This Saturday, December 8th, is the feast of the Immaculate Conception. It celebrates an important point of Catholic teaching, and it is a holy day of obligation.
Here are 8 things you need to know about the teaching and the way we celebrate it.
1. Who does the Immaculate Conception refer to?
There's a popular idea that it refers to Jesus' conception by the Virgin Mary.
It doesn't.
Instead, it refers to the special way in which the Virgin Mary herself was conceived.
This conception was not virginal. (That is, she had a human father as well as a human mother.) But it was special and unique in another way. . . .
2. What is the Immaculate Conception?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains it this way:
490 To become the mother of the Saviour, Mary “was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role.” The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as “full of grace”. 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, 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.
3. Does this mean Mary never sinned?
Yes. Because of the way redemption was applied to Mary at the moment of her conception, she not only was protected from contracting original sin but also personal sin. The Catechism explains:
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”. 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. . .”
4. Does this mean Mary didn't need Jesus to die on the Cross for her?
No. What we've already quoted states that Mary was immaculately conceived as part of her being “full of grace” and thus "redeemed from the 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."
The Catechism goes on to state:
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”. 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”.
508 From among the descendants of Eve, God chose the Virgin Mary to be the mother of his Son. “Full of grace”, Mary is “the most excellent fruit of redemption” (SC 103): from the first instant of her conception, she was totally preserved from the stain of original sin and she remained pure from all personal sin throughout her life.
5. How does this make Mary a parallel of Eve?
Adam and Eve were both created immaculate--without original sin or its stain. They fell from grace, and through them mankind was bound to sin.
Christ and Mary were also conceived immaculate. They remained faithful, and through them mankind was redeemed from sin.
Christ is thus the New Adam, and Mary the New Eve.
The Catechism notes:
494 . . . As St. Irenaeus says, “Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.” 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.” Comparing her with Eve, they call Mary “the Mother of the living” and frequently claim: “Death through Eve, life through Mary.”
6. How does this make Mary an icon of our own destiny?
Those who die in God's friendship and thus go to heaven will be freed from all sin and stain of sin. We will thus all be rendered "immaculate" (Latin, immaculatus = "stainless") if we remain faithful to God.
Even in this life, God purifies us and trains us in holiness and, if we die in his friendship but imperfectly purified, he will purify us in purgatory and render us immaculate.
By giving Mary this grace from the first moment of her conception, God showed us an image of our own destiny. He shows us that this is possible for humans by his grace.
John Paul II noted:
In contemplating this mystery in a Marian perspective, we can say that "Mary, at the side of her Son, is the most perfect image of freedom and of the liberation of humanity and of the universe. It is to her as Mother and Model that the Church must look in order to understand in its completeness the meaning of her own mission" (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Libertatis conscientia, 22 March, 1986, n. 97; cf. Redemptoris Mater, n. 37).
Let us fix our gaze, then, on Mary, the icon of the pilgrim Church in the wilderness of history but on her way to the glorious destination of the heavenly Jerusalem, where she [the Church] will shine as the Bride of the Lamb, Christ the Lord [General Audience, March 14, 2001].
7. Was it necessary for God to make Mary immaculate at her conception so that she could be Jesus' mother?
No. The Church only speaks of the Immaculate Conception as something that was "fitting," something that made Mary a "fit habitation" (i.e., suitable dwelling) for the Son of God, not something that was necessary. Thus in preparing to define the dogma, Pope Pius IX stated:
And hence they [the Church Fathers] affirmed that the Blessed Virgin was, through grace, entirely free from every stain of sin, and from all corruption of body, soul and mind; that she was always united with God and joined to him by an eternal covenant; that she was never in darkness but always in light; and that, therefore, she was entirely a fit habitation for Christ, not because of the state of her body, but because of her original grace. . . .
For it was certainly not fitting that this vessel of election should be wounded by the common injuries, since she, differing so much from the others, had only nature in common with them, not sin. In fact, it was quite fitting that, as the Only-Begotten has a Father in heaven, whom the Seraphim extol as thrice holy, so he should have a Mother on earth who would never be without the splendor of holiness [Ineffabilis Deus].
