{"id":2139,"date":"2007-12-07T07:53:00","date_gmt":"2007-12-07T07:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2007\/12\/homily-for-december-8-2007-feast-of-the-immaculate-conception.html"},"modified":"2007-12-07T07:53:00","modified_gmt":"2007-12-07T07:53:00","slug":"homily-for-december-8-2007-feast-of-the-immaculate-conception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/12\/homily-for-december-8-2007-feast-of-the-immaculate-conception.html","title":{"rendered":"Homily for December 8, 2007: Feast of the Immaculate Conception"},"content":{"rendered":"

His name was Charles Sheldon \u2013 and he is one of the most influential preachers in American history. <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be surprised if you haven\u2019t heard of him. Until I started looking into this, I hadn\u2019t heard of him either. <\/p>\n

In 1896, Sheldon published a novel called In His Steps<\/a>, about a small Kansas town that decided to try and live by a simple credo \u2026 summed up in four short words. What Would Jesus Do? Well, the rest is history. Sheldon\u2019s book went on to be published in 21 languages around the world, and the central idea of it became one of the most familiar slogans in popular Christianity. You find it \u2013 or its abbreviation, WWJD \u2013 on tee shirts, bumper stickers and wristbands. <\/p>\n

And why not? As Catholic Christians, we should ask ourselves at important moments of choosing What Would Jesus Do? <\/p>\n

<\/a>But on this solemnity\u2026when our focus is His mother\u2026I\u2019d like to pose another question. WWMD? What Would Mary Do? <\/p>\n

She was the first disciple \u2013 the model for us all \u2013 and in her life and in her choices we can gain insight that can help guide our lives, and our choices\u2026beginning with today\u2019s gospel. <\/p>\n

When the angel Gabriel arrives in Nazareth, and tells Mary that she is about to become the mother of God \u2026 what does Mary do? She is young, probably 12 or 13. She\u2019s not married, doesn\u2019t appear to have a lot of money. What would most teenage girls do under those circumstances? Does Mary say \u2026 \u201cthis really isn\u2019t a good time for me, can you get back to me in 10 years?\u201d Does she say, \u201cThat\u2019s impossible, I\u2019ve got the best birth control on earth, I\u2019m a virgin?\u201d Does she run away? <\/p>\n

No. She talks to the angel. And she realizes she needs to place her life in God\u2019s hands. \u201cBehold. I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.\u201d <\/p>\n

A generation later, her Son would echo that idea in the most famous prayer ever composed: \u201cThy will be done.\u201d Clearly, he was his mother’s son. <\/p>\n

We are her children, too — and there are lessons there for us, as well. <\/p>\n

When the life we have planned suddenly takes a turn we didn\u2019t expect\u2026when the job falls through or the loan is rejected or the pregnancy test doesn\u2019t turn out the way we\u2019d hoped\u2026we might wonder: what would Mary do? WWMD? <\/p>\n

That\u2019s a good question to ask ourselves, especially in these troubled and confusing times. Mary herself lived in troubled and confusing times \u2013 in an occupied country, ruled by a ruthless king. <\/p>\n

But she faced an uncertain future with certain trust: \u201cMay it be done to me according to your word.\u201d <\/p>\n

A lot of people, I know, think THAT moment, when she agreed to be the mother of Jesus, was the \u201cImmaculate Conception.\u201d No. This feast is all about Mary — the day we mark HER Immaculate Conception, conceived in HER mother\u2019s womb, free of original sin. Exactly nine months from now, September 8th, we will celebrate the birthday of the Blessed Mother. <\/p>\n

But this is where it all began. And it is extraordinarily important. Because this is the act of creation that made our redemption possible. <\/p>\n

And, significantly: this is how Mary wanted<\/i> to be known. <\/p>\n

Starting today, the church embarks on a year-long celebration of the 150th anniversary of Mary\u2019s apparition in Lourdes. Most of us know the stories surrounding those appearances, and the healing waters that, to this day, give so many people hope. <\/p>\n

In 1858, when the authorities began investigating what was happening in that French village, they asked Bernadette what The Lady she\u2019d seen had said to her. And Bernadette replied, “She said, ‘I am the Immaculate Conception.’\u201d <\/p>\n

The church officials were stunned. <\/p>\n

This was a dogma that the Church had officially proclaimed just four years earlier. And they knew there was no way that Bernadette could have heard of it, let alone understood what it meant. Yet that was how the Mother of God announced herself \u2013 her proof to a disbelieving world. <\/p>\n

