Editorial: Unique Privilege Prepared Mary To Be God’s Mother

FATHER JOSEPH A. FAHY, CP, Special Contributor

Published: December 2, 2004

The year 2004 marks the 150th anniversary of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary in 1854. This anniversary is an appropriate time to consider this sublime privilege of Mary and its important implications for the Incarnation of her Son, “the Word made flesh, who dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14).

On Aug. 14 and 15, the feast of the Assumption of Mary, Pope John Paul II visited Lourdes to commemorate this anniversary. His visit highlighted the fact that the Immaculate Conception has significant consequences for the life of Jesus, for the Church and for ongoing ecumenical dialogue. In his homily on the feast of the Assumption, Pope John Paul stated, “I have greatly wished to make this pilgrimage to Lourdes in order to celebrate an event which continues to give glory to the Triune God. Mary’s Immaculate Conception is the sign of the gracious love of the Father, the perfect expression of the redemption accomplished by the Son, and the beginning of a life (Mary’s) completely open to the working of the Spirit.”

Many—some Catholics included—are confused about the meaning of the Immaculate Conception. Some believe that the “conception” refers to that of Jesus, rather than to Mary’s. Pope Pius IX consulted the bishops of the world about what they and their faithful believed “in regard to the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God” and the suitability of defining the doctrine at that particular time. The overwhelming affirmative response prompted the pope to define the dogma in the Apostolic Constitution, Ineffablis Deus, Dec. 8, 1954: “We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God, and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the Faithful.” The future merits of the redeeming Passion and Resurrection of her divine Son were applied to Mary in a more perfect and anticipatory manner, preserving her from sin from the very first moment of her existence. Mary was redeemed as all of us.

Four years later, in 1858, the beautiful lady, who appeared to Bernadette at Lourdes, identified herself as, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” She “wanted to confirm by her own mouth,” as Pope Pius XII stated, the dogma defined by his predecessor Pius IX. The Immaculate Conception is not only a sublime privilege of Mary but is especially for her Son, necessary for his rearing and education. He was thoroughly immersed in our human situation and “similarly tested in every way, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15). As John Henry Cardinal Newman cogently commented, Mary “had this special privilege in order to fit her to become the Mother of her and our Redeemer, to fit her mentally, spiritually for it, … prepared to receive Him into her bosom.”

St. Paul, in chapter five of his Epistle to the Romans, compares and contrasts Adam, the first parent, with the Second Adam, Christ. “Through the one man Adam, sin and death came upon … humanity, so through the one man Christ came eternal life,” noted the distinguished Scripture scholar Joseph Fitzmyer. In a similar manner, Mary is the “second Eve,” so called from the second century by the church fathers, St. Justin Martyr and Sts. Irenaeus and Tertullian. Eve received the heavenly gift of grace at the moment of her original creation. If Eve received this supernatural gift from the first moment of her existence, it is not rash to assert that Mary, with a more important role in the history of salvation as the Mother of the Savior, also received this gift of divine grace at the first instant of life. St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians describes the Church as the new Israel, the bride of Christ, “holy, immaculate, luminously beautiful, without spot, wrinkle, or the like” (Eph 5:27). Mary’s Immaculate Conception demonstrates that the Church is truly holy, as a person and in a person, the Mother of the “Word made flesh.”

Pope Paul VI, in his acclaimed apostolic exhortation Marialis Cultus, on devotion to Mary, states, “Devotion to the Blessed Virgin must also pay close attention to certain findings of the human sciences.” The ongoing advances in the sciences of human embryology, prenatal psychology, and allied disciplines, as well as the psychology of the growing child, decisively indicate the profound influence of the mother’s sentiments and actions upon the fetus and maturing child. It is not within the scope of this limited article to consider in detail this important and timely subject. The above sciences appear to corroborate the fitness, perhaps the necessity, of Mary’s Immaculate Conception for the proper raising of her Son, “the Word made flesh” truly divine and truly human. The Son accepted human limitations not involving sin. There is abundant evidence that in the very first weeks of conception, the fetus responds actively to both external and internal stimuli: gentleness, a caring touch, sound, tone of human voice, particularly of parents, light, cold, warmth, music, and especially the varied moods of the mother, notably, of loving acceptance, or rejection or indifference. If the maternal emotions are loving and nurturing, the chances are very good that the baby will be healthy and happy. The mother’s love or rejection or ambivalence begins defining and shaping his or her (the fetus’) emotional life.

“The Word made flesh” needed a mother who was as perfect as human nature, wholly sanctified through grace by the Holy Spirit, permits, preserved from those negative elements flowing from original sin and personal sin, for His imitation and ongoing education: “As Jesus advanced (in) wisdom and age and favor before God and man” (Lk 2:52). Once, while Jesus was preaching, “a woman in the crowd happened to raise her voice and say to Him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that you fed on’” (Lk 11:27). Jesus’ reply suggests that Mary is worthy of honor for more important and sublime reasons: Mary is preeminent among the “blessed (who) listen to the word of God and observe it” (Lk 11:28). Elizabeth, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” exclaims: “Blest indeed are you among women.” Mary declares in her Magnificat, “Behold, from now on all ages will call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, and Holy is His name” (Lk 1:41-42,45,48-49).

The heavenly messenger of God, the angel Gabriel, bestows upon the humble maid of Nazareth praise and reverence far surpassing the above encomiums. The angel, “coming to her, said, ‘Hail, favored one, the Lord is with you … Do not be afraid, you have been favored by God. You will conceive … and bear a Son and you will name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be hailed as Son of the Most High’” (Lk 1:26, 28, 30-32).

Pope John Paul II, in his important exhortation Catechesi tradendae, on Catechesis in Our Time (1979), pointedly alludes to the maternal teaching role of Mary: “By a unique vocation she saw her Son Jesus increase in wisdom and in stature and in favor. As He sat on her lap and later as He listened to her throughout the hidden life of Nazareth, this Son, who was the ‘only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth,’ was formed by her human knowledge of the Scriptures and the history of God’s plan for His people.” The Holy Father adds that there are good grounds for calling Mary “a living catechism” for Jesus.

It is repugnant to Christian sensibility to consider that the Mother of the All-Holy One, the source of all sanctity, could be subject to sin even for a brief moment. As a child and youth, Jesus needed the constant presence, example and teaching of a mother completely untouched by those multiple weaknesses, vices, limitations and example that are the direct results of original and personal sins.

The ongoing developments in prenatal sciences and child psychology and an ever-deeper understanding of the implications of the Incarnation of the Son of God, will express in terms more intelligible and congenial to the modern world, the meaning of the Immaculate Conception of Mary in the life of her Son and in the history of salvation. As the distinguished Scripture scholar Raymond E. Brown states, “part of the genius of Catholicism is that it does not confine itself to the insights of the first century” (attested in the New Testament), which are essential and fundamental, but discerns as a “believing community” other truths implicitly (within the folds) contained in that rich, original inspired deposit of revelation left by the Son of God and His Apostles. The People of God continue to discover ever more “adequate expressions for intuitions” contained in this deposit.

Father Fahy serves in the Office of Hispanic Ministry.