= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
If a person falls into a stinky, slimy quicksand pit, and a kind person comes along and pulls that other person out of that pit, and saves that person's life, that person was saved.
Likewise, if that same kind person saw another person about to fall into that same stinky, slimy quicksand pit, and the kind person reached out and grabbed the other person's hand and prevented them from falling into that slimy pit, that person was also saved. One was saved before falling into the slime, and one was saved after falling into the slime. Both were saved.
This source puts it better:
Consider an analogy: Suppose a man falls into a deep pit, and someone reaches down to pull him out. The man has been "saved" from the pit. Now imagine a woman walking along, and she too is about to topple into the pit, but at the very moment that she is to fall in, someone holds her back and prevents her. She too has been saved from the pit, but in an even better way: She was not simply taken out of the pit, she was prevented from getting stained by the mud in the first place. This is the illustration Christians have used for a thousand years to explain how Mary was saved by Christ. By receiving Christ’s grace at her conception, she had his grace applied to her before she was able to become mired in original sin and its stain.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that she was "redeemed in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son" (CCC 492). She has more reason to call God her Savior than we do, because he saved her in an even more glorious manner!
Source:"Immaculate Conception and Assumption" - Catholic Answers
(I urge you to read the whole article. It is very enlightening.)
Sorry.
I grew up reading articles like that.
Human reasoning cross-bred with speculation on top of iconic icings.