In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. Today, the church celebrates the feast of the immaculate conception. It's the patron feast of The United States Of America. And of course, it's December 8, and the seventh was yesterday.
Two dates that we at least the seventh that we all remember, or at least a lot of us remember very well. The thoughts that come to us on a day like this are many. And this reading, which of course, this is the incarnation. When Mary said, be it done unto me according to thy word, that's when she began to be the mother of God. Let's not let's not skip that.
It's not Christmas, you know. That's the birth. There is there's one thing about this feast that we can't escape, and that it this feast talks about sin. Sin, s I n, sin. A word that is practically eliminated today.
Eliminated. We talk about error, we talk about weakness, we talk about society, we talk about community, we talk about environment, and when nothing else comes to our mind we say, the devil did it. The devil made me do it. We don't want to admit first that there is an actuality of sin in the world. And above all, we don't want to admit to ourselves that we can be sinners.
It it's not long ago, it's just a matter of weeks that I received a letter from a Catholic college student in which that student I don't know how they got into it, but the the sentence that came to my mind as I face this feast today was this, after all, we all do what we think is right. Well, you see, if that's our way of looking at life, you can forget morality. And, of course, notice this, if there's no morality that is compulsory, there's no sin. You see how nice it is? It's a very comfortable position.
If only it were true. If only it were true. You remember in '81 when Reagan was shot and when Hinckley was brought up? Do you remember some of the headlines? He was a victim.
Hinckley's a victim of his environment, of society. The Washington Post, we are all guilty. The Roper case in 1982, which was just resolved quite recently, where this young Frostburg girl was was raped, tortured, burned, and murdered. And her assailants were be they were the victims. And you know what the court decided as regards her assailants.
We don't want to admit that we can sin. We don't want to admit the re the actuality of sin. Notice I didn't say reality. It was Worsworth, the Protestant poet who's who hailed our blessed mother as our tainted nature's solitary boast. Our tainted nature's solitary boast.
He was wrong because Jesus Christ was truly a man, truly had human nature, and I'm pretty sure he was sinless too. But leaving our lord out of it, Wordsworth is correct, and those lines are absolutely translucent. Our tainted nature's solitary boast. I see the good, I approve it, and I do the opposite. That is not a Christian poet who said that.
That is a pagan. What did Saint Paul say? Good that I would, I do not, and the evil that I would not do, that I do. And we do it. We do it, but we don't want to admit it.
When did you when do you see the words adultery and fornication now? No. We have extramarital intercourse. We have making out. And time and again, I have faced this very thing from living people.
What's wrong with it? We love each other. Whatever love is like two ducks. You see, we are living in a world that denies sin because sin brings us into relationship not with our fellow human being, not with myself, but with God almighty. With God almighty.
Whatever there are all kinds of repercussions to sin. Of course, it has its sociological consequences. Of course, it has its societal consequences. Of course, society impinges upon the community. These things are all true, but you don't have to believe in God at all to accept all those propositions.
In other words, about the best definition you can have of sin today as far as the world is concerned, which doesn't use the word sin, is antisocial conduct. Hinckley was an antisocial conductor. It's beautiful, beautiful, but it ain't Christian at all. It it it is not Christian at all. Anyone who thinks we are living in a Christian world is out of their mind.
Our world isn't controlled by Christian. Just look at your paper. Write today. Get the Washington Post or any paper you want. The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, look at them.
See if you can see Christianity there deciding anything, anything. Don't kid yourself. We're not living in a Christian world. We're not living we're not living in a godlike world either. We're not as good as the pagans remember.
The pagans' life were surrounded with gods and goddesses. We have taken care to exclude them to exclude them. We say just recently that there's been a big upsurge in religion in colleges. That's very interesting. But I like to know what form it's taken.
What does the word religion mean there? Being kind to your dog, being kind to human beings, being a good citizen. Is that religion? You can have all of these things and not believe in God at all. Sin brings us back to the reality of God.
Sin brings us back to the reality of what life is all about. Not that we'll not that life is devoted to sin, although a lot of us try to show that it is, but that sin brings us into the reality of our destiny. What is our destiny? Why are we here in this world? What value?
What value have all the things that we spend our lives on? What are what is their value? You've gotta answer that question, haven't you? How do you weigh it? You work, you slave, you sacrifice, you have fun, you have a good night, and you have all of these things.
What is their meaning? What is their meaning? Just before mass this morning, I heard of a man who died, as far as we can see, almost in despair Because at the end of his life he finds, what was it worth? So today's feast of the immaculate think of Kolbe, Maximilian Kolbe. The great influence in that man's from the time he was a little boy, Kolbe, you know, that's the the Polish martyr who took his place and went down into the dungeon and starved to death, taking his place of another prisoner in Auschwitz.
From the time that man was a little boy, long before he became a Franciscan, he had a tremendous devotion to Mary Immaculate and that became the dominant thrust of his whole life, his whole life. What does it mean to us, the Immaculate Mother? Let us hold that up as a mirror. And of course, you know, the mirror that is perfect will show the slightest blemish. And compared to her, how do we look?
How do we look? And if we don't look too good, there is no reason for despair. This feast represents brings home the incarnation of God. God became man in the womb of a woman, a virgin girl named Mary. Why?
Because we are sinners and because we needed a savior, and God sent his son to save us. That is the joy of the Christian. In the name of the father, and the son, and the holy spirit. Amen.