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Showing posts with label December 8. Show all posts
Showing posts with label December 8. Show all posts
The Immaculate Conception in Scripture
By: Tim Staples
1.
eight
reasons for belief in the Immaculate Conception:
a. Mary
is revealed to be "full of grace" in Luke 1:28 .
b. Mary
is revealed to be the fulfillment of the prophetic "Daughter of Zion"
of Zech. 2:10 ; Zeph. 3:14-16 ; Isaiah 12:1-6 , etc.
c. Mary
is revealed to be "the beginning of the new creation" in
fufillment of the prophecy of Jer.
31:22 .
d. Mary
is revealed to possess a "blessed state" parallel with Christ's in Luke 1:42 .
e. Mary
is not just called "blessed" among women, but "more blessed
than all women" (including Eve) in Luke 1:42 .
f. Mary
is revealed to be the spotless "Ark of the Covenant" in Luke 1 .
g. Mary
is revealed to be the "New Eve" in Luke 1:37-38 ; John 2:4 ; 19:26-27 ; Rev. 12 , and elsewhere.
h. Mary
is revealed to be free from the pangs of labor in fulfillment of Isaiah 66:7-8 .
2. “How
could anyone believe Mary was free from all sin in light of these Scriptures?
What’s more, Mary herself said, ‘My soul rejoices in God my savior’ in Luke 1:47 . She clearly
understood herself to be a sinner if she admits to needing a savior.”
a. Mary
was “saved” from sin in a most sublime manner. She was given the grace to be
“saved” completely from sin so that she never committed even the slightest
transgression. The problem here is Protestants tend to emphasize God’s
“salvation” almost exclusively to the forgiveness of sins actually committed.
However, Sacred Scripture indicates that salvation can also refer to man being
protected from sinning before the fact.
b. Now
to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish
before the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God, our Savior
through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority,
before all time and now and for ever (Jude 24-25 ).
c. The
great Franciscan theologian, Duns Scotus, explained ca. 600 years ago that
falling into sin could be likened to a man approaching unaware a massive
20-feet deep ditch. If he falls into the ditch, he would need someone to lower
a rope and save him. But if someone were to warn him of the danger ahead resulting
in the man not falling into the ditch at all, he would have been saved from
falling in the first place. Analogously, Mary was saved from sin by receiving
the grace to be preserved from it. But she was still saved.
3. The
Exception[s] to the Rule
a. But
what about “all have sinned,” and “if any man says he has no sin he is a liar
and the truth is not in him?” Wouldn’t “all” and/or “any man” include Mary? On
the surface, this sounds reasonable. But this way of thinking carried to its
logical conclusion would list Jesus Christ in the company of sinners as well.
No Christian would dare say that! Yet, no Christian can deny the plain texts of
Scripture declaring Christ’s full humanity either. Thus, if one is going to
take I John 1:8 in a
strict, literal sense, then any man would apply to Jesus as well!
b. we
need to recall that both of these texts—Romans 3:23 and I John 1:8 —are dealing with personal rather than original
sin.
c. Romans 5:12 will deal with
original sin.
d. I John 1:8 obviously refers to
personal sin because in the very next verse, St. John tells us, “If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins…” We do not confess original
sin; we confess personal sins.
e. Romans 3:23 makes clear that it
too refers to personal sin
f. Original
sin is not something we do; it is something we’ve inherited.
g. Romans
chapter three deals with personal sin because it speaks of sins committed by
the sinner. With this in mind, consider this: Has a baby in the womb or a child
of two ever committed a personal sin? No, they haven’t (see Romans 9:11 )! Or, how about the
mentally challenged who do not have the use of their intellects and wills?
These cannot sin because in order to sin a person has to know the act he is
about to perform is sinful while freely engaging his will in carrying it out.
h. Without
the proper faculties to enable them to sin, children before the age of
accountability and anyone who does not have the use of his intellect and will
cannot sin. Right there you have millions of exceptions to Romans 3:23 and I John 1:8 .
