The faith of the Church is that Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin. She was deliberately preserved from original sin, because the Father in his infinite knowledge and wisdom knew that she would be the one who would agree to conceive his son.
To be the mother of the God-Man, no trace of sin could be found in her for it was not appropriate for the God-Man to be born from sin. Therefore his mother had to be conceived without sin.
Thus, Mary is the Immaculate Conception.
The great Franciscan theologian Blessed Brother Duns Scotus said, "It was necessary that God do this. It was fitting that he do it. Therefore, he did it. "
Not only was Mary conceived without sin, but she was above sin as the seed of sin was not present hin her soul or her will.
This does not mean that she did not have free will. She could have declined to be the mother of the second person of the Trinity and not have lost her freedom from original sin. A gift given by God is never taken away.
Observe that the Catholic Catechism reminds us that she is redeemed through the merits of her son, not her own, contrary to what many people think that Catholics believe.
It was through Jesus’ merits, even before he was born, that she was redeemed from sin at the moment her parents conceived her. It is always the power of Christ at work.
How is this possible? As St. John tells us in his prologue. Jesus is the pre-existent Word of God. Everything was created through him and for him, including his mother.
**491 Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, “full of grace” through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854:
The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.**
JR
