Hi Sean,

The best I can do is give you a cradle Catholic answer.

In the same way the Ark of the covenant was "immaculate" so it could hold the ten commandments, so Mary who gave birth to God incarnate was immaculate.

Mary was not saved on her own merits. She was saved preemptively or in anticipation of the merits of Jesus' death on the Cross.

If you and Cheryl go to Church on a rainy Sunday and Cheryl's mother says that because it's raining you should probably take the car.

You could either:

Take the car and get there dry.

or

You could walk and after accidentally having some muddy water splash up on both your Sunday bests, you could wash off the mud and dirt from your pants and her dress respectively, and arrive at the church clean as a whistle for services.

In both cases, you arrive clean as a whistle. In the first case, your mother (in anticipation of the bad weather) saved you from getting mud and dirt on your clothes from the start.

In the second case, the mud and dirt (original sin) was washed away (through Baptism) before you reached the Church.

What I've tried to give you is an earthly analogy of the Immaculate Conception which took place in St. Anne's, Mary's mother's womb.

That Conception/That ACT did not predestine a sinless life for Our Blessed Mother. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception defines the act only while not changing anything that is or was human about Our Blessed Mother including her free will to choose good or evil.

Make sense?

Take care,

Mike

Hi, Sean--

Everything is by grace. Mary was preserved from original sin, because her flesh would be the flesh of the Lord, and sin could never touch Him. His human nature was to be a New Adam. But her sinlessness was not of her; it was from Christ and because of Him.

As for actual sinlessness (from actual sins), Mary was "full of grace". By grace, she cooperated fully with God's plan. She experienced temptation, suffering, uncertainty, and fear, but she did not sin. She chose to make her life a fiat to God's will. "Fiat" means "Amen", let it be done. That is an act of faith. Baptists should love Mary, the model of faith!

Mary Ann

As God, Jesus created His own Mother. It stands to reason that He would have created her physically and spiritually beautiful. As the author of the Decalogue, He would have fulfilled His own commandment to honor her - fully and completely. While Mary had free will she was "full of grace" and therefore protected from sin. There is no way that Jesus could have fulfilled the commandment to honor His mother and allow her to be under the power of Satan, even for an instant.

Victor

Mike,

Having come from a Protestant background, I can sympathize with the person asking the question. Somewhere, I remember reading that Mary's sinlessness was comparable to Eve's: Eve was full of grace too.... until she sinned. Realizing this helped me to accept Mary's sinless state, and paved the way for me to understand her as The New Eve.

~Ann