“The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin”. In this way, Pope Pius X defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1854.

The catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting Lumen Gentium, says: “The “splendour of an entirely unique holiness” by which Mary is “enriched from the first instant of her conception” comes wholly from Christ: she is “redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, because of the merits of her Son”. The Father blessed Mary more than any other created person “in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” and chose her “in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love”.

We often pause on Virgin Mary’s singular privilege but in this way we could forget that Mary is one of us. She was called by the Lord for an important task and responded, in her total freedom,: “Yes”.

But who was Mary? She was a little woman born and raised in a small village called Nazareth, in a remote region of Palestine, Galilee. She had no title to be called to become the mother of the Messiah or the mother of God and yet the Most High had chosen her.

In today’s Gospel, the angel Gabriel’s greeting is very important: Kaire, Kecharitomene. Kaire is not just a simple greeting of courtesy (Jews greet each other with shalom that means peace, welfare, prosperity) but an invitation to rejoice. Rejoice, full of grace or better rejoice, filled with grace and therefore favored (Kecharitomene is a passive verb).

Mary is filled with divine favor, she was been redeemed by the grace and now is upright, virtuous. God has given her an interior beauty so great that we can call her immaculate, spotless.

Mary receives a proposal and now she has to choose. What does that strange greeting from the angel Gabriel mean? Favored with God? Will I have a child? But it’s impossible. I haven’t had any relations with a man yet. “Nothing will be impossible for God”. And Mary, a simple little woman, although she does not understand everything, replies with wonderful words of consent: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word”.

It was a simple “yes” that changed the history of humanity, a “yes” that overturned the disobedience of our ancestors.

It is necessary to listen to the right people. Eve listens to the wrong person, to the snake, the personification of a sick wisdom. She lets herself be deceived by the cunning snake who tells her that God does not love her because he prohibited herto eat from one tree. Unfortunately, she and his husband believe it. We Know what happened. Quite the opposite, Mary listens to the right person who offers her an impressive project that will bring joys to Mary, but not only joys. We also remember Mary as the Mother of sorrows. She will be pregnant before marriage, she will risk being stoned. Luckily she finds a nice guy named Joseph who tries to save her by putting himself out there. Mary adheres to a wonderful project but almost blindly.

She trusts in God, she listens to the Word and this Word makes her a mother. She will not have an easy life but she will be able to grasp the traces of God’s presence in her story. At the foot of the Cross Mary is serene, not desperate because she has understood that project of love. With her “yes” she had given the world the One who would restore humanity’s relationship with God.

This is all wonderful. We could say: “Well done, Mary! But you are holy! After all, your are privileged! I am not like you! No, dear brothers and dear sister! Mary is one of us who obeyed God, and filled of His grace, became the Mother of God.

Like her, we too are called by God and we too are given the grace to carry out His project of love. Maybe we too are like Eve, we think that God really wants to cheat us. If we open our ear, our heart to that Word, we too will be like Mary, we too will conceive Christ within us, we too will carry Christ. And Christ will be born and we will be able to present him to the world, through our life and our words. Is this too much to hope? No, of course! Mary shows us how to do by means of her obedience. Let us imitate her virtues as much as possible.

We rely on her to show us the way to Heaven.