Transcript of Abbot Clement’s Homily on December 8, 2006 Feast of the Immaculate Conception

We the privileged few who believe in the whole world are acknowledging the action of God, the manifestation of his intent, which is already manifested in the Book of Genesis when man fell away from God.

It took a long time for the world to even hear and sense God= s action. So the proclamation of the Immaculate Conception was 1864, I believe, so it took a long time even for those who believe to begin to sense the depth, the breadth, and something of the mystery of what we are celebrating today.

Maximilian Kolbe spent his whole life reflecting and dedicating himself to this mystery. He tried to articulate what it meant for the Blessed Mother to be immaculately conceived. After many, many beautiful statements about the Blessed Mother= s relationship to the Trinity, especially that the Blessed Mother is the spouse of the Holy Spirit, he tried to articulate this particular gift. He says, A it= s like having a perfect white object. The object is perfect but it= s the whiteness that makes this object unique. That= s his image of trying to articulate that the Blessed Mother is immaculately conceived.

It= s a word, it= s already negative. It means that there was no stain of sin in Mary from the beginning. That means the devil has no breadth, the slightest breadth upon her soul and her being. On the positive side of course is, it means, that from the beginning God in the Trinity is living in her being. And that life is and remains unfolding and develops into the beauty of what we see in the glorification of the Blessed Mother when she= s rose to be Queen of Heaven and earth.

So this is a manifestation of the power of God that= s going on undetected by most people and sometimes undetected by ourselves. The real issue of celebrating this feast is first of all to give glory to God because God is glorified in all his works. He manifests his infinite and incomprehensible goodness in such an action. He shows that it= s not done because of anything we deserve whatsoever. Secondly, it shows that his love is not only generous, but it= s abundantly generous, and that his intention of fulfilling his purpose in our life is far from short.

We have to ask ourselves how do we appreciate other hidden mysteries that are connected with this. If this is what it means for the unfolding of the new kingdom, the new Eve is now celebrated as the reality of the new creation, and we are members of that new creation through Baptism and Confirmation. Do we really pay attention and shift our identity with ourselves and our life that we are really children of God? That we, by Baptism are already the visible sign of the presence of Christ in this world. That we, by Confirmation are the sign of the Spirit in this world. And how do we allow the graces that God wants to give us in and through these things to continue the manifestation of God= s infinite goodness to others and their salvation.

For this gift is not given to Mary for herself. It= s clear. There= s a theory of the spiritual life from the point of view of God= s action into mankind, we would have to say this is the big bang of the spiritual life. This is the beginning of the unfolding of all the graces that will come to mankind. But its not a theory, it= s already happening. We see it in the saints and we see it in the church. So the issue is how do we respond to it first in praise and adoration and thanksgiving. But secondly in appreciation and a shift in our own life of how we look at ourselves and each other and also join the Lord= s work in transforming the world. This requires on our part generosity. The world needs this mystery very much because it tends to see only the limits and the faults and the sinfulness of mankind and does not live in the power of hope that= s real in our life. That this is the power that does indeed transforms us and gives us the only real grounds for hope.

So today we thank the Lord for this great mysterious gift that is incomprehensible, yet at the same time reveals to us so that we would have hope and also have the strength to further our own unfolding and allow the Lord to use us to bring salvation to the whole world.