Today the entire Church around the world sings, together with the angelic choirs in heaven, the marvels the Lord has worked – and continues to work – for humanity: in and through Mary. The believing community in Jesus Christ the Lord makes its own the words of Mary’s kinswoman, Elizabeth, to magnify the Lord for “his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds" (Ps 107: 15).
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:46-48). Yes and rightly so! Because Mary, the Mother of the Eternal Word Incarnate, was “preserved” from sin, thanks of course to the foreseen merits of Jesus, her Son and her Redeemer. In this perspective we can easily conclude that Mary is the first among us, redeemed humanity and, concomitantly, she is also the first Christian. Mary is completely redeemed in every spiritual, corporal and psychological sense.
But for what reason would God make such an exception for Mary of Nazareth? Why would He preserve her from sin, even before she was conceived? The reason is that Mary had a unique mission to accomplish in the economy of salvation. By her continual ‘Yes’ to God’s salvific plan she perfectly resembled her Son, Jesus, who crushed the head of Satan (Gen 3:15). By a special privilege of divine grace Mary, like her Son, was totally free from sin. Thus, she was never under Satan’s power. As God prepared from eternity a sinless paradise for Adam and Eve, in the same way it can be said that Mary is a “second” sinless paradise wherein the Son of God would live before He was born in Bethlehem.
Saint Francis, completely stupefied by such a great mystery, could not stop himself from offering the sweetest and profoundest praises to the Mother of God. “Hail, Palace of God! Hail, Tabernacle of God! Hail, Dwelling-place of God! Hail, Garment of God! Hail, Servant of God! Hail, Mother of God!”
Similarly, eastern Christians were so captivated by this magnificent event that in the Small Compline on the Fridays of Lent they lovingly describe Mary as the “tabernacle of God the Logos”, “holier than the holies,” “ark that was gilt by the Spirit”, “life’s inexhaustible treasure”, “exquisite diadem of kings with true beliefs”, “reverential pride of profoundly pious priests”, “the Church’s unshaken citadel”, “the Empire’s fortress that never fell”, “through whom rise trophies of victory”, “through whom fall enemies utterly”, “my bodily health’s restoration”, “my soul’s everlasting salvation” and “unwedded Bride”!
Centuries before the Blessed Pius IX, in his Apostolic Constitution of 8 December 1854 Ineffabilis Deus, solemnly defined that “the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance 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 free from all stain of original sin”, the Church Fathers had already demonstrated their belief in the Immaculate Conception of Mary.
Let us mention some examples. In Homily 1, Origen (AD 244), said: “This Virgin Mother of the Only-begotten of God, is called Mary, worthy of God, immaculate of the immaculate, one of the one.” In Saint Ephraem’s Nisibene Hymns 27:8 (AD 370) we find: “Thou alone and thy Mother are in all things fair, there is no flaw in thee and no stain in thy Mother.” Saint Augustine (AD 415) in Nature and Grace 4, 36 plainly states: “We must except the Holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honour to the Lord; for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon her who had the merit to conceive and bear Him who undoubtedly had no sin.”
If Mary is a shining example of the workings of God’s holiness at its best through us, human beings, why not then humbly pray to her daily: “O Mary, who came into this world free from sin, obtain from God for me to leave it without sin”?
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap