IMMACULATE CONCEPTION-2015

In 1492, 526 years ago, Columbus discovered America. He sailed in a ship called Santa Maria de Conception (St. Mary, the Immaculate Conception). He named the first Island he landed San Salvador, in honor of our Savior. Columbus named the second island Conceptio in honor of Mary’s Immaculate Conception. The fearless French explorer Fr. Marquette who explored the 2300 miles long Mississippi River, flowing through ten states, called it River of Mary Immaculate. In fact, all the early American Catholics were so proud of the great truth we celebrate today that the American bishops in 1846 (8 years before the promulgation of the dogma) chose Mary Conceived without sin as the patroness of the United States. Hence, this feast is the feast of the country’s heavenly patroness in the U.S.  

This feast celebrates the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the womb of her mother Saint Anne; and nine months later, on September 8, we celebrate the Nativity, the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1854, Pius IX solemnly proclaimed: “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 savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin.”

She had to be immaculate for two reasons. First of all, her son Jesus, being God and man at the same time, could not have inherited original sin from her. That would nullify the infinite merits of Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross. If Jesus himself was in the shade of Original Sin, he could not effectively wipe away the sins of others. So Mary had to be free from Original Sin, so that her Son would be free from Original Sin. Mary’s Immaculate Conception enhances Jesus’ redemptive work. Other members of the human race are cleansed from original sin after birth. In Mary, Jesus’ work was so powerful as to prevent original sin at the outset.

Secondly, Sin is a condition of being not in friendship with God. If Jesus was God, how could God and sin co-exist. God and sin cannot co-exist. Sin is a situation of being away from God. And if one argues that Mary was not immaculate, then our whole doctrine of salvation through Jesus would be under attack, pushing Jesus in to original sin and making his redemptive work less effective.

Hence, fruits of Jesus’ redemptive work on the Cross was applied to Mary at her conception not because of her virtue or merits, but by the merits of Jesus. The angel’s salutation “full of Grace” is the scriptural proof of Immaculate conception too. Full of grace means having no stain of sin. If she had some stain of sin, angel Gabriel who knows heavenly secrets and knowledge would not address her so. This doctrine of immaculate conception leads us to conclude that Mary was ever virgin too.

All of the four evangelists make some mention of Jesus’ brothers and sisters. The Gospel of Mark 6:3 and the Gospel of Matthew 13:55–56 state that James, Joses (or Joseph), Jude and Simon were the brothers of Jesus, the son of Mary. The same verses also mention unnamed sisters of Jesus. Mark 3:31–32 tells about Jesus' mother and brothers looking for Jesus.

John writes that after Jesus performed his first miracles in Cana, “he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained there a few days” (2:12).

Many commentators hold that the author of the epistle of Jude, who identifies himself as the "brother of James," was one of these brothers (Jude 1). It is also generally believed that the leader of the church at Jerusalem was James the brother of Jesus, (see Acts 12:17; 15:13). This seems to be confirmed by Paul's reference to his visit to Jerusalem, in which he states that he saw only Peter, and "James, the Lord's brother" (Galatians 1:18-19).

The word brother in the Old Testament, like in Genesis 13 and 14, can be used to describe some other kind of relation, like a cousin or a nephew, with reference Abram and Lot.  Abraham called his nephew Lot as his brother.

They were the cousins of Jesus on the mother's side, according to some scholars, or on Joseph's side, according to others.

If Mary had other children, they would have been present under the cross and Jesus would have definitely given Mary’s protection to them, rather than giving her to John. It would have been an offense to them if Jesus gave their mother to somebody other than his brothers.

In Luke chapter 1, when Mary respond to the angel's declaration that she's going to have a baby, her response only makes sense if she has taken some kind of vow of virginity, because she says "how shall this be since I know not man." 

James and Joseph and Simon and Judas aren't the children of Mary and Joseph, because the Gospels themselves tell us they aren't, and the early church fathers make clear who these men were.  In Matthew 27 verse 55 we read:

There were also many women there [i.e. at the cross], looking on from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him; among whom were Mary Magdalene [number one], and Mary the mother of James and Joseph [number two], and [number three,] the mother of the sons of Zebedee.  

 Now that second woman is the one that's important for us, because James and Joseph have already been identified in the Gospel of Matthew as born of another woman.  We met them in chapter 13 when Matthew called them the brothers of Jesus. So the same people are called brothers of Jesus and at the same time born of a different mother than Virgin Mary.

So in John 19:25 we read these words:

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

In other words, we have even more evidence of who the other Mary is.  She's identified as, not the wife of Joseph, but the wife of another man name Clopas, and this would of course make Joseph and James, the two sons of Mary, the so-called brothers of Jesus, the children of Mary and her husband Clopas.

It's not impossible, but it's very unlikely that the Virgin Mary had a blood sister named Mary as well.  But it would've been very common for her to have a cousin or a relative named Mary, and that's who this other Mary is being identified here as in the Gospel of John.  Many protestants blindly argue that Mary had other children of her own. But that is not what we find in the scripture.

Mary having co-operated in our redemption with so much glory to God and so much love for us, Our Lord ordained that no one shall obtain salvation except through her intercession. (Alphonsus Liguori). That is why the Church gives so much importance to her.

When we respect and adore Jesus, we cannot but fail to honor Mary. Because it is through Mary, that Jesus came into this world and learned his human virtues.

Every mother wants her children to inherit or acquire all her good qualities. Hence, our immaculate and holy mother wants us to be holy and pure children. 

Let us listen to her instructions and follow her example so that one day in the heavenly Jerusalem we may love the Lord as she does. At the first miracle at Cana, Mary said to waiters, “Do whatever he tells you”. This is what she continues to tell everyday to us. Do what he tells you.