The Immaculate Conception and Holy Mother Church
A Meditation as a Preparation for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M.
December 8, 2006
As the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church continues to carry out the saving mission of Jesus Christ in the world. Thus due to the fact that the Church is spiritually connected to Christ, it is not primarily an institution, but a living, mystical organism. Even more, as a living body, the Church has a mother who watches over the needs of her spiritual children. And, as God would have it, He has provided the most perfect mother of all, the Immaculate Blessed Virgin Mary, to be the New Eve, mother of all the living, and Mother of the Church.
Part of the role of any mother is to pass on to her children the same nature that she has. Thus when we think about Mary, Mother of the Church, we realize that she has an immaculate nature, and this is what she wants us to have also. What Mary has at the beginning of her life, no sin whatsoever, God wants us to have at the end of our life. God chose to create Mary as the Immaculate Conception because He wanted all of us to have a perfect mother who would serve as the blueprint, pattern, and model for what it means to be a member of the Church. In reality, there is only one model for what it means to be a member of the Church, namely, the Immaculate Conception.
It is for this reason that the maternal role of the Church will never change. In other words, the Church cannot change out of her role of mother anymore than Mary can cease to be the Immaculate Conception. Just as the Immaculate Conception of Mary is a pure gift from God for the good of all, so the Church, the daughter of Mary, has been commissioned to be the spiritual mother of all, a mother who defends life, teaches her children right doctrine, and even corrects them when they go astray.
From another perspective, the Church is unconquerable due to the fact that the blueprint of the Church, the Immaculate Conception, is unconquerable. Just as the Immaculate Conception can never be overcome, and already shares in the victory of Christ, so, also, since the Church is patterned off of the Immaculate Conception, the essence of the Church will always be immaculate, having her faith intact and undefiled. The world, the devil, and sinful men, may always try to mare the beauty of the immaculate Church, but will never, ever fully succeed in overcoming her because God has made both Mary and the Church unconquerable.
The interconnectedness of the mysteries of the Immaculate Conception and the Church should fill our hearts with great gratitude and joy! The will of God is that we all come to honor, love, and serve Him by being faithful sons and daughters of Mary Immaculate and the Immaculate Church. Just as we honor Mary, the Immaculate Conception, as our spiritual mother, so, also, it is only right and fitting for us, as sons and daughters of Holy Mother Church, to love, obey, defend, and honor the motherhood of the Church.