But are you not also forced to accept that she is “the great exception”? If, as you believe ALL are born outside communion with God until baptism, then Mary must have experienced some form of sanctifying grace that did not come from baptism. Otherwise how could The Lord Jesus become incarnate in her womb? It cannot have happened at the incarnation, because the Angel declares to Mary, “Hail, Full of Grace.” This is before Mary accepts the divine will and the incarnation. Therefore, she must have been filled with grace prior to that happening.
God’s Grace showers down upon all like the rain, Mary was particulary blessed to have the opportunity to bear the Saviour of all Mankind. A direct encounter with the Divine is beyond imagining.
But it is possible to build upon fallacies and come to a bad conclusion. We must also not forget the our faith is full of paradox, things that we cannot explain, there is no point inventing explanations.
An example is that you are assuming that Saint Mary must necessarily have been in some sort of communion with God before the annunciation in order to have Jesus as a baby, and then adding to it that she was sinless all her life, combined with the latin concept of Original Sin transmitted at conception. Since these qualities seem mutually exclusive to you there has to be a rational ‘fix’ some where. I don’t think so.
I call this ‘derivative theology’. Since “A” then also “B” so then “C” must follow. It wasn’t given to us a revelation, but we make ourselves need and want the idea.
I could think of a lot of ways she in her life might have ‘qualified’ for the task, but there is no reason to speculate because I do not accept the need.
No pre Christian saints had baptism as we understand it. Not Saint Joseph, nor St John the Forerunner, nor Elijah. We need to set aside that model of thought, there is no need to posit a substitute for baptism or some workaround explanation for Mary’s ability to have the child Jesus except that she was chosen and she obeyed.
She was sinless all her life because we believe she chose not to, a pretty remarkable feat in itself.
Original Sin was not a problem because that was Adams’ Sin, not hers. The same for you and I. She inherited human flaws and tendencies like the rest of us, including mortality, but she overcame them.
Her life as we understand it is a wonderful example for us to emulate, if we would just try.
As for Christ being the only sinless one, what about angels. They are perfect and sinless.
Not all of them.
If God can create beings who are sinless, why is it impossible to believe God could preserve Mary from sin at her conception.
But what is the point, really?
Even knowing that “with God, all things are possible” we still must acknowledge that God has no need whatever to prepare Mary in any special way if he chose to be born through her.
After all, this is the same Jesus that consorted with sinners, all manner of people brushed up against him. He was IN THE WORLD with us. Breathing the same air, eating the same food (sometimes without washing), drinking wine, weeping for his friends and arguing with hypocrites. He was living very much a real life for a first century Galileean Jew…remarkable to the extreme, but real.
His gestation was a stage of that life experience.
Incidentally, I am learning a lot from this thread. Apparently there are more obstacles to reunification than simply the Pope. I hope and pray that it happens one day. But from what I am reading, it is based on more than mere disagreements. Perhaps we need a true ecumenical council, not one that just “opens windows”.
I think that there will be a long slow process of reconciliation.
It will require more than just one more simple council.
Pray for Peace and Unity among Christians everywhere.