4. how
do we know Mary is an exception to the norm of “all have sinned?”
a. LUKE 1:28 :
b. according
to Mary herself, this was no common greeting. The text reveals Mary to have
been “greatly troubled at the saying and considered in her mind what sort of
greeting this might be” (Luke
1:29 , emphasis added). What was it about this greeting that was so
uncommon for Mary to react this way?
c. at
least two key reasons:
d. The
angel actually communicated a new name or title to her. In Greek, the greeting
was kaire, kekaritomene, or “Hail, full of grace.”
e. when
one greeted another with kaire, a name or title would almost be expected to be
found in the immediate context. “Hail, king of the Jews” in John 19:3 and “Claudias Lysias,
to his Excellency the governor Felix, greeting” (Acts 23:26 ) are two biblical
examples of this.
f. in
Hebrew culture, names, and name changes, tell us something that is permanent
about the character and calling of the one named.
g. the
names reveal something permanent about the one named. Abraham and Sarah
transition from being a “father” and “princess” of one family to being “father”
and “princess” or “mother” of the entire people of God
h. Jacob/Israel
becomes the Patriarch whose name, “he who prevails with God,” continues forever
in the Church, which is called “the Israel of God”
5. What’s
in a name? A lot according to Scripture!
a. St.
Luke uses the perfect passive participle, kekaritomene, as his “name” for Mary,
we get deeper insight into the meaning of Mary’s new name.
b. literally
means “she who has been graced” in a completed sense. This verbal adjective, graced,”
is not just describing a simple past action. Greek has the aorist tense for
that. The perfect tense is used to indicate that an action has been completed
in the past resulting in a present state of being. That’s Mary’s name!
c. You
and I sin, not because of grace, but because of a lack of grace, or a lack of
our cooperation with grace, in our lives. This greeting of the angel is one
clue into the unique character and calling of the Mother of God.
6. Objection!
a. Why
wouldn’t we then conclude all Christians are complete in salvation for all
time?
b. the
Catholic Church understands that Christians are completed in grace when they
are baptized.
c. because
of original sin, we can guarantee that though we are certainly perfected in
grace through baptism, ordinarily speaking, we will not stay that way after we
are baptized; that is, if we live for very long afterward
d. only
Mary is given the name “full of grace” and in the perfect tense indicating that
this permanent state of Mary was completed.
7. An
Ancient Prophecy—Genesis 3:15 :
a. the
text says the Messiah would be born of “the seed of the woman” (the “seed” is
normally of the man), but notice “the woman” is not included as “the seed” of
the devil.
b. It
seems that both the woman and her seed are in opposition to and therefore not
under the dominion of the devil and “his seed,” i.e., all who have original sin
and are “by nature children of wrath”
c. the
fact that the woman—Mary—would be without sin, especially original sin, just as
her Son—the Messiah—would be. The emphasis on Mary is truly remarkable in that
the future Messiah was only mentioned in relation to her.
8. Mary , Ark
a. a
picture of the purity and holiness God fittingly demands of those objects
and/or persons most closely associated with himself and the plan of salvation.
Because it would contain the very presence of God symbolized by three types of
the coming Messiah—the manna, the Ten Commandments, and Aaron’s staff—it had to
be most pure and untouched by sinful man
b. How
much more pure would the new and true Ark be when we consider the old ark was a
mere “shadow” in relation to it (see Heb. 10:1 )? This image of Mary as the Ark of the Covenant
is an indicator that Mary would fittingly be free from all contagion of sin in
order for her to be a worthy vessel to bear God in her womb.
c. just
as the Old Covenant ark was pristine from the moment it was constructed with
explicit divine instructions in Exodus
25 , so would Mary be most pure from the moment of her conception.
God, in a
d. sense,
prepared his own dwelling place in both the Old and New Testaments.
Immaculate Conception: 8 things to know and share . . .
BY JIMMY AKIN
Source: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/the-immaculate-conception-8-things-to-know-and-share-.-1
- Who does the Immaculate Conception refer to?
a. it
refers to the special way in which the Virgin Mary herself was conceived.
b. This
conception was not virginal. (That is, she had a human father as well as a
human mother.)
2. What is the Immaculate Conception?
a. Mary
“was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role.”
b. angel
Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as “full of grace”.
c. for
Mary to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her
vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God's grace.
d. Blessed
Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace
and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ,
Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.
