O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. – Prayer on the Miraculous Medal, which is really the medal of the Immaculate Conception.
“Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is no spot in thee.” Canticles 4:7. So what is the Immaculate Conception? The Immaculate Conception is when the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary was created, it was created without the blemish of Original Sin which we contract from Adam and Eve. When God created Adam and breathed into him a living soul, his soul was immaculate. There was no sin there. When he took a rib from Adam and created Eve with her soul, hers was immaculate also. It wasn’t until they ate the forbidden fruit that their souls were stained with sin. This is what we call the Original Sin. And now that the head of the human race was contaminated, we are ingrained with that same contamination down through the ages, and will be until the end of the world. This contamination caused the death of Adam and Eve, and the whole human race. It was passed upon all men. ” Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned. ” Romans 5:12. With one exception, Christ’s most holy mother.
For one reason, it was not becoming due to the honor of Christ to come into the world through a contaminated vessel. St. Augustine said, “When it is a matter of sin, we must exempt the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I will have no question raised, owing to the honor due to Our Lord.” The dignity of being chosen to be the Mother of God is the highest honor ever bestowed on a creature of God. Higher than every creature on earth, and higher than all the hierarchies of heaven. Mary is the one creature of God who never sinned. “One is my dove, my perfect one is but one…the daughters saw her and declared her most blessed.” Cant. 6:8. The daughters saw her and declared her most blessed. Mary herself, did not even expect to be called to this honor because she was so humble, considered herself the most unworthy of all. She only prayed that she could be the maid servant of the one who would be called. She knew it was an incomprehensible honor, so when she went and visited Elizabeth, and was called, “the blessed among women,” Mary herself acknowledged that from henceforth, “all generations shall call me blessed.” Not all men, because many men disdain her, but all generations. We do that every time we pray the Hail Mary: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” We are fulfilling that prophecy each time we pray the rosary.
We honor the mother only because God honored her first, by choosing her to be His mother. As one man said, “If God chose your mother to be the Mother of Christ, would you not expect people to honor her in a special way?” Let us hear from St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori. This is taken from his brilliant discourse in THE GLORIES OF MARY.
St. Alphonsus says it was fitting that the three divine persons should preserve Mary from sin because she was destined to be the mother of the Son. It was fitting that the Father should preserve her because she was the first-born daughter of grace. “I came out of the mouth of the Most High, the first-born before all creatures.” Ecclus. 24:5, drbo.org. It was quite becoming that Mary should never have been the slave of Lucifer, but only and always possessed by her Creator: “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways.” Proverbs 8:22.
Still more was it becoming that God should preserve her from Original Sin, for he destined her to crush the head of that infernal serpent, which, by seducing our first parents, entailed death upon all men: and this Our Lord foretold: “I will place enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head.” Gen. 3:15. But above all, because the Father destined her to be the Mother of His only Son, that as St. Bernadine of Sienna says, “She was to beget God himself as a man.” For when David was planning the temple of Jerusalem, on a scale of magnificence becoming God, he said, “For a house is prepared not for man, but for God.” 1 Par. 29:1. How much more reasonable then, that the sovereign architect, who destined Mary to be the Mother of his own Son, adorned her soul with all most precious gifts, that she might be a dwelling worthy of God. “As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.” Cant. 2:2. Mary was a lily to God because she never sinned, while all the other daughters were thorns because they were stained with sin.
It was becoming that the Son should preserve Mary from sin, as being his Mother. No man can choose his mother, but should such a thing ever be granted to anyone, who is there who, if able, to choose a queen, would wish for a slave? If able to choose a noble lady, would he wish for a servant? Of if able to choose a friend of God, would he wish for his enemy? If, then, the Son of God alone could choose a mother according to his own heart, his liking, we must consider, as a matter of course that he would choose one becoming a God. “For itis fitting that we should have such a high priest; holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners.” Heb. 7:26. But how could Jesus be said to be separated from sinners if he had a Mother who was a sinner? “The glory of a man is the honor of his father, and a father without honor is the disgrace of the son.” Ecclus. 3:13. A sinful mother would not redound to the honor of the son.
“Wisdom hath built herself a house. The Most High hath sanctified his own tabernacle.” Prov. 9:1. “God will help it in the morning early.” Ps. 45:5. David says that Our Lord sanctified this his dwelling, “in the morning early,” that is to say, from the beginning of her life, to render her worthy of himself, for it was not becoming that an all holy God should choose himself a dwelling that was not holy; “Holiness becometh thy house.” Ps. 92:5. Therefore, St. Cyril of Alexandria asks, “Whoever heard of an architect who built himself a temple, and yielded up the first possession of it to his greatest enemy?”
Mary is called the Spouse of the Holy Ghost because Jesus Christ was conceived in her by means of the Holy Ghost. And now, had an excellent artist power to make his bride such as he could represent her, what pains would he not take to render her as beautiful as possible! Who then, can say, that the Holy Ghost did otherwise with Mary, when He could make her who was to be his spouse as beautiful as it became him that she should be? Ah no! he acted as it became him to act; for this same Lord declares; “Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is no spot in thee.” Cant. 4:7. Hence, Blessed Raymond Jordano declares, “Thou art all fair, O most glorious Virgin, not in part, but wholly; and no stain of mortal, venial or original sin is in thee.” To be continued
Rejoice O Virgin Mary. Rejoice a thousand times!
If you have found this discourse inspiring and enlightening, please consider sharing it with others. “They that explain me shall have life everlasting.” Ecclus. 24:31. “That is,” says St. Alphonsus, those who explain Mary and make her known to others, shall gain heaven.”