Among the beautiful and thoughtful gifts I received from generous friends
on the occasion of my ordination to the priesthood…
is a painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary that hangs in my office.
It is titled “The Virgin in Prayer”
and is the work of 17th Century Italian artist Sassoferrato.
In this striking image, Mary is dressed in a blue robes…and wears a white veil.
Her hands are joined in prayer… not clasped in an anguished kind of prayer…
but gently…as if peacefully placed together.
Her head is bowed…slightly…
Her downcast eyes are barely visible behind her eyelids…
and yet passion and love shine forth from them.
Her face is filled with peace and light…and at the same time sadness.
Hers is the face of a woman who is wise beyond her years…
the face of one who has known joy beyond all telling…
and sorrow beyond what anyone should have to endure.
Hers is the face of a holy woman who has lived life…a woman who has loved.
Her face is the face of a mother!
Mary is the mother of the Savior, Jesus Christ…
the one for whom we long in this Advent Season…
and the mother of every faithful person who follows her Son.
The Virgin in Prayer hangs on my office wall
as a reminder to me…and those with whom I meet there…
that Mary is praying for me and for them…
and that…no matter what…Mary our mother understands.
I can point to Mary and say to people…
“She is praying with you…She understands!”
Mary looks down on us every day…and loves us with a mother’s tender care.
Because of the unique motherhood which was to be Mary’s holy vocation…
and her unique role in the plan of salvation…
in order that she be free of stain and pure when she bore our Savior…
in order that she be totally free to give her full assent to God’s will…
God kept her free of all stain of original sin
from the first moment of her conception.
Mary was enriched with gifts appropriate to the role of the mother of our Lord…
and was allowed to share beforehand in the salvation her son Jesus would bring.
When the angel Gabriel comes to greet her…
he address her – “Hail, Full of Grace” – and so she is.
The Greek word for this is used to describe no other person in Scripture…
for Mary alone was given the grace to be free of sin.
In Mary’s sanctity is a model for all Christians…
and in her prayers…with us and for us…is found powerful intercession
in the midst of our own struggles with sin.
Sadly, despite the obvious evil around us… the world has lost the sense of sin.
Despite the terrible things we see happening every day…
events like the murder this week in Omaha, NE…
we have lost a sense that individual people
can turn their backs on God and fellow human persons…and sin.
It is popular today to pretend there are no sins…
to project sin onto only “institutions”
to de-personalize the Devil
and to “psychologize” sin away…and turn every evil behavior into a “disease.”
It is easy to rationalize our behavior,
and to find fault with everyone else but ourselves.
Instead of fighting to overcome personal sins…
our world seeks only to get beyond the idea of sin.
The truth is that…because of a selfish act of rebellion against God
on the part of Adam and Eve…
all of humanity has been stained with a tendency toward sin.
The hard truth is that each one of us in this room is a sinner in need of grace.
We have lost the sense of how important it is to bring our sins to Confession
and to receive Communion worthily.
Sin is not just “everyone else’s problem.”
It is real for each and every one of us.
You have sinned and so have I!
We rejoice today…
that God chose Mary from time immemorial to be the mother of Jesus
that He kept her free of sin
as the pure mother of the Savior
and the sinless mother and model of us all.
We rejoice that He has chosen us to be his adopted sons and daughters.
May we who await the coming of Jesus into our hearts this Advent
fly to the side of Mary…His loving mother and ours…
and beg her to shield us from sin in her mantle of love and holiness.
May we humbly recognize and confess before God our own sinfulness
and take comfort in the patronage of the sinless Virgin.
Hail, O Mary, full of grace…
pray for us sinners…now and at the hour of our death. Amen!
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