As we look at the Hail Mary we see part of the Archangel Gabriel’s address in the exclamation: “full of grace." Grace is defined as a supernatural gift from God’s infinite goodness given by God to His sinful people for their eternal salvation. Mary is addressed as “full of grace” which shows that she must be in complete favor of God to have earned the fullness of God’s grace. This particular instance is a special one, in which God chose Mary to be conceived sinless to make her a house for God to dwell within.
Both Jesus and Mary are perfect although for different reasons; Jesus is God and therefore is without sin and therefore must be perfect. This is shown through Magesterium teachings, scripture, and definition. Sin, which is defined as “distancing oneself from God,” can not have any part in God because it is impossible for God to be distancing Himself from Himself. Mary, though, is perfect, but she was made perfect and preserved from sin
In fact, the traditional collect prayer from the Mass of the Immaculate Conception well summarizes this: "O God,
, You shielded Mary from all stain of sin and preserved the Virgin Mother immaculate at her conception so that she might be a fitting dwelling place for Your Son. Cleanse us from sin through her intercession so that we also may come to You untainted by sin. Through Our Lord."
Some point to the second line of the Magnificat with Mary proclaiming, "And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior," stating the use of "savior" means Mary could not be free from sin. The answer, of course, is that Christ did save Mary - He simply chose to save her prior to her birth - the difference in methodology in no way detracts from the outcome of the act.
The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which was not infallibly defined until 1854 but believed long beforehand, states, "The most holy Virgin Mary was, in the first moment of her conception, by a unique gift of grace and privilege of almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ the Redeemer of mankind, preserved free from all stain of original sin."
While they did not use the phrase "Immaculate Conception," the Early Church honored the Blessed Virgin Mary as sinless since her conception. For instance, St. Ephrem (306-373 AD) wrote alluding to Mary’s sinlessness: "You and Your mother are the only ones who are totally beautiful in every way. For in You, O Lord, there is no stain, and in Your mother no stain." Hippolytus wrote in 235 AD: “He was the ark formed of incorruptible wood. For by this is signified that His tabernacle was exempt from putridity and corruption.” And Origen wrote in 244 AD: “This Virgin Mother of the Only-begotten of God, is called Mary, worthy of God, immaculate of the immaculate, one of the one.”
The dogmatic proclamation in 1854 by Pope Pius IX merely ended a debate that had arisen in the past centuries - fueled often by the protestants.
Once again, it makes perfect sense that the Mother of God does not have sin upon her soul because Christ Himself must dwell within her. In truth, Mary is essentially important to the Christian life as the Mother of Christ and as our Mother, who Christ gave to us through His disciple John (cf. John 19:26-27).
We, as Christians, believe God is the perfect goodness, and likewise, we believe sin is the absence of goodness, where God is the perfect goodness. Therefore, I can conclude that sin is evil and a lack of God’s saving grace, even if only momentary, but a clear distance from God remains because we are not perfect like He. It is through our first sin that we lose our innocence and must work towards salvation as all people must do apart from those exceptions including the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose radiant light kept pulsing harmoniously from her soul through the grace of God, Most High.
Scripture attests to the Immaculate Conception as well though I feel it initially fundamental to dispute a common claim among other faiths that Catholics are in opposition to scripture on this matter. They state Romans 3:23 which reads, “For all have sinned, and do need the glory of God,” however this verse only shows that all are subject to the stains of original sin on the soul. Remember that Christ chose to save His mother from this sin in order to come into the world, but I also see it as a deep reverence for His mother in accordance with the fourth Commandment: “Honor thy mother and father.” It is quite clear that Christ showed great love for His mother already, and He showed even more through the Coronation and Assumption, which I will address at length further into this book.
Moreover, Romans 3:23 uses the English word “all” in place of the Greek word “PAS”, which was not the absolute that “all” encompasses today. I think this further highlights how even the best of translations are nothing compared to the original scriptures. This word taking the English term “all” is also seen in Matthew 3:5-6 and Luke 2:1 to name a few others where it is not the absolute that we see it meaning. For example, Matthew 3:5-6 states, “At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.” I certainly do not believe that the entire region went to the Jordan River including those that did not believe in the faith. I view it much more probable that a great majority went out, not everyone; it is clear that the word “PAS” meant a “just about everyone there is, but maybe not literally everyone,” better than it did “all”.
Furthermore, I feel it essential to state that Martin Luther, the man that began the Lutheran Church and broke away from the original Catholic Church, still held a great devotion to Mary including a belief in the Immaculate Conception: "It is a sweet and pious belief that the infusion of Mary's soul was effected without original sin; so that in the very infusion of her soul she was also purified from original sin and adorned with God's gifts, receiving a pure soul infused by God; thus from the first moment she began to live she was free from all sin."
