It’s All About Cooperation
We celebrate today the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In homilies about this solemnity, there are some common themes. We can emphasize for example, that we believe that Mary was conceived without original sin because it seems only natural and right that the woman who was to give birth to a sinless Jesus Christ should herself be sinless.
We can also emphasize that Jesus and Mary represent in the history of God’s saving plan for all human beings the new Adam and Eve. We read in our first reading from Genesis today how both Adam and Eve said no to God’s saving plan. Through their no, sin came into the world. As our second reading from St. Paul to the Ephesians, Jesus and Mary said yes to God’s plan to restore and extend the loving covenant to all human beings by conquering sin and death.
All of this points are valid points around which to build a homily. There certainly are true. But sometimes we miss the forest for the trees when we look at this solemnity. For what we are really celebrating is Mary’s cooperation with the Holy Spirit. We are celebrating the beginning of the process of Mary’s incredible loving act of agreeing to be the Mother of God. Look at our Gospel from Luke. The love is so clear. Mary feels she is not worthy to be the Mother of the Son of God. She is a poor peasant girl, wondering what this all means. And yet she agrees. She puts others first. She cooperates with the Holy Spirit. And with that incredible act of love, all human beings that follow will get the chance for the intimate communion that Mary had with God.
Undoubtedly, Mary’s Immaculate Conception, and her role as the Mother of God make her exceptional, the most exceptional of all human beings. And yet, we can also overemphasize her exceptionality. When we do, we ironically marginalize Mary’s meaning for own lives. We can put Mary on a pedestal, worthy of praise, but irrelevant to the challenges for today’s people. That would be very wrong.
For in God’s eyes, we are all exceptional. We are all sons and daughters of God. And if we cooperate with the Holy Spirit much like Mary did, we too can do great things.
Many years ago, a little girl lived in a destitute slum area of Philadelphia. But her parents were devout Christians even though they were very poor. They could not even afford to pay for the costs for the little girl to go to the overcrowded Sunday school. The pastor of the church one day saw her on the steps of the church sobbing because she could not go to Sunday school. He promised her that she could go, that he would pay for the costs, and somehow they would make room. The girl was so thrilled that when the pastor announced in church about plans to expand the church and Sunday school, she wanted to help.
Sadly, a flu epidemic swept through her tenement shortly thereafter. The little girl succumbed to illness and died. The parents asked the kindhearted pastor to handle the funeral service. After the funeral, as the parents began to put aside their deceased daughter’s few possessions, they came across a worn-out old red purse. Inisde the purse was 57 cents and a note, scribbled in childish handwriting which read: “This is to help build the church bigger so more children can go to Sunday school.”
The pastor was so moved by the loving generosity of the little tenement girl that he took the note and the worn out old purse into the pulpit at Sunday service. He challenged everyone and himself to get busy and raise enough money for a larger building. Eventually, the newspapers got word of the story. A wealthy realtor offered the pastor a parcel of land for a reduced price. The pastor said they could not afford it. So the realtor sold it to the pastor for 57 cents.
From that 57 cents also came $250,000 in donations from all around the city of Philadelphia and around the country and world. I recently visited Philadelphia and you can see the church that was built; the Temple Baptist Church.You can also can go to Philadelphia and visit Temple University, where thousands of students are educated each year. You can also have a look at the Good Samaritan Hospital. There is also a fine facility for Sunday school instruction, so no one can ever be denied for reasons of space or money. In the Sunday school building I am told, is a picture of the little girl, whose act of unselfish love and cooperation with the Holy Spirit accomplished so much.
Brothers and sisters, as we celebrate the remarkable act of loving generosity that Mary undertook and thereby changed the world forever, let us also be mindful of what all of us can also do when we cooperate with the Holy Spirit. Look at what the little girl’s 57 cents did, and how much more we might do when the Holy Spirit calls us in prayer, sacrament and Scripture to also cooperate for building up the Body of Christ. Let this be the legacy of the girl with the 57 cents,and the girl at the Immaculate Conception.