God's Plan

God's Plan
December 8, 2018    Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
by Dcn. Bob Bonomi

Have you ever had a time in your life when everything that you had planned for your life had to be radically changed?

Woody Allen is supposed to have said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans” which probably comes from the old Yiddish proverb, “We plan, God laughs.”  Isn’t that the truth!

When I was very young, I had big plans for my life.  I wanted to be an astronaut.  Then, when I was about 8, I had to get glasses and I discovered that you had to have perfect eyesight (at that time) in order to qualify to become an astronaut.  So, since I couldn’t become an astronaut, I decided to be an astronomer.  I bought my first telescope when I was 13 and physics was my declared major my first year in college.  Then I discovered that I didn’t have enough money to continue in college at that time and, by the time I decided to return to college three years later, I had decided that engineering paid better.  Now I’m a deacon that works for a church who also works on computers.  I planned; God laughed.

I wonder:  Did Mary feel the same way?

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Here’s a trivia question for you: is today’s Gospel about an Immaculate Conception?  That’s meant to be a trick question.

What do we mean by “immaculate conception”?  There are those who mistakenly think that this has to do with the perpetual virginity of Mary, but it doesn’t.  While it is commonly confused with the Virgin Birth of Jesus, the Immaculate Conception is the belief that Mary was sinless, or conceived without the stain of original sin.  While most Christians believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus, it is principally Roman Catholics, along with a few other Christian denominations, who believe in the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. 

This belief has been widely held in the Church as early as the 2nd century and is alluded to in the Protoevangelium, or Gospel, of James which is believed to have been written somewhere around 145AD. While it is not a canonical book, or one which is held to be divinely-inspired like the other books of the Bible, it is from the Gospel of James that we often get the legends of the early days of Mary and the life of Jesus, including the names of Mary’s parents: Joachim and Anne. And St. Gregory Nazianzen designated Mary as “prepurified’ as early as mid-4th century.  But the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception itself wasn’t dogmatically defined in the Catholic Church until 1854 when Pope Pius IX, declared it so “ex cathedra”. 

This can help us understand the line:  “Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?"”  We might get a clearer picture of this if we look at how others have translated it:

•    How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? – King James Version
•    "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" - New International Version
•    Mary asked the angel, "But how can this happen? I am a virgin." - New Living Translation

Why would the statement from the angel raise a question in Mary’s mind, if she was to be married?  It wasn’t as if the angel had said to her, “Mary, you have already conceived a child” but “You will conceive and have a son”.  You would think that since she was going to be married, she would expect to have children.

One explanation I’ve heard from Fr. Mitch Pacwa on EWTN was that possibly Mary had expected to remain a virgin even after marriage. This would be consistent with the stories that we see in the Gospel of James and other references, that she would be married to an older widower (Joseph) and would be expected to care for his household, and he in turn would respect her virginal consecration from service to the temple.

In any case, today’s Gospel reminds us that no matter how we think our lives should go or what we plan for our future, God has plans for us.  As the prophet Jeremiah said, “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you – plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.”

We must be open to seeing the work of God in the changes we face in our lives.  They are a challenge at times, and not always without pain or suffering.  But they can be spectacular in their results, “for nothing will be impossible for God.”

So, whenever we face challenges that appear daunting, we must listen to hear what God is calling us to do. And when God calls us, our response needs to be Mary’s response:  “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your Word.”