Yesterday was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception as celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church. I looked for a picture that would illustrate the Immaculate Conception, but what I found were paintings that show Mary in glory like the Murillo above. Now that I think about it, there is really no way to illustrate the Immaculate Conception. What was I thinking?
Elizabeth Kaeton wrote a post at Telling Secrets titled Dirty Mary. Elizabeth's post was, in many ways, a trip down memory lane for me, although I am her elder by years. Back in her day and my day in our Roman Catholic schools, the practices did not change much from decade to decade, thus we share a good many experiences.
We learned early that the Immaculate Conception was definitely not to be identified with the Virgin Birth of Jesus, although, even today, many folks confuse the two. The Immaculate Conception meant Mary was conceived free of original sin, unlike the rest of us who are born prone to sin. Even as a child I thought it rather unfair of God to burden an innocent infant with original sin because of Adam's disobedience.
For several years of those teachings, I had no idea what conception meant, nor what virgin meant beyond, 'How can this be? I know not man.' We'd have had to have been taught a bit of sex education in a Roman Catholic elementary school to understand the words back in the 1940s. Imagine! I don't remember being particularly curious about what the words meant, which seems odd to me now, because I was a curious child. I learned the teachings by rote from the Q&A format in the Baltimore Catechism, and gave the answers back to the teachers on tests without much thought except to get the answers right.
For centuries, there was controversy about the concept of the Immaculate Conception. Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, and Bernard of Clairvaux all had difficulties with the doctrine.
Bernard would seem to have been speaking of conception in the active sense of the mother's cooperation, for in his argument he says: "How can there be absence of sin where there is concupiscence (libido)?" and stronger expressions follow, showing that he is speaking of the mother and not of the child....Pope Pius IX defined the Immaculate Conception as a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church on December 8, 1854
Although I no longer celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception, I honor Mary as a strong and brave woman, a woman who is a model for us all of saying 'Yes' to God, even in the face of grave consequences. I continue to pray to Mary to intercede with her son on our behalf.
And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’Image from the Web Gallery of Art.
Luke 2:33-35
