Immaculate Conceptions

I enjoyed the setting of the 5:15 mass observing our holy day of obligation for the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The Glee Club's choice for the preparation song wonderfully conveyed the generosity and purity of Mary through their gift of music and was perfect for the occasion of the feast.

As I heard the Gospel reading of Mary's accepting the divine commissioning to conceive and bear the Son of God and drifted off away from the priest's homily, I could not help but look past our Great Altar to the shining statue of Mary elevated high above the Lady Chapel. In this case, the icon did just as it is meant to--not to bring to me to false worship of Mary as a God but rather properly remind me of a greater reality and bring me to prayerful reflection of it.

Mary was immaculately conceived to be without sin and without that inherent corruption that plagues all other humans so that she could purely bear Jesus Christ. How does that fit into our university? We are an institution and Catholic community founded in her name and under her protection. What, if any, relation can there be between our origins and hers? between her role and ours?

I am not going to conjecture that the start of our university was free of original sin or that our founders had completely pure intentions, for however noble their hopes and dreams they were still human and were not full of grace as Mary indeed was. However, in dedicating the university from its start to her name and protection, Fr. Sorin and company (though they founded ND in 1842, and the Immaculate Conception, though believed by some, only became dogma in 1854) likely were aiming to ground their venture in this idea-- that a Catholic university could strive and pray for abundance of grace so as to help peel away some of the usual temptations and weaknesses of humanity and society and orient the university of Our Lady to a righteous end.

The result is a robust, flourishing, vibrant university community founded and grounded in Catholic faith, values, and worship. Although none of us are God's chosen handmaid and none of us are so full of grace as to integrate or perfect our wills, a kind of Incarnation is present here. The Word was only made flesh once, in the Incarnation in Mary's blessed womb, but here at Notre Dame we perpetuate a community that seeks to summon the grace Mary received in order to allow Jesus to become present in us and our community and continue to change the world.

Jesus will not walk the quads and hang out in dorms in the same way he might have in His time walking on earth, but now we are Christ's body, his hands and feet. We assemble as the Body of Christ in the mass, in prayer, or even just where two or three are gathered in His name, and we find sustenance and renewal in taking His Body (and pending H1N1, His Blood) and being His Body until He comes again.

Christ has no body now but yours; no hands but yours-- here on this earth, yours is the work to serve the joy of compassion.

May we seek to have the grace of Our Mother to be together as the Body of Christ, receive His Body in Eucharist, and live as His hands and feet until He comes again.