Immaculate Conception

December 8th is a big day on the Catholic Calendar for it’s the Feast of The Immaculate Conception. The world at large has a lot of misconceptions about what the feast day actually is and whom it is that we are honoring above all. The link above can tell you everything you need to know. Catholics don’t worship statues or the Holy Mother of God as some misguided fundamentalists would like the unknowledgeable to think. We venerate her for her role in God’s Plan of Salvation. It is a special day, not to worship her, but to especially thank and worship God for His Gift of bringing her into the world and for her acceptance of God’s Will for humanity (Luke 1:26-38).

Catholics are not fools, despite what the cultural relativists and humanists contend. The body of philosophical thought produced by the Early Fathers and Doctors of the Church over the centuries is one of the building blocks upon which Western civilization rests. While it’s true that the virgin birth cannot be scientifically proven with any "degree of medical certainty", who are we to put limits on what God can and cannot do? The concept of "God" is infinitely beyond the capacity of human imagination, yet some attempt a scientific or historical analysis for what is essentially a simple matter of belief. No can do.

If God so chose, He could’ve manifested Himself any way He suited, right? He could’ve used a spaceship or a laser beam or have floated into town on a cloud of glory with trumpet blasts. Christians believe that He chose the time, manner and place and for the reason set forth in John 3:16. God chose an anonymous humble, devout girl to be the means by which His Promise was manifested. She said, "yes."

Accordingly, it’s really not for the laity to define or clarify the Immaculate Conception, or Mary’s role in God’s Plan of Salvation. It is a doctrine of faith for us to grow to acknowledge, understand, and in our spiritual progress come to more fervently believe in God’s Love for each one of us in a deeply personal and unique way. By Grace, we then have the capacity to accept God’s Love and in some small way, love one another with that Love. Catholics believe that Mary’s unique experience and sacrifice is instrumental to understanding how and why That Love is.

In the centuries that followed the Lord’s Ascension, there were heated debates about who Jesus actually was, let alone what His mother’s role was. The modern world seems to pay no heed to the various heresies that persisted, as if the Bible itself was simply manufactured in its present state and floated to earth like manna. Some of the greatest minds in theology and philosophy (such as Thomas Aquinas) have already done the hard work. If I choose to defend and live my faith, it is my responsibility to understand and contemplate their works which, above all, glorify God.

The only thing I really want to add to the conversation is the preoccupation in some corners with those areas of Mary’s life about which the Bible is silent. Really, we know so little about her life. We know about her background, her betrothed, her visit to Elizabeth, Jesus’ birth, the Three Wise Men, the prescient warning at His Presentation, the flight into exile, the anguish she felt when he became lost at the Jerusalem Passover as a boy, and the delight she felt upon finding him in the temple, discussing Scripture with the elders. Later on, we see her at the wedding feast of Cana coaxing her reluctant Son into performing His first public miracle, and we believe that she was present when her Son was executed by the Romans. In Scripture, she is inseparable from her Son. Beyond that, there’s a good deal of speculation, but no documented fact. For example, Catholics also believe that as a matter of dogma that Mary was assumed into heaven, body and soul, though there is no historical basis for such a belief. The issue for believers is therefore, if the belief of her role in God’s Plan of Salvation is sufficient, what more really do we really need to know about her life on earth?

Many "Christian" sects are conflicted about Mary in God’s Plan, as if to accord her respect and/or veneration is to somehow divert focus away from her Son. With all due and gentle respect, it’s not that complicated. She’s about one thing; and one thing only: her Son. Though they may have been distinct in human terms, they are spiritually united.

It’s wasn’t as if her acceptance was made without grave risk or great sacrifice. OK, so she said that she was visited by an angel who told her that she’d found favor with God who chose her to be the Messiah’s Mom. Think about it, if she tried passing that tale off today, she’d be whisked away somewhere and heavily sedated. So…either the young girl was suffering messianic-complex delusions or what she said was true, there’s no in between here, any more than a woman being a little bit pregnant. If word of this angelic visit started to make its way around town, think of the consequences. She would’ve faced humiliation and ostracizing by the community. Yet, she did not waver in her acceptance. There were other problems with her story as well: she was engaged and had to reveal to her fiancée what had occurred at the Visitation. Wow! Talk about getting hit over the head with a 2X4! While the carpenter was, by all accounts, a righteous man, he must have been utterly devastated to learn of her pregnancy. What if he followed his first instinct and abandoned the marriage plans? Then what? In those days, getting pregnant outside of marriage could get a girl killed. Providentially, the carpenter chose to believe her (thanks to an angel) and decided to proceed with the marriage. As with virtually every married couple since the dawn of its institution, life was no picnic thereafter. So, the carpenter’s "yes" was profound. Whether or not he was a "chaste spouse" and whether or not they had other children is a private matter between a husband and wife, and I feel that it’s presumptuous on anyone’s part to draw conclusions from silent and unrecorded facts of life. We don’t know, and above all else, none of it is relevant to Jesus’ Divinity. All that we know with reasonable certainty is that the carpenter accepted and fulfilled his responsibility as a husband and father according to God’s Will.

Recently, Oswald Sobrino over at Catholic Analysis has been commenting about many of the dogmatic debates about Mary for which there is no Biblical/historical context. As always, Sobrino hits the nail right on the head. Consideration of the various "human factors" that have been bandied about neither augments nor diminishes her role; it’s only another train on another track. Whether or not she suffered birth pangs in delivering her Son is not relevant to God’s Plan of salvation for all mankind. She was human in every way, except having been entrusted with a Divine responsibility. If her Son died an agonizing death upon a Cross, is it unreasonable to conclude that the delivery of her Child was not discernibly different than any other mother’s experience? Furthermore, what do men know about this experience anyhow? If we’re fortunate enough to be present for the baby's delivery we can see and hear that giving birth doesn’t seem to be a very pleasurable event, and it’s pretty messy, too. But males are incapable of relating to the pains involved. All that matters is at that specific moment where time and eternity intersected, she said, "Yes." She was the unique person whom God chose to fulfill His Plan. And it’s perfectly OK to believe that God chose the time, place and person uniquely constituted to the fulfillment of His Will.

There’s another point that never gets much play in theological discussions, and that involves the Gospel narratives of the circumstances of how Jesus came to Be. The Synoptic Authors were His contemporaries, so where do you think that they learned of Mary’s Fiat, the Nativity and many of the events in Jesus’ early life? Would you care to hazard a guess? They weren’t exactly manufactured out of whole cloth. Do you know of any mother who could forget the seminal events of her child’s life? Are you kidding me? A mother forgets nothing! I would humbly submit that it was quite likely mom telling one or another of the authors about His early years, and let us not forget that she was around quite a bit during her Son’s public ministry. Chances are, if she had a say, the Gospel narratives would’ve included a lot more detail, as any mother would feel toward her child.

Let the theologians debate the relative merits of labor pains. On this special day, Catholics celebrate her bold, unconditional act of faith that brought God’s Plan into being. We celebrate the belief that God chose her in the Beginning and her conception into humanity was a blessed event. For without her birth and unquestioning acceptance of God’s Will, where would we be today?