​Immaculate Heart of Mary conveys her purity to us, healing us from within, says Archbishop Gustavo

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Immaculate Heart of Mary conveys her purity to us, healing us from within, says Archbishop Gustavo says on feast of the Immaculate Conception

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation, had even more special significant this year.

Immediately following the December 8 evening Mass at San Fernando Cathedral, Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS, the celebrant, led a short procession and closing prayer for the close of the Year of St. Joseph in the Plaza de la Cruz.

In his homily at the liturgy, the archbishop highlighted the contract in the readings for the day.

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the middle of Advent, releases the most amazing blessings which humanity lost through original sin.

“The contrast between the woman in Genesis — who is charged with guilt — and the Woman who appears in the Annunciation, resolves — in God’s project of love — what ideological battles cannot resolve with their fruitless discussions,” began Archbishop Gustavo. “Yes, we believe that she was conceived without the stain of original sin, and we celebrate this! But there is a deeper meaning for our own lives.”

He described the Man and the Woman in Genesis as anxious. “They had wanted to be like God — instead of trusting in his love for them. Now they are trying to hide from God. But there is no place to hide!” the archbishop stressed. “When we attempt to cross the natural boundaries of life, we become anxious, alienated — from the dignity of our true selves, estranged from one another, distant from God.”

He continued, “How different is the Gospel! The angel tells the Virgin Mary not to be afraid because God is with her. God has chosen her, and all she has to do is trust God. This could not have been easy! ‘YES!’ ‘Let it be done to me as you have said.’ The Virgin receives the Word of God into her heart and into her body. She gives life, not death, to the whole world. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life! This is at the very heart of the Gospel — the good news of salvation!”

The San Antonio prelate said that the same God who chose Mary has chosen us to carry out his will. “We are in God’s hands. God gives us his Holy Spirit!”

The Missionary of the Holy Spirit acknowledged that it is easy for us to be anxious and fearful about many things today. “It is very easy to cross boundaries in our daily lives, dominating others, pursuing freedom without responsibility, competing to acquire more and more ‘stuff’ while so many people are poor and needy,” he lamented.

Pope Francis has identified a “throw away” culture in which society discards unborn children and the elderly as easily as it disposes of food that has become rancid or moldy. “We have a lot to be anxious about — we have much to fear,” conceded Archbishop Gustavo, adding, however, “We are called to move beyond our anxieties and fears into trust of God, and gratitude to Him.”

God reassures each of us of his abiding presence in our lives, the archbishop told attendees. “We become aware of the dignity that God has bestowed upon us and upon every human person. We are called to bear God’s Son in our hearts and in our bodies through the power of the Spirit of God Most High. We are challenged to be servants of the Lord. We are challenged to allow God to lead us out of the wilderness into his garden, to walk in his ways and not the ways of the world, to experience new life, not death!”

He added, “We are called to experience the purity of Mary when we devoutly ask her to intercede for us, standing by her side to pray to God. When we ask her with all our heart for her intercession, or when we contemplate a holy image of her, we feel very clearly in our hearts that Mary is most pure.”

By proclaiming the dogma of the Immaculate Conception — today 167 years ago — the pope confirmed the Church’s sense of faith, who has no doubt that the Virgin Mary was preserved from any stain of sin, and on December 8 the holy year of St. Joseph concluded in the Church.

“Let us pray to him that as a fruit of this year — which the Holy Father Francis proclaimed commemorating the consecration of the Universal Church to him — he teaches us to treat Mary and to fall more in love with her,” Archbishop Gustavo concluded.