At the moment of her conception, Mary was given a unique gift of Sanctifying Grace which filled her entire being so that she was free of all stain of Original Sin and preserved from any personal sin for the rest of her life.
God preserved the Virgin Mary from the stain of Original Sin when she was conceived through the natural conjugal act of her parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne. This is referred to as the Immaculate Conception.
The Immaculate Conception does not refer to when Jesus was conceived in the Blessed Mother’s womb by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Like all Marian doctrines, the Immaculate Conception is more about Jesus than Mary. Chosen to be the mother of Jesus long before her life began in her mother’s womb, Mary’s conception was a fitting preparation for her role in salvation.
In anticipation of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection which would come later, Mary was preserved from sin from the first instant of her life. She lived her entire life in union with God, unlike the rest of mankind who must be delivered from sin.
Mary’s Immaculate Conception was officially and solemnly declared a dogma in 1854 but has been a common belief since the beginning of Christianity.
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated on December 8 and is a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics.
If the Immaculate Conception falls on a Sunday, it is moved to Monday and the obligation to attend Mass that day is removed.
Mary is the patron saint of the United States of America under the title of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.
If you’re going to be the Mother of God, you need some help:
Mary was equipped for the task she was called for:
The most thoroughly redeemed creature in all of God’s world:
In the sixth month, 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, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Luke 1: 26-29
A reboot of the first Eve:
The New Eve is not tainted by the stain of Original Sin:
Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, “full of grace” through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854:
Catechism of the Catholic Church 491
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, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.
The celebration of the Immaculate Conception fits the season of Advent:
We can find hope in the Immaculate Conception:
The Immaculate Conception is a dogma of the Catholic Church:
Speaking of the Conception of the Virgin, they testified that nature yielded before grace: It stood trembling and did not dare advance. The Virgin Mother of God should not have been conceived by Anna, before grace asserted its power: For that firstborn had to be conceived, from whom the Firstborn of all creatures would later be conceived. They professed that the flesh of the Virgin, although derived from Adam, did not contract his stains; that, therefore, the Most Blessed Virgin was that tabernacle made by God, formed by the Holy Spirit, truly a work in royal purple, which that new Beseleel wove in gold and with a variety of embroidery; that she was in fact and rightly celebrated, because she was the masterpiece of God, because she escaped the fiery arrows of the evil one, and because, beautiful by nature and absolutely free from every stain, in her immaculate Conception she appeared in the world like a dawn of perfect splendor.
Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 8 December 1854
A Church teaching that is often misunderstood:
Confusion about the Immaculate Conception:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
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