"I Am the Immaculate Conception"- Our Lady to Bernadette Soubirous, Lourdes, France, 25th March 1858

(On that day in 1 AD, the Immaculate Conception Conceived Immaculately of the Holy Ghost.)

If God were not in His Heaven and only Our Lady was there, all creatures would adore her as God, so wonderful are her attributes, so lightsome is her splendor, and so entrancing her beauty.  Our Lady, while merely a creature, touches eternity so as to perfectly mirror and radiate the divine.  And as the Fathers of the Church have said, about Our Lady we can never say enough.

Our Lady is the Destroyer of Heresies not because of what she said or did, but merely because of who she is.  To study Our Lady is to contemplate the wonderful works of God, and gain insight into the deepest mysteries.  Our Lady is God's singular masterpiece, and, in a certain manner of speaking, we can say that God "outdid himself", just as we look upon the splendor of certain works of art and marvel that these are the creations of mere men.

One recalls a certain passage of scripture: "And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee suck.  [Luke 11:27]  But [Jesus] said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it."  Protestants take this as a rebuke to those who pray to Our Lady and admire her.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  Rather, Our Lord is saying that it is not the natural qualities of Our Lady that should evoke our admiration, but rather her wonderful correspondence with Grace.  The Scriptures say that "a just man shall fall seven times and shall rise again" (Seven being the number of the infinite and boundless). But not Our Lady.  No, the moment she discerned the Will of God she hastened to obey it.  She was not in the womb of Anne five hours than she had accumulated more merits (in our manner of speaking) and done more good deeds than all the other saints and righteous combined.  Our Lady was perfect, perfect in a manner that so strikes us in wonder when Our Lord rebukes her in the Temple and at Cana, actions by Just unto Just that completely destroys our ability to reason when all we see is contradiction where we should see harmony.

It was because of the wondrous and momentous Fiat of Our Lady to the Angel Gabriel that God could promise Adam and Eve a redeemer, that Isaiah could describe all the wondrous details of the Messiah, and that the Prophet Daniel could assure us of the time of His coming.  That Fiat of Our Lady echoes from eternity and to eternity.  "Henceforth all Generations will call me Blessed", she says in her magnificat.

Our Lady is so spotless and so pure she could even regard her own humility. "My soul doth magnify the Lord.  And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.  Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid."  If we were to regard our humility anybody must laugh. "Look at that man, so proud of his humility."  And yes, steeped as we are in the wounds of the Original Sin, ours is a daily- nay, hourly struggle against temptations varied and sundry.  We can never pray enough, fast enough, endure enough.  We hear the words of Our Lord: "So you also, when you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants."  But Our Lady was born pleasing to God, and her every action and prayer was as sweet incense rising to Heaven.

Our Lady, as the Seat of Wisdom, knew everything entailed when the Angel Gabriel told her that "Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb."  Our Lady knew that marriage is such an earthy occupation, like milking cows or birthing lambs.  This was like the Lady of the Manor being asked to shovel the dung from the barn, or drain the cesspool.  Our Lady recoils at the very thought, and protests  "How shall this be done, because I know not man?"  (Recall that just three months earlier, when Zachary protested the conception of St John the Baptist, he was struck dumb.)  But the Angel reassures her that her conception will be celestial, and the Holy Ghost will become her Divine Spouse.

And this is so wonderful that she does not know how to communicate this to her earthly spouse, Joseph.  But he must go through the anguish we see told by Saint Matthew: "When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost.  Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately.  But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost."

Our Lady shows forth the Charity and Disinterestedness of God.  God does not say: "Adore me because I am Great" as he metaphorically thumps his chest narcissitically.  Rather, He points to His Masterpiece and says to us: "Let us wonder at her together, in unity of friendship."

Our Lady shows us the futility of trying to reason the ways of God.  Rather, she will give us the Holy Ghost to direct us in all of our actions, great and small, and help us, despite all our sins and impurities, to acquire the Truth.

In these dark times, let us stay with Our Lady in the cenacle.  As the evening of Good Friday faded into deepest night, she alone kept the Faith.  She doubtlessly wondered about the future.  Would Our Lord Jesus Christ choose a whole new band of Apostles?  Would His rising be acclaimed by the apostate Jews and they finally receive Him?  Would the Restoration be an earthly as well as a spiritual work?  In due time all questions would be answered.  But in the meantime she was fully confident God was in His Heaven, no matter how dark the moment was, and His Will would be infallibly achieved.

In these times, when all Unity on Earth seems in eclipse, and division and despair are everywhere, let us be united under the Mantle of Our Lady, doing the one thing necessary- persevering in the recitation of the Most Holy Rosary.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.  You are our only hope!