December 9, 2024 – Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120924.cfm)
According to (Artificial Intelligence) AI Overview, we, human persons, generally speaking, can easily notice and recognize the negatives in our surrounding and people around us rather than the positive. There is a so called “psychological phenomenon” among us called “negativity bias.”
As psychology teaches us, this concept called negativity bias causes amplified emotional responses to the negative and painful events compared to positive and joyful events even despite having equal magnitude.[1] No wonder, we can easily react when there is something wrong, ugly or painful that we see or experience. We also feel more troubled and distressed when we have negative and painful experiences. We tend to linger on those and find ourselves difficult to move forward.
However, having such orientation could greatly affect the way we look at things, look at life and look at ourselves. Our relationships even in the way we make decisions in life can be hampered because of such negativity. Yet, there is also a need for us to develop a sense of positivity and finding balance in our life. To be able to recognize what is good, wonderful and beautiful will add more courage and hope in our life.
On this Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, we are reminded and challenged to see and recognize the good, wonderful and beautiful that God made for Mary and for all of us. Indeed, this is what we have heard in the Gospel. “Hail, full of grace!” these were the words of Angel Gabriel to the young lady, Mary of Nazareth.
That being full of grace of Mary offers us now a different perspective in the way we look at our life and the world. This is in contrast to what happened in the Book of Genesis in which man and woman sinned against God.
The fear, shame and guilt that they felt move them back to hide from God. They who first enjoyed the presence of God in paradise where the very first ones to have received the fullness of grace, that was ORIGINAL GRACE in itself. Yet, their desire to “become like god” broke that wonderful grace of intimacy with God.
That led the man and woman to blame each other without claiming their responsibility. This is where we find the ORIGINAL SIN, a concept from St. Augustine. In this concept, human beings are born with that hereditary sin as a consequence of the sin of the first man and woman. It is understood that we have the natural inclination to do bad things, to sin against God and to hurt one another. Nevertheless, to focus only on this negativity of the past will also cloud our faith and relationship with fear, guilt and shame.
Yet, let us not forget that before ORIGINAL SIN entered, there was first the ORIGINAL GRACE of God for humanity. This original grace, despite what happened after that, has been preserved in the life of Mary, the favored one of God. God chose her because Mary is most willing to embrace and accept the very presence of God in her heart, in her whole life. This made Mary, indeed, to be full of grace.
In fact, St. Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians also reminds us that we are blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavens… to be holy and without blemish before him.” This is the grace that has been given to the whole humanity, “for in him (Christ) we were also chosen, destine in accord with the purpose of the One.”
As we celebrate this feast, we remind ourselves of this ORIGINAL GRACE, of our first inclination to do good things, of our origin in being filled with the grace of God like Mary.
And so, what we are called to be and to do today, is to allow also the Lord to fill us with His grace. Like Mary, our Mother, may we be more open to God’s invitations for us, to be more willing to participate in bringing and filling grace in our hearts, homes and communities. Hinaut pa.
[1]See and read more at https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/negativity-bias
A DOSE OF GOD TODAY 