The Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8 (celebrated this year on Dec. 9, since Dec. 8 is the second Sunday of Advent). Saint Juan Diego's Feast day on Dec. 9. The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12.
It's quite a week!
And yet no other Marian feast would matter at all if not for her Immaculate Conception.
It's one of the most important moments in all of history.
Without Mary, the Immaculate Conception, there might not have been anyone to say yes to Gabriel when he came to announce the advent of the Messiah.
Without Mary, the Immaculate Conception, Jesus would not have had a mother without the stain of sin, without fault.
Without Mary, the Immaculate Conception, God's saving will would not find its maximum fulfillment.
Without Mary, the Immaculate Conception ... well, God only knows what would have happened!
But Mary was immaculately conceived. She did say yes to Gabriel; she did raise Jesus as a mother without fault; God's saving will did find its maximum fulfillment in her. Good things did happen. Good triumphed over evil; love over the malice of hell; integrity over impurity; Mary over the devil.
We do not live in a nightmare, but in a world in which the war was won long ago. We merely await the final triumph of Christ in glory, and we do our part in the long struggle for souls along the way. But God has won, and He won most completely, most spectacularly, in Mary.
As Mary herself proclaimed, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is His name. ... He has helped Israel His servant, remembering His mercy, according to His promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever." (Lk 1:46-49; 54-55)
She through whom the Savior came into human flesh and history, was herself saved by Jesus's Incarnation before it ever took place. Jesus is her Savior, as He is Savior of all humanity and all of creation. His grace is eternal, and the effects of the Incarnation are eternal, and so God could apply those graces to the woman through whom Christ would come, from whom all graces flow.
So this week, celebrate! Thank God for Mary and her Immaculate Conception. Thank God for all the graces that flowed from that one moment in one human life, for the coming of Christ and the grace of God entering into human nature by means of the Holy Spirit and one woman's yes. Thank God for that first grace that made possible Juan Diego's message and mission, and Our Lady of Guadalupe's magnificent gift of the conversion of a continent. Thank God for Our Lady, through whom Jesus, the Source of all grace and salvation, entered the world.
