The Immaculate Conception: Understanding Mary’s Role in Salvation
Introduction to Mary's Singular Grace
Hail full of grace. What better salutation for the Blessed Virgin Mary than exactly this? First of all, an archangel saint Gabriel himself appearing to the Blessed Virgin Mary coming before her and addressing her with hail in Latin, of which is a salutation of respect as of an inferior to a superior. So automatically we pay attention. An angel of God, an archangel, addressing our lady as his superior. What a magnificent demonstration of respect and of her place in the order of salvation. Full of grace. What does this mean? But there's absolutely nothing in her that is not absolutely filled with grace. That she has no more ability to receive grace. No, actually, she does. She does. Our Lord Jesus Christ was full of grace in an infinite form because He is God. He could not grow. And grace, all the grace he had, he had from the instant of his can of his conception.
Growth in Grace and Its Implications
But the Blessed Virgin Mary grew in grace. She was not born the mother of God. She was born to be the mother of God. So she was full of grace from the very instant of her conception. And every day she grew in grace like a child, their innocence. And so they're full of grace. But as they grow, they get to learn responsibility. They get to grow in virtue. They get to practice what they know to be the right thing. They get to obey, they get to do. They get to choose to do the right thing. And as such, their capacity for grace grows outside, always full. They're not always perfect. Not one of us is. But they keep growing. And so the capacity grows. They receive their first communion. They have a huge growth in their capacity for what they can receive. They receive the confirmation even more so they receive other sacraments, they grow in grace, they take responsibilities.
The Immaculate Conception Explained
And so it is as was with Our Lady. But the difference is, as she grew in capacity for grace, her level of grace was always topped off, was always perfectly full. That's something that one [of us] can never say. Of course. But this is her we're talking about, not us. So as our capacity grew, the amount of grace grew perfectly and in union with it, so that it became absolutely she became absolutely full of grace, even to the end of her life. Even until she went body and soul into heaven. And even though she can't grow anymore in grace, she's as close to perfectly full of grace. She's as close to infinite grace as any creature could be.
Addressing Protestant Objections
Now. How is this accomplished? This is one of the objections thrown out by many Protestants when they when they attack Our Lady. How is it possible that Our Lady was preserved from original sin? How was it that she was full of grace before the crucifixion of our Lords? Because our Lord died, after she was born, after she was conceived. So how was it that this came into being? How is it possible that she was born in grace or she was conceived in grace this way? And it's very simple. And actually Saint Thomas Aquinas, who has been reported many times, have been opponents to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, actually proved it very clearly. God does not work in time and space. He worked proactively before his crucifixion. He applied the grace of the crucifixion to her soul.
Mary’s Overflowing Grace
It was a retroactive acting grace, if you want to call it that, so that Our Lady could be preserved, so that he could be born into a perfect vessel, so that there could not be a single stain that could be accused against him or by, by extension, her She could have no blemish. And so therefore she was preserved in the most amazing possible way. So overflowing, was she with this grace that she actually was able to give this grace in a certain specific instance?
Saint John the Baptist and the Grace of Mary
Saint John the Baptist was born in grace, not conceived in grace, but born in grace because of her words. When she went to the moon to her cousin Elizabeth, she had just conceived our Lord through the Annunciation. She went to our cousin Elizabeth, who was six months pregnant with Saint John the Baptist, and at that moment, the child left in her womb because he had been baptized through her words. And she had and he had been relieved of original sin because of the grace that was within her. The immensity of her grace overflowed into others.
Mary as Mediatrix of All Graces
And so it is now. This is why the church calls for the media[rix] of all graces. This is why God gave her the fullness of the treasure of His graces to distribute among her children us. This is why she is so important to us. She was at the foot of the cross. He looked down upon her and said, Woman, behold thy son. And to Saint John's son. Behold my mother. The reason for this is that she would be taken care of by Saint John. He would take her in and then she would take all of us in as represented by Saint John. We are now her children.
The Gift of Mary as Our Mother
What a magnificent final inheritance given to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. The moment of his death, he gave us his most precious gift. His own mother as our mother. That is what we have on our side now. Just as our mothers are natural mothers give us life as opposed to give us education. They're supposed to teach us right from wrong. They're supposed to reveal God to us in their own way and through their own nature. But with Our Lady, it's so much more different, so much more than that. She gives us God, literally. Not by example, not by teaching, but by reality. She gives us eternal life. She gives us grace. She gives us our spiritual life. She gives us everything that God wants us to have. As she gives us more. She's always so good to us.
