Mary, Sinless I: Defining the Immaculate Conception
A Frequently Argued Quandary
First things first: let’s look at the Catechism. It might seem tedious, but it’s essential to get clear on exactly what Catholics are accountable to here. I’ve bolded the most important bits.
“490 To become the mother of the Saviour, Mary "was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role."132 The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as "full of grace".133 In fact, in order for Mary to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God's grace.
491 Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, "full of grace" through God,134 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:
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, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.135
492 The "splendour of an entirely unique holiness" by which Mary is "enriched from the first instant of her conception" comes wholly from Christ: she is "redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son".136 The Father blessed Mary more than any other created person "in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" and chose her "in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love".137
493 The Fathers of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God "the All-Holy" (Panagia), and celebrate her as "free from any stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature".138 By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long.
"Let it be done to me according to your word. . ."
494 At the announcement that she would give birth to "the Son of the Most High" without knowing man, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary responded with the obedience of faith, certain that "with God nothing will be impossible": "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word."139 Thus, giving her consent to God's word, Mary becomes the mother of Jesus. Espousing the divine will for salvation wholeheartedly, without a single sin to restrain her, she gave herself entirely to the person and to the work of her Son; she did so in order to serve the mystery of redemption with him and dependent on him, by God's grace:140
As St. Irenaeus says, "Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race."141 Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert. . .: "The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith."142 Comparing her with Eve, they call Mary "the Mother of the living" and frequently claim: "Death through Eve, life through Mary."143 ”
When I first read the Catechism’s treatment of Mary, I was surprised at how level-headed it was. I expected it to launch into rapturous discourses that would clearly stray far over the line. But in reality I found it unwaveringly Christocentric. (I will explore this feature of Marian devotion and its connection to the Ecumenical Councils in another post.) Let me make a few observations on the Catechism’s instruction here.
First, Mary did not just try really hard to avoid sin. She possessed a special gift from God. The phrase “full of grace” is key here. The Greek in this passage is κεχαριτωμένη, kecharitomene. The most wooden translation would render it, “You who have been completed in grace.”1 It is entirely God’s doing that she was prepared to be the perfect vessel for Our Lord.
Second, there is no confusion here about Mary’s purpose. She’s not just hanging about as another person you could pray to if you didn’t think you were worthy to talk to God. She is the model Christian, because she understands that all any of us are here to do is point to Jesus, to know and love him.
Third, note the emphasis on Mary’s free assent to the Incarnation. I have been in a class at Princeton Theological Seminary in which guest speaker Dr. Natalie Wigg-Stevenson, director of MDiv studies at Toronto School of Theology, speculated that it is a “very fair question whether God raped Mary.” (I walked out of class soon after that—I suddenly sympathized with G.K. Chesterton’s The Ball and The Cross, which features a Catholic ready to duel to the death for Mary’s honor.) To counter such disgusting slander, we should be ready to emphasize that Mary’s “Be it done unto me according to thy word” comes totally free. But how? How could a sinful human, prior to the descent of the Holy Spirit, make such a pure, unreserved self-gift to God? One answer is that she was prepared from her conception specially for this task, to be ready for the “yes” to God that the whole world hung on.
This thought sets up my final observation. You can see how, by this logic, Mary comes to have all the titles that Catholics and Orthodox accord her. We call her the “Portal of Salvation,” not because we have to go through her to get to Jesus, but because through her Jesus came to us. We call her the “Morning Star” not because she is the S(o/u)n, but because she hails His coming. But, once again, I’ll save the rest of my thoughts on this point for the post dedicated to it.
More theological work could be done here. Perhaps at a later date I’ll write a post about Original Justice, which is useful to understand the ways that Mary’s blessings resemble and differ from the unfallen state of Eve. Until then, this should be plenty to get us started on a defense of the dogma.
Back to FAQ List | Next Argument >
For the nerds, it’s a perfect passive participle in the singular feminine vocative. If you wish you knew what this meant, the perfect is what you usually get when you put “have” in front of a verb. “I have read my Bible today.” Passive means the punitive subject of the verb is not the actor, “My Bible was read today.” A participle, at least in Greek, is when you turn a verb into a noun, an -ing verb, or some weird semi-untranslatable construct that might possibly be a string of commands (looking at you, St. Paul). The vocative is the form nouns take when they are being used as addresses. It’s the difference between “O Jesus [vocative]! Help me!” and “Jesus [nominative] is my help!” Add all this together and you get, “Greetings to you, she who has been completed in grace!” One might find it instructive to the Christian life that, with respect to God, we all should strive to be named by the “perfect passive”.