Dear Pope Francis,
Our Blessed Mother, THE MOST HOLY VIRGIN MARY, IS THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, therefore, contrary to what you said on December 21, 2018, she WAS born a saint because she was conceived without original sin. As a reminder of that doctrine, here's a picture of her - the Ever Virgin Mary, the Immaculate Conception - at the Annunciation of Our Lord, painted by Lorenzo Veneziano in 1357. Full picture HERE.
I read your link to Francis' address and I, like you, find the comment at the end of his 5th paragraph unacceptably shocking.
ReplyDeleteYour comments on my post yesterday titled, The Key of Heaven, were so emotional I felt sure something specific had gotten you riled up that I didn't know about.
The pontiff's comment could or would be innocent enough if it referred to anyone, but most certainly the Queen of Heaven, the Immaculate Conception, is NOT just anybody. She is the ark prepared from conception to house and nurture our Lord.
Like Jesus, she was human, she felt sadness and suffered sorrow, and like Him, she may have faced temptation, but there is no cause for us to ever imagine she had any trouble resisting evil.
She is the "new Eve", not the old one.
"They are Our Lady and Saint Joseph! Yes, but let us not think it was easy for them: saints are not born, they become thus, and this is true for them too."
ReplyDeleteMay I pick a nit? Mary was conceived and born holy and blessed, no question there. There is also no question that she was taken into Heaven, the final place for all saints. We agree.
But my understanding is that one is not a saint until that soul enters Heaven. So I wonder if there is such a thing as a siant who is on earth. Secondly, I suppose that with thefree will with which God has blessed us, it is possible that Mary could have decided to sin. Granted, she had special graces, advantages, and blessings, but I am less impressed by a person who couldn't sin, even if they wanted to, than someone who resisted temptation.
Jesus was tempted. We honor and worship Him for, among other things, resisting that temptation. I know that Jesus didn't sin ever, but if we knew that Jesus couldn't possibly sin the whole exercize in the desert becomes simply a waste of Satan's time which Jesus could just laugh at.
I believe that Mary was born holy and sinless,that she stayed that way, but that the title of saint is more appropriately applied to her after the Assumption.
Please read The Wondrous Childhood of the Most Holy Mother of God by Saint John Eudes. Then see if you still have the same questions.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=wondrous+childhood+of+the+most+holy+Mother+of+God