What women want Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Aug 12, 2005

Oftentimes, when people speak of the Immaculate Conception, they incorrectly allude to Jesus’ miraculous conception in the womb of Mary.  However, on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, it is important to understand the truth behind this widely misunderstood dogma.

 

On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed in the Constitution Ineffabilis Deus that “the most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, preserved exempt from all stain of original sin.”

 

This dogma reiterates the longstanding Tradition in the Church that it is Mary’s conception that was immaculate. In other words, Mary was free from the stain of original sin the moment God infused a soul into her body.  Instead of removing original sin from her soul, as it is removed from others in Baptism, sanctifying grace was given to her before sin could take effect.

 

As a visual learner, the following illustration has always aided my own understanding of the Immaculate Conception:

 

Picture yourself walking along a dirt road and unexpectedly you come across a large swamp blocking your path. There is no way to avoid it, so you wade through it only to emerge covered in thick layers of mud. Once you get out of the pit, you’re able to rinse in the cleansing water provided and then sent along the path ahead of you. 

 

This illustration correlates to the Christian life. Through conception, we are automatically subjected to a swamp in the road called original sin. We cannot avoid it and must pass through it receiving the stain of Adam’s sin.  Fortunately, after birth, we are offered redemption in Jesus Christ through the cleansing waters of Baptism. 

 

Now, with this analogy in mind, let’s look at God’s path for Mary and her Immaculate Conception. Mary, although conceived in the same generative way by her parents, walked along the path to life and was stopped before she entered the swamp of original sin. God carried her over the swamp to preserve her from its stain. Once on the other side, Mary still needed and received redemption from her Son due to the temporal penalties of Adam, including sorrow, bodily infirmities and death. However, Mary’s redemption was the very masterpiece of Christ’s redeeming wisdom because He pays the debt before rather than after it falls on her. As stated by the Magesterium “she is redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son” (Lumen Gentium 53, 56). 

 

The Catechism reiterates that “the Father blessed Mary more than any other created person…and chose her ‘in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love’” (#492). God predestined Mary, from all eternity, as the woman who had the choice to set salvation history into motion. 

 

In the Gospel of Luke, Mary does just that. She is greeted by the angel Gabriel’s words “Hail Mary, full of grace” (Lk 1:28). It is only through her state of abundant grace that she can answer the Father obediently and bring the Son of God into the world.  And it is important to remember from Whom did this grace come?  It was given to her by God at her Immaculate Conception!