When we hear the question, "What disturbs you?" we may quickly focus on those persons, events, or situations that cause tension in our lives. It could be a boss who is always negative about our work or the noisy neighbors who don't respect our property. Perhaps, it is the crazy drivers on the road who keep weaving in and out of traffic. Whatever it may be, often times we begin to answer this question from the point of view of what affects my world, my life, and my priorities.

On the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, we could ask, "What disturbed Mary?" From Scripture we get a sense of her answers. There is the unexpected greeting of the angel of the Lord (Luke 1:29) and the words of the old prophet Simeon (Luke 2:35). A bridegroom who runs out of wine: "They have no more wine (John 2:3)." The need of her kinswoman Elizabeth and so she "sets out in haste to a Judean town in the hill country (Luke 1:39)." We hear her sing of the disturbing images of the conceited proud, the over-satisfied rich, and the enthroned mighty (cf. Luke 1:46-55) who will be supplanted by strength of the Lord who will scatter the proud, will raise the lowly, will fill the hungry with good things, and remember His promise of mercy. Perhaps, she was disturbed by overhearing the words of her Son when He was told that His mother and brothers were here to see Him: "And pointing to His disciples, He said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers!'" (Matt 12:49)

What is the difference between our initial responses and Mary's responses? The Immaculate Conception.

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception celebrates how the fullness of God's plan for our salvation was brought about by preparing Mary, from all time, so that she might fully and freely assent to the message of the angel Gabriel with the familiar words: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word (Luke 1:38)." Mary's Immaculate Conception was God's gift to prepare her to freely assent to the message of the angel. And so, she was conceived without the stain of original sin and was preserved from sin throughout her life by God's grace. As noted by Pope Pius IX in Ineffabilis Deus (1854), "The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin."

Mary was, therefore, fully attuned to God in her life. Because of this singular grace she was easily disturbed when she heard about Elizabeth's need for support, the possible disgrace of a bridegroom that would ruin a wedding celebration, the rejection by many of her Son, and, ultimately, seeing her only Son crucified. God's grace at work in her life with the special gift of her Immaculate Conception also caused within her great suffering at the sight of such disturbances, especially her Son's Passion. Being so pure and "full of grace" she experienced intensely God's presence in her life. At the same time, the sight of evil and the pain of others caused her great suffering because such an absence of good stood as an antithesis to her whole being that "magnifies the greatness of the Lord."

We have not been given the singular grace of an Immaculate Conception. Nonetheless, we do receive sanctifying grace from the Most Holy Trinity through the sacrament of Baptism that washes away the stain of original sin by which we are all marked from our conception. This grace, the imparting of God's life within us, enables us to believe and hope in God and to love Him. It helps us to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit and to grow in the moral virtues. Yet, it is fragile and can be lost through mortal sin, the willful turning away from God, that destroys charity within us. However, it can be restored through the forgiveness of our sins through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We, due to our human condition, need sanctifying grace, which we receive through the sacraments, that is continually at work within us to perfect the soul to act in God's love.

If what disturbs us is a list of items that revolve only around me and what is important to me, then it is important to ask what has happened to charity and the work of sanctifying grace, that is, the work of and for our sanctification? Something has gone awry. Have we, by our sins, by not cooperating with God's grace, turned away from Him and hindered the working of sanctifying grace in our soul? If what disturbs us is the unfulfilled need of our neighbor, proper worship of God, billboards that advertise "adult" stores, the use of the Lord's name in vain, the violence of some video games, and even the lack of saying grace before meals, then sanctifying grace is at work and growing within us. We are growing closer in imitation of Mary who shows us how sensitive we should be to evils in the world and what leads people astray from her Son, Jesus. Such moments should cause us great sorrow.

Many of us are "in between". We can feel within the depths of our hearts the tremors that result from the disturbance of situations of injustice, attacks against the culture of life and dignity of human persons, the suggestive advertisements of consumerism, the absence of gratitude to God for His many blessings, and other such vibrations. Charity is still at work within us but it is diminished due to venial sin. You could say that our love gets clouded and becomes confused as to its proper object that is God and our life with Him. And so, we begin to misplace our love for things of this world that do not satisfy us. This slippery slope can lead to a turning away from God in mortal sin in which we no longer feel the disturbances of evil, the needs of one's neighbor, and the absence of God in our life or in our world.

Today, as we celebrate the singular grace given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in her Immaculate Conception and the sanctifying grace God has given to us in baptism, let us also recall that Mary is our Mother. In the moment of her great sorrow and her Son's greatest suffering, Jesus gave her to us: "Behold your mother (John 19:27)." Like the beloved disciple at the Cross witnessing such tremendous and pure sacrificial love, we are called to take Mary "into our own home."

In our own home, will Mary, the Immaculate Conception, find a heart like hers that heeds her plea, "Do whatever He tells you (John 2:4)" with her heartfelt words, ""Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word (Luke 1:38)."

     Thy name is our power, thy virtues our light,
     Thy love is our comfort, thy pleading our might.
     Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria! Ave, Ave, Maria!

(from the Hymn, Immaculate Mary)