3. Does this mean Mary never sinned?
a. Yes.
Because of the way redemption was applied to Mary at the moment of her
conception, she not only was protected from contracting original sin but also
personal sin.
b. Fathers
of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God “the All-Holy” (Panagia), and
celebrate her as “free from any stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy
Spirit and formed as a new creature”.
4. Does this mean Mary didn't need Jesus to die on the Cross
for her?
- No.
What we've already quoted states that Mary was immaculately conceived as
part of her being “full of grace” and thus
"redeemed from the moment of her conception" by "a
singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue
of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race."
- “splendour
of an entirely unique holiness” by which Mary is “enriched from the first
instant of her conception” comes wholly from Christ: she is
“redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her
Son”.
- she
was totally preserved from the stain of original sin and she remained
pure from all personal sin throughout her life
- God
chose the Virgin Mary to be the mother of his Son. “Full of grace”, Mary
is “the most excellent fruit of redemption”
5. How does this make
Mary a parallel of Eve?
- Adam
and Eve were both created immaculate--without original sin or its stain.
They fell from grace, and through them mankind was bound to sin. Christ and Mary were also conceived
immaculate. They remained faithful, and through them mankind was redeemed
from sin.
- The
knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience: what the
virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith.”
Comparing her with Eve, they call Mary “the Mother of the living”
and frequently claim: “Death through Eve, life through Mary.”
6. How does this make
Mary an icon of our own destiny?
a. We
will thus all be rendered "immaculate"
(Latin, immaculatus = "stainless") if we remain faithful to
God.
b. God
purifies us and trains us in holiness and, if we die in his friendship but
imperfectly purified, he will purify us in purgatory and render us immaculate.
c. By
giving Mary this grace from the first moment of her conception, God showed us
an image of our own destiny. He shows us that this is possible for humans by
his grace.
d. "Mary,
at the side of her Son, is the most perfect image of freedom and of the
liberation of humanity and of the universe.
7. Was it necessary
for God to make Mary immaculate at her conception so that she could be Jesus'
mother?
a. No.
The Church only speaks of the Immaculate Conception as something that was
"fitting," something that made Mary a "fit habitation"
(i.e., suitable dwelling) for the Son of God, not something that
was necessary.
b. [the
Church Fathers] affirmed that the Blessed Virgin was, through grace, entirely
free from every stain of sin, and from all corruption of body, soul and mind;
that she was always united with God and joined to him by an eternal covenant;
that she was never in darkness but always in light; and that, therefore, she
was entirely a fit habitation for Christ, not because of the state of her
body, but because of her original grace.
c. it
was certainly not fitting that this vessel of election should be
wounded by the common injuries, since she, differing so much from the others,
had only nature in common with them, not sin. In fact, it was quite
fitting that, as the Only-Begotten has a Father in heaven, whom the
Seraphim extol as thrice holy, so he should have a Mother on earth who would
never be without the splendor of holiness
8. How do we
celebrate the Immaculate Conception today?
a. December
8th is the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and it is a holy day of
obligation.
b. In
the United States ,
the obligation to attend Mass exists even though it immediately follows a
Sunday
Case for the Immaculate Conception
http://www.thedivinemercy.org/news/story.php?NID=3756&em=em226
Papal Bull Ineffabilis Deus, which defined for all Catholics the doctrine of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception. According to the Catechism of The Catholic Church (entries 491-492)
Mary, "full of grace" through God, was redeemed from the first moment of her conception.
"The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.
"The splendor of an entirely unique holiness" by which Mary is "enriched from the first instant of her conception" comes wholly from Christ: she is "redeemed, in a more excellent fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son."
What Does the Doctrine Mean?
The Immaculate Conception means that from the first moment of her existence, Mary's soul was preserved from the effects of the fall of Adam and Eve.
special gift was given to her on the basis of the merits of the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Since God exists beyond all time, and all times are present before Him, He can apply the graces of Christ's redemptive work to people living at any time in human history.
