Our Life, Our Sweetness, and Our Hope: the Immaculate Conception

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Hi friends! 
Today I want to talk about someone who I love ALOT, the Mother of God, the Immaculate Conception, Mary. Last month was the month of Mary, but since I was quite busy I didn't have the time to compose a few articles about her. Even though it's no longer the month of Mary, there's no wrong time to discuss her, so the next few articles will be part of a series titled "Our Life, Our Sweetness, and Our Hope". Each article will discuss a different aspect of Mary! Some will be an explanation on Marian doctrines and Dogmas, others will be more like reflections. Disclaimer: I have not run these by a Catholic Priest as I am currently unable to do so, that being said, I am most certainly not infallible, while I have researched all of these topics and try my best to make sure everything I say is true and correct, there is a chance that some of the things I say are not 100% correct. I will list sources for my research at the end of the article! 


Let's kick this series off by talking about the Immaculate Conception. 

What is the Immaculate Conception? Pope Pius IX explained it as follows, "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." This means that at the very moment of conception, Mary was pure and perfect. This does not however mean that Mary was without need of a Savior or that she was God. Mary was preserved from Original sin because the fruits of Jesus's sacrifice were applied to her at the moment of conception. The conclusion of the Immaculate Conception can be drawn from scripture when we look at Luke 1:28. The Angel Gabriel tells Mary, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you." The Gospel of Luke was written in Greek, and the original writing, Luke uses the word Kecharitomene. This word comes from the word Charitoo, which means to give grace. Kecharitomene is the perfect passive participle of Charitoo. This means that when Gabriel greeted Mary, he was affirming that she is and was full of grace prior to that moment. We know that the authors of the Gospel didn't mince words, if Mary was full of grace, there was no room for sin or error in her. She was without original sin, and was perfect throughout her life.

Why would Mary be Immaculately conceived? Well, Jesus was God and man, there was never a time where He was man and not God. This means that even when Jesus was in the womb, He was God. Think about the reverence and sacredness things of God were in the Old Testament. I specifically want to highlight the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant symbolized God's presence on earth. It held holy items, such as the ten commandments, and manna from the dessert. It was only to be touched by Levites, who were priests. If anyone else touched it, they died. If the ark of the covenant only held holy things but was treated with such care and reverence, why would the mother that carried the Lord of Heaven and earth be any different? All humans are sinful and dirty (I say that as a truth, not an accusation). Wouldn't it make sense that the human that carried the Son of God would be perfect and without the stain of Original Sin? Another good way to look at it is, if you had something really special, maybe a piece of jewelry from a loved one, an important letter, or anything you treasure, you'd put it in the cleanest and safest of spaces.

In this way, God, who is outside of time, applied the graces of Jesus's salvation to Mary at the moment of her conception, preserving her from original sin, so that she would be fit to carry God Himself.


That's all for today friends! See you in the Eucharist,

May


Sources

The Catechism of the Catholic Church ISBN: 9780385479677

The Holy Bible Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

Beginning Apologetics 1: How to Explain and Defend the Catholic Faith ISBN: 1930084005

Catholic Answers article linked here



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