In Jesus Christ we have been chosen and destined for the praise of God’s glory, for this is the purpose of God for creation. The Church honors today the Holy Mother of God under the title, Immaculate Conception. The traditional and popular understanding of this feast is that because the Blessed Mary was chosen to be the mother of God’s begotten son, God spared her from the stain of original sin. It is a recognition that sets Mary apart from the rest of humanity, so to speak, for thus spared, she did not inherit that sin which is common to the descendants of Adam and Eve. Does this mean that today’s feast is only celebrated nostalgically by the Church? And if not, what does the feast mean for us who celebrate it today, we who without any doubt have inherited the sin of Adam and Eve?
While today’s feast certainly puts the Blessed Virgin Mary on a pedestal for our veneration, it does so for our own benefit. Mary is not elevated in denigration of the rest of humanity who “inherited” the sin of Adam and Eve. Rather, she is put forth on a pedestal as role model and as a sign of hope for the entire human race. Mary has been elevated by God as proof that humanity can still attain the purpose and will of the Creator. Because of Mary being spared the stain of original sin, she was able to live faithfully and to the fullest her call as a daughter of God and a member of the human race. Without anything to hold her back, she was able to cooperate fully with the Holy Spirit. Through God’s favor, Mary was able to fully live the life which God had destined for her (and indeed for the entirety of creation) from the very beginning: a holy and unblemished life (cf. Ephesians 1:4). 
In the Gospel Reading for today, we see the angel Gabriel referring to Mary as blessed. It was a greeting that had a twofold meaning. Firstly, Mary WAS BLESSED because of what God had done (as well as what God was about to do) in her life. Mary’s achievements were not her own but were rather a result of the Lord’s doing. The Lord had chosen and destined her, from the very beginning, for a special role in God’s plan for creation. From the moment the Holy Spirit overshadowed her, she ceased being just Mary the daughter of Joachim and Ann. She was henceforth to be referred to as the Mother of our Savior. Secondly, Mary IS BLESSED because of her willingness to be a vehicle of God’s grace and a vessel of God’s blessing to her brothers and sisters. Mary understood that what the Lord was doing through her was not hers to keep. She was simply an instrument through whom God was making his salvation reach the earth. This is why in her canticle of joy (the Magnificat), Mary praises the Lord for having remembered Israel his servant (cf. Luke 1:46-55). 
The Blessed Mary being conceived without original sin definitely plays out in her first “blessedness.” However, we see the consequences of her being spared the stain of original sin in the second “blessedness.” Mary was able to rejoice in the good fortune that had smiled upon her cousin Elizabeth because she did not have in her the self-centeredness that characterizes the rest of creation. Mary saw no problem in sharing in the happiness of Elizabeth. She was happy for her. But Mary’s selflessness did not end with her being sharing in the Lord’s blessings for the other person. Her selflessness came to perfection in her willingness to share her own blessings with others. Mary had no problem sharing her blessings with the rest of creation because she understood that we are all brothers and sisters one to another. 
Although being conceived without original sin is a feat that cannot be repeated since it was unique to the mother of our Savior, the rest of humanity can still share in the graces that it bestowed upon the Blessed Mary. For as St. Paul has reminded us in the First Reading, the destiny which was creation’s by right (and lost through sin) was never really taken away. The rebellion of Adam and Eve only served to temporarily put a setback in creation’s pursuit of its destiny. But since we share in the rebellion of our first parents, our eyes have been veiled to the extent of making it impossible for us to set our eyes on our destiny. It is for this that God raised up Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary to help rectify the situation. In Jesus Christ, therefore, God has once again adopted us and in so doing, enabled us to live holy and unblemished lives just as Mary our mother did.