Further knowledge of the Christian faith continues to disprove the use of Romans 3:23 to be used against the Immaculate Conception. We as Christians believe Christ was free from sin but the verse does not even say “all but Christ”. We also believe that the mentally disabled and infants cannot commit actual sin, even though the verse does not specifically state this fact. Simply, Romans 3:23 must be translated using correct Greek and there would be no remote opportunity to oppose Magesterium teachings in that instance. I, though, do not see the point in tearing down the teachings of the Catholic Church concerning Mary as it is through Mary that we have a powerful intercessor and loving Mother that spares nothing from her children.
Onward, scripture does word the words "Immaculate Conception." Sacred scripture nevertheless holds vast information on Mary, but we must not just read the words but meditate on each and every statement as a truth given to us by God. The Bible begins with the book of Genesis, an account of creation and the fall, and this is the first place that Mary is referenced. In Genesis 3:15 it states, “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed:
she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel."
This verse is the first verse that references to mankind’s Redeemer since Jesus Christ came to destroy sin, Satan, and death. 1 John 3:8 further says, “The Son of God appeared that He might destroy the works of the devil,” who came into being through a love for men that far excesses our senses, where one would come to die for all of us while still enemies. This “enmity” in Genesis 3:15 is not between the man and the serpent but the woman and the serpent. Church teachings are that this is in reference to Mary, the one to come and destroy the serpent because of allowing Our Lord to take flesh within her.
Also, it is critical to reverberate the Magesterial teachings of Christ being the Second Adam. We all know that through Adam and Eve sin entered the world and it was through Christ, one man, that sin left the world by his death on the Cross. Yet, just as Eve assisted Adam in losing the faith by offering him the apple, Mary offered Christ her body to come and become man and assisted in bringing Our Lord to us. Out of all people Christ chose Mary as His mother and has given her to us as well; how breathtaking. Christ is called the Second Adam since creation was renewed through Him, and Mary is the new Eve who works alongside Our Lord.
We also know that the only one that can bear the sins of the entire world is God because He is both human and divine and any action of His, whether in his divine or his human nature, is of infinite value. This is how dying one death ended all of our eternal deaths. We could pay the price for sin, but that would be eternal death; instead, Christ chose to free us from the punishment that we deserve out of a love so fervent that He would humble himself to death even death on a cross.
Back to the verse in Genesis, we see reference to Christ by God’s statement that refers to the woman’s offspring. Some translations of the Bible use the word “seed” instead, but the main motive is still intact. This claim that through the women would be offspring, namely Our Savior is quite revolutionary. We already know that God knew of the need for a savior in the beginning, so in this verse, He speaks of Adam and Eve’s offspring, which would include Christ.
This conservation to the women that she would bear offspring, rather than to the man, shows that through a woman Our Savior, who the entire world resides inside, would be born. While scripture does refer to her offspring it also alludes to Christ, who has freed the entire human race through His sacrifice on the Cross where we become part of Him in dying so that we may also see the Resurrection. The entire human race was relying on Christ’s sacrifice, which is alluded to in the book of Genesis although not directly because the people of the Old Testament would not have understood.
Continuing with the verse in Genesis, a special relationship is seen between the woman and the serpent, and this relationship is one with enmity. “Enmity” is certainly an intense, powerful word beyond hatred and defined as “deep-rooted hatred”. We see by looking back to Genesis 3:15 that God Himself will place this enmity between the serpent (Satan) and Mary, who is the second Eve. It is clear that Mary is to be the personal enemy of Satan not Christ. Christ came to destroy the devil’s evil works, but God chose to make Mary as Satan’s personal enemy.
From the beginning, God had a plan for everyone with all of us able to reach Heaven if we chose, and Our Lord chose to save Mary from sin. This also put the enmity between Mary and Satan because Mary had no sin and was perfect and clearly saw the wrongdoings of the devil; she hated them because she was completely in God’s favor. We as sinners can fall into sin, but Mary was preserved from original sin and remained sinless in life, which made her Satan’s personal enemy.
As the Catechism of the Catholic Church explicitly reveals, “Throughout the Old Covenant the mission of many holy women prepared for that of Mary. At the very beginning there was Eve; despite her disobedience, she receives the promise of a posterity that will be victorious over the evil one, as well as the promise that she will be the mother of all the living. By virtue of this promise, Sarah conceives a son in spite of her old age. Against all human expectation, God chooses those who were considered powerless and weak to show forth his faithfulness to his promises: Hannah, the mother of Samuel; Deborah; Ruth; Judith and Esther; and many other women. Mary "stands out among the poor and humble of the Lord, who confidently hope for and receive salvation from him. After a long period of waiting the times are fulfilled in her, the exalted Daughter of Sion, and the new plan of salvation is established."
Mary had a special purpose, and this purpose was to become the Mother of God and help us achieve our salvation. She cannot save us, but her constant motherly presence pleads continually for our souls.
God is in possession of eternity, the simultaneous and complete possession of infinite life. For him, all things are as in the present (see: Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy, Book V)
Resources:
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Immaculate Conception
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Original Sin