He poured out graces upon the patriarchs and prophets even before the coming of the Savior.
it implies redemption because Mary's fullness of grace is the fruit of the saving death of Christ. ... Mary has been redeemed like us, only in a more wonderful way, not by cure but by prevention. A doctor can save our life by curing sickness. But if He gives us a medicine that keeps us from getting sick, He saves us much better.
original sin we mean ... something negative, that is, the deprivation of that supernatural, unmerited grace which Adam and Eve had on their first formation — deprivation and the consequences of deprivation. Mary could not merit, any more than they, the restoration of that grace; but it was restored to her by God's free bounty, from the first moment of her existence, and thereby, in fact, she never came under the original curse, which consisted in the loss of it.
by the aid of the first grace, she might grow in grace, that, when the angel came and her Lord was at hand, she might be "full of grace
The Bible Says ...
"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."
"seed" of the woman who will crush the "serpent's" head (that is, the Devil's head) can only be Jesus Christ
the "woman" prophesied in this same passage must be the Mother of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary (cf. Jn 2:4 and 19:26 where Jesus calls her "Woman")
Jesus and Mary are said to be in a state of "enmity" against the serpent, which in the Hebrew original means "complete and radical opposition" to him. It is for this reason that it is not likely that God would have permitted Mary to inherit the condition of "original sin" from Adam and Eve.
Luke 1:28, thewords of the angel Gabriel to Mary at the Annunciation, "Hail, full of grace."
"full of grace" is used as a name or title for Mary, and she is the only one addressed in this fashion in the entire Bible, so it must indicate something special or distinctive about her.
angel Gabriel went on to say in verse 30, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God." This implies that she had already been graced in some special way in the past.
("full of grace") that the angel used for Mary is neither in the present nor the future tense: it is a perfect passive participle. In other words, the angel speaks of a gift that Mary had already received, even before the angel came to her. In effect, the angel says to her: "Hail, you who have already been graced, in a completed way, in the past."
What could such a complete transformation by the grace of God consist of other than a plenitude of sanctifying grace, poured into Mary's heart from the Holy Spirit, right from the start of her personal existence? As the Catechism puts it (entry 492), she was "enriched from the first instant of her conception" with "the splendor of an entirely unique holiness."
The Ancient Fathers Agree
as Jesus is called by St. Paul the New Adam, the Head of redeemed humanity, so the Blessed Virgin Mary must be the New Eve. There was no disagreement among the Fathers on this point. As Eve, the Mother of all the living, had ushered in the age of sin by succumbing to the temptation of the fallen angel (the serpent), so Mary, the Mother of all the redeemed, reversed Eve's sin by her obedience to the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation, and thereby ushered in the dawn of our salvation.
Cardinal Newman once wrote:
Is it any violent inference that she, who was to cooperate in the redemption of the world, at least was not less endowed with power from on high than she who, given as helpmate to her husband, did in the event but
cooperate with him for its ruin?
The Doctrine Proclaims Divine Mercy
Prevenient grace is this completely free gift of God's Mercy. We see a faint reflection of it in a parent's love for a child. A child is loved by its parents not because the child has earned it, or even asked for it in any way. Rather, the parent's love comes right from the start, a completely free gift, just because the child is the parent's own child.
Immaculate Conception is really the supreme manifestation of God's prevenient, unmerited mercy.
As Pope John Paul II wrote in his encyclical Dives in Misericordia
The mystery of the Immaculate Conception … is the expression of the first act of the heavenly Father's mercy in Mary's regard — an act of absolute gratuity. This is why we can see in it the Father's mercy in its pure state. The first act is the Father's prevenient mercy for this very tiny child that is to be born.
her soul the very masterpiece of His Mercy
the whole world's salvation began with a foundational act of unmerited, unprompted, freely given Divine Mercy. That act of mercy was Mary's Immaculate Conception.
making her the gate of the dawn and the cause of our joy.
it was given to her not just for herself, but for the good of the whole world
Mary, "full of grace" through God, was redeemed from the first moment of her conception.
"The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.
"The splendor of an entirely unique holiness" by which Mary is "enriched from the first instant of her conception" comes wholly from Christ: she is "redeemed, in a more excellent fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son."
What Does the Doctrine Mean?
