Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is the Patron Saint of the United States of America. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception states that the Blessed Virgin Mary not only never committed any sins, but also was preserved even from original sin right from the moment she was conceived in the womb of her mother, St. Ann, the grandmother of Jesus.
The way I understand it is to think about how God is out of time and granted Mary the gift of Baptism out of time, so as to preserve her free from sin right from the get go. The church also teaches that Mary is the true Mother of God (Theotokos), which I always assumed means that the Holy Spirit fertilized her best egg. A woman’s eggs are formed before she is born herself. She doesn’t grow new ones ever; her body just ripens one each month. Add that to the fact that the Divine Jesus had to grow inside her womb and it makes perfect sense to me that she had to be perfectly holy or, as the angel said, “Full of grace.”
I dunno if that’s even a tiny bit theologically sound, but for me it helps make sense of the Immaculate Conception in light of Romans 3:23-24 – “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and the patronal feast of the United States of America, let’s remember to ask Mary to pray for us and for our struggling nation for whom she has a special care.
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