Celebrating The Feast of the Immaculate Conception

May you be blessed on this day that honors the divine feminine among us and looks toward the proclamation of "God with us." May we see it as a day to welcome the divine, and not to cower in fear of not being worthy.

The following is a post from my archives (December 8, 2011). It was good for me to be reminded of this message on this day. ~ CK 

I stated in my blog post, A Jungian Appreciation of Mary, that I saw no need for the idea of the Immaculate Conception (whereby Mary was born free from original sin). As a practicing Catholic, however, today I will attend the Mass of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The primary reason for my participation will be that I see the importance of honoring the feminine within our sacred spaces.

This week, Richard Rohr has been offering a series of meditations on “Mary, the Prepared One.” A couple of days ago he said something I had never thought about.  When the angel Gabriel appeared to her to inform her that she had found favor with God to bring the savior into the world, Mary “refuses to play the ‘Lord, I am not worthy’ card that had become normative in most biblical theophanies. She simply states, ‘Let it be done unto me.’  She lets God do all the giving. Her job is to receive such perfect giving.”

Mary refuses to play the “Lord I am not worthy” card!  I like that image of Mary on this day set aside in her honor. I am not one who thinks we need to wallow in all of this rigmarole of Original Sin.  The blessings of Life are around us for us to take part in as we will.

Rohr also states in his meditation on Mary that “The word favor doesn’t say anything about the recipient. Favor says something about the one who is doing the favoring.” And that “God does not love you because you are good; God loves you because God is good. God does not love you because you are good; you are good because God loves you.” 

May you be blessed on this day that honors the divine feminine among us and looks toward the proclamation of "God with us." May we see it as a day to welcome the divine, and not to cower in fear of not being worthy.

-