FEAST OF IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.

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Introduction: Mary’s prophecy given in her ‘Magnificat’: “behold all generations will call me blessed” was fulfilled when the Catholic Church declared four dogmas of faith about her: 1 -Immaculate Conception, 2 – Perpetual Virginity, 3 – Divine Maternity, and 4 – Assumption. The Immaculate Conception is a dogma based mainly on Christian tradition and theological reasoning. It was defined in 1854 by Pope Pius IX through “Ineffabilis Deus” as: “From the first moment of her conception, Mary was preserved immune from original sin by the singular grace of God and by the virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, savior of human race” (CCC). It means that original sanctity, innocence and justice were conferred upon her, and the evil effects of original sin exempted from her excluding sorrow, pain, disease and death, which are temporal penalties given to Adam (Catholic Encyclopedia). The Fathers of the Church from the fourth century believed and taught that the Blessed Virgin Mary had been kept free of all traces of sin by the grace of God because she was to become the Mother of the Lord Jesus. This belief coexisted with the perpetual virginity of Mary, her sinlessness, and her Divine motherhood. Church history makes known to us that, as early as the seventh century, there was a liturgical observance that proclaimed the Blessed Virgin Mary to be free from sin.

Proofs: (A) From tradition: It is a dogma originating from sound Christian tradition. Monks in Palestinian monasteries started celebrating the “Feast of Conception of Our Lady” by the end of 7th century. It got spread as the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in Italy (9th century), England (XI), and France (XII). Pope Leo VI propagated it and Pope Sixtus IV approved it as a feast. Finally in 1854 Pope Pius IX declared it a dogma of faith. Mary approved it by declaring to Bernadette at Lourdes: “I am the Immaculate Conception”.

(B) From the Holy Scripture: 1 – God purified prophet Jeremiah in the womb of his mother and anointed John the Baptist with His Holy Spirit before John’s birth. (Jer. 1/5: Before I formed you in the womb of your mother I knew you and before you were born, I consecrated you”). Hence it is reasonable that God kept the mother of His Son, free from all sins from the first moment of her origin.
2 – The angel saluted Mary “full of grace”. It means that she was never, even for a moment, a slave of sin and devil.
3 – Gen. 3/15: “I will put enmity between you and the woman and her seed shall crush your head”. The woman stands for Mary and the promise would not be true if Mary had original sin.

(C)-Argument from reason: 1 – If we were allowed to select our mother, we would select the most beautiful, healthy and saintly lady. So did God.
2 – All-holy God cannot be born from a woman, who was the slave of the devil at least for a moment in her life.

Message: 1) Be pure and holy like our heavenly mother. Every mother wants her children to inherit or acquire all her good qualities. Hence be holy and pure children of an immaculate and holy mother. The original sin from which Mary was preserved is the original sin from which we too have been freed. The grace of Christ that was hers is the same grace of Christ that is ours. Mary is significant for us because the central factors in her life are the central factors in our own. Perhaps the lesson is that, no matter which direction we take, we need Mary Immaculate in our lives in order to remember who Christ is and who we ourselves are.

2) Be thankful and humble. Mary’s sinlessness was a gift of God, given to her right from the very moment of her conception. In the same vein, by the grace of God, we have received a new heart, a new spirit and the indwelling Holy Spirit to raise us to the level of holiness that the Blessed Virgin Mary enjoyed during her earthly life. Through faith in Jesus and the Sacrament of Baptism, having been born again of water and Spirit, we have been adopted into the Body of Christ in the living hope of receiving our salvation. Through our living faith, including the reception of the Sacrament of Confession, we receive the righteousness of our souls. Through the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, we abide in Jesus and Jesus in us, thus leading towards our salvation [Jn. 6:56]. Hence those of us who happen to be holy, who sin less than the average sinner, should regard our holiness as basically a gift of God and not an achievement. Our attitude should then be characterized by two basic attitudes: thankfulness to God and humility before those who are naturally and spiritually less gifted than we are.