The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-12-05
THE IMMACULATE C INCEPTION.

On the Sth of December, 1854, Pope
Plus TX pronounced and defined that
the Blessed Virgin Mary 'in the first
instant of her conception, by singu-
lar privilege and grace granted by
God, in view of the merits of Jesus
Christ, the Saviour Of the human race,
was preserved exempt from all stain
of original sin" ..
For many years petitions without
number had been forwarded to Rome /
by bishops, religious orders, and the
deyout laity, asking that this honor
be paid to the Virgin Mother of God.
Certain theological difficulties involved
in the matter had given rise to a good
deal of discussion in the Church.
But whatever the dry theologians
might think about the correct manner
of speaking Of the privileges Of Our
Lady, deYout souls in the Church
never hesitated to call her Immaculate
with a full sense of the meaning of the
term. The festival of The Immaculate
Conception. was instituted and OBJ
served, at first in certain limited areas,
and gradually it was extended, with
its proper Mass and Office, to the
whole Church. The mind of the
Church was expressed in her prayers
and devotiOns. beautiful prayers and
hymns were composed; and in many
ways the children Of Mary in every
cline expanded and varied the words
Of the Angel who hailed her Full of
grace, the Lord is with Thee, blessed
are thou among women" The light
of the glories of Mary has sent its
rays out into the dark world beyond
the ChurchS pale, so that all gentle
and refined souls have felt with the
poet that Mary is 'our tainted ma
lures solitary boast"
Devotion to our Lord must include
devotion to His Mother. Those who
love Jesus must love and honor Mary.
So it happened that devout souls,
meditating upon the words Of Holy
Writ, every page Of which tells of
Christ, found Mary all through the
Old Testament and the New. Revela-
ton and prophecy had for their object
to make known to men the ineffable
counsels of God for the redemption
OIL HIS ldllGH OEcdLuEC. hey. ludub
known the mystery of the Incarnation,
that wonderful masterpiece of Divine
Mercy, Wisdom, Goodness, and Love.
But the Incarnation means that God
the Son became man in the chaste
womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by
the power and operation of the Holy
Ghost. Hence as the Incarnation was
IN 4bo niUipn Mind from of wit h
it were present the dignity and the
privileges of Mary. Almighty God
deigned to wait for Mary's humble
behold the handmade Of the Lord;
be it done unto me according to Thy
word" Tho consent thus expressed
was made a necessary condition of
the Incarnation by God Himself; what
human tongue can say how spotless
must have been the Virgin that was
thus honored, thus waited upon for
her consent to become Mother Of
God!
In the very beginning of history,
lust after the Fall of Man, when Al
mighty God made known for the first
time that a Redeemer was to come
and to undo the evil work of Adam
and Eve, lie mentioned also the
Mother of the Redeemer. The SEN
tence against our first parents was
accompanied by the earliest form Of
the Good News, the ProtO-evangelium
or First Gospel, as it is called; II
will put enmity between thee and
the woman and thy seed and her seed
Genesis III, Is. The conqueror, who
was to crush the serpents head, is
Christ; the woman at enmity with the
serpent is Mary. Between Mary and
the enemy of man there. is the same
implacable warfare as is waged be-
tween Christ and the same foe. AT
no period of her existence, however
short, was Mary anything but the con.
quering foe of Satan. The Christian
soul shrinks instinctively from the
very thought that the Mother of God
was ever a child Of wrath, slave OF
Gods enemy. Mary from the first
moment Of her existence was all and
more than all that Eve was before
her fall. Mary had the fullness oil
original Justice and grace, was spot
less in innocence, beautified in soul
by all the choicest gifts of her Crea
tor. The true Christian, looking al
the Infant Jesus in the arms of His
Mother, thinking of His Love and
Reverence for her. has at all times
been content to try to initiate OIL
Saviour in this respect as in every
thing else; and devout souls have
confessed that in this life we cannot
duly celebrate the glories of Mary, be
cause we cannot resemble her Sor
with sufficient closeness, and the
speech of mortal man is unable II
deal with the themes of angels.
What did Jesus Christ do for His
Mother? Did He not redeem he1
also? Yes; He redeemed her in
more. excellent way. The infinite mer
it of His life and death moved the
Heavenly Father to shield His Mothe
Mary from the curse of Adams fall
When sin threw it's dark shadow oYel
The human race there was one bfish
SPOT from which the light of Gods
favour was never for one instant with
drawn; and that was the soul o.
Mary. The Sun of Justice, her owl
Son. shone upon her from the be
ginning of her existence in accord