The Immaculate Conception
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo [1696-1770]
Museso del Prado, Madrid, Spain
I scanned this from a recent "Latin Mass" Magazine cover
Posted on 12/07/2003 1:54:02 PM PST by Coleus
On the Immaculate Conception (Ubi Primum) Feb 2, 1849
The Immaculate Conception (Ineffabilis Deus) Dec 8, 1854
Dogma of the Immaculate Conception Dec 12, 1904.
On the Immaculate Conception (Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum) Feb 2, 1904
Nine Days Of Prayer - Immaculate Conception
Immaculate Conception: History of Doctrine
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION DEFINED BY PIUS IX
Immaculate Conception and Assumption
Padre Pio - Meditation on the Immaculate Conception
Conception of the Immaculate Virgin
CHRIST'S Grace Preserved Mary From Sin
MARY WAS CONCEIVED WITHOUT ORIGINAL SIN
Memorandum on the Immaculate Conception [Newman]
The Immaculate Conception
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo [1696-1770]
Museso del Prado, Madrid, Spain
I scanned this from a recent "Latin Mass" Magazine cover
Feast of the Immaculate Conception
Today is the feast of the Immaculate Conception, often mistakenly thought to refer to the way Mary was conceived, or to the way she conceived Jesus in her womb.
The phrase “immaculate conception” means that what a person receives at Baptism, Mary received at her conception. From the first moment of her conception, she was free from sin – immaculate.
This feast was celebrated in England as early as the 12th century, and in the 18th century was made a feast of the whole Church. In 1846, the Sixth Provincial Council of Baltimore made this the patronal feast of the Church in the United States. In 1854, after consultation with the bishops of the world and with theologians, Pope Pius IX declared the Immaculate Conception to be a doctrine of the Church.
what a person receives at Baptism, Mary received at her conception. From the first moment of her conception, she was free from sin – immaculate.
Well, there's no reason why we should. Because of the Grace of Christ which comes to us through Baptism, we are capable of never sinning again. The problem is, while Baptism takes away original sin, the effects of original sin continue to weigh us down such that we continually stumble in the face of temptations.
You are confusing personal sins with original sin. Original Sin is the "disease" that is communicated to us all through our original parents which banishes us from God's Grace and leaves us weak and helpless before the temptations of the Devil. The Life and Sacrifice of the Incarnation of God's eternal Son Jesus Christ redeems this state of being.
The Immaculate Conception states that Mary, through a singular Grace of Christ, was preserved from original sin at the first moment of her existence. Like Adam and Eve, she could have abused her freedom and sinned during her life, but she never did. She remained firm in Grace as it blossomed in her during her life - centered on her Son and Creator, Christ Jesus - on earth.
That is what this doctrine teaches. Christ's Church led by the Holy Spirit through the Centuries developed, and continues to develop, an ever-deepening understanding of the totality of Christ's Incarnation and redemptive Sacrifice, of which the Immaculate Conception of His mother is a part.
The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.
