Immaculate Conception: Original Holiness, Justice, and Beauty

SOLEMNITY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION 2018

YEAR OF THE YOUTH

DECEMBER 8, 2018

JESUS, I trust in you!

The greeting of the angel Gabriel to Blessed Mary reveals the Immaculate Conception: “Hail, full of grace. The Lord is with you!” it was an appropriate description of Mary’s soul which was “full of grace” from the very beginning of her existence. Hers was a soul unlike all of us who were conceived and born deprived of God’s abiding presence: “All men have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.” By the disobedience of Adam, sin entered the world. This sin, which we call “original sin,” is a deprivation of holiness and justice. God created man in a state of original holiness and justice. St. Paul tells us we were “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:24). God created Adam and Eve in a state of original justice and original holiness (CCC 375). According to the Catechism, original justice means Adam and Eve were in a right relationship with themselves, each other, and all of creation (CCC 376). Original holiness means Adam and Eve shared in God’s own life through sanctifying grace, so they were adopted children of God (CCC 375). After the fall, our first parents transmitted to all of us a human nature deprived of this right relationship with God, with one another, with ourselves, and with all creation. Ours is an inherited nature that is deprived of God’s own life, God’s indwelling which is called sanctifying grace.

But not so for Mary: she was full of grace from the very beginning of her mortal existence. This is because she was “chosen before the creation began.” In the world, people are chosen for certain positions according to their achievements and track record. But this is not the case with Mary. Even before she was created, she was chosen to be the Mother of God. Or better yet, when God created the Virgin Mary, he already intended her to be the Mother of his only begotten Son. Therefore, he infused into that little fetus a soul that is full of grace. From the very beginning, the Lord was with her and has never left her. Hers was a human nature that was endowed with original justice and holiness. She was the most beautiful creature that God has ever created. None will be lovelier than her. She is the loveliest of all God’s creation: Tota pulchra es, Maria, et macula non est in te.

This is why Mary is our fallen nature’s solitary boast. Mary shows us the original beauty of our human nature. Hers was the beauty of the human being before the fall. Hers is the beauty of human nature redeemed. In her, we see how God wondrously created man and how he even more wondrously redeemed him. Take away all the corruption, all the ugliness of sin, and you will find man as God originally intended us to be. We look at Mary and we see the original plan of God for creation: wonderfully sharing in his Divine Life.

And this is what we ask our Redeemer to make of us: transform us according to the pattern of Mary’s beauty! Save us from sin! Save us from our own selves!  Restore in us the beauty of your Divine likeness. O loveliest of all God’s creation, preserve us in the Baptismal grace. 

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Immaculate Conception: Creation, Fall,, Redemption

Jesus, I trust in you!

Before original sin, there was first original holiness and justice. “The first man was not only created good, but was also established in friendship with his Creator and in harmony with himself and with creation around him…” (CCC 347) Adam and Eve were constituted in original holiness and justice wherein they shared in the divine life. They lived in Divine intimacy and in doing so, were exempted from suffering and death. Living in the garden was the sign that our first parents enjoyed God’s friendship.

But all was changed when man allowed himself to be seduced by the devil. The serpent disguised as good and pleasurable what is actually fatal. “Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in the Creator die in his heart and abusing his freedom, disobeyed God’s command.” (CCC 397) In that sin, man preferred himself to God and by that very act scorned him. He chose himself over and against God, against the requirement of his creaturely status and therefore against his own good. Constituted in a state of original holiness, man was destined to be fully ‘divinized’ by God in glory. Seduced by the devil, he wanted to be ‘like God’, but ‘without God, before God, and not in accordance with God.’ (CCC 398) Because of their first disobedience, Adam and Eve immediately lose the grace of original holiness. They became afraid of God of whom they have conceived a distorted image – that of a God jealous of his prerogatives. The control of the soul’s spiritual faculties over the body is shattered, the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relationship henceforth marked by lust and domination. Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation became alien and hostile to man. Because of man, creation is now subject ‘to its bondage to decay…Death makes its entrance into human history. (CCC 400) The personal sin of Adam and Eve affected the human nature that they would now transmit in a fallen state. They will transmit a human nature that is deprived of original holiness and justice. They will transmit a human nature that is wounded in the natural powers proper to it, subject to ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death, and inclined to sin – an inclination to evil which is called “concupiscence.” (CCC 404-405)

