Taken from this weekend's bulletin of a local church....
From The Friar's Desk
The truth about Mary's Immaculate Conception – thanks to the Franciscans – a new discovery for the Protestants! .....even household duties, which she saw as the will of the Father for her, were supremely valuable.....
by Friar Joseph Nasanathan, ofmIn teaching that Mary was conceived immaculate, the Catholic Church teaches that from the very moment of her conception, the Blessed Virgin Mary was free from all stain of original sin. This simply means that from the beginning, she was in a state of grace, sharing in God's own life, and that she was free from the sinful inclinations which have beset human nature after the fall.
History of the DoctrineThere are two passages in Scripture which point us to this truth. We look first at Genesis 3.15, in which we see the parallel between Mary and Eve of which the early Church Fathers already spoke: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed: he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." The Jews saw this passage as referring to the struggle between Christ and Satan, and so the Church sees in "the woman" a prophetic foreshadowing of the Virgin Mary (Vatican II, Lumen gentium, # 55).
If there is to be complete enmity between the woman and the serpent, then she never should have been in any way subject to Satan even briefly. This implies an Immaculate conception.
We can also reason from the text of Lk 1:28, in which the angel calls her "full of grace". If we can validate the translation, then in this verse we can see even more strongly the complete enmity with the serpent--for God's grace is completely opposed to Satan's reign. But if Mary was "full of grace," it seems that she must have been conceived immaculate.
We turn to the early Fathers of the Church. First, many, not all of them, make sweeping statements about her holiness. That could imply an Immaculate Conception. Secondly, very many of them speak of her as the New Eve. They could have reasoned: the first Eve had an immaculate start in life--no sin was yet committed. So the New Eve, who was to share in undoing the harm of original sin, should have also an immaculate start. However, none of the Fathers actually followed this line of reasoning.
The theological foundation for this truth was especially credited to the great Franciscan school of theology of the middle ages. Here especially to the work of Blessed Friar John Duns Scotus. He showed that for God to preserve Mary from original sin was a greater redemption than to allow her to fall into it and then rescue her. Scotus wrote (cited from J. B. Carol, Mariology I, 36
: "Either God was able to do this, and did not will to do it, or He willed to preserve her, and was unable to do so. If able to and yet unwilling to perform this for her, God was miserly towards her. And if He willed to do it but was unable to accomplish it, He was weak, for no one who is able to honor his mother would fail to do so."
Since then the Popes began to make statements of varying clarity. Here especially we need to take note of Pope Sixtus IV a Franciscan who became a Pope in 1477, praised the liturgical celebration of the Immaculate Conception. The same Pope added further support in 1483 (DS 1425-26), condemning those who said it was sinful to preach and believe the Immaculate Conception. The Council of Trent explicitly declared in its decree on original sin (DS 1516) followed by which it spoke about the Constitutions declared by pope Sixtus IV on MaryÂ’s Immaculate Conception to be observed.
Pope Pius IX, in the document, Ineffabilis Deus, defining the Immaculate Conception in 1854 wrote: "He [God] attended her with such great love, more than all other creatures, that in her alone He took singular pleasureÂ… that she, always free from absolutely every stain of sin, and completely beautiful and perfect, presented such a fullness of innocence and holiness that none greater under God can be thought of, and no one but God can comprehend it."
We have said that Mary needed redemption, although she was never subject to original sin. Nor did she have an "obligation" to contract it, as some have foolishly said: there can be no obligation to any sin. We can merely say she would have been in original sin in the sense just explained, i.e. she would have been born without grace, were it not for the preventive redemption. The word "preventive" means anticipatory: the grace she received at her conception was given in anticipation (Latin praevenire) of Christ's merits, which earned that grace.
What about the words of Jesus in Lk 11:27-28 (cf. Mt. 12:46-50 and Mk 3:35)? A woman in the crowd exclaimed: "Blessed is the womb that bore you...." He replied: "Rather blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it."
The dignity of being Mother of God is a quasi infinite dignity, as we just saw from the words of Pius XI. Yet here, our Lord is teaching us that the holiness coming from hearing the word of God and keeping it is something greater still. Her holiness must indeed be great--so great that "none greater under God can be thought of, and no one but God can comprehend it."
Even though Mary was full of grace at the start of her life, yet she could still grow, for, as it were, her capacity for grace could increase. The greater the love, the greater the merit. Love of God means the attachment of our will to His. Her will adhered supremely, with no obstacle at all, so that even ordinary household duties, which she saw as the will of the Father for her, were supremely valuable.
Joint statement by Anglican and Roman Catholic CommissionA recent (May 2005) Joint Declaration of ARCIC (Anglican- Roman Catholic International Commission) entitled: Mary, Grace and Hope in Christ, makes the same point but in different context. For several centuries, Mary the Mother of Jesus was a flashpoint of controversy and of much pain in a relationship between Roman Catholics and protestant. This document affirms that the Catholic teachings on the Immaculate Conception and on the Assumption of our lady are “consonant with the teaching of scriptures and the ancient common traditions”. In other words, Christians on both sides (Catholics and Protestants) are admitting that even in dogmas specifically connected with body of Mary, one can in fact recognize the deeper mystery of who Mary is, She is much more than the biological mother of Jesus whom, as St Augustine pointed out, she first was conceived in her spirit before he was conceived in her body.
An ex-protestant who was a pastor and preacher now a Catholic parishioner of St MaryÂ’s once told me what the Catholics honor in the Blessed Virgin Mary is a privileged truth about our faith of which the Protestants are now slowly beginning to discover. Thanks to the Franciscans who brought this truth to the Church not just in theological statement of truth but also the various ways in which the Church has honored Mary in the liturgical celebrations and devotions.
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary is celebrated on the 8th of December by the entire Church. I presume the Anglicans would have something to celebrate this year. It is truly a feast for all faithful, for what Mary is, for what she has done for us, for what she is continuing to do in the redemptive work of Her Son Jesus Christ leading sinners back to grace by her powerful intercession.
Fr Joseph Nasanathan, ofm
19th/20th November 2005