8. How do we celebrate the Immaculate Conception today?
In the Latin rite of the Catholic Church, December 8th is the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. In the United States and in a number of other countries, it is a holy day of obligation.
When December 8th falls on Saturday, the precept of attending Mass is still observed in the United States, even though it will mean going to Mass two days in a row (since every Sunday is also a holy day of obligation). See here for more information.
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In light of the persecution of the Church in America, since the Immaculate Conception is our nation’s patroness, we should all fast on the vigil of this great feast to implore the help of Our Lady in our time of need.
Fast on a Feast Day? It’s a day to celebrate! Fast to prepare would be more fitting….
Oops, just reread that fasting suggestion. Seems we had the same idea.
I thank you for the explicit information concerning the immaculate conception of Mother MARY.It is now clear to me that mother MARY mother ANN conceived her without original sin.I thank the almighty Father GOD for choosing mother MARY before time began to be the mother of His son our savior JESUS CHRIST Amen.
Thanks, Jimmy, for highlighting these important facts concerning The Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Such matters are of infinite importance, as they concern God. May the Faith of all grow as they come to know this part of the Truth. Thanks.
Was there anything special about John The Baptist’s conception/birth? “No greater man born of woman”. Does that have any implication as far as his conception/birth other than to elderly parents?
Quick question regarding sin and Mary: does that mean that Mary had the free will to sin? I assume so, since Adam and Eve were immaculately born, yet still rebelled.
@ Post by Scott on Thursday, Dec 6, 2012 3:07 PM (EDT):
Dear Scott—
Regarding this…
does that mean that Mary had the free will to sin?
...yes, free will is intrinsic to human nature.
All humans have free will.
Mary is human.
Mary has free will.
See the Catechism Of The Catholic Church, as follows.
1711 Endowed with a spiritual soul, with intellect and with free will, the human person is from his very conception ordered to God and destined for eternal beatitude. He pursues his perfection in “seeking and loving what is true and good”
http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/1711.htm
1730 God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. “God willed that man should be ‘left in the hand of his own counsel,’ so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him.”
Man is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will and is master over his acts.
http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/1730.htm
HTH.
God bless you.
—Mark Kamoski
I would suggest that the answer to question 7 is “yes”. There are several indications in the Old Testament that direct contact with the Spirit of God, the uncreated power of God to bring about a new creation, was fatal to the sinner. So was contact with the Ark or the holy utensils of the Tabernacle, and proximity.
Anna Katherina Emmerick said about Virgin Marie that there wasn´t a sexual relation during her conception, because she had to be the result of the Holy Spirit. Of course she had a dad and mun but they didn´t spleep together, her father in the temple gave a hug her mother and the Holy Spirit made her conception. They were the only couple allowed to do that because there were special, from a saint race and families, and a non typical blessing inherit from Adan and all de patriarchs of the jewish people. Not very easy to understand. I some one of you want to understand, so you have to pray and the Holy Spirit make understand his misteries.
Protestants say that the dogma of the Immaculate Conception is the result of St Jerome’s bad translation in the Vulgate. The NAB reads “favored one.”
The Mystical. City of God by Ven.Mary of Agreda is very enlightening Church approved private revelation about the Life of The Blessed Virgin Mary as revealed by The Virgin Mary Herself?
In regard to point no.7 I would have thought that the church calling Our Lady “a fit habitation for the Son of God” was also saying that She could be the mother of Jesus. If She was not sinless I dont believe that She would have been the Mother of God. Because Jesus is sinless and all perfect He could not have been carried in the womb of an imperfect and sinful mother.Similarly souls who die and go to purgatory then become perfected. This enables them to go to the sinless perfect place of Heaven and are enabled to reside with a sinless perfect God.
Celebrate the Immaculate Mother of God
Hope the United States can make this day a public holiday! Very fitting!
