woman who was an
outcast in society, a woman who was a disgrace? For a cradle Catholic who was taught from an early age that the Blessed Virgin as the holiest of all woman, this took me a while to process. Of course, I knew the consequences of her Fiat were serious... but A HARLOT?! That's pretty strong language. I suppose, like many other dogmas and teachings in our Faith, our childhood catechesis needs updating from time to time. It's a very thought-provoking paradox, isn't it? Mary, the greatest woman who ever lived, was misunderstood to a very great degree for her faith. On this most holy feast day and solemnity of the Immaculate Conception - when we celebrate her preservation from sin at the moment of conception in St. Anne's womb - let us consider this:
When we feel like outcasts, abandoned by the world because we are misunderstood, let us look to Our Lady and ask for a small amount of her great faith and trust in the mercy of God.
P.S. This is a clip from "The Nativity Story." Though I don’t completely agree with the theology of this film
adaptation, I really appreciate St. Joseph’s portrayal in this
scene:
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