Conservative Catholic. Devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the mediatrix of all graces, she who was "full of grace", the Virgin Mary. For, if mankind could not enter heaven because of his "fall from grace" in the Garden of Eden, how could the angel declare Mary "full of grace", unless she were spared of Original Sin, and therefore, sinless? Not even the patriarchs of the Old Testament entered heaven until Christ restored mankind's facility to grace through His ransom on the cross - they existed in "the bosom of Abraham"!

Some claim Catholic theology of the Virgin Mary is unbiblical... NOT SO.

Mary and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

Genesis 1
29
God also said: "See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food;

Genesis 2
9
Out of the ground the LORD God made various trees grow that were delightful to look at and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.
16
The LORD God gave man this order: "You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden
17
except the tree of knowledge of good and bad. From that tree you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die."

(The tree of knowledge of good and evil bears fruit without seed and God commands that it not be defiled/despoiled)

2 Samuel 14

17
And your handmaid thought, `The word of my lord the king will set me at rest'; for my lord the king is like the angel of God to discern good and evil. The LORD your God be with you!"

Luke 1
38
Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

Isaiah 7

15
He shall be living on curds and honey by the time he learns to reject the bad and choose the good. (Who will teach Him this but Mary, who by her sinless nature knows perfectly the difference between good and evil?)

Mary, like the tree of knowledge of good and evil...

1. Is set aside in the Garden of Eden
2. Is fertilized not by man, but by Divinity
3. Bears unique and irreplaceable fruit
4. Stands alongside the path to the Tree of Life
5. Is specially stalked by the serpent
6. Bore complete knowledge of good versus evil (perfect unity with God's will, sinless nature)

Since the tree of knowledge of good and evil was spoiled, God had to replace it, not with a tree, but with its perfect reflection in God's most perfect human creation, the Virgin Mary, who would bear the New Fruit - the irreplaceable incarnation of God Himself. Satan, who detested the thought of serving Man with the rest of the angels in heaven, would be thwarted by a little girl free of his snares and destined to be the model of all Christians on earth.

Mary, Nemesis of Satan

Genesis 3:15
"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel."

John 2
4
(And) Jesus said to her, "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come."
5
His mother said to the servers, "Do whatever he tells you."

Revelation 12
1
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
14
But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly to her place in the desert, where, far from the serpent, she was taken care of for a year, two years, and a half-year.

John 19
26
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son."

Mary, Ark of the Covenant

Luke 1
"41
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit,
42
cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
43
And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
45
Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."
46
And Mary said: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;"

2 Samuel 6
9
David feared the LORD that day and said, "How can the ark of the LORD come to me?"
16
As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul's daughter Michal looked down through the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart.

Luke
1
The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you

(The Shekinah, the cloud of glory, "overshadowed" the ark throughout the old testament).

Praying for the Dead

2 Maccabees 13
43
He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view;
44
for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death.
45
But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought.
46
Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin.

And now, for some important images to keep handy: