Ave Maria

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is a special day in the life of the Church. It is more than a special day. Today, in the life of the Church, is a Day of Solemnity.

Our Scripture readings for today speak of the disaster brought about by the disobedience in the Garden of Eden, of how Mary, this one born full of grace, participated in the restoration of humanity by willingly saying yes to conceiving the Son of God in her womb, and how we, in turn, participate in this Grace.[1]

No one Catholic topic sets Protestant Christians on edge quite like this one does. I know because I spent most of my Christian life in a corner of the Protestant arena that was intensely anti-Catholic.

It is nothing short of amazing, nothing short of miraculous, how one so opposed to Marian Devotion now sings her praises and seeks her intercession. This, however, is what happens when one honestly tries to understand Mary, her role in the life of the Son of God, and her role in the lives of all those who profess to know her Son.

“The genuine significance of Catholic devotion to Mary is to be seen in the light of the Incarnation itself. The Church cannot separate the Son and the Mother. Because the Church conceives of the Incarnation as God’s descent into flesh and into time, and His great gift of Himself to His creatures, she also believes that the one who was closest to Him in this great mystery was the one who participated most perfectly in the gift. When a room is heated by an open fire, surely there is nothing strange in the fact that those who stand closest to the fireplace are the ones who are warmest. And when God comes into the world through the instrumentality of his servants, then there is nothing surprising about the fact that His chosen instrument should have the greatest and most intimate share in the divine gift.”[2]

I cannot describe how foolish I felt at first. I am so thankful that Shirli was a good sport about my budding interest.

There was a monastery of Korean Benedictine monks close to us in Northern New Jersey. From their gift shop I purchased a simple, wooden beaded Rosary. I had no idea how to pray the Rosary. I simply knew that I wanted to, that I was somehow being mysteriously led in this direction.

Protestants aren’t taught this sort of thing. Fundamental Protestants are, as a matter of fact, taught against it. Since I had no one to teach me how to pray the Rosary, I found the directions on the internet and instantly discovered that I had some memorization to do. With the exception of the Our Father, the Rosary prayers are not part of the Protestant frame of reference.

I also felt the breath of my Protestant Bible College professors breathing down the back of my neck. In my mind I could hear their voices scolding me, telling me that I was falling in over my head into gross, dark heresy. I knew though that this was something that I needed to do. I was drawn to it like a man dying from thirst is drawn to water.

I used the drive to my job on the golf course as a time to work at embedding these prayers in my mind. With one hand on the wheel, and my simple Rosary in the other, I’d make my way to work, stammering and stumbling through the prayers. The more I ignored the voices from the past screaming in my mind, the more I prayed and meditated on these prayers, the more of a deep stirring and comfort I felt deep within my being – something that is experienced better than it is easily explained.

Some deep, painful spiritual and emotional wounds began finding their healing as I prayed these simple prayers over and over. 

I did not know anything about sacramental's or the origin of the Rosary. I only knew that I was experiencing some needed grace in a wonderful way. It was, I believe, through praying the Rosary, long before Shirli and I formally entered the Catholic Church, that I first discovered and experienced the love of my Mother, the love that Mary has for me and for all her children.

Hail Mary,

Full of grace;

The Lord is with thee;

Blessed art thou among women,

And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary,

Mother of God,

Pray for us sinners,

Now and at the hour of our death. Amen

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[1] Genesis 3:9-15, 20, Luke 1:26-38, Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12

[2] Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, p. 171-172