4th Sunday, Conception

 

Today’s Gospel is the annunciation of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, who came to announce to Her, that God desires Her to become the Mother of God, by the conception of Jesus. Mary cannot understand how She can become a mother, because She made a vow of virginity and was not going to break the vow. That’s why She said, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” But, the angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, etc…” The angel’s words gave Mary assurance by telling Her God helped Elizabeth in her old age to conceive a child, who we come know is John the Baptist.

The angel said, “After all, nothing is impossible for God”. Mary then gave Her yes, “Fiat”, saying, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word.” At that moment, Jesus, the Son of the living God, came down from heaven in Her womb. The divine person of Jesus united His divine nature with His new human nature, taken from the flesh of Mary. The person of Jesus is divine. We cannot say the person of Jesus is human, because His personhood is divine. He always existed. But when He came down from heaven, by the power of Holy Spirit, He also took upon human nature, called the “incarnation”, meaning “human flesh”.

The conception of Jesus is celebrated by the Church on March 25^th called the Solemnity of the Annunciation. We celebrate the birth of Jesus, Dec. 25^th because He was born 9 months after His conception, on March 25^th, the normal time it takes for a mother to carry Her child to full term. We don’t know if these are the exact dates of His conception or birth, but they are the dates the Church celebrates them.

Because Mary’s Immaculate Conception is celebrated on Dec. 8^th, we celebrate her birthday 9 months later on Sept. 8^th. Mary’s conception was free from original sin. The conception of Jesus was also free of sin, because He is God. We can call the conception of Jesus, “miraculous conception” because His conception occurred by the power of the Holy Spirit in a “miraculous” way.

If we celebrate the conception of Jesus and celebrate the conception of Mary, have you ever thought about celebrating your conception day, the day, you were conceived in your mother’s womb? While it may not be the actual day due to being born early or late, we can choose a day to celebrate our conception. For example, I celebrate my conception day on May 20^th, because my birthday is Feb. 20^th, 9 months before I was born.

Before we were conceived in our mother’s womb, God the Father in heaven, had the idea of creating us. Parents cooperate with God, and are called “co-creators” because they assist God, the creator, in bringing us into existence. At the moment we are created in our mother’s womb, God “places” an immortal soul within our body.

God knows the circumstances we will enter the world when we are born. Some are born into poverty, others into wealth or some enter the world with a single parent or others in a large family.

My oldest sister was created in my mother’s womb, before my parents were married. They divorced when I was 19. My parents eventually received an annulment and my mother re-married. An annulment declares a marriage invalid from the beginning.

After the annulment, I wondered if I was an illegitimate child. Did the annulment mean, I should have never been conceived, and never born, because my parents were never married. This greatly saddened me. But, No No No!

This type of thinking is false. The truth is the father of a child will always be the father. A mother will always be the mother. There is no such thing as an illegitimate child. God brings each person into the world by imparting a soul at the moment of conception. It’s not like He looked down from heaven and said, “Oh, no, here we go again. I have to bring a child into the world due to an accidental pregnancy.” God is not like that! When God creates a child, in the midst of difficult circumstances, He brings something beautiful out of it, (a child), created in the image and likeness of God. The presence of the child in -- what was thought to be an accident--, is there to help the mother and father to grow in love, and sometimes forgive each other or to change their life and lead a new one.

With God, there is no such thing as an “accidental” child. God intends every human being to come into the world, whom He creates, and when He creates the child. The day of our conception is something we should celebrate, no matter the circumstances. It’s the day God gave us life and an immortal soul, with the ability to choose heaven or hell.

Unlike all His other creatures, as human beings, our souls live forever because God created them to be immortal.

Today, some use “contra---ception”. Meaning “against” “conception”, to prevent the birth of a child.

On the weekend of Aug. 12^th and 13th, I did a mission in Oklahoma City on Contraception and Humanae Vitae, which is an encyclical of Pope Paul VI. The document explains why contra--ception is wrong. It tells God - “No”, for a child to come into the world; it prevents the total gift of self; it is contrary to God’s natural design; it can cause a person to use the other for pleasure. These are some of the reasons why it is mortally sinful to use contraception.

When couples begin to use contraception, they are being disobedient to the Church, but most likely don’t understand why.

Due to circumstances in a married couple’s life, they may be pressured into using contraception and not understood that it was sinful at the time. They also may have not known there was a safe, moral and more effective method to space children, when there are serious circumstances to do so. This is called Natural Family Planning, which is 99% effective much more effective than contraceptives.

