Bishop Daniel E. Flores visited Arkansas for the second time in four months Dec. 7 to celebrate the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception at the invitation of old friend, Father James West.
The Archdiocese of Detroit auxiliary bishop celebrated the 7 p.m. vigil Mass for the holy day at Father West’s parish, Immaculate Conception in North Little Rock. The two met at Holy Trinity Seminary in Dallas and have been friends for the past 26 years.
In September Bishop Flores, 46, spoke at Tyson Foods in Springdale for Latino Heritage Month. Before his episcopal ordination in November 2006, Bishop Flores served in Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas.
Introducing the bishop, Father West, 47, said Bishop Flores served as master of ceremonies at his first Mass at St. Edward Church in Texarkana in 1986. The bishop, then still a seminarian, was one year behind Father West.
During his homily, Bishop Flores explained the Immaculate Conception.
“What we believe as Catholics is that from the moment of (Mary’s) conception, God made her full of grace, which means that she was full of the holiness of God,” he said.
Therefore, when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and asked her to be the mother of Jesus, she had been prepared by God to say yes since she herself was conceived, he said.
“To believe as we do as Catholics in the Immaculate Conception is to believe that God very deliberately prepared his own coming.”
Bishop Flores said it is hard to imagine “what perfect innocence looks like, what perfect simplicity of heart looks like.” But Mary’s innocence was “a lifelong mystery that didn’t just happen,” he said. “It’s about innocence that spontaneously, generously and freely gave itself back to God.”
Burdened by original sin, Christians are baptized to “begin the long struggle to recover our innocence,” the bishop said. “We seek to finish our lives the way the Virgin began.”
