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Gospel: Luke 1: 26-38
The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”
But Mary said to the angel,
“How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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A common practice in Catholic spirituality is the veneration of relics. We believe the human person is a composite of both body and soul. Thus, when someone becomes a Saint, often parts of their body or belongings are kept for believers to venerate.
Relics not only remind us that a particular person lived and died; we also believe that person is now in heaven. Thus, we seek their intercession to aid our own journey to God.
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Perhaps the first example of Catholics venerating a person’s body is that of Saint Peter.
Immediately after he was crucified upside down in the heart of Rome in the year 64, Christians cut his body off above his ankles and buried him in a cemetery outside the city known as the Vatican hill.
Although Christianity was an outlawed religion, believers secretly returned to the site where Peter lay, seeking his intercession for their journeys.
After the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity nearly 300 years later, the Vatican hill was levelled, and a church was built on top of that site where Peter’s bones were believed to rest.
Nearly 2,000 years later, under the direction of Pope Pius XII, archeologists took the risk of digging beneath the foundation of Saint Peter’s Basilica, where they discovered a plethora of Christian graffiti pointing all the way to Peter’s bones.
To this day, the main altar – where only the pope celebrates Mass – stands directly above the site where Peter was buried. It remains, in many ways, the heart of Catholic devotion.
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Today we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, our belief that Mary was conceived without the stain of Original Sin.
This unique grace was given to her by God so that, when she bore the Son of God in her womb, she would be the only pure, spotless dwelling place able to welcome the Christ-child.
During her pregnancy, Mary and Jesus became one – not only physically as they shared her body, but also spiritually as her heart meld into his.
If anyone were to be venerated in the Catholic Church – even more than Saint Peter – it would be Mary.
However, no one has ever claimed to possess a relic of her body.
This leads to one of two logical conclusions: either Mary didn’t exist… or she was, in fact, assumed body and soul into heaven.
Traditionally, Catholics believe her assumption took place in Ephesus. And, interestingly, we only have the house where she lived, not her body.
Thus, the only two people to have ever walked this earth without knowing the decay of death are Jesus and Mary, both born without sin.
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Mary teaches us two important lessons.
Unlike her, we are imperfect, capable of sin. Yet our bodies are still temples of the Holy Spirit and should be honored accordingly.
Secondly, we all have a place in heaven. While she received this grace first, she reminds us that every person has a place in the kingdom of God.
Our goal while here on earth is to shape our lives accordingly.
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May Mary’s words, first spoken to the angel Gabriel, also become our own:
“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
Mary, born without sin, pray for us.
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Image credits: (1) National Catholic Register (2) Atlas Obscura (3) One Walk with Jesus