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Bible Study: Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception December 8 On this feast day we celebrate the fact that the Blessed Virgin Mary was sinless from the first moment of her existence. There is no …More
Bible Study: Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception December 8
On this feast day we celebrate the fact that the Blessed Virgin Mary was sinless from the first moment of her existence. There is no explicit biblical basis for this belief, which was declared dogma by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854. There are, however, several biblical passages which point in this direction; much like the fact that there is no clear statement about the Trinity in scripture, but nevertheless all Christian churches accept the dogma of the Trinity. She is prophetically foreshadowed in victory over the serpent which is promised to our first parents after their fall into sin (Genesis 3:15, our first reading); she is the virgin who is to conceive and bear a son whose name will be called Emmanuel (Isaiah 7:14; Micah 5:2-3; Matthew 1:22-23). From the earliest times the Church formulated in her prayer the essentials of her faith concerning the Mother of Jesus. She was declared the Mother of God by the Council of Ephesus in A.D. 431. But it took a long time to uncover the wonders of grace contained in these words. St. Irenaeus, in the 3rd century, foreshadowed Mary’s Immaculate Conception by calling her the New Eve. St. Ephraem of Syria (A.D. 306-373), a poet, hymn writer and deacon addressed Christ and Mary this way: “You alone and your mother are in all things fair; for there is no flaw in you and no stain in your mother.” St. Ambrose (A.D. 340-397) wrote “Adopt me, however, not from Sarah but from Mary, so that it might be from an incorrupt virgin, virgin by grace, free from all stain of sins.” By the 8th century, there was a feast in honor of the Mary’s Conception in the Eastern Church. In the 11th century, it appeared in the Western Church and was celebrated in England. Two centuries later in Scotland, the Franciscan John Duns Scotus clarified the distinction of how Mary would be immaculately conceived and still call Jesus her savior: Though Mary deserved original sin like all other humans, she was preserved from it at the moment of conception by a pre-redemption. She was saved from sin by her Son from the moment of her conception. This feast was included in the calendar of the Universal Church in the 14th century; on December 8, 1661, Pope Alexander VII registered the progress of belief in the Immaculate Conception and it was made a feast of obligation in 1708, with an Opening Prayer that declared: “God prepared a worthy dwelling place for [His] Son through the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, preserving her from all sin in view of the foreseen Death of His Son.” The Immaculate Conception is more than just Mary’s preservation from evil. It is her 2 fullness of grace. Mary’s soul, at the first moment of its creation and infusion into her body, was clothed in sanctifying grace. The stain of original sin was not removed, but rather was excluded from Mary’s soul. Freedom from original sin does not necessarily mean freedom from all defects which came into the world as a punishment for sin. Mary, like Christ Himself, was subject to the general human defects, insofar as these involve no moral imperfection. It would be incompatible with Mary’s fullness of grace, her perfect purity and immaculate state to be subject to notions of inordinate desire. Like her privilege of the Assumption, her Immaculate Conception is based on Mary’s divine motherhood; and in both Mary is the anticipated image of the Church without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27). The date of December 8 was fixed by the celebration of the Birth of Mary nine months afterwards, on September 8. It is not known why September 8 was selected as the date for the celebration of her birthday.
On this feast day we celebrate the fact that the Blessed Virgin Mary was sinless from the first moment of her existence. There is no explicit biblical basis for this belief, which was declared dogma by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854. There are, however, several biblical passages which point in this direction; much like the fact that there is no clear statement about the Trinity in scripture, but nevertheless all Christian churches accept the dogma of the Trinity. She is prophetically foreshadowed in victory over the serpent which is promised to our first parents after their fall into sin (Genesis 3:15, our first reading); she is the virgin who is to conceive and bear a son whose name will be called Emmanuel (Isaiah 7:14; Micah 5:2-3; Matthew 1:22-23). From the earliest times the Church formulated in her prayer the essentials of her faith concerning the Mother of Jesus. She was declared the Mother of God by the Council of Ephesus in A.D. 431. But it took a long time to uncover the wonders of grace contained in these words. St. Irenaeus, in the 3rd century, foreshadowed Mary’s Immaculate Conception by calling her the New Eve. St. Ephraem of Syria (A.D. 306-373), a poet, hymn writer and deacon addressed Christ and Mary this way: “You alone and your mother are in all things fair; for there is no flaw in you and no stain in your mother.” St. Ambrose (A.D. 340-397) wrote “Adopt me, however, not from Sarah but from Mary, so that it might be from an incorrupt virgin, virgin by grace, free from all stain of sins.” By the 8th century, there was a feast in honor of the Mary’s Conception in the Eastern Church. In the 11th century, it appeared in the Western Church and was celebrated in England. Two centuries later in Scotland, the Franciscan John Duns Scotus clarified the distinction of how Mary would be immaculately conceived and still call Jesus her savior: Though Mary deserved original sin like all other humans, she was preserved from it at the moment of conception by a pre-redemption. She was saved from sin by her Son from the moment of her conception. This feast was included in the calendar of the Universal Church in the 14th century; on December 8, 1661, Pope Alexander VII registered the progress of belief in the Immaculate Conception and it was made a feast of obligation in 1708, with an Opening Prayer that declared: “God prepared a worthy dwelling place for [His] Son through the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, preserving her from all sin in view of the foreseen Death of His Son.” The Immaculate Conception is more than just Mary’s preservation from evil. It is her 2 fullness of grace. Mary’s soul, at the first moment of its creation and infusion into her body, was clothed in sanctifying grace. The stain of original sin was not removed, but rather was excluded from Mary’s soul. Freedom from original sin does not necessarily mean freedom from all defects which came into the world as a punishment for sin. Mary, like Christ Himself, was subject to the general human defects, insofar as these involve no moral imperfection. It would be incompatible with Mary’s fullness of grace, her perfect purity and immaculate state to be subject to notions of inordinate desire. Like her privilege of the Assumption, her Immaculate Conception is based on Mary’s divine motherhood; and in both Mary is the anticipated image of the Church without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27). The date of December 8 was fixed by the celebration of the Birth of Mary nine months afterwards, on September 8. It is not known why September 8 was selected as the date for the celebration of her birthday.