Immaculate Conception
Today is the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a Holy Day of obligation for Catholics around the world, and the patronal feast of the United States. Today we celebrate the miracle that Mary was conceived without original sin from the moment of her conception in order that she might be a living Ark of the Covenant to carry the incarnate Lord in her womb.Many of our Protestant brethren have great difficulty with this doctrine. They do not understand how any human being could be born without sin other than Christ, insisting that Mary was no different than any other human being, and was born into sin like the rest of us. What they do not understand is that in denying the idea of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Mother, they are indirectly denying Christ's divinity. Recall that the reason for the existence of the initial Ark of the Covenant was as the dwelling place of the Most High, and that any priest who entered the Holy of Holies in the Temple had to be completely holy and clean. Does it not stand to reason then that the person who carries God incarnate in her womb for nine months, literally carries God in her belly, must be holy, without blemish? "But Christ died to save her," the Protestants retort. Christ had to be born before he could die, and until he died, the law which required a sacrifice to cleanse from sin was still in effect. God, therefore, was not going to contradict His own Law. The only way to make any human being pure enough to carry God in their body before Christ's redemption of humanity on the cross would be for that person to be born without original sin.
In Luke 1:28, the angel of the Lord addresses Mary in a way that no other person is addressed in scripture...she is told: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women."
In that moment, Mary is told she is full of Grace! Mankind of this age was not full of Grace, but full of sin. The angel knew she had no sin to speak of, and so addressed her appropriately. Mary's Immaculate Conception and her yes to the Lord that day made her the first believer, and made it possible for all of us to call Christ our Lord.
posted by Deacon David Oatney @ 4:50 PM
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