Sandtigress:
Hi guys! In our last Apologetics meeting, our topic was Mary and the Saints. One of the guys in my small group asked why it was necessary to believe that Mary had been conceived free of original sin, and why we couldn’t believe that she had simply been cleansed in the womb or at some other point in her life. He said he felt that Mary’s total freedom from original sin seemed to take away from her humanity some - and wondered how she could still have a fallen nature (ie the free will to sin, though he can believe she never chose to sin) if she didn’t have original sin. Do you have any ideas for explanations for him? Thanks!
Firstly, the doctrine was revealed by God. Thus, Catholics are bound to assent to it from the perspective of faith in the authority which revealed it.
Secondly, Eve was created in Original Justice, that is infused with sanctifying grace. Thus, she too was created without original sin. Yet, she still sinned. Consequently, it should be evident that just because Mary was created infused with sanctifying grace, that she too had freewill to sin.
I would explain original sin from the perspective of the gifts given before the fall, and the state of humanity after the fall.
Adam and Eve had gifts prior to their sin: natural gifts, preternatural gifts, and supernatural gifts. As a consequence of these gifts, Adam and Ever are said to have been created in Original Justice. After the fall, the only thing removed form them was the preternatural gifts (eg. freedom from suffering, freedom from death), and the supernatural gifts (eg. sanctifying grace). Their natural gifts remained unchanged, and are given to their progeny by natural generation. For their progeny, natural generation does not result in sanctification, however, including Mary. Sanctification would require God’s special intervention.
Thus Original Sin (the opposite of Original Justice) is the natural state of all mankind after Adam and Eve, due to natural generation. Nobody, not even Mary is given supernatural gift of grace through natural generation. That requires a special intervention by God. That intervention we call being “born again” or “born from above.”
God intervenes supernaturally on our behave when we are “born from above.” This results in supernatural grace being infused in you soul. We are then justified and made righteous by God’s grace. This happens for every Christian whenever God so chooses. We believe this occurs in sacramental baptism, but can occur extra-sacramentally as well. God can and has sanctified infants in their wombs. According to Jer. 1:5: “
Before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee.” And of John the Baptist, Luke 1:15 says*: “He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.*”
So, when did Mary become “born from above?” The Catholic Church insists that she was sanctified simultaneous to her creation, like Eve. This may have been to untie the knot tied by Eve as St. Irenaeus described in the 2nd century: “
Thus then, the knot of the disobedience of Eve was untied through the obedience of Mary.” (ca. AD 189, )
to be continued…
