FREE AND IMMACULATE

FREE

The Indonesians celebrates their political freedom. We can see it also, when Israel went to Sinai: free from Egypt. Political freedom is seen as the human face of our faith to the works of the Father: to make people free from burden, put to them by the other nation. In fact in the Canon of the Mass we celebrate the Divine Creation of the Father, the Salvation work of the Son and the Providence of the Holy Spirit: we are free from sin. One of the most clear picture of this relationship for FIC Brothers is the freedom of Mary from sin: learning from the history of the Church.

We remember that in the Book of Genesis, after the first sin of our Parents, Adam and Eve, God has shown his Mercy and has promised the Lady and Her Son to solve the problems of evil through the works of the Holy Spirit. But He has done it in the Holy Trinity. 

The Immaculate Conception

The Immaculate Conception means that Mary, whose conception was brought about in the normal way, was conceived without original sin or its stain—that’s what "immaculate" means: without stain. The essence of original sin consists in the deprivation of sanctifying grace, and its stain is a corrupt nature. Mary was preserved from these defects by God’s grace; from the first instant of her existence she was in the state of sanctifying grace and was free from the corrupt nature original sin brings. 

When discussing the Immaculate Conception, an implicit reference may be found in the angel’s greeting to Mary. The angel Gabriel said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Luke 1:28). The phrase "full of grace" is a translation of the Greek word kecharitomene. It therefore expresses a characteristic quality of Mary.

The traditional translation, "full of grace," is better than the one found in many recent versions of the New Testament, which give something along the lines of "highly favored daughter." Mary was indeed a highly favored daughter of God, but the Greek implies more than that (and it never mentions the word for "daughter"). The grace given to Mary is at once permanent and of a unique kind. Kecharitomene is a perfect passive participle of charitoo, meaning "to fill or endow with grace." Since this term is in the perfect tense, it indicates that Mary was graced in the past but with continuing effects in the present. So, the grace Mary enjoyed was not a result of the angel’s visit. In fact, Catholics hold, it extended over the whole of her life, from conception onward. She was in a state of sanctifying grace from the first moment of her existence.

Mary, too, required a Savior. Like all other descendants of Adam, she was subject to the necessity of contracting original sin. But by a special intervention of God, undertaken at the instant she was conceived, she was preserved from the stain of original sin and its consequences. She was therefore redeemed by the grace of Christ, but in a special way—by anticipation. She is freed by Her Son: it is very important to consider.

By receiving Christ’s grace at her conception, she had his grace applied to her before she was able to become mired in original sin and its stain. 
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that she was "redeemed in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son" (CCC 492).

The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was officially defined by Pope Pius IX in 1854. The definition of the Immaculate Conception was prompted by requests from people desiring the doctrine to be officially proclaimed. Pope Pius IX, who was highly devoted to the Blessed Virgin, hoped the definition would inspire others in their devotion to her. 

The Catholic Church was commissioned by Christ to teach all nations and to teach them infallibly—guided, as he promised, by the Holy Spirit until the end of the world (John 14:26, 16:13). The Church teaches that something is definitely true, and that is a guarantee that it is true (cf. Matt. 28:18-20, Luke 10:16, 1 Tim. 3:15). 

We want to be the witnesses of the works of the Father, the Son, the Spirit. One of the Mystery, that very deep in the heart of the FIC, is that Mary’s Immaculate Conception a reality is. Our embracing it, is a picture of our faith to the works of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit to save the People of God. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to make us worthy of this vocation, to be witness of this mystery. 

By: Fr. Bernard Mardiatmadja SJ.