As we journey through life, there are some parts of the journey where we might not want to know absolutely everything about a given situation. For example, when someone becomes ill, they may not wish to know a diagnosis. Some of us would say the more we know the better chance of recovery. Unless there is no cure. But some of us don’t want to know any potential bad news connected to our health. Which is why many guys – and a few ladies too – will not visit a doctor for years. This knowing or not knowing something important about ourselves leads to a curious question about the Immaculate Conception; “How well did Mary know that she was conceived a sinless creature in her mother’s womb, St. Anne? That God’s favor, grace, and power had filled her? Did Mary come to know in her adult years that she was conceived without original sin for the singular purpose of carrying the Divine child in her tabernacle?” Makes for a healthy, very spiritual meditation to ponder Mary’s self-knowledge. Would she want to know that God protected her from the ravages of evil, and the Evil One, and that He created in her being – body, soul, and spirit – the most perfect creature of all time? We know in Our Lady’s visits to St. Bernadette in Lourdes, France in the 1850’s Mary identifies herself to Bernadette as the Immaculate Conception. Did she know this on earth, or, did she learn this about herself after she was assumed into heaven? Whereas Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time, poor Tom cannot hold a candle – or a football – to the greatness of Blessed Mary. Yet, as the Magnificat tells us in the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel, Mary calls herself a lowly servant. The best kind. The Gospel today is the story, not of the Immaculate Conception, but of the Annunciation, the conception of Jesus in Mary. We have in Scripture no explicit story of Mary’s conception in her mother’s womb. I suspect the very first reason for the lack of Mary’s conception story in the Bible is because her entire life is centered in the conception and birth of Jesus. If we could have asked her during her lifetime, “Mary, do you fully understand who you are and how God has favored you so?” She would likely answer, “Who I am is far less important than you worshipping the fullness of my Son. I want you to know and love him as I know and love him. With all your being. If you do this, who I am will be understood with joy.” And that’s the key understanding of this most beautiful Marian celebration. A celebration that we as Church, as proud Catholics, we embrace the infinite goodness of this Most Holy Woman and Mother. We unite our souls with her sinless creation and sinless life. Unlike Eve, who faltered in the Garden, dragging Adam into the pit, this Lady from Nazareth faltered not! Whether aware of this good news or not, she lived every day in the perfection of her virtues. And her greatest perfection and virtue were the words, “This is my Son and Lord. I invite you to walk in his path as I do.” May the Immaculate Conception pray for us. Amen.