Why the Immaculata?

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is "our" feast, and so the Fr. Kolbe Missionaries of the Imamculata approach this feast every year with particular motive and solemnity. A good question that comes up time and time again: Why the Immaculata?

We could be "Fr. Kolbe Missionaries of the Mother of God", or even simply "Fr. Kolbe Missionaries". Why the Immaculata? Why do we bother with the title? Why do we consecrate ourselves specifically to Mary under this title? Why have we "given up" so much in order to "lead all men to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary"?  Why in the world does she enter into every single apostolate... perhaps we are obsessive, fanatical, or just causing distinctions where none are necessary?

The immaculate conception, as an act in time, prepared the Virgin for her exalted position in our Salvation. Through it she was given a soul so pure and beautiful that the Son of God Himself would have a place to dwell before His entrance into the world, a Mother to care for Him until His death, and a Woman to whom He could entrust the entire order of His Mercy. How is this possible? After all a conception takes place in a finite amount of time, how could it extend into every moment of the life of Christ?  The truth is that the immaculate conception was not only one act, an event, or a passing moment of stupendous grace. The "immaculate conception" made Mary of Nazareth the Immaculate Conception.  The Immaculate Conception is a person united eternally to the Holy Trinity in a mode that defies human understanding, and so even the great St. Maximilian Kolbe asked, "Who are you, O Immaculate Conception?"

What is the practical implication? Christ, the Supreme Gift, came into the world through the Immaculate Conception, and so it is that all of God's gifts continue to come to the world through her. This is precisely because all grace and blessing came to us in the Lord Jesus Christ, and all grace and blessing is forever united to His Gift to us in the Paschal Mystery. We cannot separate the graces we now receive from His life, death, and resurrection... and so it is quite impossible to separate them from the Immaculate Conception, who was present and active in our redemption from the annunciation to the ascension, the one through whom God willed to effect our Salvation.

We ask again: Why the Immaculata? It is our duty, joy, and hope to be faithful servants of the Lord for the Greatest Glory of God and the salvation of our brothers and sisters. Christ entrusted Himself to the Immaculate when He was most vulnerable; He gave her to us in His last agony; He obeyed her and loved her; He chose Her as an instrument for bringing the world to Himself.  As followers of Jesus Christ, we seek to imitate Him in every way - and that includes the explicit, deliberate, and constant surrender to the Immaculate for the perfect fulfillment of the Will of the Father.

Let it soak in, ponder it, and ask her yourself: Who are you, O Immaculata?

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We'll continue with these reflections throughout the Novena.... for now, let us pray:

"O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, and for those who do not have recourse to you, especially the enemies of the Holy Church and those recommended unto you!"