Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen
December 8, 2025
Beguiled in Darkness
To tell you the truth, I’m less than pleased when daylight savings time ends for the simple reason that it gets dark so quickly in the evening. But tonight the darkness serves a purpose for it is as a point of departure for reflecting on today’s feast, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
As night descends we are reminded of another kind of night that night which descended upon the earth even before recorded history – a darkness that casts its shadow on every age of human history, a darkness that casts its shadow on the soul of every person born into the world. It is a darkness that the Church calls “original sin”. It stems from a mysterious event described in the Book of Genesis when first the human heart was beguiled by evil – when first the day of God’s glory was exchanged for the night of sin.
And how often the tragic scene depicted in Genesis recurs as the human heart is mesmerized and enticed by sin which promises enlightenment and joy but produces only darkness and grief. How often that same mystery unfolds in our lives. We are warned against the cunning ways of the evil one. Yet, as the result of original sin, the attraction to sin lies deep in our hearts. It is the shadow cast upon our souls from the opening chapters of human history. Thus did Isaiah the prophet speak of “a people that walked in darkness…” (Is. 9:2).
Darkness Gives Way to Light
We are rapidly heading towards the shortest day in the year, a day in which darkness seems to dominate the light. Yet, as the shadows lengthen and the nights grow longer, is not the darkness broken by glints of light, by the moon, by the stars, by the festive lights of the season – lights that seem to defy the prevailing darkness, lights that seem to promise the hope of a better, more enduring day?
Perhaps that is how we should think of tonight’s feast of the Immaculate Conception: the dawning of salvation amid the night of sin and death. For we celebrate that unique privilege by which Mary was preserved from original sin and was given the grace to abstain from all actual sin. For from the first moment of her existence, Mary’s heart was “full of grace”. Not only was she kept free from the stain of sin, but the grace of the Holy Spirit fashioned her as a worthy temple of the Lord. In the depth of darkness, a new and radiant light was sparked in Mary’s humble heart, a light which cannot be overcome by even deepest night of sin and death.
In her sinless freedom, the Virgin Mary humbly embraced the plan of God. Her response to the Angel are the most pivotal words in all of human history: “Let it be done to me [she said], according to thy word. Mary’s sinless heart shining is a light in the darkness, prepared to receive the One whom St. John refers to as ‘the true light’ sent ‘to enlighten every’ human heart (see John 1:9). Through her, we have receive the One who is indeed “the light of the world” and “the splendor of the Father”. It is this light that dawns upon us anew in Advent, this light that gives us hope and joy as we await the coming of Christ at Christmas and at the end of time.
In Him We Were Chosen
Because we have been baptized into Christ, with our sins forgiven, because we have been reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, and receive the Lord Jesus in our hearts in Holy Communion, we readily understand what St. Paul means when he says that in Christ, you and I were chosen, to be holy and blameless in God’s sight, to be the adopted sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father (See Eph. 3:1-6). How we should rejoice! How we should take heart!
Mary’s vocation and her privileges are unique in all of human history, yet as we celebrate the feast by which she was prepared to become the Mother of our Savior, do we not perceive by faith the light of God’s goodness dawning in our hearts? Do we not rejoice in the very thought that, imperfect as we are, Christ now dwells in us and that through us the light of Christ can shine upon a suffering world?
Long ago, Mary’s sinless heart could say, “I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word.” With Mary’s prayers, may our hearts, redeemed by the blood of her Son, say, “Thy Kingdom, Thy will be done, on earth as it is heaven.” Then will darkness give way to light, then will night give way to dawn. May God bless us and keep us always in his love!