From Archbishop Donoghue
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Mass, Second annual archdiocesan Marian
conference |
[See Georgia Bulletin account] Dear Friends in Christ, On this occasion, and at this Mass marking the opening of the 2nd Annual Archdiocesan Marian Conference, it is my first duty, and blessing, to voice our deep thanks to God the Father for the care He takes of us, and for the cares He takes from us. This is only the second of these events, but who cannot be comforted by the fact that “two” is the beginning of a tradition, and that many here will see the two become 20 some day, and that all of us, as long as this tradition shall persist, will somehow be remembered by the Church, for what we contributed ion our time, and of how we chose to become reminders to the Church, of our best interceder, of our best counsel before God, and before the justice of His throne – His own Mother, the Mother of our Lord, the ever-virgin Mary. In this choosing to become reminders to the Church, we are also attempting to imitate our Blessed Mother in a most important way. We honor her Immaculate Conception, and we remember that from that moment when God first knew that His Son would become the redeemer of the world – from that very moment a singular grace emerged from the power of the creator upon His creation – and that singular grace in time was born as the ever-virgin Mary, a girl with no inclination to sin, with no capacity for evil, and yet, with the dignity and worthiness that God has placed in every human, the dignity of being free to choose. When the moment of the Annunciation came to be, when the moment of God’s Spirit conceiving the Lord, the Anointed One poised upon the threshold of human history, at that moment, God did not command, but through the emissary of His angel, He prophesied her greatness, calmed her troubled spirit, and evoked from her the spark of love that was needed to consummate the miracle: “Be it done unto me according to thy word." Thus, Mary chose to fulfill that singular grace given to her from the beginning of time, and to bring into her perfect goodness, the beginning of goodness for all man kind, the goodness of the Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ. We have not been immaculately conceived – we have been conceived with the weight of human imperfection strong in our natures – and none of us had better ever think that we do not sin, for as the Evangelist warns us, “If you think you have not sin in you, then you fool yourself, and there is no truth in you.” It is from sin and death that Christ came to save us – they are two of the strongest facts in our lives, though many now cannot face them - and we must admit before His generous and absolving love, in the Sacrament of Penance, all the sin we do and have done, if we are to be saved from death. We are not as our Lady was, born without sin - but we are like her in this – that we have been called – we have been given a vocation to salvation – we have known the water of Baptism, and the anointing of Confirmation, and though we have sinned, and may sin again, each of is given the call from God, who is ever-ready to turn to those who come to Him with their sorrow, and not with their pride. A Guardian Angel, a messenger of His love, just like Gabriel, who stood before Mary, awaits the least glimmer of need in our hearts - need for the answer, for the hope, for the faith to do good, and to persist in what the world sees as folly -the folly of believing what every good Christian believes, that through the grace of the Father and the love of the Son, sin and death will be conquered, and we will gain eternal life. The angel waits for our answer, and with Mary to guide us, we give the answer freely – and with Mary we receive, though not perfectly as she, the Spirit, and the living presence of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, come to earth for our sakes. He did this once and for all, entering through the portal of her sacred womb – He does it again and again by action of the priest at Mass, and by the grateful action of our receiving Him in Holy Communion. Dear friends, may the grace we receive from this Sacrament, and the strength we gain by honoring Mary our Mother in Faith, make of us better reminders to the Church than we were before we gathered here. May our deliberations and our meditations, and the time we give of our lives to participate in this Conference, make the light of the Catholic Church burn ever brighter in the growing dimness of the world around us. And finally, by her powerful and never-failing intercession, may Mary gain for us, the peace of mind and heart that we ourselves desire, and that we wish for one another. + |