The Immaculate Conception
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The Immaculate Conception
Have you ever noticed that when the Archangel Gabriel comes to Mary at the Annunciation, he does not say, “Hail, Mary”, but “Hail, full of grace.” St. John Paul II says this is because “Full of Grace” is Mary’s name in the eyes of God.”[1]
This phrase “Full of grace” is the English translation of the Greek word Kecharitomene. Kecharitomene literally means God completely and perfectly filled Mary with the Holy Spirit and with His grace from the 1st moment of her existence, from her conception.
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In 1854 Pope Pius IX proclaimed Mary as the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Four years later on March 25, 1858 Mary appeared at Lourdes. The young visionary, Bernadette did not know this woman was, and she most certainly had no prior knowledge of papal proclamations. So Bernadette asked the Woman: What is your name?
The Woman slipped her rosary over her right arm. She unfolded her hands and extended them toward the ground (signifying the graces she gives to the world through her intercession) She then folded them at her breast, raised her eyes to heaven and said, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
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The way Mary identified herself at Lourdes as the Immaculate Conception captivated St Maximilian Kolbe for his whole life.
This led him to one of the greatest insights about Mary which he dictated to Br. Arnold in his office on the morning of February 17, 1941, right before he was arrested by the Nazi’s and taken to Auschwitz.
Kolbe writes: Who is the Father?... Because He begets the Son from eternity…the Father’s essential attribute is begetting. Who is the Son? He is the begotten One; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father. And who is the Spirit? He is the fruit of the love between the Father and the Son. Now, the fruit of created love is a created conception. Therefore, the fruit of divine love, the prototype of all love, is the first conception. The Holy Spirit is, therefore, the Divine Uncreated Immaculate Conception.
Then Kolbe speaks about the union of Mary with the Holy Spirit. He says: It is the union of her being with the being of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in her from the first instance of her existence, and he will reside within her eternally. What does this life of the Holy Spirit in her consist? The Spirit is love in her, the love of the Father and the Son, the entire love of the Most Holy Trinity, a fruitful love, a conception.
At Lourdes, Mary did not define herself as “Conceived without sin,” but, as St. Bernadette related…She said in a voice in which you could notice a slight tremor…I am the Immaculate Conception.” If, among humans, a bride takes the name of her husband by the fact that she belongs to him, unites herself to him, is made similar to him and, together with him engenders new life, how much more should the name of the Holy Spirit, the Uncreated Immaculate Conception, be the name of Mary with whom the Spirit is united in supernatural love.
Mary is the Immaculate Conception because the Holy Spirit who is the Uncreated Immaculate Conception, filled her with himself and fashioned her to be the perfect human expression of the Spirit. That is the reality we celebrate today, December 8.
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I’ve had the privilege of working with Fr. Gregorz Bartosik, the greatest living Kolbe scholar. I asked Fr. Gregorz to explain Kolbe’s insights in the union of the Holy Spirit and Mary
Fr. Gregorz Bartosik responded:
According to Kolbe,
Mary and the Holy Spirit are two separate persons,
but their union is so close, that
though Kolbe called Mary the “Spouse of the Spirit”
it was not adequate.
In fact, Kolbe preferred to call Mary
the “Almost-Incarnation” of the Holy Spirit.
Kolbe said the Son became manifest in Jesus
and the Holy Spirit became manifest in Mary.
That is when I asked Fr. Bartosik, “What would Kolbe think of this:
If the Holy Spirit is the Uncreated Immaculate Conception and Mary is the created Immaculate Conception, then Mary is the Perfect Human Expression of the Spirit. Mary is a kind of sacrament of the Holy Spirit?”
Bartosik became excited, sprung forward in his seat and said – that is exactly how Kolbe understood it.
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The Catechism (1131) defines a sacrament as having three parts
1. Sacraments are efficacious signs
2. Instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church
3. By which divine life is dispensed to us
Efficacious signs make what they signify happen. Mary is the perfect human expression of the Spirit that makes the maternal mission of the Spirit happen in us - to conceive and form Jesus in us.
Second, sacraments are instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church. At Calvary, Mary was instituted by Christ as our spiritual mother and entrusted to the Church in the person of the Beloved disciple. Jesus said, “Behold, your mother” and Mary received the mission to make the maternal action of the Holy Spirit present in our lives.
And third, sacraments dispense the divine life to us. It is the mission of the Holy Spirit to receive the divine life of the Son in us. On her own, Mary cannot do this. Only the Spirit can bring us the divine life of Jesus. But the Spirit does so with and in and through Mary.
So, what is our takeaway and our resolution?
The mission of the Holy Spirit to form Jesus within us is made present through Mary.
Therefore, whenever we turn to Mary, the Holy Spirit acts in us.
So, have confidence in Mary, belong entirely to her and she will form Jesus in you.
[1] General Audience May 15, 1996