The Immaculate Conception: Naked Humility.

Why did Adam try and hide his nakedness? Gen. 3:10-11
Did he honestly think he could hide his true self from God?
That somehow God would not see through the fig leaf he was wearing to see his true heart and true inner self?

When Adam sinned, what he saw was his own nakedness, his own nothingness before God, he thought that God would not love him in his nothingness and nakedness so he tried to cover it up.

The devil tells us that we are nothing in God's eyes.
That we are naked and have nothing to give to God and therefore useless and undesirable in God's eyes.

But God says we are Everything in His eyes!
We are are His image and likeness.
We are His Beloved.
He died for us because we meant everything to Him even in our sinfulness so much does He love us.

It does not matter to God if we are naked.
If we have nothing.
If we cannot repay him.
He loves us!

This is what the Immaculate Conception tells us.
The Immaculate Conception is not a title of glory for Mary but of her humility and nakedness before the Lord.
For even before she was born;
God loved her and clothed her with grace.

Mary had nothing to offer God but her humility.
In her humility she knew she was nothing without God.
In her humility she did not run or hide from God but in her nakedness and her nothingness, she humbly allowed the Holy Spirit to overshadow her and clothe her with His love and fill her with grace.

It is the same with us.
That even before we are born.
Before we can speak or work;
Before we can make money or become popular or powerful.
God loves us in our nothingness and nakedness!

We do not have to repay God.
God is not looking to be repaid for anything.
We do not have to appear before God clothed in money, power, status and popularity in order for Him to love us.

Rather God loves us most of all when we are naked.
When we humbly stand before Him in our nothingness for that is when we most reflect His image and likeness;
When we most reflect His glory.
For when we are naked, nothing comes between us and God!

That is why the Son of God emptied Himself of all His glory, so that nothing would come between us and Him when He became flesh and dwelt among us. Phil. 2:7, Jn. 1:14

He is the Bridegroom, the Church and our Souls are the Bride. Is. 62:5, Mt. 9:15
He is the Lover and we are His Beloved.

When one is in love there is no need for the trappings of jewelry, or makeup, or money, or clothes, or power or status to make one appear desirable.

Love makes one beautiful.
Love makes one desirable.
And God is love and His Love made Mary beautiful, desirable and Immaculate.

And God's love will do the same for us, if like Mary we do not run and hide from God but humbly stand there in our nakedness and nothingness and allow Him to clothe us with His Love!

God bless,
Fr. Patrick