    For those of us who have lived a few decades, when we look back over the course of our lives, we can see God’s hand at work in the midst of the seemingly random tangle of events and experiences that are part of our pasts. For married people who are deeply in love, it is impossible to think that it was only fate that arranged for their first meeting and brought them together. For those of us who are religious and priests, so many people have invited us to enter their lives at critical moments–from the beginning of life to life’s end. And our pastoral encounters with them have changed us, and brought us to the place in our lives where we are today. Our lives are an unfolding mystery which we coauthor with God, but its ending is known only to Him. God’s plan for us, as mysterious as it is, reveals itself in degrees–and occasionally we get a precious glimpse of the end that was in the mind of God from the beginning. Fate–or luck–has nothing to do with it. For all of us, God’s hand can be seen, doodling through our past–weaving the threads of our present, and laying the foundation for our future.

    And so, this feast of the Immaculate Conception is also the feast of the Providence of God–it celebrates God’s master craftsmanship in creating human beings. Mary was in God’s eternal plan. Even before she could do anything to merit God’s love, in the very moment of her conception, Mary was preserved free from sin as a beautiful work of God’s artistry. Mary’s Immaculate Conception is more than a work of God’s art to be admired by us. It shows us something of who we are in the eyes of God. God chose us in Christ before the world began to be his adopted children–and to be sinless in his sight. We cannot merit that choice. Becoming children of God the Father is his gift to us just as the Immaculate Conception was his gift to Mary.
    And so, our vocation is to live as children of God. That is our choice. Think about all of the ways that God has prepared us for this calling. Through all of the joys and struggles, the triumphs and tragedies–even through the crosses that we have carried–God has been at work fashioning us; strengthening us; preparing us and helping us–to live out our call to be Children of God as followers of Christ. Because God is more powerful than even the most difficult or painful events of our past–he can redeem them all. He can raise up a new creation out of the shattered remains of our former selves.

    But there is more! The Immaculate Conception calls us to ponder all of the things from which we have been preserved by God. There are countless ways in which we have been preserved from things that would have prevented us from embracing and living our vocation–even some seemingly good things. No matter how much we have struggled or endured, we will never know how much we have been spared. Just as there are things that God has permitted us to suffer–for a reason–there are other things that in His mercy He has not permitted. And so God’s artistry has been at work–even if at times it has been invisible and mysterious. It has prepared us to live as God’s children. It has     brought us to the faith that we profess–the promises that we have made–the
vows we have taken. And we believe that God will continue to preserve us in the future.
Sisters and brothers, we need to cooperate in this work of divine preservation. We cannot frustrate God’s artistry in our lives or pollute the vision that He has had for us from the beginning of time. The fact is that we are artists with God as our future unfolds. And so, there are things from which we must preserve ourselves. There are many things that God will continue to decide for us. But we must continue to choose to live the life which he has prepared for us. The Immaculate Conception calls us to a life of preservation. To preserve the promises of our baptism. To preserve the gift of faith and the life of virtue. To preserve ourselves in fidelity to the vows we have taken.   We have all seen the sadness and heartache that results when people forget who they are–and what they were created to be. They replace God’s vision for them with some silly fantasy that satisfies them for the moment–perhaps because they have found God’s plan to be too difficult–or God’s call to be an inconvenient interference in their own plans. And so they reject the preventative medicine of God’s Grace.

    But today we celebrate that the divine artist has done his work. And Mary is his greatest artistic creation. But he has done a good job with us as well. We are well made in the image of God. He has fashioned us for the present–and for the life to come. And so, this is a feast of all Christians as well as of Mary. Because the Immaculate Conception speaks an eloquent word–an important message to all children of God–and it’s this: BE WHO YOU ARE.