Mary has had many other titles through the centuries. Brooklyn and Queens are full of churches that bear her name, under different titles — including, of course, this one. But \u201cOur Lady of the Immaculate Conception\u201d has a special place. It is the title that marks the Blessed Mother as patroness of both our diocese, and our country. And what could be more meaningful? It is a title of great promise. It signals the very start of God\u2019s plan for our salvation. It is \u2013 literally \u2013 pregnant with possibility. And so, I think, is this feast. <\/p>\n

This solemnity marks the day when the impossible became possible, when the human chain of sin was finally broken. A woman was conceived without sin, to bring into the world its savior. That moment — The Immaculate Conception — was the beginning of the greatest mystery in human history. <\/p>\n

Every day, we are invited to share in that mystery \u2013 to believe, to trust, to surrender ourselves somehow to God\u2019s will. It\u2019s a daunting invitation. But when God extends that invitation, we should never forget this: Mary can show us the way. <\/p>\n

In moments of doubt and uncertainty\u2026when it seems like all the choices in the world are wrong, and every option is bad\u2026we can turn to Our Lady of The Immaculate Conception, and ask ourselves: <\/p>\n

WWMD? \u201cWhat would Mary do?\u201d <\/p>\n

Image: “Mary, the Mother of God” by Louis Glanzman <\/a><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

His name was Charles Sheldon \u2013 and he is one of the most influential preachers in American history. Don\u2019t be surprised if you haven\u2019t heard of him. Until I started looking into this, I hadn\u2019t heard of him either. In 1896, Sheldon published a novel called In His Steps, about a small Kansas town that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homilies"],"yoast_head":"\nHomily for December 8, 2007: Feast of the Immaculate Conception - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/12\/homily-for-december-8-2007-feast-of-the-immaculate-conception.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Homily for December 8, 2007: Feast of the Immaculate Conception - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"His name was Charles Sheldon \u2013 and he is one of the most influential preachers in American history. Don\u2019t be surprised if you haven\u2019t heard of him. Until I started looking into this, I hadn\u2019t heard of him either. In 1896, Sheldon published a novel called In His Steps, about a small Kansas town that…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/12\/homily-for-december-8-2007-feast-of-the-immaculate-conception.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-12-07T07:53:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/R1lCdCy9shI\/AAAAAAAABoQ\/o9q7g1VgyFA\/s320\/mary.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"deacon greg kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Homily for December 8, 2007: Feast of the Immaculate Conception - The Deacon's Bench","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/12\/homily-for-december-8-2007-feast-of-the-immaculate-conception.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Homily for December 8, 2007: Feast of the Immaculate Conception - The Deacon's Bench","og_description":"His name was Charles Sheldon \u2013 and he is one of the most influential preachers in American history. Don\u2019t be surprised if you haven\u2019t heard of him. Until I started looking into this, I hadn\u2019t heard of him either. In 1896, Sheldon published a novel called In His Steps, about a small Kansas town that…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/12\/homily-for-december-8-2007-feast-of-the-immaculate-conception.html","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2007-12-07T07:53:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/R1lCdCy9shI\/AAAAAAAABoQ\/o9q7g1VgyFA\/s320\/mary.jpg"}],"author":"deacon greg kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/12\/homily-for-december-8-2007-feast-of-the-immaculate-conception.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/12\/homily-for-december-8-2007-feast-of-the-immaculate-conception.html","name":"Homily for December 8, 2007: Feast of the Immaculate Conception - The Deacon's Bench","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/12\/homily-for-december-8-2007-feast-of-the-immaculate-conception.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/12\/homily-for-december-8-2007-feast-of-the-immaculate-conception.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/R1lCdCy9shI\/AAAAAAAABoQ\/o9q7g1VgyFA\/s320\/mary.jpg","datePublished":"2007-12-07T07:53:00+00:00","dateModified":"2007-12-07T07:53:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/052b8cd86cc713feaccdc8282b03cf10"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/12\/homily-for-december-8-2007-feast-of-the-immaculate-conception.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/12\/homily-for-december-8-2007-feast-of-the-immaculate-conception.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/12\/homily-for-december-8-2007-feast-of-the-immaculate-conception.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/R1lCdCy9shI\/AAAAAAAABoQ\/o9q7g1VgyFA\/s320\/mary.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/R1lCdCy9shI\/AAAAAAAABoQ\/o9q7g1VgyFA\/s320\/mary.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/12\/homily-for-december-8-2007-feast-of-the-immaculate-conception.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Homily for December 8, 2007: Feast of the Immaculate Conception"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic Deacon Ponders the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/052b8cd86cc713feaccdc8282b03cf10","name":"deacon greg kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a4e\/a4e07ce6fde3f10d4d9753243fd48d45x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a4e\/a4e07ce6fde3f10d4d9753243fd48d45x96.jpg","caption":"deacon greg kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/365"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}