The Immaculate Exception

The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin's name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
"Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
"Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house                                        

 of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom, there will be no end."
But Mary said to the angel,
"How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?"
And the angel said to her in reply,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God."
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.

Today's Solemnity makes me happy that I am a Catholic.  This feast is a prime example of the Church getting something right, right from the start. The readings presented will confuse some people because it is the dialogue of the angel and Mary on the occasion of the Annunciation.  That, of course, is not what we celebrate on this day.  The reason that the Church uses this particular scripture passage on this feast day is because of what both of the characters say.  The Angel Gabriel tells Mary that she is full of grace.  The timing of this announcement is important.  It was said BEFORE she agreed to become the Mother of God, not after.  The Angel was therefore not bringing her Grace, she already had it and she had it in an extravagant abundance, she was full, absolutely full of grace.  Her soul could not contain even one more ounce of God's love and Grace.  If you have a jar and fill it to the top with sand, you cannot get any more in it.  Mary was born without the stain of original sin on her soul, her soul was pure and beautiful in God's sight.  But why did God do this? 

Look at what we know about the nature of God.  God is infinite goodness and love.  Nothing that is impure or sinful can ever be in His presence.  The Virgin Mary was going to be the Mother of the Messiah. For nine months she was to bear in her body the body, blood, soul, and divinity of the Son of God.  I never thought of it before, but, her womb could be considered a tabernacle. If I was going to be flippant about it, I might call Mary's womb a branch office of heaven because God was present inside of her. This being the case, there could not even be a hint of sin in the place God was to dwell. 

How did God do this?  It is true, God could have created Mary as singularly different creature, one who had a specially built soul which was absolutely resistant to sin but that would make Mary a creature at least one step removed from being a human being, she would be in effect Human Being Mark II.  The genus man had sinned and it was man that had to pay the price for the sin so Jesus would have to be born through the office of an ordinary woman. Mary, therefore, required a savior. 

God is not bound by space and time. He exists in the past, present, and future as we see it all at the same time. Therefore, God knew that Jesus was going to pay the price for the sin of Adam and Eve by dying on the cross. He, therefore, applied the graces to Mary before the fact as we see it and preserved her from any taint of original sin.  The old example is that while Jesus rescued you and me from the pit of sin, Mary was carried over it by her Son. 

As I said, the wonder of this feast comes from the conversation between Mary and the Angel. To her eternal credit, Mary never hesitates, she asks only how that she would conceive a son because she never had relations with a man. Then she accepts, meekly and humbly calling herself the handmaid of the Lord and she says, "Let it be done to me as you have said."   But, doesn't this immaculate conception thing kind of make her a puppet?  Could she have refused?  

Mary was a human being.  In many ways, she was very, very, ordinary.  She was a pious girl in an age where piety was the expected norm and she was taught to love God and keep the commandments.  She also was born with free will and she was free to say no to the angel.  Because she was full of grace, her whole mind, body, and soul were turned to God in a way that made it much more likely that she would say yes rather than no but she had that decision to make. And as I pointed out, she never hesitated but she nullified the no of Adam and Eve with her "Yes" to be obedient to God. 

Our Protestant brothers and sisters have a great deal of difficulty with the concept of where Mary fits into God's plan of salvation.  We Catholics are very fortunate that we understand the truth of the matter and that we have a mother in heaven that has the ear of the Savior.  What does Mary tell us in scripture?  At Cana, she gave us her best advice, "Do whatever he tells you to do." 

Please remember to pray for the poor souls in Purgatory today.  An Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be will help them so much.  Remember, As they are, someday you may be.