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Lord, make me an instrument of your peace . . .

08 December 2014

Immaculate Conception - 2014

Well, today is one of those very special days in the life of the Church.  We celebrate something rather miraculous.  Today, we celebrate the fact that Mary was conceived without sin.  Now, that is quite remarkable when you look at it, because all of us are admitted sinners and she was one of us.   But to do what He has to do, God needed a special way to accomplish it.  How could He truly show us His love, without becoming one of us - fully, wholly, completely, undeniably?  So, he blessed Mary so much that in his perfection, he could enter this world and show us that love he had been showering on us from the beginning of time.

We heard in the first reading today that Adam ate the apple and then hid from God, in his shame.  Interestingly, right away God is out looking for  Adam.  Yeah,  He finds him and  boy is Adam (and us) in a lot of trouble, but already God is trying to repair the broken relationship caused by our selfish choice.  Today's celebration is just another step in the holy search for our soul - to return us to the original happiness in which God created us.

Our response can be really simple, but we usually choose overthink everything and make it all so complicated.   We could just as easily follow Mary's lead and say "OK, I will do whatever you want."; but, too often we just think that we know better and let all of those vices, you know, pride, etc. get in the way of our true relationship with God.  Wouldn't it be nice, if just once, we could let go of our selfish desires and look toward this loving, creator God who only wants us to be in union with Him in joy, peace, grace, and hope.  Why do we have to always think that we know better.?

Today, let each one of us look beyond the complexity of the theology of today's mystery and just simply accept the love given, open our hearts fully to this love, think of others for a change, and rest in the peace of this wonderful Grace.  Be nice to someone today out the greatfulness of God's love for you.  It doesn't hurt and you might just learn a new way to interact with other people.

May God Give You Peace !

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