St Anne, St Mary, Christ our Lord Today is the Solemnity of the
Immaculate Conception of Mary - one of the most glorious days of
the entire year. We celebrate that the Blessed Virgin Mary, by a
singular privilege, was conceived in her mother Anne's womb
without original sin. From her first moment, she was filled with
grace and made worthy to bear the only begotten Son of God. Our
Blessed Lady was the greatest creature every created by God.
When God considered of the created universe, she was at the
height. She is now higher than the Cherubim and Seraphim - only
lower to her Uncreated and Divine Son. In the hierarchy of
creation, Mary is at the pinnacle. The difficulty, of course, is
how Mary could be conceived without original sin, since Romans
5:12 seems to indicate a universal application of original sin
to all without distinction. We have discussed how Christ is the
Savior of Mary in a different post (see If Mary Had No Sin, Is
Christ Still Her Savior?). Today, however, I want to focus on
those four famous