An important episode in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the episode of her conception. Her conception was a unique moment that turned the stories of her pious parents around. Joachim and Anne had lived their whole lives without experiencing the joy of childbearing despite their numerous consecrations and prayers. One gracious day, while Anne was praying and Joachim also retreated to pray, an Angel ministered to him requesting that he go and meet his wife at the Golden Gate. On this faithful day, something miraculous happened, and a special and unique grace was being given out. God was at that precise moment not only opening the womb of Anne but was also making an exception in the history of salvation by giving a singular grace geared towards preserving the child who was to be conceived from original sin. Mary at the first instance of her conception was preserved from the poison of sin given the role she was to play in God’s grand finale. God was about to enter human history and to make a pure and stainless way, he had to prepare the way and make it straight. The one coming to save the world from sin could not come into the same world by a sin-stained passage. He therefore preserved the passage he chose to use from the original stain. He was like us in everything except sin (Hebrews 4:15) even original sin. People will argue that God did not preserve Mary from sin but rather preserved Jesus and I asked myself this question; how would the Holy One whose eyes are too holy to behold sin (Habakkuk 1:13) come into a sinful body or touch sin? We seem to forget that it wasn’t the man Jesus that was coming into the womb of the Blessed Virgin but it was God himself who was becoming man in her womb. If the womb of the Blessed Virgin was stained with original sin, it would mean that even if God preserved his son from the sin, God himself did not only behold but also touched the sin. But since God, as Habakkuk said, can’t even look at it which means God will not bend his attention or choice on what is filthy, we are sure that he preserved that womb from every stain so that it could be holy enough to contain the creator of the world. To show you that Mary was preserved, she proclaims that God looked at her in her lowliness (Luke 1:48) which means what turns away the eye of God wasn’t found in her. She had the original beauty that was lost through sin, and the Lord desired her beauty (psalm 45:10-11) and looked upon her. Others argue that saying the Blessed Virgin was preserved from original sin will mean she didn’t need redemption and to them, a simple answer was given: redemption by exemption. God redeemed the Blessed Virgin by exempting her from the Sin. Lots of voices have spoken and defined the immaculate conception among which is that of Pope Pius IX who states that “The Most Holy Virgin Mary, in the first moment of her conception, by a unique gift of grace and privilege of Almighty God and given the merits of Jesus Christ the Redeemer of Mankind, preserved free from all stain of original sin”. It won’t have ever been complete if the Blessed Virgin herself didn’t seal it with her revelation to Bernadette Soubirous “I am the immaculate conception”. Notice the use of the I AM in the presentation. Bernadette asked the Virgin Mother what was her name and instead of saying Mary, she simply stated ‘I AM, and added immaculate conception’. This is the same way the Lord God presented himself to Moses. Could this be a coincidence? We shall all discover when we meet her someday in the heavenly Jerusalem.
Preserved for a purpose, we honor you Virgin Mother of the I AM.
In Corda Matris.
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