To me this feast can be summarized and focused by a song that=s sung by Mario Lanza in his favorites that goes something like this. The hours I spend with thee my heart are as a string of pearls for me. I spend each hour with each bead. My rosary, my rosary.

        The reason why I say that is the Blessed Mother can look at her life at each hour realize how much God has blessed her. It=s like a string of pearls. Pearl after pearl of knowledge of how good God was to her. We know this is true because we have Luke=s gospel which we just proclaimed to you and we know from scholarship (that it=s rather very stringent and strict) that Luke received his message of the first two chapters of his gospel from the Blessed Mother, whether directly or through family and early community. The strongest point of this gospel as far as this feast is concerned is that the angel comes to Mary and doesn=t say: AHail, Mary.@ He says: AHail, full of grace.@ That=s her name on this feast. The church has always understood this in it=s full meaning and it=s meant in the text. It means she is without sin, negative side, which the western church emphasizes, or the positive side as the Eastern Church emphasizes, she=s filled with every possible virtue and grace that God could pour into us, receptacles.

        So this feast is a fantastic manifestation of God=s free gift to start the salvation of the world in Mary. By giving ahead of time the grace of fullness of life to his mother at the conception. We are really celebrating God=s intention of pure mercy towards everyone here. Everyone.

        One of the first truths to come out of this feast is, whether you believe it or not, or realize it or not is, that because you are right here you are loved by God. You don=t believe it, of course. But it=s true. Every person that exists is loved by God. But this feast says more than that. It says not only loved, but forgiven sins. Therefore, the mercy of God is embracing each and every one of us. That=s what this feast tells us about what it means to us. But the problem is we don=t believe it. The first response to this truth is to believe. Not to say I agree because it=s in the text or the church teaches it. No, no, no. I mean really believe it. That means to act in trust on God=s love for you and his mercy for you. That=s not easy. Otherwise we=d be doing it and we would be much more happy people to know that I=m loved by God everyday. Every minute, every moment. With great mercy.

        I can give you one example. Sr. Bascillia=s Schlink was an Evangelical sister, it=s almost a contradiction, because the Evangelical=s don=t have nuns. It turned out that she heard the call and she started a community in Germany and they were young sisters. She had about 20 sisters all in their 20's and early 30's. They needed a convent so they got an architect to help them and they were doing the work. This young sister was wheeling the wheelbarrow of cement and it went right through the second floor-floor and she sustained concusions in her legs. They took her to the hospital and they stretched her. Whenever anything went wrong Sr. Bascillia always took it to prayer. She gathered the nuns and they began to pray. She came up with the conclusion that this was for the glory of God. She went to the hospital and said she wanted to take sister home. The doctor said, ANo way!@ AIf you take her home she=s crippled for life.@ Sister said, AThat=s o.k.@ So the doctors made her sign that they would be responsible for her. They took sister home, put her in bed, gathered around her and prayed, and she was immediately healed. Of course, that was precisely the point.

        This was after the second World War, and the German people felt that God had abandon them because of what their nation did. Everybody in the town knew these sisters and knew what was going on. When they heard of the miracle they began to realize that God did not abandon them. They believed in God=s mercy and forgiveness for them again.

        What we really need to do in this feast is really sit quietly and reflect on how much do I really believe that God loves me personally, even to the point of forgiving all my sins and wanting to give me the fullness of life all the rest of my life? If we do this and really praise the Lord for it, we are going to really acknowledge what God is up to on this feast. He=s beginning the whole new creation through Mary and he gives her a real booster shot to do it. No sin, fullness of grace, so that she can be the Mother of the Messiah as our Redeemer and Lord. A great and merciful Lord indeed.

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