Immaculate "Misconception"

A friend of mine and I were talking about Christmas, and we (obviously) fell upon the Incarnation. My Protestant friend, however, called it the the Immaculate Conception. I decided to tackle the 'misconception' behind the Immaculata (The Immaculate One) in today's post. First a little housekeeping: The Immaculate Conception was defined as dogma by Pope Pius IX in his constitution Ineffabilis Deus on 8 December 1854 (the universal feast of the IC was first established in 1476 by Pope Sixtus IV). The statement of note here is

"We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance 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, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful."

The most typical defense of Mary's Immaculate Conception comes from Luke 1:28, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women" (Douay-Rheims). The word of importance here is kecharitōmenē (Greek). This word means "having been" or "have already been" graced. The Greek here is a perfect passive participle; perfect stem verbs in Greek denote the "continuance of a completed action" (Blass and DeBrunner, 175. One can also see Smyth, sec. 1852:b.). This shows that Mary was graced in the past, from the very beginning in fact, and that grace has continuing effect to the present.

The most common objection to the IC is Romans 3:23 (For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God) and Luke 1:47 (my spirit rejoices in God my Savior).
The second objection first: Mary did indeed need a Savior. You won't meet a Catholic that doesn't believe it. However, one must have a complete understanding of what a Savior can do. Take the following story:

There is a mud pit in the middle of the woods. Everyone that passes through those woods steps in the mud pit and needs help getting out and cleaned off. John is walking through the woods, when suddenly he falls into the mud pit. Christ, his Savior, reaches down and helps John up. He then cleans John up and sends him on his way. Mary (as in, Mary the Mother of Jesus) is also walking through the woods. Just as she is about to step into the mud pit, however, Christ, her Savior, stops her and leads her around the mud pit.

In both cases, it was only through Christ the Savior that John and Mary were clean. They both needed to be saved; the only thing that was different was when they were saved. Mary needed a savior, and she recognized that the fetus in her womb was her savior. Like all of us, as descendants of Adam, Mary was subject to contracting original sin. However, by a special intervention of God (at the instant she was conceived) she was preserved from the stain of original sin and its consequences. She was, therefore, redeemed by the grace of Christ, but in a special way... by anticipation.

The first common objection (all have sinned) must be understood in context. The text is speaking in a hyperbole, which "is a rhetorical device in which statements are exaggerated. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally" (thank you, Wikipedia). There are some people that do not fall into the category of "having sinned". For example, have little babies sinned? No, because they do not have the ability to reason right or wrong (Romans 9:11). And let's not forget that Jesus was also without sin. So there are obvious exceptions to this verse, and it shows that it should not be taken literally.

The best way to defend the Immaculate Conception, however, is to point out that Mary is the Ark of the New Testament and, like the Ark, she needed to be perfectly pure. Many non-Catholics will instantly want to know from where the Catholic Church draws this idea that Mary is the Ark of the Covenant. Well, here's a pretty little chart that provides 12 (count them... twelve) specific references in the Old Testament to the New Testament in regards to Mary and the Ark. This is what convinced me, as a Protestant, that Mary had to be the Ark of the New Testament. Just as the Ark of the Covenant needed to be pure because it was G-d's throne, so too the Ark that carried the Word made flesh needed to be pure because her womb was the throne of G-d.

This doesn't cover all there is to say about the Immaculate Conception, but hopefully it provides a good step to start your own study of it.

Prayer to The Immaculate Conception:

O God, who by the Immaculate Conception
of the Blessed Virgin Mary,

did prepare a worthy dwelling place for Your Son,

we beseech You that, as by the foreseen death of this, Your Son, You did preserve Her from all stain,

so too You would permit us, purified through Her intercession, to come unto You.

Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, world without end.

Amen.