Monday, December 08, 2008
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us
People often misunderstand Catholic devotion to Mary. I am no theologian, but here's my attempt to explain why we hold her in reverence.
Notice I didn't use the word worship. Mary is simply a woman; however, we believe since she was given the singular gift of being the Mother of God, that God made her a little bit different from the rest of us. The Holy of Holies couldn't reside in a womb with a stain, not for His own sake, but for the protection of the one who carried Him. So God preserved Mary from that touch of darkness the rest of us have, what Christians call original sin, right from the moment of her conception. And that's what we celebrate today, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
A very good priest once explained to me every baptized person has original sin removed from their souls from the moment of baptism (after that it's our own mistakes that muck us up.) So, in essence, all Christians are like Mary after baptism, which means Mary could have sinned if she so chose.
Catholics believe she did not. So it is not only her spotless nature we revere; it's her choices. Mary chose to refuse sin. Mary chose to accept her unexpected, virgin and potentially dangerous pregnancy. She chose to give us our Saviour. Her choices are why she is the mother of all Christians.
I have also had some profound religious experiences involving Mary, before I ever "got" her. She was an enormous source of help and comfort during my last two pregnancies. I wear a Miraculous Medal around my neck every day in honour of her help during my pregnancy with Toddler N. -- a medal, strangely enough, my Anglican mom picked out for my birthday that year, thinking I would like it because it had Mary on it and was beautiful, not knowing its full meaning and purpose.
Both of my mothers take very good care of me. I love you both.
Happy feast day, readers!
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3 comments:
Interesting! I am not RC (old school Anglican actually) but I have always had a different understanding of Mary's nature. I want to very carefully state that I am speaking here as an amateur who can only really speak from within his own tradition but who is interested in the subject.
I understood Mary's pre-eminence to arise from the simple fact that she is the literal mother of the incarnate God. I further understood the term "immaculate conception" to mean that Christ was actually conceived without sin rather than conceived to a woman who was sinless. My understanding of the term was that human sexuality is fallen, is no longer pure, and thus that Mary (who was a virgin) was pure in this specific sense.
I have always thought that Mary was a very holy woman in her own right (this is after all why she was chosen to be the mother of Christ) but that it was her Son who was sinless.
I raise these points not to be argumentative, but to be inquisitive.
I love inquisitiveness! :-)
Many people have the misconception that the "immaculate conception" refers to Christ's conception. But it does not, and never did -- it has always referenced Mary's preservation by God from original sin in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne.
But as I stated, we are all washed of original sin in baptism, so her advantage is simply to be given that before the sacrament was given to all of us through her Son. In the end, it is her choices that matter, both to her and to our salvation. She basically chose our salvation by saying yes to God, though she could not know that at the time (just as we all do not know the full consequences of our choices immediately upon making them.)
You are right that Mary's eminience is fully based on her being the Mother of God. That's also why she was immaculately conceived. Remember, time and its movement is not the same for the Lord as it is for us.
The Catholic teaching is that Mary refrained from sin, but she is NOT like her Son; she is not God.
Like I said, I am no theologian, but I invite anyone with more info to jump in (Hubby, please?)
In the end, we agree; Mary was a very holy woman and was therefore chosen for this great favour. It is only in how holy she was, by what degree, and in her preparation for this role that most Christians disagree.
I think it is a healthy disagreement -- there's no harm in debating it, so long as we all remember to honour the mother of our Saviour in our own ways (which I think you've done on your post.)
Thanks for your curiousity. God bless, Torq.
:) *nods* you have inspired me to learn more on the subject! Thank you for your interesting post and very clear response.
The study of the Saints has been a failure in my own education.
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