Genesis 3:15, (God talking to satan)“I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers.” and the self-evident Truth that Since God is the creator of all space and time and everything in space and time, He must have only one, single, infinite, always in the present tense, eternal thought and therefore He is eternally saying in the present tense “I am putting enmity between you (satan) and the woman” and therefore she was never in the devil’s camp, never sinned by commission or omission and that is why Her prayers are so much more valuable than ours and especially Her joining Her Sons prayer for us on the Cross with peace, love, Joy and Thanksgiving which we become part of when we reolutely join our prayers to the infinite prayer of Jesus(CCC 2741). Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, pray for us that we may be thankful to suffer with Jesus as you were.
You can only go where your going through the LORD JESUS you must come through him to GOD read your book the word .............. not Mary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You can only go where your going through the LORD JESUS you must come through him to GOD read your book the word .............. not Mary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nothing in Akin’s article contradicts that. The Bible is full of examples of God using humans and matter instrumentally to achieve His will.
We are ready to celebrate Christmas once again and everyone who thinks he is “Christian” will for a while be thinking of that wondrous event a couple of thousand years ago.
There is no need to go into how it has been so commercialized that the real meaning of the most significant event in all human history has been more or less reduced to glamorizing the art of gift giving for adults and a child’s best bedtime story ever with new toys or clothing to boot.
We should recall the birth of Christ was a really very personal thing for one young woman as well as the amazing singular moment in time which changed the course of history for mankind’s existence.
This awesome moment came about as a result of the decision that a young woman made nine months earlier when asked if the Spirit of the Most High God could be allowed to come into her very soul and body in order to bring salvation to suffering humanity. Frightened by the very presence of the Spirit of God to which she had dedicated her life there before her, yet certain of her desire to please her Lord she humbly surrendered herself to His personal plan for her and His universal plan for mankind. That decision, that surrender and that act of faith formed the foundation for what we proudly cherish as Christianity today.
Knowing this we need to view the joy of Christmas not only for God’s great gift of His redeeming Son but also the opportunity to thank Mary for her most gracious and humble offering of total personal submission to the will of God for the benefit of all mankind. The shouts and praise hailed to all the kings of this world for their triumphs over the centuries are whispers compared to Mary’s gentle but earthshaking voice that night when she softly answered “yes” to God and said “be it done unto me according to your Will”.
So, with this perspective, whether we realize it or not we can and do in fact celebrate Christmas every time we devotedly and faithfully say “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death’”.
\\Anna Katherina Emmerick said about Virgin Marie that there wasn´t a sexual relation during her conception, because she had to be the result of the Holy Spirit. Of course she had a dad and mun but they didn´t spleep together, her father in the temple gave a hug her mother and the Holy Spirit made her conception.\\
This is totally wrong. This is one of the many reasons why I don’t believe her visions.
The traditional icon of the Conception of the Theotokos (celebrated by the Byzantine Churches on 9 December) shows Ss. Joachim and Anna embracing and kissing by a bed, with an empty cradle in the corner.
Any questions?
\Protestants say that the dogma of the Immaculate Conception is the result of St Jerome’s bad translation in the Vulgate. The NAB reads “favored one.”\\
The Greek word in Luke 1 that St. Jerome translated as “gratia plena” is KECHARITOMENI. It’s root is CHARIS, which elsewhere the KJV renders as “grace”. “Thou that art highly favored” is one of the many examples where the KJV fudged the translation.
Lessons we can learn from the Wedding Feast at Cana (John 2:1-11):
1) Inviting Jesus to your party is a good idea;
2) Jesus is NOT all about pain and suffering. He will share in parties;
3) Jesus sometimes does favors for people WHEN asked by His mother.
Also, just from a human view, if you want favors from someone, it is not a good idea to badmouth his mother.
TeaPot562
I don’t doubt that Anna Emerick had visions from God. However, the writer who took down her words added his own, so we really aren’t sure what was actually in her visions, and what he wrote from his own mind. You could check the New Catholic Encyclopedia on this (I consulted the 1967 edition of this encyclopedia).