The Immaculate Conception

The response of God to all this is the promise of a Savior. God will send his Son to be born of a Woman who will be established in perpetual enmity with the devil. As Adam is the source of sin, Christ is the source of grace. The bad news of original sin will be reversed by the Good News that Jesus is the Savior of all men, that all need salvation and that salvation is offered to all through Christ. (CCC 389) Mary, who is destined to be the Mother of the Redeemer, became the first to be redeemed. By God’s decisive act, Mary did not inherit a human nature that is deprived of original holiness and grace. Instead, she is “full of Grace” because from the very beginning of her human existence, she was filled with the Holy Spirit. The Lord was truly with her. In Mary, we find that paradise lost became paradise regained. God, who is wonderful in creating man, was even more wonderful in restoring him to grace. This wondrous act of God is concretely seen in Mary. In Mary, we behold the glory of the new creation in Christ which far surpassed the beauty of original holiness and justice. All beautiful in the grace of God, Mary rightfully appropriates for herself the song of the prophet Isaiah: “I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul; for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation, and wrapped me in a mantle of justice, like a bride adorned with her jewels.” (Is 61:10) Mary shows us the beauty of creation redeemed and human nature fully divinized by God in glory. Hers is the glory that we aspire for. Thus we turn away from the wickedness of sin and struggle against our concupiscence. Purified by the grace we receive from the sacraments, we hope that one day we shall also regain the paradise we lost. To Mary, we cry for help: “Bend from your throne at the voice of our crying. Look to this earth where your footsteps have trod. Stretch out your arms to us living and dying, Mary Immaculate, Mother of God.”  

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

The Immaculate Conception as God's response to Original Sin

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

As we speak, our country is beset by the slowly moving powerful typhoon rightfully named “Hagupit.” We have yet to see the full extent of the damage this typhoon caused our country. However, the experts tell us that slowly moving typhoons leave more damage than those which strike quickly. Thus, we should pray to the Immaculate Conception, the patroness of the Philippines, to help our people weather and overcome the storm.

The name “Hagupit” is very appropriate for a typhoon of this magnitude. Hagupit means “scourge”. I do not like to imply that this typhoon is a punishment coming from God. Rather, we should see this typhoon as part of the consequences of the sin of Adam: “The harmony in which they found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul’s spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination. HARMONY WITH CREATION IS BROKEN: VISIBLE CREATION HAS BECOME ALIEN AND HOSTILE TO MAN. Because of man, creation is now subject to its ‘bondage to decay.’ Finally,…death makes its entrance into human history.” (CCC. 400) Indeed, we are witnessing not only an effect of climate change and global warming. We are seeing the effect of sin in action.

By his sin, Adam lost original holiness and justice not only for himself but for all human beings. Adam and Eve transmitted to their descendants a human nature that is deprived of original holiness and justice. This deprivation, called “original sin,” subjected the entire created world to the domination of death. (CCC, 416-419) Before this reality of original sin, we are helpless. No one has the power to save himself from this slavery to sin and death. Such is the poverty of our human nature.

Only the Lord can redeem us from original sin. Seeing our helplessness in face of sin, God decided to send his Son to save us. In preparation of the Incarnation, God created his most perfect creature: the Blessed Virgin Mary, who will be the Mother of his Incarnate Son. In Mary, we find the restoration of original justice and holiness. She was untouched by original sin, never deprived of the glory of God, always full of grace. The Immaculate Conception is God’s masterpiece. Mary was conceived without sin not only in anticipation of the Incarnation and Redemption, but also to provide for us the image of what God wants to accomplish in us by redeeming us: a human nature in which the likeness of God is truly restored. In the Immaculate Conception, we have the evidence of the victory of Christ. God has wonderfully created man but even more wonderfully restored him in grace. “The world has been established and kept in being by the Creator’s love; has fallen into slavery to sin but has been set free by Christ, crucified and risen to break the power of the evil one.” (CCC, 421) In Mary, we see the new creation: creation set free from the power of the evil one, creation restored in the loveliness of innocence and grace. “Mary benefited first of all and uniquely from Christ’s victory over sin: she was preserved from all stain of original sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life.” (CCC, 411)

And so, we still find ourselves within the harsh combat with the powers of evil. We continue to struggle to do what is right. We continue to suffer the consequences of original sin. By looking up to the Immaculate Conception, our weary hearts are strengthened by the assurance that God will never abandon us to the evil one. If only we cooperate with his grace, we will also succeed in achieving our own inner integrity. Only by God’s grace…only with God’s grace will we be saved.

Jesus, I trust in you. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.