The Immaculate Conception

[Kateri89]

So I'm trying to do some in-depth research on how the Catholic church came to the conclusion that Mary was immaculately conceived.  I've heard plenty of times that in Luke 1:28 the angel Gabriel greets her saying "Hail, full of grace" and that because she was "full of grace" that implied that she was without sin.  So I've been doing some reading on the translation from Greek, in which of course the original wording was "Kecharitomene" which supposedly is a perfect passive participle of "charitoo".  Apparently charitoo means 'to fill or endow with grace' (and of course the translation for the word 'grace' is 'charis').  In other words, the angel Gabriel could have said "Hail, having been filled with grace" which would imply that Mary was filled with grace prior to the annunciation.  That still doesn't tell us that she was filled with that grace at her conception (for all we know she could've been filled with that grace an hour earlier).  It was also mentioned that the angel used the term "full of grace" as more of a title than just a description because even though we pray "Hail Mary, full of grace", he did not actually use her name in his greeting.  Therefore, in saying it as a title, that implies that it was more of an essential characteristic of Mary.  I do see the merit in that.

The second thing I researched was the definition of grace and the two types of grace.  The Church teaches that there is actual grace which is an external grace or "nudge" that God gives us to help us act in accord with His will.  He certainly must have been giving her the actual grace to say yes to His will considering she then gave her fiat but in order to be "filled with" grace, it seems to imply an interior grace which would be sanctifying grace.  Now this is where I'm getting tripped up a bit because I also read that Adam and Eve were created and infused with sanctifying grace at the moment of their creation.  It was because of that sanctifying grace that they were able to live in the direct presence of God.  So then technically, that would mean that they were immaculately created.  Not conceived, of course, since they were the first human beings and neither one was born from a woman.  Nevertheless, if they were immaculately created, that obviously didn't stop them from sinning since they were the cause of the fall.  So does that mean that God was constantly giving Mary actual grace in addition to the sanctifying grace?  Because if He was constantly giving her actual graces, that would explain how she always sought His will for her and never sinned.  Yet we can't be filled with actual grace because it is not an interior grace but an exterior one.

So to sum up, Mary could have been filled with sanctifying grace but that doesn't automatically mean that she was sinless.  I imagine she would have had to be showered with actual graces all of the time in order to remain faithful to God's will because we all receive sanctifying grace via the sacraments but we all still sin.  But to justify the immaculate conception, simply saying that she was "full of grace" doesn't seem to work out.  I'm not sure exactly what my question is in all of this but I want to be able to understand how we've come to the conclusion that she was created a sinless creature from the moment of her conception.  I may need to read up a bit more on Bl. Duns Scotus who proved the Immaculate conception to see his reasoning but if you have any theological articles, books, etc. that you could recommend, it would be very greatly appreciated.

 

[Theoketos]

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But to justify the immaculate conception, simply saying that she was "full of grace" doesn't seem to work out

Impressive and thoughtful questions. You should consider graduate research.

I would grant that without the tradition and authority of the Church "Kecharitomene" may not necessarily imply the Immaculate Conception. After all, St. Thomas Aquinas (my favorite doctor) notoriously got this wrong. However, if you put Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium together on this, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary becomes clear.

I think though that your issues are resolved if you concentrate on Christ's relationship via the Incarnation. It is only fitting {especially if consider the modern science that says the fetal cells of a mother's child remain with her as a par of her} that if Christ were to take her flesh for his own, that nothing unclean could pollute it. This worthiness for the glorification of God is the heart of the Church's teaching on the Immaculate conception.

Other important considerations, Biblically, would be Luke's comparison to the Ark and the Jewish understanding of the purity of materials. (But again, this only leads to and is only open to the Church's understanding.)

And finally a few better documents:
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9ineff.htm

https://web.archive.org/web/20100302213459/http://www.marymediatrix-resourceonline.com/library/files/franciscan/scotus_ic.htm

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07674d.htm

 

 

[CatherineM]

Imagine you're God. You are sending your Son to Earth. What vessel would you choose?  

You're a sacristan. Do you put out a dirty chalice or a clean one?