From thread # 240:
Of course there is a cleansing .There has always been a way for “cleansing” since day 1 after the fall . I don’t mind calling Mary “immaculate” -cleansed, for apparently so was Enoch and Abraham and perfect Job etc .As A catholic pointed out , so are we, for we are cleansed,made new and indwelt by God. What I mind is saying the way of cleansing for those above was ditched for something better for Mary. As if Judaism, the old testament counterpart for what you say is the One,Holy, Apostolic Catholic Church, that brought all light to the world, and kept up and carried out the steps necessary to fulfill the original garden Promise-no longer could cleanse, but needed a “special dispensation” of grace. It is like you are rewriting history, forgetting we are of Jewish descent. . Of course Mary was cleansed, had a regenerated, faithful, knowledgeable, believing spirit. No one is saying she was spiritually reprobate, an unbeliever etc .Perhaps that is why it did not matter to declare this special grace for milennia ,for she was always regarded properly and highly. Mary was justified by faith, put in right relationship with God, saved a relationship that was broken otherwise due to original sin of Eve. That aspect of original sin was cleansed and she became a “seed” of Eve in spirit , not just in flesh because of her Jewishness and was at enmity with satan’s seed. Was she perfect,did she sin ? Her old nature sinned, was imperfect. Her new nature was perfect in faith. I do not believe this ocurred at birth, but for sure fully at the age of reasoning , when she wilfully believed, by the grace of God.I can only infer this by what St.Paul says about OT believers and what it is /was to be Jewish. For sure ,at the “announcement” she had found favor with God , understood the “promise” of Messiah, and obeyed.Certainly none of this would have happened with prior cleansing/regeneration/justification .