Can we grasp this plan?

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary is celebrated today in the texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary. These readings offer an opportunity to imagine the universe in the design of the Creator where time and space are not constraints and the linear thinking of mortal creatures is an extremely inadequate tool for insight. The proclamation of the psalmist and the letter of Paul to the Ephesians illuminate the perspective of love, faithfulness, predestination to be heir to every heavenly blessing that is the desire of God for all for all time. Friar Jude Winkler in an etiology of the events described in the Genesis passage today presents the Divine desire to open the door to Mary's "Yes" and a reconciliation of  we who choose to alienate ourselves from the intimate Covenant relationship with God by the pursuit of our own "What's in it for me" desires for all knowledge and control. These pursuits of self interest continue to bring us no joy. The eternally present path of selflessness through the model of Mary, immaculately conceived by Divine plan, predestined to lead us to the Immanuel, God within, is the vision with the imperfect eyes of the creature that we squint for today as our being experiences the timelessness of the desire of God to be with us.