The Immaculate Conception means that from the first moment of her existence, Mary's soul was preserved from the effects of the fall of Adam and Eve.
special gift was given to her on the basis of the merits of the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Since God exists beyond all time, and all times are present before Him, He can apply the graces of Christ's redemptive work to people living at any time in human history.
He poured out graces upon the patriarchs and prophets even before the coming of the Savior.
it implies redemption because Mary's fullness of grace is the fruit of the saving death of Christ. ... Mary has been redeemed like us, only in a more wonderful way, not by cure but by prevention. A doctor can save our life by curing sickness. But if He gives us a medicine that keeps us from getting sick, He saves us much better.
original sin we mean ... something negative, that is, the deprivation of that supernatural, unmerited grace which Adam and Eve had on their first formation — deprivation and the consequences of deprivation. Mary could not merit, any more than they, the restoration of that grace; but it was restored to her by God's free bounty, from the first moment of her existence, and thereby, in fact, she never came under the original curse, which consisted in the loss of it.
by the aid of the first grace, she might grow in grace, that, when the angel came and her Lord was at hand, she might be "full of grace
The Bible Says ...
"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."
"seed" of the woman who will crush the "serpent's" head (that is, the Devil's head) can only be Jesus Christ
the "woman" prophesied in this same passage must be the Mother of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary (cf. Jn 2:4 and 19:26 where Jesus calls her "Woman")
Jesus and Mary are said to be in a state of "enmity" against the serpent, which in the Hebrew original means "complete and radical opposition" to him. It is for this reason that it is not likely that God would have permitted Mary to inherit the condition of "original sin" from Adam and Eve.
Luke 1:28, thewords of the angel Gabriel to Mary at the Annunciation, "Hail, full of grace."
"full of grace" is used as a name or title for Mary, and she is the only one addressed in this fashion in the entire Bible, so it must indicate something special or distinctive about her.
angel Gabriel went on to say in verse 30, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God." This implies that she had already been graced in some special way in the past.
("full of grace") that the angel used for Mary is neither in the present nor the future tense: it is a perfect passive participle. In other words, the angel speaks of a gift that Mary had already received, even before the angel came to her. In effect, the angel says to her: "Hail, you who have already been graced, in a completed way, in the past."
What could such a complete transformation by the grace of God consist of other than a plenitude of sanctifying grace, poured into Mary's heart from the Holy Spirit, right from the start of her personal existence? As the Catechism puts it (entry 492), she was "enriched from the first instant of her conception" with "the splendor of an entirely unique holiness."
The Ancient Fathers Agree
as Jesus is called by St. Paul the New Adam, the Head of redeemed humanity, so the Blessed Virgin Mary must be the New Eve. There was no disagreement among the Fathers on this point. As Eve, the Mother of all the living, had ushered in the age of sin by succumbing to the temptation of the fallen angel (the serpent), so Mary, the Mother of all the redeemed, reversed Eve's sin by her obedience to the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation, and thereby ushered in the dawn of our salvation.
Cardinal Newman once wrote:
Is it any violent inference that she, who was to cooperate in the redemption of the world, at least was not less endowed with power from on high than she who, given as helpmate to her husband, did in the event but
cooperate with him for its ruin?
The Doctrine Proclaims Divine Mercy
Prevenient grace is this completely free gift of God's Mercy. We see a faint reflection of it in a parent's love for a child. A child is loved by its parents not because the child has earned it, or even asked for it in any way. Rather, the parent's love comes right from the start, a completely free gift, just because the child is the parent's own child.
Immaculate Conception is really the supreme manifestation of God's prevenient, unmerited mercy.
As Pope John Paul II wrote in his encyclical Dives in Misericordia
The mystery of the Immaculate Conception … is the expression of the first act of the heavenly Father's mercy in Mary's regard — an act of absolute gratuity. This is why we can see in it the Father's mercy in its pure state. The first act is the Father's prevenient mercy for this very tiny child that is to be born.
her soul the very masterpiece of His Mercy
the whole world's salvation began with a foundational act of unmerited, unprompted, freely given Divine Mercy. That act of mercy was Mary's Immaculate Conception.
making her the gate of the dawn and the cause of our joy.
it was given to her not just for herself, but for the good of the whole world
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