The Mother of the Mother of God, Saint Anne

[amarkich]

This is specifically in reply to Krush2K2's question that was moved to Question & Answer Section. I am not authorized to answer in that section, but a very theologically and philosophically sound priest gave a Sermon that considered this question on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception last year, and I assumed that this kind of reply would not be found on the other board. Here is [i]one [/i]of the basic reasons that this is the case.

[quote]Okay, Mary conceived without original sin. Got it

Jesus couldnt be born from a sinful women. Got it

Mary's mother was not concieved without original sin. Yet she still did not pass hers onto Mary? Whats the point of Mary having to be born without sin if she was able to not have any original sin being born from an original sin parent. Why couldnt Jesus just be born from someone with Original Sin, just have the grace of not having it himself like Mary had from her Mother. Do yall understand what I'm asking?

What im saying for Jesus to be born without the line of Original Sin why did Mary have to to not have any sin, if Mary herself had no original sin, yet was born from parents who did
[/quote]

Now, one of the reasons is derived from the Old Testament prefiguring of Our Lord and Our Lady. As you probably know, Our Lord is called the New Adam and Our Lady the New Eve. This is because both of Them are significantly prefigured by Adam and Eve, and because each of Them fulfills what was lacking in Adam and Eve. Concerning the matter of Original Sin, there it is important to recognize a few things. First, Adam was form from the slime of the earth (Gen. ii.7). At the time in which God created Adam, the earth was pure because it was not cursed until after the Fall of Man (Gen. iii.17, "cursed is the earth in thy work; with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life"). If it was necessary for Adam before the Fall to be created out of something completely pure (the slime of the earth being pure), how much more important was it that the New Adam be made incarnate by a pure vessel, namely the Blessed Virgin Mary. Because Adam was made from a pure vessel, so also was it necessary for Our Lord to be made incarnate from a pure vessel. Eve was created out of the rib of Adam. Further, Eve herself was born without Original Sin, so it was necessary for Our Lady also to be born free from Original Sin. One might seek to apply the same meaning, then, from Eve's creation (from Adam, who was without Original Sin) to Mary's creation, i.e., that Saint Anne would have to be free from Original Sin, but this does not follow for one reason. Our Lady's perfect purity is an effect of the necessity of Our Lord being born of a pure vessel, not a necessity in and of itself, i.e., Our Lady's purity is primarily effected out of necessity of making God incarnate. For this reason, Our Lady would not need to be born of a pure vessel in Saint Anne. There is much to be said on the matter regarding both Our Lord and Our Lady, and one could deviate as far as to explain that Our Lady (the New Eve) is specifically referred to in Genesis iii "she shall crush thy head" to the Serpent, but this is not necessarily pertinent to the question at hand and raises different questions that I will not address at this time.

[Guest JeffCR07]

Adam, great post!


Just to add on to the points that were brought up above, and to highlight something that Adam alluded to, it is also of significant importance that Mary is not just prefigured by Eve, but also by the Ark of the Covenant. The vessel that contained the Law (the ten commandments) was the single most holy, and most pure, object created by man. However, even the ancient Isrealites acknowledge that it was not a worthy vessel for the Law, but they were forced to make due. Now if the Ark contained the Old Covenant, we see that it is a [i]type[/i] of Mary, who is the living Ark that contained the New Covenant. Where the Old ark was unworthy in its making, but sanctified in its role as "The foot-rest of YHWH" the Ark of the New Covenant must necessarily be both worthy in its making as well as being sanctified by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

This is not to say that Mary did not need saving, but rather, Mary was saved at the moment of her conception by a sanctifying grace that anticipated the merits of Christ.

- Your Brother In Christ, Jeff

[amarkich]

Thanks, Jeff. And also, thanks for the additional proofs. It is so interesting that Father Fromageot (the priest who gave the sermon on the Immaculate Conception) also went into great detail about that very argument. I suppose these are the two major points for the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Good day and God bless.

[Krush2k2]

Awesomness-thanks!