The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1954-12-03
Just Among Ourselves
Passing Comment Considered or Ineonsidsrsis

rounds out the special Marian Year which was pro-
claimed by the Holy Father to awaken increased
devotion to the spotless .Aother OF God, and TO re-
mind us all of the need Of availing ourselves of her
most powerful intercesson, We require that inter
eesson now TO bring peace to our lives and to the
troubled world
She who was divinely chosen as the Mother Of
the Prince of Peace is peculiarly entitled TO The
name of Queen of Peace God who sent His Son
through her, and with His Son every blessing to
mankind will not fail to send through her the gifts
we ask for by her intercession They are all already
merted for us by her Son.
The Immaculate Conception, be it remembered,
is Marys privilege IT is the special privilege ex-
tended to her by Almighty God, exempting her
from the evil heritsge of original sin The sin Of our
first father descends by natural necessity to all his
children II is not ADAM personal SIN that we IN
hert, but the sin of human nature which we have
from Adam in the condition in which he put It by
his offence against God
Now, in view of the glorious destiny of the
Blessed Virgin, that is her place and office of
Mother of God, she was, by Gods eternal decree,
kept from the infection which natural children OF
the human race incur al their conception. Original
sin was not taken away from Mary it was never
there to take away; it was held away from her so
that IFS evil never touched her at any instant Of
her existence
Many people and even p.ous people confuse the
Immaculate Conception of Mary with the Virgin
Birth OF her Divine Son This is, of course, a sad
mistake. While il is true that Mary was kept free
from the faint of original sin in view of the fact
that God was TO become man through her II IS
not the actual Incarnation that we mean when we
speak Of Marys Immaculate Conception. This con
ception is the conceiving of Mary by ST. Anne, her
mother. For Mary had natural parents and was
conceived in the natural way.
There appears To be some miraculous Intervention
in Marys conception for 1t is trsditionaly beliey
ed that Marys parents, Saints Joachim and Anne
were advanced in years when their holy child was
conceived But, whether this be truth or pious leg
end the fact remains that The conception we speak
Of not the conception of Christ but the concep
tion OF Mary in the Womb Of ST. Anne. THIS is what
mean when we name the Immaculate Conception
Of the Blessed Virgin
To be sure The miraculous conception Of Christ
in MaTy's womb immaculate conception
That goes without saying. God Himself cannot in.
hert sin, for sin is the very opposite Of God and
God cannot be the opposite of Himself The Holy
One conceived in Mary by the power of the Holy
Ghost is the all-hoy, allperlec God There can
be no thought or question Of any sin in His concep
ton. So manifest is this truth that we do not es
pecally mention it or celebrate it. for il could not
possibly be otherwise
But Marys conception would have involved the
inheritng OF original sin had God not inervened to
exempt her from its faint This is the special and
glorious privilege Of Mary that we commemorate
and celebrate on the holy day observe on De
cemher 8 That date chosen in 1854 for the
official and nfallihle pronouneement of the truth
of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, at least part
ly because the same date had been for many
turtles the most generally chosen day for the cele
hration of Marys immaculate Conception, though in
ptc OF fhn Hhricf he Was
celebrated on December 3, and in other places
May 3 Now, throughout the Church December
is the day
Mary's birth is celebrated just nine months after
this day of her Immaculate Conception, that Isl on
September 8 And since il was the general custom
Of the Jews 10 name child the eighth day after
its birth, the Church has chosen day ptthin the
octave that is the eehtday celebration OF feasD
Of the Nativity of Mary for, the honoring of her
holy name Mary's name-day is set for September u
The Conception of Christ is celebrated on the
feast Of the Annunciaton, March 25 That day is
really the feast of the Incarnation For it was at the
moment when the Blessed Virgin accepted her
wondrous vocation, and said to Gods messenger who
had come 10 tell her Of it. Behold The handmade
of the Lord, BE il done 10 according to thy
word" that God became carnae; il was precisely
then that "the Word was made flesh" in her spot
less womb
Nine months later. that is December 25, we
celebrate the Birth of the Word made Flesh This
is Christs Birthday, the day always celebrated in
the Church by Chrst's Mass or Christmas And this
Christmas Day commentaries the Virgin Birth of
Our Lord, that is the birth of Christ into the world
Of virgin Mother and withos human father
Therefore the mistaken people who confuse
the Immaculate Conception and the Virgin Birth
must correct their mistake. These titles do not mean
The same thing. The Immaculate Conception refers
to the beginning Of Marys existence The Virgin
Birth means the Nativity Of Our Lord The lmmac
ulate Conception is Marys Conception. The Virgin
Birth is Christs Birth
We celebrate the Immaculate Conception with
peculiar JOY because in Mary our natural humanity
is raised and honored in other child of merely
human parents. We have abundant Joy also in The
truth implied in the Immaculate Conception. that
is in the fact that God Himself is to take flesh
Of his truly human Mother and soto raise us all,
by reason of our very humanity TO place of most
exalted dignity. Made little less than angels.
is by the Incarnation tof which the Immaculate
Conception Of Mary is pledge and promise), made.
in one respect, something greater than the angels.