Anticipating the Arrival of Grace

Written by Sarah DeWitt on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

I’ve never much identified with or felt much in praying the Hail Mary. Perhaps it’s all those times reciting it in school as a kid. Perhaps it’s the language that doesn’t feel particularly easy to engage with. For whatever reason it’s never my go to.

Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. So I looked up how Mary’s conception came to be known as immaculate – a word I identify with a white marble countertop in a spotless kitchen, or a pristine garden: neat and ordered in every way, not a leaf out of place. It’s a word that sounds almost sterile and unattainable…and well, since it refers to Mary’s freedom from original sin – this is definitely sounding unattainable. But the piece of the Immaculate Conception I can sink my teeth into, the words of the Hail Mary I’ve never much bothered to focus on: full of grace. Now that’s attainable, because grace is a gift.

Mary’s life was encapsulated by grace. Full of it. I want that for my own life. I want those crevices of bitterness in a broken relationship to be illuminated. I want to be better for my family when tiredness gets the best of me. I want my work to be guided by that grace. I want whatever makes us “…eternally capable of rising from mud and sticky mess,” as Edwina Gateley so beautifully reflects in her poem, “Mary.”

Grace is a gift. It is a window of holy opportunity to be the gentler and more compassionate versions of ourselves. It is the gift that filled Mary up, accompanied her on many a challenging and painful part of her own journey. I want that in my life.

And so in this season of waiting, I will anticipate the arrival of grace.

Grace to listen and to receive.

Grace to forgive and to embrace.

Grace to marvel and to rejoice.

Grace that will fill me, as it filled the Mother of God.

What a gift to receive.

Question for Reflection:
What grace do you need this season?

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Sarah DeWitt
Sarah has been part of St. Mary’s since 2009. She manages the Ann Arbor Farmers Market and lives in Ann Arbor with her husband, Steve, and their son, Moses.
Email: [email protected]