Catholic Exchange: The Immaculate Conception — Essential to the Faith

Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Mary's Immaculate Conception. As the Catholic Encylopedia explains:

In the Constitution Ineffabilis Deus of 8 December, 1854, Pius IX pronounced and defined that the Blessed Virgin Mary "in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin."

Mark Shea, writing for Catholic Exchange, explains why The Immaculate Conception is Essential to the Faith. The short explanation is that the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception teaches us that sin is normal, not natural:

Take the Immaculate Conception. Even after it is clarified that the Church only believes Mary was sinless because of the grace of God and "not on her own steam," it is still often argued that she must have been a sinner because "all have sinned" (Rom 3:23). But if we press St. Paul into rigorously meaning by this "every last human being on earth, especially Mary" there is no way to keep that steam roller from running over Jesus too, since Paul does not say "all have sinned except for Jesus." In short, Paul assumes his readers will know he has exceptions in mind to his general rule. If we try to soften the objection by saying she was only human and not divine like Jesus and that's why she's sinful, we may seem to make progress, but we are, in fact, no nearer the mark. For, at bottom, we are really taking a biblical teaching ("sin is normal") and using it as a platform from which to lead to an unbiblical conclusion ("sin and humanness are identical").

In light of the Incarnation, it is profoundly mistaken to think that humanity is necessarily or naturally sinful. It isn't. Sin is normal, but never natural. Nature is not corrupt; corruption is corrupt. Sin is precisely what is contrary to our human nature. It is damage to nature, not nature itself, which constitutes sin. Thus, sin (which we all inherit in Adam) is always a warping and a deformation of our nature. In Christian understanding, nature is essentially good since it and grace (not sin) have the same author: God. Grace does not build on sin. It heals sin, eradicates sin, repairs the effects of sin, forgives sin. When that process is complete (as it shall be for the saints in heaven) those saints shall no longer be afflicted by sin in any way. That would be impossible if sin and humanness were identical.

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