Immaculately Conceived

𝐃𝐄𝐂. 𝟖, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈: 𝐆𝐞𝐧 𝟑:𝟗-𝟏𝟓, 𝟐𝟎

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟗𝟖:𝟏-𝟒 “𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬.”

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐈: 𝐄𝐩𝐡 𝟏: 𝟑-𝟔, 𝟏𝟏-𝟏𝟐

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐊 𝟏:𝟐𝟔-𝟑𝟖

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: “𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝.” (𝐯.𝟑𝟖) 

         The dogma of the Immaculate Conception has remained as one of the most hotly contested topics of any religious debate and rightly so because the Gospels give little information pertaining to the life of Our Blessed Mother and most of what we learn about Mary comes from the revelations of the saints.

         For centuries this debate raged until Pope Pius IX proclaimed on December 8, 1854 that: "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."        

         To preserve the infallibility of the Pope on matters of faith and morals, Pope Pius IX at that time sounded off the Bishops of the world to ascertain the feeling of Christians at large regarding the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As most of the responses approved of the proposed doctrine, it was thus solemnly defined as of faith.

         This consensus of the Bishops who were living apart at the time was deemed infallible because the Holy Spirit is not confined by limitations of place. Based on this doctrine, the Catechism of the Catholic Church also decreed in Par. 491 that: “𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐲, '𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞' 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐆𝐨𝐝 (𝐋𝐮𝐤𝐞 𝟏:𝟐𝟖) 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐠𝐦𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐏𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐈𝐗 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝟏𝟖𝟓𝟒.”          

         I was raised by a deeply religious mother and an aunt who was also my grade schoolteacher in a Catholic School and I never had any difficulty believing and accepting the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the mother of God and Mother of the Church as well.

        And if somebody asks me why I pray to Jesus through Mary, my usual response is to ask “why not?” Mary, for one, was the first disciple of Christ. Even before Jesus called the 72 disciples from whom he chose the 12 Apostles, Mary holds the distinction of being the first disciple having carried Jesus Christ in her womb for nine months, giving birth to him and with Joseph protected Jesus Christ from Herod.

         I suppose Mary was there too when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist at the Jordan River. She must have joined Jesus in many of his journeys to proclaim the Gospel of repentance and the reign of God throughout Judea. Mary was there when Jesus entered Jerusalem. She grieved when Jesus was arrested and tortured.

         Mary followed Our Lord in the Way of the Cross, and she was there when Jesus was crucified and also when he was lowered and buried at the tomb. Her heart must have leapt for joy when Mary Magdalene announced that Jesus had risen and Mary was at the Upper Room when the Holy Spirit descended on her and the Apostles and she was there of course when Jesus ascended to heaven. So the question is not why but why not? If ever I pray the Holy Rosary, it is because it reminds me of the birth, life, ministry, passion, death and the resurrection of Christ.

         Significantly in the first reading, liturgy recalls the figure of Eve, the mother of all the living. The Father’s of the Church saw in Mary, the new Eve that unties the knot bound by the first woman. The knot of disobedience tied by Eve, was untied by the obedience of Mary. As Eve was created in purity and integrity, also the new Eve was miraculously preserved from the contamination of original sin because she had to give humanity the Word, who was incarnated for our ransom.

         St. Irenaeus compares the virginity of the pure earth from which Adam was drawn to the virginity of the immaculate humanity of Mary from which the Second Adam was drawn. ‘And as the protoplast himself Adam, had his substance from untilled and as yet virgin soil (for God had not yet sent rain, and man had not tilled the ground (Genesis 2:5) so did He who is the Word, recapitulating Adam in Himself, rightly receive a birth, enabling Him to gather up Adam [into Himself], from Mary, who was as yet a virgin’ (Adversus hereses III, 21:10).

         If the official proclamation of the dogma is relatively recent, the profession of faith by Christians and the liturgy is very ancient in this regard. Furthermore, four years later the same Virgin Mary, appearing in Lourdes to St Bernadette, confirmed the truth of the doctrine by presenting herself with the title ‘I am the Immaculate Conception’.

        Mary’s predestination to this singular grace—consistent with the suspension of the universal degree by which every man, from the moment of his conception is contaminated with original sin—leads us to ponder in the deepest depths the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity’s salvific plan.

         God, One and Triune had foreseen from the very beginning the future incarnation of the Word cumulating in the redemption of human nature that had fallen into sin. He therefore predestined pure Mary, so that He could draw from her uncontaminated humanity, which the Son could adopt in order to re-establish in Himself the original purity of creation and reorient it to eternal glory.

         For this reason, in the second reading of today’s liturgy, St Paul reminds us that God wants to see us holy and immaculate before Him. The purity of our origins seemed to be irredeemably lost. However, in Immaculate Mary, God found the perfect solution to reverse the disaster made from the misuse of our liberty and returned humanity to the original purity that seamed hopelessly lost.

         Mary was Immaculate because she had to be the Mother of God. She herself has received the original grace of purity and the final state of the blessed life that we also, by collaborating with Divine Grace, hope one day to receive.

         Immaculate Mary is full of grace. She is not only Christ’s disciple, that with the help of grace has overcome the chains of sin, but she is totius Trinitatis nobile triclinium, the noble resting place of the Holy Trinity (St Thomas Aquinas, Exposito Salutatioris Angelicae, I). The Immaculate, full of grace will always be Mother and Queen for that elect part of the Church that we hope one day to join, that will one day will joyfully sing in front of the Almighty. (Some parts of the foregoing paragraphs were taken from an article on the Immaculate Conception prepared by the Congregation for the Clergy at the Holy See.)

         Devotion to Mary is also an excellent means of attaining sanctity not only here on earth but in the eternal kingdom hereafter. No one can escape the filial devotion of all the saints towards the Mother of God. Among the most prominent were St. Bernard and St. Alphonsus Liguori.

         To the saints, Mary was the gate to heaven, the ladder connecting heaven and earth by which the Lord came down to us and by which we may ascend up to God. St. Alphonsus declared it to be his persuasion that hell cannot boast of containing one single soul that ever had a true and heartfelt devotion to Mary.

         St. Bernard asserts that those who honor her daily will assuredly be saved. And St. Francis Borgia always feared for the salvation of the soul that has little or no devotion for the Mother of God. Indeed, God will give us the necessary grace when we also respond with the same willingness, obedience and heartfelt trust as Mary did.

         When we respond to God’s command to follow him, he will also give us the grace, strength and the means to respond. With our own free will also operating in us, we can either yield to his grace and abandon ourselves to the divine providence or we can go our own way and risk being left out when the door to the kingdom is shut. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘋𝘦𝘤. 8, 2025)