By Nishant Xavier –
Several thousands of years ago, Almighty God had promised to our First Parents Adam and Eve that the Virgin Mother and Her Divine Son would crush Satan and his seed: Gen 3:[15]” 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.” The Fulfilment of this Prophesy was the Immaculate Conception.
On Dec. 8, 1854, His Holiness Pope Bl. Pius IX, to the great rejoicing of the whole Catholic Church, solemnly defined this Heavenly Privilege of Our Blessed Mother as an Infallible Dogma, “God Ineffable — whose ways are mercy and truth, whose will is omnipotence itself, and whose wisdom reaches from end to end mightily, and orders all things sweetly” — having foreseen from all eternity the lamentable wretchedness of the entire human race which would result from the sin of Adam, decreed, by a plan hidden from the centuries, to complete the first work of his goodness by a mystery yet more wondrously sublime through the Incarnation of the Word.
This he decreed in order that man who, contrary to the plan of Divine Mercy had been led into sin by the cunning malice of Satan, should not perish; and in order that what had been lost in the first Adam would be gloriously restored in the Second Adam. From the very beginning, and before time began, the eternal Father chose and prepared for his only-begotten Son a Mother in whom the Son of God would become incarnate and from whom, in the blessed fullness of time, he would be born into this world. Above all creatures did God so loved her that truly in her was the Father well pleased with singular delight.
Therefore, far above all the angels and all the saints so wondrously did God endow her with the abundance of all heavenly gifts poured from the treasury of his divinity that this mother, ever absolutely free of all stain of sin, all fair and perfect, would possess that fullness of holy innocence and sanctity than which, under God, one cannot even imagine anything greater, and which, outside of God, no mind can succeed in comprehending fully.
Supreme Reason for the Privilege: The Divine Maternity
And indeed it was wholly fitting that so wonderful a mother should be ever resplendent with the glory of most sublime holiness and so completely free from all taint of original sin that she would triumph utterly over the ancient serpent. To her did the Father will to give his only-begotten Son — the Son whom, equal to the Father and begotten by him, the Father loves from his heart — and to give this Son in such a way that he would be the one and the same common Son of God the Father and of the Blessed Virgin Mary. “It was she whom the Son himself chose to make his Mother and it was from her that the Holy Spirit willed and brought it about that he should be conceived and born from whom he himself proceeds.”
A few years later, on February 11th, 1858, Our Lady Herself appeared to a Saintly young girl in Lourdes, France, declaring: I AM THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.
This statement from the Lady (who was, of course, the Blessed Virgin Mary) confirms the infallible Doctrine of Pope Pius IX, who had spoken “ex cathedra” four years earlier. He had declared that the Virgin Mary, alone of all human beings who have ever lived (except for Jesus, and our first parents, Adam and Eve) was conceived without the stain of original sin in her mother’s womb.
This is “The Lady clothed with the sun”, who will “crush the head of the serpent”, Mary Immaculate.”
Sometimes, our Evangelical Christian separated brethren ask, “Does the Bible teach that Mary is Immaculate?” Answer: Yes, certainly it does, for it describes the Blessed Mother as Full of Grace (Luk 1:28), and to be Full of Grace is to be without sin, for Jesus Himself, is also Full of Grace (Jn 1:14), and without sin.
In the Gospel of St. Luke, we read, “Luk 1:[26] And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, [27] To a Virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the Virgin’s name was Mary. [28] And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. [29] Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. [30] And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.”
The Church Fathers have written much on this Scriptural Text, and its connection to the Immaculate Nature of our Mother Mary, Who is the New Eve, and Mother of Redeemed Humanity, as our Saviour gave Her to be at the Cross (Jn 19:27), and as St. John the Apostle, in the Book of Revelation (12:1), sees that She is (12:17).
Saint Fulgentius reasons, “By the words, “Full of Grace”, the angel shows that she was altogether excluded from the wrath of the first sentence, and restored to the Full Grace of Blessing.”
Saint Amphilochius states: that “He who formed the first virgin without deformity, also made the second Virgin without spot or sin.”
Saint Sophronius teaches: “the Virgin is therefore called Immaculate, for in nothing was She corrupt.”
Saint Ildephonsus explains: ” it is evident that She was free from original sin.”
Saint John Damascene says that “the serpent never had any access to this paradise [comparing Mary to a Paradise, where God dwelt].”‘
Saint Ephrem clarifies “She was Immaculate, and remote from all stain of sin.”
St. Augustine had argued: “We must except the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honour to the Lord; for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon Her Who had the merit to conceive and bear Him who undoubtedly had no sin. (1 John 3:5)”
St. Ambrose had said: Mary Immaculate is “a Virgin not only undefiled but a Virgin whom Grace has made Immaculate, free of every stain of sin”
Hence we see that the Sacred Scriptures and the Holy Fathers of the Ancient Church, in accordance with the Annunciation of the Incarnation by St. Gabriel to the Blessed Mother, explain and prove that our Blessed Mother Mary, is Full of Grace, and entirely All-Immaculate
Let us praise God for His Grace and His Goodness to His Mother in making Her Full of Grace; let us praise our Blessed Mother for repairing the wound that Eve caused to God’s Heart by living an Immaculate Life of Sinless Perfection, and let us strive to imitate Jesus and Mary!
We too, just like Our Lord Jesus and Our Mother Mary, if we really desire, can live without sin, or at least can often receive the forgiveness of past sins in the Sacraments, and strive to live a holy life. In the Sacrament of Confession, we receive forgiveness of all mortal sins. In the Sacrament of Holy Communion, we receive forgiveness of all venial sins, and grace and strength never again to fall into mortal sin. Let us receive God’s Grace well, and stop all sin!
Nishant Xavier is a traditional Catholic from Chennai who loves Jesus and Mary, St. Thomas and India. He is due to begin seminary studies soon in Palyamkottai’s Priory of the Sacred Heart. After his B. Tech, he cracked CAT and graduated with an MBA in Finance from IIM Lucknow. He worked for two years as a Quantitative Analyst in Bank of New York Mellon from 2015-2017 and also has two separate years of Financial Consulting Experience.
Nishant is also very tech and digital savvy and works for the cause of Indian and World Evangelism. And now he considers all else to be but little dust in comparison to the glory of Christ and the splendour of His Church. He wishes to win all for God’s Kingdom”. His passion has always been sacred theology and Jesus and Mary. You can reach out of to him anytime for comments or questions on the articles at [email protected].