Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz and this is Ascension Presents.
Every year, when the Feast of the Immaculate Conception rolls around -
what's the Immaculate Conception?
From the very first moment of her conception, Mary was preserved from all stain of original sin
by the merits of her Son's future life, death and resurrection, in a singular act of grace.
I made a video about this a while back that kind of explained here's why we believe that
and here's where you can see it in Scripture and what not.
Anyways, one of the things that I find when it comes to Mary then- "So, she was without sin? OK?"
I find that then people are like upset, like they're resentful.
They're kind of a little jealous of like, "What the heck! Seriously?!? Like, so she doesn't have to have sin,
so she gets to be the perfect one and I have to like muddle through this world
and kind of like struggle and strain at this,
but OK, she got to have like the charmed life? She got to have like perfection?
She got to not have to deal with all the things I have to deal with?
Thanks a lot, God."
Like sometimes, actually, you might think that's ridiculous.
I've talked to people who were very, very upset that they say, "Well, if God could have done that with Mary,
why doesn't he do that with everyone?"
And that's why the dogma says "in a singular act of grace", right,
so it's a very unique situation.
One of the things we realize is because God was calling Mary to a particular role
and there's a truth that God always gives us what we need for whatever he's called us to, right?
So, if God has called you to something, he will always give you whatever it is you need to accomplish that task.
OK, that's true.
Why do you and I have no reason to be jealous of Mary for being without sin?
If you've ever tried striving after God and trying to do the right thing,
you know how lonely that can be.
Now, imagine: here's Mary,
who's living in this village with all these people around her.
No, she wasn't perfect even though she was without sin.
Like, she wasn't like an expert at macrame and mahjong and mathematics
and other things that start with M.
She wasn't perfect about those things.
It just simply means that
whenever it came to the choice to compromise with sin or to not compromise
and fight for God and fight for good,
she never compromised,
she always fought.
If you've ever done that, if you've ever refused to compromise with sin
and chosen to choose God,
you know how lonely that can be.
I would venture to say that there has never been a person
who's ever walked through this life, who's walked through this earth, who's walked on this planet
who had to walk a more lonely road than Mary
because her whole life, she never compromised with sin
and she was walking in the midst of a broken world with a bunch of people who compromised with sin.
Her whole life, she always chose God and she was walking through a broken world
where all these people, even decent people, weren't choosing God.
And I imagine, just can you imagine how excluded that kind of person would be?
Not because she was goody two-shoes or because she was like presenting herself as holier than someone else
but she WAS holier than them
and that is a lonely, lonely walk.
I mean, just think about the profound loneliness of Mary.
But then, you can also think of this:
the profound strength of Mary
because if you've ever had to walk that lonely road,
if you've ever had to like be that person who doesn't compromise,
if you ever had to be that person who has to figure out, "OK God, I'm gonna still love you
even though like everyone around me hates me for loving you."
If you ever had to be that person,
you know
how much strength you need
because sometimes people say this. Sometimes people think like, "That's ridiculous!"
you know, "Mary and then later on Jesus, her Son," who is also God by the way,
"never sinning, never compromising with sin," they say,
"well, they don't even know like how bad sin is. They don't even know how how hard it is to live in this world."
You realize, is it the person who compromises with the sin who knows how hard it is to fight
or is it the person who NEVER compromises with sin who knows how hard it is to fight?
There's never a moment in Mary's life and then, later on, in Jesus' life
when they even for a moment, compromised with the compromises that you and I do all of the time
because it's more convenient, because it's slightly easier, because it's like it's gonna get us out of trouble.
She never compromised.
It's like C.S. Lewis.
I think he said something about this. He said, "It's only the person who stands against the wind
who knows how strong it is and not the person who lies down, lets it blow over him."
It's only a person who stands and fights against the army that knows how strong that army actually is.
No human being, no strictly speaking human being, although Jesus is fully human and fully God,
but Mary, who's only human,
no one ever walked a more lonely road than her
but also no one ever developed that strength, more strength than she had to develop
because through God's grace, on that lonely walk.
So what's this all about?
If you find yourself lonely,
you have a friend in Mary.
If you find yourself like just being the one in your group
that's not willing to compromise with what everyone else is willing to compromise,
you have a friend in Mary.
That, if you find yourself being excluded or isolated
because you're just like, "I'm just trying to do the right thing.
I'm just trying to choose Jesus. I'm trying to choose God,"
then you have a friend in Mary.
If you ever found yourself saying, "I don't know. Maybe, just maybe this time I compromise."
"Maybe this time, I'm just so exhausted."
"Maybe it doesn't matter if I just kind of let go of my strength,"
you have a friend
and a model
and a mom
in Mary.
And what does she do?
She always brings us to her son, Jesus.
and even as a friend, even as a model, even as a mom,
she doesn't say, "Look at me. Check out how I did it."
She's like, "No, no. Come with me. I know what this is all about.
I know what you've been through. Come with me to him."
Because he's the Son, not just the S-O-N, he's the S-U-N.
Mary's just the moon.
Everything good in her is simply reflected off of Jesus' radiance and Jesus' goodness and Jesus' glory.
It just happens to be that she reflected him really, really well. Really, really well.
You got a mom
and she knows exactly what that's like
and she's gonna bring you to her Son.
And that Son also knows what it's like to be lonely and rejected
in the fight against sin.
You got some friends: one is Mary
and one is God himself.
That's pretty good company.
From all of here at Ascension Presents, my name's Father Mike.
God bless.