One of the foundational teachings of
the Church is the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the mother of Jesus. She who would bear the Son of God was,
from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God and by
virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved
immune from all stain of original sin. (Pius IX, 1854) It was necessary that Mary be free from
even Original Sin so that she would be able to give free assent of
her faith to the announcement of her vocation... (Catechism of the
Catholic Church, #490) Mary’s Immaculate Conception was a preparation by
God that would allow her to bring forth, in human flesh, the Word of God.
Free from Original Sin, Mary would also
remain a virgin in perpetuam. She
was a virgin before and after Jesus is conceived in her womb by the power of
the Holy Spirit, and she remained a virgin for the rest of her life. The fact of Mary’s perpetual virginity is as
necessary to our understanding of the Incarnation as is the fact of her
Immaculate Conception. Just as Mary
could not be stained even with Original Sin because the vessel that would hold
the Holy of Holies must be the purest of pure, so, too, once having held the
very personification of God, she must forever more remain unstained and her
womb unused for anything except the divine.
In her womb she housed the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. How could this womb ever hold anything of
common origin? She is for all eternity a
sacred vessel.
In our care to preserve the Sacredness
of the Blessed Sacrament, the Church has proposed a discipline on the use of
the Eucharistic vessels. Once a chalice,
patten or ciborium has been used in the liturgy it cannot be used for anything
else. It has held the Body and Blood of
Jesus Christ and is forever reserved for this use. How much more must womb that nourished and
housed the Body and Blood of Christ for the first nine months of his earthly
existence for ever remain unused for any
other purpose. Just as once the
Body and Blood of Christ has filled the chalice and ciborium they are forever
sanctified, so too, once the womb of the Blessed Virgin has held the person of
Jesus it is forever sanctified and set apart.
This doctrine causes concern for some
who read of the brothers and sisters of Jesus in the Gospels. The Catechism of the Catholic Church
tells us that the Church has always understood these passages as not
referring to other children of the Virgin Mary.
In fact James and Joseph, “brothers of Jesus,” are the sons of another
Mary, a disciple of Christ, whom St. Matthew significantly calls “the other
Mary.” They are close relations of
Jesus, according to an Old Testament expression. (CCC #500) If, indeed, Mary had other
sons it would not have been necessary or appropriate for Jesus to entrust her
to the care of the Beloved Disciple as he hung dying on the cross. Her other children would have cared for
her. But Jesus gave her to John and in
so doing gave her as mother to us all.
Prepared from all eternity as the one
singularly graced by God through her Immaculate Conception so she could bear
God’s Son, Mary remained a virgin her entire life. She remained pure of her own free will and
lived her life in obedience to God’s will.
First among the disciples of her Divine Son she now shares his
glory. Elevated body and soul into heaven
at the conclusion of her journey on earth, she now lives the fullness of the
Resurrection with God who is her Father, her Spouse and her Son. Chosen from among the children of God she
now embraces each of us with a mother’s love.
Radiant in the rays of God’s glory she intercedes for her children with
her Son, Jesus Christ.
Deacon Ed
