The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
We continue with the fifth
verse:
O Come, O Key of David, come,
and open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to you,
O [Israel].
The conception of Mary in the
womb of her mother Elizabeth is the definitive moment in salvation history when
the Key does, indeed, open for us the way to heaven. Grace has totally
conquered sin. Concupiscence is wiped out, along with all the various unhealthy
ways we have of coping when we perceive that our basic needs for security,
control and esteem are not being met. Addiction cannot take hold. The
supernatural enemies of the human soul are bound and cast into hell at the
conception of this one, spotless, completely pure and holy girl who is meant to
become the Mother of God and the Mother of us all.
We, of course, suffer from the
ravages of original sin, concupiscence, and unhealthy coping mechanisms, not
the least of which are major and minor addictions which do lead us along the
path to misery.
When we need to make choices
about our present, we can look to the Blessed Mother and ask the way we should
go. We must always be aware that to some extent, we are “flying blindly” as we
make our ways through life. We don’t always know which is the way that leads to
God; are are sometimes tragically ignorant that there is a path that leads to
misery while our senses and deluded minds are convincing us that it is that path that is the right way to go.
Consider, if you will, the
definitiveness of this verse: one way is opened—not only opened, but “opened wide.”
Another way is closed. Would that were true for us now. Unfortunately it is
not. What this verse offers us is an incredible promise of what Christ
comes to bring to us. Let’s seize the promise and live in the hopeful space
that our deliverance is near at hand. Often, we will experience it here and now
in our lives. Other times, it may be just a bit beyond our reach . . . for now.
But let us hope.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray
for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
