Immaculate Conception - Dec. 8th

 

What and Who is the Immaculate Conception?

The Immaculate Conception is the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the womb of her mother, St. Anne. At the very first moment of Mary’s existence, Mary’s soul was kept free from original sin.

The responsorial psalm states, “Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous deeds”. Mary’s Immaculate Conception, which the Church celebrates with great Solemnity, is a marvelous deed that God has done for Jesus, and for mankind.

The purpose of Mary’s Immaculate Conception was so that the Messiah would have a fitting, pure, and perfect Mother, in which Our Lord would descend from heaven, into Her Immaculate Womb.

When the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed on Dec. 8^th, 1854, Pope Pius IX, stated, “The Most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of Her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.”

But how could Mary be preserved from the original sin, if Jesus had not yet come into the world? How could Mary’s soul have been redeemed? That was a hard question that many saints and theologians pondered.

The answer to how Jesus could have redeemed Mary before He came into the world is this: God applied in advance the merits won for us by Our Lord’s suffering death and resurrection to the soul of Mary, because God’s time is eternal.

Mary’s Immaculate Conception can be found in the words of the angel Gabriel as he greeted the Blessed Virgin Mary. He said, “Hail full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” The Church states, that the Greek word “kekoritchemne” means “gratia plena” or “full of grace”. The word is the past perfect tense, meaning that the action of giving grace has already occurred. It was not something that was about to happen to Her but something that has already been accomplished. The word was also used as a title. The angel did not say, “Hail Mary, you are kecharitomene” but rather, “Hail kecharitomene.” Therefore, the word is not simply an action but an identity. Mary’s identity is “Full of Grace” meaning, no sin whatsoever within Her and could also say no sin within Her in the future.

God having ordained that Mary was to be the Mother of His Son, could not permit Her soul to lack a single instant all those graces that would make Her most pleasing to Him. It would be incomprehensible for Jesus to have formed His perfect body from body tainted with the corruption of sin. That is why Mary was created pure and spotless as was the soul of Eve.

Mary’s Immaculate Conception was predicted at the very beginning of the fall of Adam and Eve, when God said “I will put enmity, between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring, she shall crush your head, and you shall lie in wait for His heel.”

The enmity is between the Devil, (the ancient serpent), and Mary (the Woman). And it will be complete enmity and forever. If Mary had been subject to the devil for an instant, the enmity would not have been complete. Therefore, Our Lady was never a slave of Satan, that is to say-- her soul, by a singular privilege of God, was never tainted by original sin.

One of the effects of Eve’s original sin was what God told Eve, “I will intensify the pangs of your childbearing; in pain shall you bring forth children.” Today, some movies falsely depict Our Lady as undergoing intense labor pains. But this false view contradicts the early Fathers of the Church, and casts a shadow over Mary’s Immaculate Conception. Mary would not have endured labor pains, due to Her freedom from original sin. Our Lord’s birth is considered miraculous by the Church.

Where Eve committed sin and lost her spotlessness, Our Mother Mary kept Her Immaculate soul spotless-- to the end of Her life. Not only was Mary’s soul preserved from sin, but by Mary’s acts of virtue and her abundant grace, she never-- not even once-- sinned in Her life. St. Irenaeus, who was born in the year 130 AD, describes Mary’s sinless life. He said, “Being obedient (Mary) became the cause of salvation for Herself and for the whole human race.” “The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by Her faith.”

Origen calls her “worthy of God, immaculate of the immaculate, most complete sanctity, perfect justice, neither deceived by the persuasion of the serpent, nor infected with his poisonous breathings.” (185 to 254 AD) St. Ambrose says She is incorrupt, “a virgin immune through grace from every stain of sin. (340 to 397 AD) Theodotus of Ancyra terms Her “a Virgin Innocent, without spot, void of culpability, holy in body and in soul, a lily springing among thorns…” (354 to 430 AD)

In refuting Pelagius St. Augustine declares that all the just have truly known of sin "except the Holy Virgin Mary”.

Even Martin Luther believed in Mary’s Immaculate Conception. He said, "... she is full of grace, proclaimed to be entirely without sin. ... God's grace fills her with everything good and makes her devoid of all evil. ... Moreover, God guarded and protected her from all that might be hurtful to her"

Today, all of us are familiar with the miraculous medal, which Our Lady gave to St. Catherine Labore. The words, “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us, who have recourse to thee!” are prayed by millions of Catholics every day. The medal when first given to St. Catherine, was originally called the Immaculate Conception medal. But due to the enormous number of miracles associated with the medal, it became known as the miraculous medal. I would like to encourage you to wear it and daily recite the beautiful words, “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us, who have recourse to thee!” Our Lady will certainly pray for and protect, those who honor Her by wearing Her Immaculate Conception medal, now called Miraculous Medal.

Most of us are also familiar with the story of St. Bernadette Subouris from Lourdes, France. When St. Bernadette asked Our Lady, what is Her name, The Virgin replied, “I am the Immaculate Conception”. Therefore, we should not be afraid to call upon Mary, as the Immaculate Conception.

Today, as we honor and celebrate the Immaculate Conception of Our Heavenly Mother, let us pray for every grace that God desires to give to us through Mary. Let us turn to Our Lady in prayer, come to Her in our affliction and sorrow, seek Her motherly care and intercession and so strive to imitate Her holy and Immaculate life, so that when Her Son, Jesus, comes to take us to our eternal rest, we will rejoice because we will have prayed:

“O Mary Conceived without Sin, pray for us, who have recourse to thee!” “O Mary Conceived without Sin, pray for us, who have recourse to thee!”“O Mary Conceived without Sin, pray for us, who have recourse to thee!”