Well over a hundred years ago, Charles Dickens
      wrote a novel entitled, "A Tale of Two Cities" about
     the plight of the urban poor in 19 th century England .
Similarly , the entire history of the world
     could be described as "A Tale of Two Women."
Everything which has happened since
     the creation of the first human beings
     is somehow connected to one of two women.

The first of these two women we call Eve ,
     while the second has often been called
      "the new Eve"— Mary , the mother of Jesus.
As we are told in the New Catechism,
     “The Virgin Mary ‘cooperated through
     free faith and obedience in human salvation.”
She uttered her YES “in the name of all humans.”

By her obedience to God,
      she became the new Eve, mother of the living."
This is one reason why it's so appropriate that
     our first reading today was from Genesis 3.
To some people, of course, this text from the
     Old Testament would seem out of place.
Why a reading from Genesis on the Solemnity of
     the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Mother?
What's the connection between Eve and Mary?

The connection comes in the form of a CONTRAST .
The dis- obedience of Eve and her husband,
     which brought death to the human race,
is contrasted today with the obedience of Mary,
     who was preserved from sin by the grace of her Son
     and who said YES to the Lord at the Annunciation
     and in every other event of her life.
This is why our Gospel reading today is
     the account of the angel's Announcement to Mary.
Here's how St. Iranaeus spoke about it
      way back in the second century:            
"As Eve was seduced by words of a deceiving angel,
     so that she turned away from God by disobeying,
so Mary received the good news from
     an angel's announcement in such a way as
     to give birth to Jesus by obeying God's word;
and as Eve was seduced so that she disobeyed God,
     Mary let herself be convinced to obey God,
     and so Mary became a model of discipleship for us.
As the human race was subjected to death by Eve,
     it was liberated by the Virgin Mary;
The first woman's disobedience was thus
     counterbalanced by Mary's obedience."

The contrast between the old Eve and the new Eve
     runs deep, as St. Irenaeus indicates there.
The old Eve was selfish . When Satan told her
      she could be "like God," she jumped at the chance.
Mary, the new Eve was selfless :   saying,
     "Be it done unto me   according to your word, Lord."
The old Eve was ruled by pride .
The new Eve was ruled by humility :   as she said,
     "I am the handmaid of the Lord."
     "[God] has looked with favor on this lowly servant."
The old Eve led someone else into sin .
The new Eve leads us ALL to holiness .

Here we encounter an important truth about
     our relationship with, and our devotion to, Mary:
      She always leads us to Jesus .
Thus if our devotion to the Blessed Mother
     isn't bringing us closer to her Son,
     there's something unbalanced with that devotion.
The old Eve gave in to the serpent.
The new Eve, by her "yes,"
     helped to crush the serpent's head.
The old Eve was the "mother of the living"
     in the order of our natural life.
The new Eve is the Mother of the living
     in the new order of God's grace.

What Jesus said to St. John at the foot of the cross,
      he says to all of us: "Behold your Mother."
The old Eve rationalized her sin.
The Bible says, in effect, that
     she analyzed the forbidden fruit
     and convinced herself that it was okay to eat it.
The new Eve never rationalized;
     she simply obeyed God's word.
If God said it, she believed it, and did it.
     Thus, we believe   she never sinned.
The old Eve refused to take responsibility
     for her own actions. As we heard,
     Adam blamed her, and she blamed the snake.
The new Eve took more than her share of responsibility.

Remember, she was probably about 14 years old
     when Gabriel appeared to her and
     asked her to be the Mother of the Son of God.
That's a very heavy responsibility for anyone,
      let alone a teenager – about your own age!

So, what does all this have to do with you and me
     and our world, right now, near the end of 2004?

Well, as I said earlier, the entire history of the
      human race is ultimately "a tale of two women."
In saying this, I mean that every single event
     which has occurred since people have lived on earth
     is somehow connected either to Eve's "no"
          or to Mary's "yes."
The Roman persecutions of Christians, the Holocaust,
     legalized abortion, and modern-day wars:
     all these have their roots in Eve's NO .

On the other hand, it's Mary's YES that
     stands behind every single act of faith or charity
     which has ever taken place through the ages.
Because of Mary's YES , our world has been blessed
     with Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu, John Paul II,
      Fr. Chaminade, St. Ursula   and all the great saints.

Of course, what applies to the world as a whole
     also applies to US as individuals.
The history of the world is "a tale of two women,"
     and it is our personal history too!
That's because we've been born again in Baptism,
     but we still have the inclination toward sin.
     We all know how strong those attractions can be!

Consequently, we sometimes say NO to God
     like Eve did, and at other times—thankfully—
     we say YES like our Blessed Mother did.

Whenever we let pride, or another sin, rule us,
     whenever we refuse to take responsibility
          for our selfish actions,
     whenever we rationalize our sins in any way,
     we allow the old Eve to win the day.
But when we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus,
     when we love & go the extra mile, build family spirit,
     when we turn away from temptation
          and do what's right,
     we imitate the victory of Mary, the new Eve.

So I suppose you could say that the decisive question
     for us -- and for every single human person is:
          In my life, which of these two women
          will I accept as my model?
          Which woman do I want to prevail in our time?
Let's resolve today, with the help of God's grace,
     to give the victory to Mary, the New Eve.