Private prophecy is like the old Ripley’s saying “believe it or not.” I’ve heard several times that the man who wrote down Anne Catherine Emmerich’s visions wrote his own inventions. You’ll have to show me some proof of that other than doubting thomas heresay. There are many future events and actions over time that Anne Catherine Emmerich couldn’t possibly have known nor anyone writing her words could have known. That’s pretty hard to explain away and if much of it is true, it’s likely all true. Prophecies are dependent on the free will and actions of men in order to be fulfilled or not.
\\Anna Katherina Emmerick said about Virgin Marie that there wasn´t a sexual relation during her conception, because she had to be the result of the Holy Spirit. Of course she had a dad and mun but they didn´t spleep together, her father in the temple gave a hug her mother and the Holy Spirit made her conception.\\
This is totally wrong. This is one of the many reasons why I don’t believe her visions.
The traditional icon of the Conception of the Theotokos (celebrated by the Byzantine Churches on 9 December) shows Ss. Joachim and Anna embracing and kissing by a bed, with an empty cradle in the corner.
Any questions?
You can believe or not, that is your choice, not mine. But, the Catholic Church doesn´t reject Anna Katherina´s visions. The Catholic Church has desaproved others, like Vassula Ryen´s work. I know God turns the imposible things in posible. For God was possible the Virginal Conception of his only son, why not an Inmaculated Conception of the Virgin Mary?
Think about it.
\\For God was possible the Virginal Conception of his only
son, why not an Inmaculated Conception of the Virgin Mary?\\
Immaculate Conception is NOT the same thing as the Virgin Birth of Jesus. It has NEVER been the teaching of the Church Mary’s body was formed by a different process from yours or mine.
No private revelation can have the same authority as the official teaching of the Church. If you believe in the virgin birth of the Theotokos, you are believing something the Church has never taught.
\\ Of course she had a dad and mun but they didn´t spleep together,
her father in the temple gave a hug her mother and the Holy Spirit made her
conception.\\
This is wrong for two reasons:
1. Men and women did not embrace publicly, even if married. It was unseemly in this culture.
2. There were separate entrances into the Temple for men and women, therefore, Ss. Joachim and Anna could not have been even close enough to hug in the Temple.
The teaching of the church is not based on pious visions of individual nuns, especially if these visions refute historical facts.
“Immaculate Conception is NOT the same thing as the Virgin Birth of Jesus. It has NEVER been the teaching of the Church Mary’s body was formed by a different process from yours or mine.
No private revelation can have the same authority as the official teaching of the Church. If you believe in the virgin birth of the Theotokos, you are believing something the Church has never taught.”
So how can you know she was created?If a saint has some vision it´s beacuse God wants. The fathers of the church had told about that. I believe in Emmerick, you know that inside us there true teachings from God, we call it concience.
“This is wrong for two reasons:
1. Men and women did not embrace publicly, even if married. It was unseemly in this culture.
2. There were separate entrances into the Temple for men and women, therefore, Ss. Joachim and Anna could not have been even close enough to hug in the Temple.
The teaching of the church is not based on pious visions of individual nuns, especially if these visions refute historical facts.”
You can´t say how to act to God, if He wants somethings surely He never ask you that. You will NEVER hear this: Dixibehr, can I created a Virgin Mary as other human? because you will not believe in me if I do it in not you “normally” ideas.
God is a person also, he has his own personality, no any influence on him, no one can say him “you are doing wrong”
\\If a saint has some vision it´s beacuse
God wants. \\
What has not been determined is that these visions were indeed given by God, or were simply the products of her own mind. Did you know that Clement Brentano added a lot to his accounts of her visions. The Church has NEVER taken her visions as authoritative. It is significant that when Emmerich was beatified—NOT canonized; she is not an official saint yet—no reference was made to her visions, which had NOTHING to do with her beatifiations.
\\The fathers of the church had told about that.\\
The Bible also tells us to beware of “cunningly devised fables,” too.
\\ I believe inEmmerick,\\
I believe in the Church and the Word of God, and what they teach about the Holy Virgin, not cunningly devised fables.
