Feast of the Immaculate Conception

One

The Perfect Woman

Wouldn’t it be a shame if we were able to know what a perfect man was like, but we never had the chance to see a perfect woman? If God had been able to design a flawless example of male humanity, but not of female humanity?

Of course, that’s the position, the imbalance, of just about every other Christian denomination: they present us with a perfect man, but not a perfect woman. But we know that’s actually not the case, that there is one instance of both a perfect masculinity and a perfect femininity. We know that when God’s perfect love for us took human form, it took the form of a man, Jesus Christ. But we also know that when our perfect response of love for God took human form, it took the form of a woman. 

Two

The New Eve

After the fall of Adam and Eve, there was promised a future couple, a future man and a future woman, who would together make war against Satan and sin. That future man was Jesus, the New Adam. And the future woman was Mary, the New Eve.

A fallen angel, Satan, came to the first woman, Eve. She accepted his word, and she initiated the fall of the human race, which the first man then brought to completion. So too a good angel, Gabriel, came to the New Eve, to Mary. She accepted his word, and she initiated the redemption of the human race, which the New Man, Jesus, would bring to completion. And just as the first Eve came from the body of the first Adam without sexual intercourse, so would the New Adam come from the New Eve without human intercourse.

Now, the first Adam and the First Eve came into the world sinless, with no trace of sin. Therefore it was decreed by God that not only the New Adam, but also the New Eve, would come into this world without the wounds of our fallen condition. And we say that Mary, from the first moment of Her existence, as the New Eve, came into the world without physical, moral, or spiritual flaws.

Finally, another perfect woman. Finally, a creature who was “Immaculately Conceived.”

Three

Redeemed by Christ

For a long time, theologians worried about whether it was proper to say that Mary was Immaculately Conceived. After all, if she came into the world sinless, why would she need Jesus as Her Savior? And if Mary wasn’t saved by Jesus, then Jesus wasn’t really the savior of the world, right?

Wrong. Mary was preventatively, or preservatively saved. She was rescued from sin before sin could touch her, all thanks to the graces from the future death of the Lord Jesus on the Cross.

So Mary doesn’t owe less to Jesus than we do. She owes more. She has been saved like all of us, but she has been saved in an even greater way because God preserved her from falling into original sin in the first place. Therefore, she has more to be grateful for and hence more gratitude toward her Son than anyone else.

Four

Does Mary’s sinlessness make Mary unrelatable?

Many people seem to think that if we say Mary was sinless, it somehow makes Her unrelatable. But sin isn’t what relates us to others, it’s what separates us from others. Sin prevents us from sympathizing with other people, sin locks us in our own private world of selfishness.

Even Aristotle pointed out that vicious people can’t sympathize with each other. A lazy person and a workaholic are both vicious, but neither has any sympathy with the other. Or, to take another example, in Dante’s Inferno, the misers and the reckless spenders spin round and round in an eternal quarrel.

But Mary, like Jesus, has been able to resist every temptation. So she can sympathize with everyone who falls into temptation, precisely because she hasn’t. She is maximally relatable because she is supremely virtuous.

Five

Purity that Purifies

Another problem people seem to have with Mary’s immaculate conception, that is, with her perfect purity, is that they don’t want to be close to Mary because they feel unworthy. We are sinners, shameful sinners. It can be hard for us to come close to Mary when we realize how pure and perfect She is and how sinful we are. We don’t want to pollute her so we sometimes keep far from her.

But remember, the purity of that child who came into the world, that Purity was for the sake of purifying the world. It’s true that in physical things, what’s dirty will spread its dirt to what’s clean. When your kid plays on a dirty playground, the kid gets dirty. It’s the dirt that spreads. But in spiritual things, it’s the purity that spreads.

Goodness is always contagious. Truth is more powerful than falsehood. And when Our Lord and Our Lady make contact with sin, it’s the sin that’s destroyed.

So always turn to Our Lady during times of sin, even in cases of shameful sin, especially in cases of shameful sin. Her immaculate purity is power – power to overcome our impurity and that of all Eve’s children. So always turn to the Immaculate One for help in overcoming sin. It was for our salvation, our redemption, our purification, that God gave us the Immaculate New Eve.

The Prayer of Consecration by Maximilian Kolbe 

“O Immaculata, Queen of Heaven and earth, refuge of sinners and our most loving Mother, God has willed to entrust the entire order of mercy to you. I, a repentant sinner, cast myself at your feet, humbly imploring you to take me with all that I am and have, wholly to yourself as your possession and property. Please make of me, of all my powers of soul and body, of my whole life, death and eternity, whatever most pleases you. 

“If it pleases you, use all that I am and have without reserve, wholly to accomplish what was said of you: ‘She will crush your head’ [Gn 3:15], and ‘You alone have destroyed all heresies in the whole world’ [Office of the B.V. Mary]. 

Let me be a fit instrument in your immaculate and merciful hands for introducing and increasing your glory to the maximum in all the many strayed and indifferent souls, and thus help extend as far as possible the blessed kingdom of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. For wherever you enter you obtain the grace of conversion and growth in holiness, since it is through your hands that all graces come to us from the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.” 

Allow me to praise you, O Sacred Virgin. 

Give me strength against your enemies.”