Finding Fullness
Julián Carrón - “Blessed be God,” proclaims St. Paul,” Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. In him, he chose us before the creation of the world to be holy and spotless before him, to be adopted sons through Jesus Christ.”
This is why man was created: to be holy and immaculate, according to God's plan of love; that is, to let the grace given us in Christ his Son shine forth in us men, that we might become “sons in the Son.” We were chosen by God, before the creation of the world, for happiness because He wanted to share His fullness of life with men.
This creation is then described in symbolic but realistic terms with the image of the earthly paradise, in which man and God lived in total familiarity; this is shown by the fact that “They heard the Lord God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day” (Gen. 3:8).
However, God wanted this design of love to be freely accepted by man. So man had to choose whether to accept it or not. Why did God take this risk of man's freedom? Because God knows that “Man as a free being cannot arrive at his fulfillment, cannot arrive at his destiny, except through his freedom. If I were brought to my destiny without freedom, I could not be happy, it would not be my happiness, it would not be my destiny. It is through my freedom that this destiny can become a response to me.
A fulfillment [and happiness] of man would not be human if he were not free” (L.G. The Religious Sense). Therefore, man was at a crossroads from the very beginning of history: he had to choose whether to adhere to this plan of love that, while beautiful, without his freedom, would not become “his own.” We heard in the first reading, man's decision not to trust God, preferring to achieve his happiness on his own.
“[After the man had eaten of the fruit of the tree, ] the Lord called him and said, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard your voice in the garden: I was afraid, for I am naked and hid myself.” The Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?”” seeking to attain from yourself that fullness which I wanted to give you? This decision will mark man's life because, from then on, he will have to test whether he can attain from himself the very happiness for which he was made. It is the story of man on earth, it is the story of each of us.
A singular event happened in this story: a woman, however, agreed to trust God. As we heard in the Gospel, this woman accepted the announcement that she would be brought to that fullness through the gift of the Spirit, as God's own work, in a totally mysterious way, and she accepted this plan, she trusted God, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord: let it be to me according to your word.”
That is why Mary is happy, “blessed,” Elizabeth says, “because she believed in the fulfillment of what the Lord told her” (Lk. 1:45). The feast of the Immaculate Conception, which we celebrate, thus offers us another chance to live life to the fullest.
A person like us, from our lineage, found that what is impossible for us — to achieve happiness in our strength — is possible for God because for Him nothing is impossible. The fundamental question is how much time we humans need to discover this, as we can “lose our lives by living.”
This is the drama of our freedom. To show us that God keeps His promise and gives us His grace, He places before our eyes the figure of Our Lady. It does not require, as we have seen, any special voluntarism or any exceptional gifts. She was a young girl from Nazareth with no other title than to be simple. She only needed this to achieve what we all yearn for our fulfillment, our full life. All it takes is our simple “yes,” like Mary's, to see our lives shine. There is no greater wager for our freedom.
Immaculate Conception Blessed Virgin Mary - Year C
Notes from Julián Carrón's homily Dec. 8, 2024 (First reading: Gen 3:9-15.20; Psalm 97 (98); Second reading: Eph 1:3-6.11-12; Gospel: Lk 1:26-38)
The author has not revised the translation.