I would like to give you an example. Suppose a priest discovers just before Mass, he is out of sacramental wine, and he doesn’t have time to go to a neighboring parish to get some. So he goes to the local liquor store and buys wine. He uses it for the Mass, and continues to use it. Later, he discovers the wine is made out of cherries, and therefore the Masses he offered were invalid, because the wine is supposed to be made of grapes. At seminary, he was taught to only use sacramental wine, but he was pressured into getting a different kind, and then was unaware of the severe consequences. It was a serious offense against God and the people of his parish. But, he didn’t intend to offend God or hurt anyone.

This is similar to those who began to use contraception. They are at first pressured into doing something they know they shouldn’t do, but don’t understand the severe consequences. Besides being a mortal sin due to the reasons I previously mentioned, there is also an even more grave reason to not use it.

Most people don’t know, the IUD, the pill, the patch, the injection-- all prevent a conceived child from implanting in the mother’s womb. It takes 5 days for a newly fertilized egg, (a baby), to travel down the Fallopian tube, and implant in the mother’s womb. But due to a device or medicine, it causes the womb to be irritated, and consequently, a newly conceived baby is unable to implant and dies. And the mother did not even know- she was pregnant. How sorrowful for mothers to learn this. They never would have done so, if they knew they could lose children from the medicine or device. They did not know or understand the grave consequences.

God has a purpose for every child conceived, even if it does not live long. God infinitely loves every person, no matter how small. Through the heartache of a child lost by miscarriage or by contraception, God helps the parents to love more, to greater appreciate their own life, and to look forward to being with the child in heaven. So every time, they think of the child, they think of heaven. God brings good out of everything.

We must realize, we are all human, and we all make mistakes, and sometimes we do not realize their gravity until later. For example, the priest should have never used wine from a liqour store, without first seeing if it was acceptable or not. He should have obeyed what the Church wanted and not risk invalid Masses. This is true for those who began to use contraception. They knew they were being disobedient to the Church, but they never checked into why it was wrong, or the consequences of doing so. But, later discover how grievous it was.

Whatever the sin, no matter how big, or how many, Our Lord’s Divine Mercy is for everyone. He wants to wash away all our sins in the ocean of His mercy. All He desires for us-- is to give our sins to Him. Jesus was conceived in His Mother’s womb to save us from our sins. He is our loving Savior. Jesus doesn’t want us to walk around beating our self over the head for what we did. Rather, all He wants of us, is to give Him our sins, and have confidence in His mercy, and once it’s confessed, to put our sins behind us, and forgive ourself.

When Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary, and She went in haste to visit Her cousin Elizabeth, I am sure She prayed to Him inside her womb. She became the first tabernacle, the first one to adore His physical presence.

We can pray to the unborn Jesus through Mary. For example, we can pray:

“O Jesus, Son of the Most High God, and Son of the Virgin Mary, who created the heavens, the stars and every living creature. By the power of the Holy Spirit, You came down from heaven in the womb of Mary. When Your Mother visited Elizabeth, a 5-day journey from the moment of your conception, You did not have eyes, or hands or feet or even a beating heart. Yet, through the womb of your Mother and through the womb of St. Elizabeth, You blessed the unborn John the Baptist, and sanctified him, causing him to leap for joy. I thank you for my conception and birth, and pray, You will bless and protect all unborn children, and help mothers and fathers to follow God’s plan for marriage, spacing their children using Natural Family Planning, so no conceived child will die unnaturally, from a contra- “ception”. We also pray Lord, for mothers and fathers who have lost a child or children, that You will comfort them by pouring your love into their hearts in Holy Communion. Just as Your Mother was a Tabernacle, carrying Your physical presence for 9 months, and She prayed to You within Her, so we become tabernacles when Your physical presence comes down upon the altar-- when the bread is changed into your Body and when we receive Your flesh and blood, within our Heart in Holy Communion.

Give us O unborn baby Jesus, the graces, we need to love others, and to grow in our faith, so that someday, we may be with You and Your Mother in heaven.

When my soul, originally conceived in my mother’s womb, departs from this life, and be with You forever, then, on a future day, known to Father alone, at the resurrection of the dead, my soul will be reunited with its glorified body, and all will leap for joy because You will have blessed us through Mary, your Mother. Amen.”