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Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus (1854)| Immaculate Conception Question from Lindsey on 10-27-2003: |
| Where in the bible (if any where at all) does it talk about Mary's Immaculate Conception? |
| Answer by Colin B. Donovan, STL on 10-28-2003: |
| It's there, as long as you are not expecting to find the words, any more than you will find Trinity and many other terms which even non-Catholic Christians take for granted. Lets start with what it means. To be immaculate conceived means to be free from the guilt of Adam's sin and sanctified in body and soul from the first moment of existence. This is hardly an impossibly thing. By baptism every Christian has sin forgiven and grace given, so forgiveness and grace we take for granted. Jesus, in his human nature, was certainly conceived without original sin. Adam and Eve were created by God in perfect integrity, with His grace, His Divine Life, infused into their souls at their first moment of their existence. So, it is hardly impossible that Mary was immaculate conceived. The question is, was she? Lets look at the evidence. As I have already alluded, the Old Testament sets the stage. The book of Genesis tells us how God created Adam and Eve and placed them in paradise. It tells us how they disobeyed God and lost the gifts that He gave them. From one moment to the next they went from being naked and not ashamed to being naked and ashamed (Gen 2:25, 3:10). This change reflected the loss of the innocence which was God's gift of grace brought about in them at their creation. This loss, which is communicated to their descendants, Christians call Original Sin -- to be conceived without God's grace within, subject to weakness of intellect and will, the rebellion of the passions, as well as, sickness and death (Romans 5:12ff, 1 Cor. 15:22ff). It also places all mankind as subjects of Satan, since whoever sins belongs to him (1 John 3:8) and we have all sinned (Romans 5:12). What then of Mary? If all have sinned is she not numbered among them? A short answer would be that Christ would have to be too, since the text does not say "all but Christ." We take His exemption for granted, of course, because elsewhere in Scripture it is clear that He is God, the sinless one. We have to consider, then, in the total biblical context, whether we can say that there is evidence of Mary's exemption, too. Indeed, there is. Consider again the Old Covenant, which prepares the way for Christ by types and figures which foreshadow the mysteries of the Christian economy of salvation. In the Old Covenant, the Word of God is the Torah, represented at its heart by the Ten Commandments, the two tablets, which out of reverence for God's Word, and at His command, were placed in a wooden Ark, upon which the glory of God descended in a visible fashion to indicate God's Presence with His People. The Tablets are types of the Eternal Word, the Son of God, who pitched His tent among us at the Incarnation (John 1:14), as the Meeting Tent was pitched in the midst of Israel. The Tablets, of course, were kept in the Ark out of the sight of men. The Ark itself was designed by God. It was holy by virtue of the Tablets within. No man could touch it unbidden, and one man died for doing so even with a good intention (1 Chr. 3;10). The Ark is a type of Mary, who bore the Son of God into this world. And like the Ark, Mary was established by God in holiness and preserved untouched by man (a Virgin before, during and after the birth of Christ). How could the Son of God come into the world in any other way? Since He took His flesh from Mary alone, how could He enter a vessel of sin, subject to the kingdom of Satan? The Church maintains He did not, since it would insult His holiness to claim so, and it is implicit in the carefully prepared and unified economy of the Old and New Testament that He did not. Rather, the Father prepared an Ark worthy of His Son, free from the moment of conception from sin and subjection to God's enemy. He did this not for her honor, but for His honor. And He accomplished Her preservation from both original and personal sin by His grace, granted in virtue of the Son's merits foreseen from eternity. For God, who exists outside time, what could be easier. There is, finally, a New Testament text which sums this up quite well. Elizabeth says to Mary that she is "blessed among women." In Aramaic or Hebrew this is saying that she is the most blessed of all women. This is then parallelled with the blessedness of the fruit of her womb, Jesus, the Son of God (Lk. 1:42). This should lead us back to Genesis where the story began. In Genesis we have a man and a woman who draw down God's curse upon them (Gen. 3), subjecting themselves and their descendants to the Kingdom of Satan. In Luke, we find a man and a woman who draw down God's blessing, and restore the fallen order of the human race. This is why the Fathers of the Church often speak of Mary as the New Eve. It is the consequence of her role in salvation. But back to the text. Mary is blessed among woman, which would include Eve. Eve was created in justice, but lost it. If Mary was conceived in original sin and then committed personal sins, as, sadly, many Christians maintain, then she is not greater than Eve. However, if like Eve she was created/conceived in grace, but unlike Eve she never lost it through personal sin, then the text is fulfilled, she IS greater than all women. She becomes in the spiritual order "the mother of all the living" (Gen. 3:20), which is what the Fathers and the Catholic Church maintain the Scriptures teach. |
Mary's Immaculate Conception: A Memorable Anniversary
Ineffabilis Deus: 8 December 1854 (Dogma of the Immaculate Conception)
Why do we believe in the Immaculate Conception?
John Paul II goes to Lourdes; reflections on the Immaculate Conception
Your Praises We Sing--on the Dogma of the Proclamation of the Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8th
Eastern Christianity and the Immaculate Conception (Q&A From EWTN)
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