The Power and Authority of Mary
So we need to trust in her, in her immaculate conception, in her grace, in her power, and how much power she has even over God himself. Fulton Sheen in his magnificent book about Our Lady called The World's First Love, explains this passage of the of the of Proverbs. That was the epistle for us. She is considered the first creature. Not for some time because of course she was created much later than the first creatures, but she is the first creature in the eyes of God because she is the only single perfect creature in the history of this world and the history of creation. She is the only one who represents and reflects perfectly the will of God. She is the only one. This is why she is the first love of God. This is why she is the most perfect creature. This is the why. This is why she is given all these titles of mediatrix and coredemptrix. This is why she has all of these gifts from God. This is why she has so much power over him. She is his mother. And God being the source of all authority will not violate that authority. The authority he himself gave to her over himself. Even got himself obeys his mother. Children. I hope you're listening. Even got himself or basis mother.
Our Relationship with Our Spiritual Mother
And we must too. Not just our natural mothers, but our spiritual mother, our eternal mother. We must obey her. Which means we must follow her. Which means we must trust her. If she has that much power, it's for a reason. This for a reason. She could command God to save our souls. But we must be her faithful children. Which is why we encourage this consecration, this total consecration to her. We ask her to take all of us, all of our merits, all of our sins, all of our good things, all of our qualities and all of our bad qualities. We ask her to take every part of our being and to give them to God. Because, let's face it, if God looks at our little paltry efforts to sanctify ourselves and our little efforts to gain merit, he's not going to be terribly impressed.
Consecration and Trust in Mary
We're not exactly the best workers for our own salvation. We don't always have the purest of intentions. We don't even always have the best desires for our own souls. We're weak. But if we take our own little, our own little simple offerings and give it to Our Lady, she will give it to him in combination with all that she has of herself, all of that abundance of grace, that almost infinite amount of grace. She will give that to him in connection with our own little offering. And then how much more agreeable and acceptable will it be to him? How much more beautiful will it be for him to accept that magnificent gift from her and which is hidden our own little offering and so therefore us? How much more easily is it for him to receive us when we are her children, when we are her slaves, whom we offer ourselves totally to her? And she will not abandon us. She will never abandon us so long as we are her faithful children and trying to be so. So as we make those efforts to be truly her slave, to be truly her subjects and to be truly her child, she will never abandon us, and we must trust in that.
The Power of Intercession: Saint Gemma Galgani's Story
To illustrate that, I'm going to recount probably my favorite anecdote that I'm sure many of you have heard from the life of Saint Gemma Galgani. St Gemma was a stigmata who received many apparitions during her life and one year. Her spirit. The director was at the home she stayed at and she went into ecstasy and started praying for a certain young man of the town who is a very renowned, infamous and public sinner. And she started praying for him, demanding Christ. She was in. She was in an argument with our Lord Jesus Christ himself, demanding and pleading with our Lord to please free him from his sins and help them to convert. And our Lord was saying no. She was saying, how dare you say no? You can't say no. That that's an ugly word on your lips. But our Lord started counting the sins the man had committed. And the spirit of directory is there copying everything down. And it was a long, hard list at St. Gemma's seemed to be exhausted from hearing all of the sins and he said, You're right. You're right. And you. But you've told me that you saved me from worse since. That I would have committed much worse if you hadn't saved me.
The Unyielding Intervention of Mary
So now I'm asking you to do the same for this young man. And our Lord still said no. Then she said, But you cannot say NO to your mother. She is standing right there next to you and she is telling you to save him. You cannot say no to your mother. Don't you dare. She actually scolded our Lord. And at that moment she said, Thank you, Jesus, he is saved. 10 minutes later, there was a knock on the door. It was that young man asking her spiritual director for confession. That is the power Our Lady has over our Lord. That is the power She has over His grace. That is the power she has for our souls. That is the power she wants to wield in our intercession to save us.
Consecration to the Immaculate Conception
When we consecrate the Immaculate Conception, how could we possibly doubt for an instant that we can be saved? How can we possibly doubt that the world is in safe hands because her immaculate heart will triumph? How could we possibly lose? We are on her side as her faithful children. So let us consecrate ourselves to her so that we can live this life in perfect, absolute service to her, be her faithful children, and then be able to serve and love her eternally in her kingdom of heaven.
Summary
This lecture by Fr. Gerrity reflects on the profound role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the order of salvation, emphasizing her status as "full of grace" and her unique capacity to grow in grace throughout her life. The text explains the theological basis for the Immaculate Conception, addressing common Protestant objections, and highlighting how Mary's grace surpasses that of any other creature. Her role as mediatrix and her power, even over Jesus, is underscored through biblical and anecdotal evidence.
Additionally, the narrative of Saint Gemma Galgani is employed to illustrate the power of Mary's intercession and grace. Fr. Gerrity encourages believers to consecrate themselves entirely to Mary, trusting in her ability to intercede with God for their salvation. By becoming her spiritual children, believers can ensure that their offerings and struggles are magnified and perfected through her grace, ultimately leading them toward eternal life in heaven.