We must not confuse the Church’s teaching that Mary was conceived without the stain of sin (immaculate conception) with the church’s teaching that Jesus was conceived in the womb of a virgin (Virgin birth or Virginal conception).
The dogma (for so it was defined by Pius IX in 1854) depends on our understanding of Original Sin. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that original sin is a deprivation of original holiness and justice. (§ 405) It is really important to note that before Original Sin the really original condition of men and women is Holy and Just. The same paragraph describes human nature as “wounded” and of us having an “inclination towards evil”. (Baptism is the restoration of this original state of holiness though we are left with the need to struggle against the tendency to sin).
Our Original Sin, then, is humanity shutting out God. We have closed ourselves to the possibility of God. This “loss of Holiness” is a loss of connectedness with him. This is the tragedy of the human condition: we have lost God, the source of life and goodness and therefore we know death as well as life; we know evil as well as good. Life becomes the unfulfilled longing for God ending in death. We are no longer singing the song we were supposed to sing; we are out of tune with God. And no matter how hard we try we cannot re-connect; we cannot hear the tune; we live in darkness.
If the church claims that Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin then she is saying that God restored her (at the very beginning of her life) to the original state of holiness which was proper to the whole of humanity before the fall. In this sense her holiness is not unique to her but is, rather the “natural state” of all men and women. In other words, were it not for original sin, we would all be like Mary. So she is conceived without this obstacle which so impedes us: she is reconnected to God by God. God opens her heart so that she is open to him in a way we cannot be without his grace. Mary is given the possibility of God; she sings his song.
So what does this say about God? The dogma affirms that God will not be trapped by our sinful condition. We are trapped: we cannot fulfil what is God’s purpose for us but God is not so bound. God is not prevented from acting in the events of human history because we have separated ourselves from him. We see this beautifully illustrated in the story of the Patriarchs: no matter how much human beings make a mess of things, God still fulfils the promise he makes to us. Esau sells his birthright and Jacob tricks his father, Laban tricks Jacob and Joseph’s brothers all but do away with him whilst Joseph gets himself thrown into prison and yet, despite all this and more, God’s purpose is fulfilled. God acts in human history and gives his holiness to his people despite them.
And so God gives his holiness to Mary. It is not because of something she has done. This is God’s action so that his purpose for humanity might be fulfilled. And if God has done this for Mary it is because he intends it for us all: what is given to Mary at the beginning of her life is given to all of us when we are re-born in the waters of Baptism. This holiness meant that Mary was capable of receiving God into her heart as she received Jesus in her womb. So too, at our Baptism we are cleansed of our sins and made holy so that we too are able to receive the Word of God and allow it to grow in our hearts. God is not trapped by our sinfulness but even more importantly, nor are we. By the grace of Baptism, we too can sing our Magnificat; we can say “Yes” to God.
© Peter Bolton
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