Tota Pulchra est Maria

Homily for the Solemn Feast of the Immaculate Conception
Given at St. Francis Xavier Church in Hyannis
By: Rev. Fr. Ronnie P. Floyd, STL

On Dec. the 8th, 1954 Pope Pius the IX define dogmatic truth that:

the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception,
by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God,
in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race,
was preserved free from all stain of original sin

Today we celebrate as a solemn Feast that definition
which is the cause of our great hope during the advent season

Because Mary our Mother and the Mother of the Church
is not just a Saint in Heaven who intercedes for us,
but she is the model of the Church.

Mary is a preview of coming attractions
Because Mary is what we will be one day,
if we persevere in holiness.

Baptism purifies us from the guilt of original sin
making it possible for us to love God,
but we still struggle with the effects of sin.

For Mary all the stain of original sin is removed
and whats more she is given
the add grace of life with the Holy Spirit

In Mary's singular privilege we see
what God has planned for all of us
if we trust in Him and persevere to the end.

However to understand and apprieciate this gift
we must understand what we mean by original sin and its effects.

Original sin is that first sin of the human race
to choose knowledge of good and evil
over the sure path of following trusting God.

By doing so we chose to make ourselves the judge
of what is good and bad, right and wrong,
and we see the repercussions of that today.

Because of original we lost control of bodies
and became subject to them
Concupiscence—or the tendency to make bad choice
apart from God's plan and law took control of our will
so that even when we tried to do the right thing,
evil motives crept in.

A large part of this is our passions and emotions
which became unduly powerful in our decision making process

Our bodies literally took on a mind of their own,
not doing what we want them to do
and doing what we wished they wouldn't

Physically Death and Sickness entered the world

But worse than this spiritual death became a reality.

Our eyes became cloudy and we became blind to the Truth
about creation, ourselves, our nature, God, God's law,

And this spiritual blindness made it even more difficult
to choose well.
Original sin is a mess.
And it creates a mess in our lives and relationships
it creates so many knots of tension and anxiety
that make it so hard to be happy.

The gift of the Immaculate Conception
is freedom from all the knots that sin creates in life.

Freedom from the physical, spiritual, and mental
limitations that sin causes

so that we can be at peace in all situations
come what may

because we know that God is walking with us
in the garden of this world
just as he walked with Eve and Adam in paradise.

Today as we look toward Mary with hope,
praying for that day when our Baptism is completed
and we become completely free to love and be loved by God
Free to be completely happy

We remember Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception
but also under the title of Mary the untirer of knots.....