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:
From the very beginning, therefore the “Eternal Design” as Dante would say, has a “fixed goal”: the Woman predestined to become Mother of the Redeemer, Mother of the One who humbled Himself unto death to restore us to our original dignity. In God’s eyes, this woman has always had a face and a name: “full of grace”, as the Angel addressed her when he visited her at Nazareth. She is the new Eve, the Bride of the new Adam, destined to be Mother of all the redeemed. This is what St Andrew of Crete wrote: “The Theotokos, Mary, the common refuge of all Christians, was the first to be liberated from the primitive fall of our first parents”. And today’s liturgy says that God “prepared the Virgin Mary to be the worthy mother of his Son… and kept her sinless from the first moment of her being … to let her share beforehand in the salvation Christ would bring by his death”.
Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus Address, 8 December 2008
A Church teaching that is often misunderstood:
Confusion about the Immaculate Conception:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
Relics of the Passion of Christ:
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