Today we celebrate Mary conceived immaculately in the womb of St. Anne i.e. with no trace of darkness, no sin, no obstacles to God’s grace. She was “full of grace” i.e. full of God’s presence and activity.
Grace had free reign. She lived in the presence of God doing her daily, domestic duties as wife and mother, keeping house, raising a child. She was not exempt from duties or chores. (Madonna of the Broom!) Carryl Houselander writes of this in The Reed of God. She was formed to notice God and welcome God’s presence in the home by her parents, Joachim and Anne for grace works through nature. You and I were not so graced at birth but were given supernatural boosts we need through baptism. Still we struggle in a world that increasingly does not seem to know God. Yet God is there and Mary is there to champion our cause “praying for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.”
How many of us are aware minute by minute of God’s presence and activity loving us. That’s the point: Mary was! We distract ourselves in futile activity sometimes.
Today’s Solemnity reminds us of Mary’s fullness of grace and our growing in grace, of a sense of God’s presence and activity in us. This is possible for all of us through sacraments: by natural means of taking time for silence and reflection; and by the prayers of Mary, who is our guide and model. Mary accompanies us in our attempts to live and love wisely in God’s Presence.