OSES. KING DAVID. Mother Teresa. John Paul II. Martha Washington. Nero. Queen Victoria. Joe DiMaggio. Venus Williams. Paul McCartney. Father Friel.
What’s the link? What do all those folks have in common? Are they all Biblical characters? No. Do they all share the same birthday? No. Were they all left-handed? No. So what do they all have in common? They’re all sinners! Every last one of them is a sinner.
In fact, you could add almost any name to that list, and they’d fit right in. One notable exception is Jesus. He wasn’t a sinner. But, then again, He’s God. If that were it, though—if Jesus were the only exception—something would be missing. After all, Jesus isn’t even a human person. He’s a Divine Person, Who took to Himself a human nature. So, if He were the only man ever to live without sin, there would really be no reason for hope.
But God is very wise, and, in the fullness of time, He planned to do something extraordinary. He planned to create a human being who would be sinless. He planned to create a human person, as the Letter to the Ephesians puts it, “without blemish.” He planned the Immaculate Conception of Mary.
By the Immaculate Conception, we mean the singular privilege given to Mary whereby she was preserved from any stain of sin from the moment of her conception onward. At no point has she ever borne the guilt of sin, because God, foreseeing Jesus’ death on the Cross, applied the merits of His Sacrifice to Mary in advance. That’s why Mary has rightly been called “nature’s solitary boast.” She is the only human person ever to have been immaculately conceived.
Moses. King David. Mother Teresa. John Paul II. Martha Washington. Nero. Queen Victoria. Joe DiMaggio. Venus Williams. Paul McCartney. Father Friel. Yes, we’re all sinners. But there’s hope for each of us. Why? Because, if God could create Mary as the Immaculate Conception, He can re-create all of us so that we might be “without blemish” in heaven.
In the words of the Miraculous Medal Novena: “O Mary, conceived without sin: pray for us, who have recourse to Thee!”
