Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary



" You are that handmaid chosen by God and in whom there is no venial, mortal, original or actual sin, nor any other form of sin is found in you: and you see why Adam was created pure and without sin.  THere are some who say that you, Mother, are touched by original sin and they are saying a wicked thing since it is said above that my Father chose you because of your purity before Adam was created, to incarnate His Son.  Thus, if you had been touched by original sin, our mother Eve could say that she was made purer without any stain of sin: this is why, glorious Mother, infidels who accuse you of such a stain are silenced"

-- from Dialogue of Holy Wednesday, S. Peter Paschasius, O. de M.

"God wanted to preserve you from original sin which is mortal and from any other harm of pollution.  God's grace did tat since, as it was prophesied, the one who was to be born of this flesh had to be noble, the noblest of the sons of men.  Original sin came in man through disobedience, incurring the wrath of God who said: I regret having made man.  Therefore, if the Virgin Mary had been conceived in original sin, we would have to say that at some point she incurred God's ire, something which we do not want to say or believe; instead, before and after her conception, Mary remained in God's grace and love.  God did that, by a special grace, as God did with the three youths placed in the furnace to burn"

-- from the Dispute of the Bishop, S. Peter Paschasius, O. de M.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The thing I love about the Immaculate Conception is that it highlights one of the KEY differences between the Catholic and Protestant views of GRACE! Protestant GRACE sees humanity as totaly depraved, Christ does all of the work and no response is possible. Catholic GRACE sees that creation is made for participation in God's Divine Plan! We must all be like Mary! We must be in right relationship with the Father so that we can say YES! to participation in the mission. The Immaculate Conception focuses us on the desire to be in right relationship!