(La Purísima Inmaculada Concepción by
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1678, now in
Museo del Prado, Spain)
This is probably one of the most misunderstood celebrations in the Catholic Church- for both Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
First- a quick explanation.... while the Immaculate Conception is USUALLY a holy day of obligation (meaning we are obligated to attend Mass- or a vigil- for the day), the obligation is waived if the holy day falls on a Saturday or a Monday. HOWEVER, since Our Lady, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, is patroness of the United states, it is still a hold day for those of us in America.
The confusion about exactly what we are celebrating stems from two things: the atrocious lack of decent catechesis from the mid 1960's on, although there are some good, faithful and educated catechists out here. Really- there are. The other problem is the choice of the Gospel reading for the day: Luke 1:26-38... the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary.
You see, the Immaculate Conception does have something to do with that moment in scripture ( see
The Visitation ) ... but not the way most people imagine.
The Immaculate Conception we are talking about is not the conception of Jesus Christ in the womb of Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. That is part of the Virgin Birth. The Immaculate Conception to which we refer is the conception of Mary in her mother's womb. (Count forward nine months and you will find the Church celebrates the birthday of Mary on September 8th)
Now, before my non-Catholic friends get bent out of shape, the Church teaches that Mary was conceived the good old-fashioned way: through the marital embrace of her parents. By tradition, we call them Anne and Joachim.
The difference between Mary's conception and ours is that at the moment of her conception, by the merits of Jesus Christ and through a singular act of grace, she was kept free of the stain of original sin.
In fact, Gabriel's greeting to Mary tells us there was, indeed, something very special about this young woman: Hail,
full of grace, the Lord is with you!. Full of grace.... if she was full of grace, there was no room for unsavory things- like sin.
Ah, you may say- but in Luke 1:47, Mary clearly says, "
My spirit rejoices in God my savior." Mary needed a savior, so she could not have been sinless. Bam!
Step back for a moment and imagine.... You are walking through a dark woods and you fall into a deep pit filled with muck and slime and goo. I come along and pull you out. Did I save you? Yes. Now imagine that right before you fall into the pit, I block your path and
keep you from falling in. Did I save you? Yep, sure did.
...and that is what happened with Mary.
The Lord saved Mary by preserving her from original sin.
And where is that in scripture? Well, we'll start by saying that nowhere in scripture does it say that everything about the Christian faith is contained in scripture.
Nowhere. Even if it did, the canon of scripture was not even settled until the Council of Rome in 392, under Pope Damasus. So any reference to scripture contained in scripture can only refer to the Hebrew Scriptures. That is another topic for another day.
What is crucial here is nothing about the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is
contrary to scripture.
Some people will argue that there was no need for Mary to have been so created. Perhaps- though here is a story that illustrate why God may have chosen to do so.
Once upon a time, a baker decided to show his gratitude to the Lord for the blessings he had been given. He talked it over with his wife, and they decided they would make an offering of loaves of bread. The baker took the bread to the temple, placed the loaves before the ark, then departed. The caretaker came by and found the bread. Furious, he gathered the loaves and took them to the rabbi, "Look! Someone has desecrated the ark!" The rabbi realized the bread was an offering, and the donor meant no harm. He told the caretaker to give the bread to the poor.
The following week, the baker returned with fresh loaves, intending to replace the old ones. When he saw the first bread was gone, he was excited and ran home to tell his wife that the Lord had accepted their gift. Later, the caretaker came again, and again found the bread, and again was enraged. Again, he took the bread to the rabbi, who told him to give the bread to the poor.
A week later, the caretaker had had enough. He hid, waiting for the mysterious bread delivery. When the baker entered, the caretaker jumped out and the baker dropped the loaves as the caretaker chased him from the temple. The rabbi- who witnessed what had happened- picked up the loaves with tears in his eyes, knowing the baker would never return again with bread...and that the families who had received the loaves would be hungry.
I heard this story in a homily many years ago. It had nothing to do with the context in which I use it here, but it makes a point.
Why was the caretaker upset? The presence of the worldly, common bread was not appropriate before the ark. Why? The ark was the holiest place in the temple, it contained the Torah: the Word of God.
Looking back to the original ark- the Ark of the Covenant (check Exodus 25 for the details)- we can see that God demanded the finest materials: gold, silver, bronze... fabrics dyed violet, purple and scarlet- the most expensive dyes...spices, oils and gemstones. The materials had to be the best.... God would dwell there. And no one messed with the Ark,
or else. ( warning: graphic content!)
(Some of you see where I am going here...)
Where was the first dwelling place of God Made Man, the Word of God made Flesh, Jesus Christ? The womb of Mary, his mother. It is only good and right and just that his first earthly dwelling be as perfect as possible.
As God, he did just that.
Now, some history behind the Immaculate Conception.....
There is evidence that Mary's pureness and holiness was celebrated as early as the 5th century, however the formal proclamation of the Immaculate Conception took place in 1856:
We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine
which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at
the first instant of her
conception, by a singular privilege and grace of the Omnipotent God, in
virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, was
preserved immaculate from all
stain of original sin, has been revealed
by God, and therefore should firmly and constantly be
believed by all
the faithful.
—Pope Pius IX,
Ineffabilis Deus, December 8, 1854
As with many formal declarations of the Church ( and other, more worldly institutions), they do not appear out of thin air. They are part of what is called the development of doctrine, an unfolding of the truths of the faith. Such declarations are meant to put in one place the belief of the Church, and usually correct errors that tend to creep into un-formalized teachings. (note the painting above was done nearly 200 years before the formal proclamation) Martin Luther, who initiated the Protestant Reformation, said: "Mary is full of grace, proclaimed to be entirely without sin.
God's grace fills her with everything good and makes her devoid of all
evil" (
Luther's Works, American edition, vol. 43, p. 40, ed. H. Lehmann, Fortress, 1968)
In 1858 in Lourdes, France, a 14 year-old girl named Bernadette Soubirous saw a vision of a beautiful woman. The woman told Bernadette, "I am the Immaculate Conception." Bernadette had no idea what this meant; it was not a term a peasant child would have heard.
In 1792, Bishop John Carrol (first bishop of the United States) placed our country under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception. The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC is the largest Catholic Church in the United States, the 8th largest religious structure in the world, and is well worth your time on a visit to DC...even if you are not Catholic.
So, if you stuck with me to this point- I hope you learned something...or at least found words that will help you explain this beautiful part of our Catholic faith.
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