\\you know that inside us there true teachings from God, we call it
concience.\\
This is not what conscience is. Furthermore, one’s conscience must be properly formed AND informed. Yours, alas, is not properly informed.
“\\If a saint has some vision it´s beacuse
God wants. \\
What has not been determined is that these visions were indeed given by God, or were simply the products of her own mind. Did you know that Clement Brentano added a lot to his accounts of her visions. The Church has NEVER taken her visions as authoritative. It is significant that when Emmerich was beatified—NOT canonized; she is not an official saint yet—no reference was made to her visions, which had NOTHING to do with her beatifiations.
\\The fathers of the church had told about that.\\
The Bible also tells us to beware of “cunningly devised fables,” too.
\\ I believe inEmmerick,\\
I believe in the Church and the Word of God, and what they teach about the Holy Virgin, not cunningly devised fables.
\\you know that inside us there true teachings from God, we call it
concience.\\
This is not what conscience is. Furthermore, one’s conscience must be properly formed AND informed. Yours, alas, is not properly informed.”
God works in ways that you don`t understand. A high intelligence, so high that we don`t see his limites because he hasn`t.
\\God works in ways that you don`t understand. A high intelligence, so high
that we don`t see his limites because he hasn`t.\\
If you’re trying to be insulting, or claim the moral high ground, it’s not working. Remember that among the gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.
Why don’t you ask your priest—or any other priest of your choice—just what the teaching of the Church is about how the physical body of the Most Holy Mother of God was formed?
Will you believe him?
“\ Dios obra en maneras que usted don `t entender. Una inteligencia alto, tan alto
que nosotros don `t ver a sus limites porque él hasn` t. \ \
Si usted está tratando de ser insultante, o reclamar la superioridad moral, no está funcionando. Recuerde que entre los dones del el Espíritu Santo son sabiduría, el conocimiento, y el entendimiento.
¿Por qué no qué lo preguntas tu sacerdote-or cualquier otro sacerdote de su elección-justo lo que el la enseñanza de de la Iglesia es acerca de cómo el cuerpo físico de la Madre La mayor parte Santo de los Dios le estaba formado?
¿Lo crees?”
No, Dixibehr , we are limited and little in front of God, reccognise that, it`s an act of humility. And humility makes the man great. There are much teaching of the church than you know. Centuries of knowledge are sleeping in catholic libraries, books that priest can read.
Scott W: We are Catholics we are not people of the BOOK ONLY. We are people of faith and scripture and works. The book you read was compiled and translated to the Latin by St Jerome and you only have what he put together for you. The Catholic edition including the NAB edition must be taken back and translated new from that Latin text of St Jerome’s. If it isn’t it won’t get the imprimater.
\\If it isn’t it won’t get the imprimater.\\
First off, the word is spelled IMPRIMATUR. It simply means that a book may be printed.
Next, there are Catholic translations of the Bible, including the NAB, that are not based on the Vulgate (which has itself been tinkered with since the time of St. Jerome), but from the original Hebrew and Greek. Various directives from the Holy See permit this.
Finally, not all the Catholic Churches use the Vulgate. Byzantine Catholic Churches, for example use the Greek Old Testament called the Septuagint. Catholic Churches of the Syriac tradition use the Aramaic version called the Peshitto.
Christ is born! Glorify Him!
Many Christians not just Catholics don’t actually like the NAB translation. It may be accurate but it lacks the ability to inspire. Most people I know prefer the RSV/RSVCE translation. The NAB is much like American culture utilitarian and uninspired. Our culture is such that we cannot see beauty if it stands in front of us. A perfect example is Dan Browns hero Langdon. He runs all over France, England and Rome and sees paint on canvas and chopped stone. He never gets the message the artist was trying to give because he is interested in symbolism as a college subject and it never touches his soul. I actually felt sorry for the character so uninspired a vision. I was out of the Church at the time I read it. It may have helped bring me back to the remembered beauty of Catholicism
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