SpiritualityPeople
The Immaculate
quick ideas about the Immaculate Virgin Mary. What does immaculate mean? Is it an exception?
Español1. What does immaculate mean?
Immaculate means without stain. In saying this of Our Lady it is affirmed that Our Lady never had any sin at all, not even original sin.
2. Is it an exception?
Yes; so it is. All men are born in a state of enmity with God called original sin. This situation is corrected only by the merits of Jesus Christ, which in our case are applied to us in Baptism. However, the Lord wished to make an exception for His mother and applied the merits of His redemption to her in advance. This is why the angel Gabriel called her full of grace.
3. Why an exception?
It is logical that the Lord wished to honor His mother especially (Mother of God), and above all desired that she never be under sin. This is why He filled her with grace from the moment of her conception.
4. Conception?
Yes. Our Lady was Immaculate from before she was born. From the very moment of her conception.
5. Was Mary redeemed from sin by Christ?
Yes. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Redeemer and Savior of all men, including the Most Holy Virgin, who never had any sin. What happened is that God wished to apply the merits of Christ to Mary in advance, so that His Mother would never be in a situation of enmity with God.
6. When was the dogma of the Immaculate Conception defined?
On 8 December 1854, Pope Pius IX solemnly defined this doctrine, which had already been known since antiquity. Three years later, on 11 February 1858, Our Lady appeared at Lourdes and presented herself as the Immaculate Conception.
7. Does any reasoning support this divine gift?
Some reasons of fittingness can be appreciated:
- By reason of Mary's dignity.- It was fitting that the Mother of God never have any sin. It was fitting, God could do it, therefore He did it.
- By reason of the holiness of the Son of God.- The Son of God by the work of the Holy Spirit was incarnate of Mary. Our Lady provided the bodily matter, God created a soul, and the second person of the Trinity united Himself forever to that body and soul. Divine holiness rejects any bond with sin. The Incarnation could not have taken place if that matter had any relation to sin.
- By analogy with heaven.- No deceased person can enter heaven with any remnant of sin in their soul; no one can see God with anything of sin unpurified (purgatory). The Incarnation is a human-divine union far stronger, so that the Son could not have united Himself to matter bound to sin. It was necessary for Mary to be Immaculate.