De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

This is Greg Daly's excellent & concise explanation of the Immaculate Conception which he posted for the feast yesterday. Well worth a read if you are looking to better understand this doctrine: Mary’s preservation from sin has been mainstream Christian belief from about as early as we can tell in Christian history; it’s been embraced through history by Catholics, the Orthodox churches, and such Protestants as Martin Luther. Partly, it has to be said, the belief derives from incredulity that the flesh from which Jesus was made – Mary’s and Mary’s alone – could ever have been tainted by sin and been what C.S. Lewis called ‘enemy-occupied territory’. At Luke 1:28 , the angel salutes Mary as κεχαριτωμένη ( Kekharitōmenē) , traditionally translated ‘Full of Grace’, but more accurately rendered as something along the lines of ‘you who are already, absolutely, and enduringly endowed with grace’. It’s an extraordinarily unusual grammatical form, and is also the only instance we know...

The Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is hugely misunderstood. The first thing to point out is that it is about Mary’s sinlessness. Here's a brief excerpt from an essay I wrote on the subject a while back. Tota pulchra es, Maria, et macula originalis non est in te.  Vestimentum tuum candidum quasi nix, et facies tua sicut sol.  Tota pulchra es, Maria,  et macula originalis non est in te.  Tu gloria Jerusalem, tu laetitia Israel, tu honorificentia populi nostri.  Tota pulchra es, Maria. From even a perfunctory look at the doctrine of the New Eve, it is possible to see how a consciousness of Mary’s role in the work of salvation began to be realised and develop. It is from a growing consciousness of the unique role and status of Mary in the work of salvation that, beginning in the early patristic period, the Church began to develop the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which was dogmatically defined by Pope Pius IX in the Bull In...

Dear Friends This week's lesson was entitled: OUR TAINTED NATURE'S SOLITARY BOAST: MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the programme and found it beautiful, familiar and emotional. Fr. Barron's presentation began by looking at the Annunciation  a word which has been anglicised from the Latin Vulgate (the 4th century translation of the Bible by St. Jerome) Luke 1:26-39: Annuntiatio nativitatis Christi. Unlike the stories of the gods of the Greeks, Roman's and ancient Pagans, the God of Israel is not forceful or violent. Rather, He extended an invitation that respected Mary's free-will. Mary is visited (Fr. Barron goes as far as to suggest 'courted') by the Angel Gabriel and gives her assent; her fiat, opening the door to our salvation and cooperating and collaborating with the work of her Son. "Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it." ( CCC 964 ). Mary's li...