"Catholic Theology -- Mary, the Immaculate Conception."

ARCHIVE ENTRY:

I am surrounded by many Christians, but not many Catholics. I have yearned to learn more about my Catholic faith, so I finally did something about it. I went back to primary documents of the Catholic dogma. I found this beautiful site -- www.papalencyclicals.net. It states that it is "your guide to online Papal and official documents of the Catholic Church." I want to read one encyclical a week (or maybe every other week if I get busy) and post a summary here.

The first encyclical I read was actually an Apostolic Constitution issued by Pope Piux IX on December 08, 1854. This document concretely defined Mary as the Immaculate Conception. Here is the bottom line:

"We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful."

The document tries to provide evidence as to how God revealed this truth. Much of the document is dedicated to how this doctrine had been propagated throughout the history of the Catholic Church by different Popes through time, so much so that this document just made concrete what was already believed and taught throughout time. But I do not think that reason is persuasive enough for anyone who is not Catholic. You cannot just say, well it is the Catholic Tradition (note, tradition with a capital T).

But as I read the document, I realized that the Catholic Church had (and has) some geniuses in its brain trust. They went back to scripture itself to defend the doctrine. The Angel Gabriel told Mary when she accepted to be the mother of Jesus that she was "full of grace." Scholars say that this means Mary was a depository of grace -- that she was given all the grace she needed, even to wipe away original sin. They also mention how the burning bush (that was not consumed), Noah's Ark, Jacob's ladder to heaven, etc are all symbols of the coming of Mary. To do God's work there must be a holy article (the bush, the Ark, and the ladder). So scholars say that to bring Jesus, the Savior, into the world that you would need a holy vessel -- Mary, immaculately conceived.

The document is very forceful that this is what Catholics believe. It goes so far as to say that any Catholic that does not believe this truth, that their faith is "shipwrecked." The document also outlines sanctions to any Catholic who teaches otherwise. And the sanctions are pretty severe.