The Immaculate Conception and our call to holiness

    The Immaculate Conception is very often a source of confusion for Catholics and contention for non-Catholics. Though commonly misunderstood as referring to Christ’s conception in Mary, it actually refers to Mary’s own conception in her mother’s womb. From the moment of her conception, Mary was ‘by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God… preserved free from all stain of original sin’ (Ineffabilis Deus, DS 2803), and by the grace of God ‘remained free of every personal sin for her whole life long’ (CCC 493). This is what we mean when we say that Mary was without sin.

 

   Though this dogma is not explicitly revealed in Scripture, the angel Gabriel seemingly couldn’t be much clearer in his greeting to her as he announces that she is to become the mother of Christ our redeemer: ‘Hail, full of grace’ (Luke 1:28). If Mary is full of grace, there is no room for sin! It’s because of this lack of sin that she is truly free to be able to respond to God’s invitation with the willing ‘fiat’ that we read of in the subsequent lines of Scripture, because there was no sin to cloud her judgement (CCC 491). Just like us, whose human nature has been deprived of God’s supernatural grace because of original sin, Mary was in need of redemption through her son Jesus, but in a unique way was redeemed in advance, as it were, by being preserved from sin from the beginning, and enriched by a ‘gift of sublime grace’ for her role as Mother of God (Lumen Gentium, 53). In other words, she was saved from sin before sin could occur. 

    St Paul’s teaching that ‘the wages of sin are death’ literally means that sin separates us from God, in whom is the fullness of life. A woman living in this state of separation from God could not possibly conceive God Himself in her womb, and therefore we must conclude that the Mother of God had to be free from sin. Mary’s Immaculate Conception is necessary for our salvation because it is by the grace that preserved her from sin that she was able to conceive and bear Jesus, our Saviour, and so to share in His salvific mission on earth.

‘In the soul of this "daughter of Sion" there is manifested, in a sense, all the "glory of grace," that grace which "the Father...has given us in his beloved Son."’ (Redemptoris Mater, 8).

    Though full of grace and blessed by God to a ‘special and exceptional degree’ (RM, 8), we mustn’t forget that Mary remained human like us! Mary holds out to us a perfect model of what we are all ultimately called to in Christ: a life without sin, and full of grace! She reveals to us the fullness of the grace that is available to us in Christ Jesus. She shows us what Jesus meant went He urged us to ‘be holy, because I am holy’ (1 Peter 1:16). In this way she inspires and challenges us to reach the heights of holiness which we were created for, knowing that we will inevitably fall – alas, we are not ‘full of grace’ – but should never tire of pressing on ‘toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus’ (Phil. 3:14).

I Am Not Eve

‘She is the crescendo, the final, astonishing work of God. Woman. In one last flourish creation comes to a finish not with Adam, but with Eve. She is the Master's finishing touch… Eve is… breathtaking.’  

(‘Captivating’, Stasi Eldredge)

“But I am not Eve”, I tell myself.

“I’m plain. I’m nothing special. I’m ugly. I’m impure. I have too many flaws to be a finishing touch. I could never be described as breaktaking. I’m a mistake.”

    How many of us have heard these words in our minds or even on our lips? We know the creation of Woman. We may even love it. And yet we separate ourselves from it. We place Eve of a pedestal and marvel at the creativity of her Creator and stand in awe and wonder at the glory and goodness of God. We proclaim “Yes! This is the crown of creation!", yet we reject that truth about ourselves.

 

    But here is the truth we so often neglect: Eve is not a goddess. Eve is a woman. She’s a woman just like you and me.

    Eve’s innate beauty is the way she reflects the beauty of the God whose image and likeness she was made in, and for that reason her beauty is the very thing that will inevitably come under the most attack from the enemy – who doesn’t want her to know her true identity. He doesn’t want her to know the power of who she truly is.  

    You, too, bear the image and likeness of your Creator. You, too, have power in your identity. You, too, are breaktaking. 

    … And so you, too, are a threat to the enemy. And he SHOULD be afraid of you! But, sister, you have no reason to fear yourself! We daren’t recognise our own beauty because Satan has planted his own fear in us. So we criticise and fantasise and agonise. 

    Catherine of Siena said “Be who you were created to be and you will set the world on fire!” Well, let me ask you this: What would happen if each of us were to truly know, embrace who we are as daughters of God. Can you envision the day that Satan realises He no longer has any hold on us because we have no doubt in our God-given identity and inheritance? ‘He conquered by a woman, and now a woman conquers him. She that was once his weapon is now his destroyer, brave and invincible.’ (John Crysostom). 

 ‘You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord.’ (Isaiah 62:3)

You, dear sister. YOU shall be a crown of beauty.

You ARE a crown of beauty. You are the crown of all creation, and your Father looks at His creation in you and declares “Behold, it is very good!”

… And no, I am not Eve. But I am something greater. I am a unique creation. That uniqueness means that womankind – the crown of creation – is not complete without every single one of us. You are necessary for Woman to be complete.

Women of Courage

    For a long time, hearing the word ‘courage’ has touched something in me that I can’t quite explain. It stirs a desire to step out, to challenge myself, and to triumph over fear in the name of Jesus. Perhaps it simply stems from my need for independence (which I wrote about in my last post), but I hope – I believe – there’s more to it!

    My admiration for my namesake has grown so much over last few years – Esther is one of (if not the) most courageous women in the Bible! I once read that although our parents chose our names, they ultimately came from God because He designed the people we would become and knew us even before we were conceived (Stasi Eldredge, ‘Becoming Myself’). That really struck me, because it made me consider why I was given my name. For me this brought the realisation that, more than simply admiring Queen Esther and enjoying the story, I’m called to aspire to and embody her courage. 

    More recently I’ve been considering the huge misconception so many of us have of Mary in this respect. Think of the Nativity story in children’s books – where Mary is portrayed as charmingly and passively accepting the will of God. As attractive as that picture is to a little child, the reality is so much more intense. 

    In saying ‘yes’ to God, Mary didn’t get a gold crown or even a gold star. She sacrificed her reputation, disgraced her family, and faced daily rebuke, judgement and a very real threat of being stoned to death. And yet she was willing to suffer. She stepped out in the midst of uncertainty and fear to do the work God set before her, even to the point of risking her life. She was a brave forerunner for Christ’s mission on earth. She was the definition of a courageous woman!

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

    Pope Francis calls us all – men and women alike – to be spirit-filled evangelisers who have ‘the courage to proclaim the newness of the Gospel with boldness’ (Evangelii Gaudium, #259). Our mission as Christians is to bring the joy of knowing Christ to those who haven’t experienced it, and often that will mean standing against things the world values in order to defend the truth of Christ. It’s not an easy job! It demands courage and strength of character. Courageous men restore our faith and lead us towards Christ, but to me courageous women are stunning. 

    I want to be someone who other people see courage in, and who draws that courage out of others.  I see beauty in strength and grace in bravery, and I’m always so inspired when I meet women who show me these things! Our role as women is more than simply accepting and allowing God’s will – it is, like Mary, to actively engage in that will and have the courage to live it out.