Immaculate Conception

It would be benefical to all of us to have a correct understanding of the Immaculate Conception.  You see, this term "Immaculate Conception" confuses people, quite frankly.  Many people have a misconception of what this term truly means.  For these people, they think that the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady puts her on a par with God.  They feel as though the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady makes her equal with God.  They feel that the Immaculate Conception makes Our Lady some sort of a "goddess," herself and as such is in no need of God's saving grace.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

If you will, let me tell you a story.  I remember when I was a young boy growing up.  I remember a time or two when my mother would come into my room at home and she would take a look at the terrible condition of my room  . . . . with books everywhere . . .  clothes everywhere . . .  bed unmade . . .  toys out of place . . . . my dear mother would look at this mess and she would tell me:  "You better start cleaning up this room and when I come back it had better be IMMACULATE!!!!"   In other words, she wanted my room to be as clean as possible with nothing out of place or out of order.

Or fast-forward to adulthood.  In your business life, I am sure all of us have had the occasion when our boss was coming through on an official visit . . . or the owner of the company . . . or a big regional manager was coming to visit.  And the word always goes out to clean up your desk . . .  clean up your cubicle . . . clean up your area  . . . and make sure everything is IMMACULATE!!!!!

Or how about when we are expecting important company to our home . . .  whether it be dear friends that we have not seen in a while . . .  or beloved relatives . . . .  or neighbors . . . .  when we invite people over to our home, we want the best impression given.  We clean up.  We put things in order.  We tidy up.  We place things where they are supposed to be.  We vacuum.  We clean.  We do all of this in order for the house to be IMMACULATE!!!!

Even when I know that the bishop is coming to visit our parish on his annual visitation, what do I do?  I put everything in order.  I clean the sacristy.  I clean the church.  I polish up the altar.  I dust everything. In short, I want the church to be IMMACULATE because somebody important is coming to visit!!!

In each of the examples that I gave above, we are cleaning things up, we are putting things in order.  Whether it be our room; our house; or our work-space.  And why is this so important?  Why do we clean things up or put things in order?  We are getting our area in good condition because someone important is coming to visit.  When you think about it in those terms, God wanted the Blessed Mother to be Immaculate because a very important visitor was coming to visit us:  His Son.

Pope Pius IX wrote in 1854 in regards to the Immaculate Conception:  "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 saviour of the human race, was preserved from all stain of original sin." (IIneffabilis Deus, the Apostolic Constitution f Pope Pius IX on the Immaculate Conception (December 8, 1854).

As stated above, this statement scares a lot of people because they don't truly understand what it means.  Quite frankly, a lot of people who call themselves "Catholic" do not even understand truly what the term "Immaculate Conception" means.  Please note in the quotation referenced above two important points made by Pope Pius IX :  1)  The Immaculate Conception of Our Lady was a "singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God."  In other words, it was not anything Our Lady did herself to make this possible: God made the Immaculate Conception possible for her;  2)  God permitted the Immaculate Conception "in view of the merits of Jesus Christ . . . "  In other words, the Immaculate Conception was permitted not for the benefit of Mary herself, but the Immaculate Conception was for the benefit of the Divine Infant she carried in her womb.  God wanted a proper place, free of all sin, as the proper place for His Son to dwell.  Again, this was allowed by God.  Mary did not make herself Immaculate . . .  God made her Immaculate for His Son's benefit!

We know that the Blessed Virgin Mary was the "vehicle" that brought Our Saviour into the world.  As such, God made her "immaculate" so that she could be a pure vehicle to bring the Saviour of the World to us.  We hear in St. Luke 1:42:  " . . . and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!"  Indeed!  Our Lady was in fact blessed.  She was blessed because she was made so by God.  She was blessed because she said "Yes!" to God.  She was blessed because she was open to doing the will of God in her life.  "And Mary said; Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."  (St. Luke 1:38)

If we have ever gone to pick up someone in our own vehicle . .  . whether it be a important visitor . . .  an important guest . . . . a boss .. .  a beloved relative . . . . if we are given the task of picking that person up and driving them somewhere, don't we make a point to try to clean up our vehicle?  Don't we try to put it in order as much as possible?  Don't we try to make it IMMACULATE as possible?

For my part, this is how I view the Immaculate Conception of Mary:  it's not so much about HER as it is about WHOM she was carrying inside of her.  In the Immaculate Conception, God was preparing a vehicle worthy of carrying His Son into the world.  A vehicle without spot, without sin, without stain.  When we clean our rooms . . . when we clean our work areas . . . when we clean our homes . . .  we are actually showing the importance of those who are coming to visit.  In this case, it was the most important visitor ever:  the Saviour of the World.  And God chose Our Lady to bring that Saviour into the world:  "Hail, full of Grace; the Lord is with you!"  (St. Luke 1:28)  . . . . the Lord is with you! . . . .  This is the reason God gave Our Lady the gift of the Immaculate Conception because the Lord was with her.

And here lies the importance of the whole notion of the Immaculate Conception:  the Immaculate Conception was not for the benefit of the Blessed Virgin Mary . . . . the Immaculate Conception was for the benefit of the Divine Infant she was carrying within her.  She was not "Immaculate" for HER benefit . .  .. She was "Immaculate" for HIS benefit.  She was made immaculate because she was carrying the Saviour of the World.