FR. NICHOLAS ONYAIT MCCJ
On the 11th of February 1858, Our Lady appeared to a little 14-year-old girl Bernadette Soubirous in the cave of Massabielle, France while she was gathering firewood. She appeared to her 18 times that year and her figure remained mysterious to the little Soubirous and many other people who learnt of her apparitions. Having been asked by the local Bishop what the name of the lady was, Bernadette was lured to ask her who she was, a question to which our lady replied that “I am the Immaculate Conception”. This answer came as a confirmation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception that had earlier on been proclaimed by pope Pious IX on the 8th of December 1854.
What is the Immaculate Conception and why is this taken as one of the dogmas of the Church? First and foremost, from its etymological meaning, the word ‘Immaculate’ is derived from Latin ‘im-maculatus’ which literally means a stainless spot. The same word immaculate in English is used to describe a state of purity, of faultlessness or of impeccability. That is what the virgin Mary is.
The dogma asserts that “The most blessed virgin Mary, was from the moment of her conception, by a singular grace and by the virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, savior of the human race, preserved immune from the stain of original sin”. She was conceived without the stain of the original sin and was not corrupted by any sin. By the grace of the Holy Spirit, Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long. The fathers of the Eastern Church refer to Mary as “ All-holy” because of the absence of corruption of sin in her entire life.
Mary also proclaimed by the Church as the Mother of God in the counsel of Ephesus in the year 431 must certainly have received an immense grace from God. God could not let the womb that would bear His son incarnate to be corrupted by the state of sin. The Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 490 clearly states that to become the Mother of the savior, Mary was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role.
At the Annunciation, (Luke 1:28) when the angel Gabriel greets Mary, she proclaims her as one “full of grace” and in verse 30, the angel says, “do not be afraid Mary, you have won God’s favor”. Mary filled with the grace of God indeed is not accorded such a status by human merit but by the power of her own creator who immerses her in the story of salvation of mankind, granting her an extraordinary favor to be the mother of the savior of the human race.
The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception thus, alludes to holiness, freedom from sin. To the present-day believers and all thorough the Church, Mary is a model of holiness and invites us to seek the grace of God to attain holiness.
