Who then are you, O Immaculate Conception?

. . .

Who then are you, O Immaculate Conception?

Not God, of course, because He has no beginning. Not an angel, created directly out of nothing. Not Adam, formed out of the dust of the earth. Not Eve, molded from Adam's rib. Not the Incarnate Word, Who exists before all ages, and of Whom we should use the word "conceived" rather than "conception."

Humans do not exist before their conception, so we might call them created "conceptions." But you, O Mary, are different from all other children of Eve. They are conceptions stained by Original Sin; whereas you are the unique, Immaculate Conception.

Everything which exists, outside of God Himself, since it is from God and depends on Him in every way, bears within itself some semblance to its Creator; there is nothing in any creature which does not betray this resemblance, because every created thing is an effect of the Primal Cause.

It is true that the words we use to speak of created realities express the Divine perfections only in a halting, limited and analogical manner. They are only a more or less distant echo----as are the created realities that they signify ---- of the properties of God himself. Would not "conception" be an exception to this rule? No, there is never any such exception. The Father begets the Son; the Son proceeds from the Father and the Son. Theses few words sum up the mystery of the life of the Most Blessed trinity and of all the perfections in creatures which are nothing else but echoes, a hymn of praise of this primary and most wondrous of all mysteries.

We must perforce use our vocabulary, since it is all we have; but we must never forget that our vocabulary is very inadequate.

Who is the Father? What is His personal life like? It consists in begetting, eternally because He begets His Son from the beginning and forever.
Who is the Son? He is the Begotten-One, because from the beginning and for all eternity He is begotten by the Father.

And Who is the Holy Spirit? The flowering of the love of the Father and the Son. If the fruit of created is a created conception, then the fruit of Divine love, that prototype of all created love, is necessarily a Divine "conception." The Holy Spirit is, therefore, the "uncreated, eternal conception," the prototype of all the conceptions that multiply life throughout the whole universe.

The Father begets; the Son is begotten; the Spirit is the "conception" that springs from their love; there we have the intimate life of the Three Persons by which They can be distinguished from one another. But They are united in the Oneness of Their Nature, of Their Divine existence. The Spirit is, then, this thrice holy "conception," this infinitely holy Immaculate Conception . . .

The creature most completely filled with this love, filled with God Himself, was the Immaculata, who never contacted the slightest stain of sin, who never departed in the least from God's will. United to the Holy Spirit as His spouse, she is one with God in an incomparably more perfect way than can be predicated of any other creature.
. . .

Who then are you, O Immaculate Conception?
Excerpted and compiled from, "Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit",
The Marian Teachings of Fr. Maximilian Kolbe, Fr. H.M. Manteau-Bonamy, O.P. http://www.catholictradition.org/Mary/conception.htm

Novena in Honor of the Immaculate Conception
By St. Maximilian Kolbe
http://www.corazones.org/oraciones/oraciones_maria/novena_inmaculate_conception_kolbe.htm

Openness

This week our local School of Community is working on the section "Universality" (p. 81) from The Journey To Truth Is an Experience by Fr. Giussani. It's one of the four marks of the Church, to be "catholic" in the original meaning, which is "universal".

Here's the definition of "catholic" (small "c") according to dictionary.com unabridged:

1.	broad or wide-ranging in tastes, interests, or the like; having sympathies with all; broad-minded; liberal.

2.	universal in extent; involving all; of interest to all.

3.	pertaining to the whole Christian body or church.

Again, Fred's post speaks very well to the human method of knowledge, which starts from experience and excludes nothing. For the Christian, according to Fr. Giussani, this openness is a natural outgrowth of charity with a constant reference to the origin of all things.

The very nature of Christian action, that is, to share, unquestionably demonstrates its boundless domain: a commitment to a genuine experience of charity signifies a complete openness towards the universe. All limitations to the breadth of our existence imposed from within suppress love. Love is not a matter of taste or measure, nor is it some intelligent plan of ours. It is a humble clinging to being as it offers itself to us.

This is just the non-dualistic view of creation according to the Church, where all things are seen as very good, and evil is simply a lack or misuse of the good. The risk is to lose ourselves in a particular good, that is, idolatry, which can only be corrected by returning everything to Christ in offering our lives.

This openness does not manifest itself in an impossible contempt of, or inhumane disinterest for, the particular, but in the way in which the detail is lived. We may commit and genuinely dedicate ourselves to family or friendship, class or school, studies or profession, but the motive behind the commitment must transcend any particular desire for a higher mark or attachment to a particular person.

The Christian lives the details, according to Fr. Giussani with a freedom that is a "vigilant detachment from all particularism, ... resolute readiness for any authentic freshness [which] constitutes a sure promise, a prophecy of the coming of the Kingdom."

It is interesting to see how this plays out in an ordinary day like yesterday. I spent the morning with my granddaughter, and we stayed in doing some coloring and learning colors. I had to meet my grandson's teacher and discuss some behavior issues, to stay open despite some natural defensiveness. I met a friend from the community for lunch, and since it was a rainy day, people shared tables in the small lunchroom. We met a lady rabbi and a man who was a former campus minister and now runs a kayak rental outfit. And we talked about many interesting things from children to illness to aging to the adventure of changing careers. Then there was taking my daughter and grandson to the dentist and having a quiet evening with my husband.

Who can know what the meaning of the *this* and *that* of daily life is, except to be certain that all offered is somehow for the kingdom, and we are its joyful stewards. We are these moving targets that reality pings against, and each encounter is an invitation to respond, with humanity, awareness, offering, love. The motivation is all, with detachment from the result. It makes life ultimately fascinating instead of fearful.

Related to this is that tendency we have to make some design on another person, particularly those we would like to reform close by. A few friends of mine have to work with a very rigid and difficult person. on a daily basis. One said, maybe we can be friends with him and show him how to live differently. Another, more wise, said instead: we should be friends with him and love him as he is. He implies: God can do the rest.