It Makes Sense for Mary Not to Sin

Michie · Dec 17, 2024

When you look at Scripture and Tradition, the Immaculate Conception is reasonable.

I will never forget, years ago, when I was asked this question on Catholic Answers Live by a nine-year-old boy: “If Mary had to be without sin in order for her to carry Jesus in her womb, how could Jesus have come into a world where there is so much sin?” That’s quite a question, coming from a nine-year-old!

Along these same lines, many will ask, “If Mary had to be without sin in order to carry God in her womb, wouldn’t Mary’s mother have to be without sin in order to carry a sin-free Mary in her womb . . . and wouldn’t the same be true for her mother . . . and her mother, etc.?”

This same question was asked in the twelfth century, by no less a luminary than St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Although he understood Mary to be completely free of all personal sins whatsoever, he had a problem with the idea of the Immaculate Conception. And at that time, the dogma had not been defined. I say that to point out that this question is not one to be scoffed at.

In answering these two questions, it is important for us to remember—and this is true of all the Marian dogmas—that we are not talking about strict necessity with any of them. In other words, Mary did not have to be immaculately conceived in order to give birth to the Messiah. Jesus could have been born of a sinful woman if God had so willed it. For that matter, God did not have to become incarnate in the world at all in order to save us. He could have saved us in any number of ways. He is all-powerful. The Catechism of the Catholic Church rightly uses the language of “fittingness” (722) when it speaks of the Immaculate Conception. And in Lumen Gentium, the fathers of Vatican II provide the following:

All the salvific influence of the Blessed Virgin on men originates, not from some inner necessity, but from the divine pleasure. It flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it and draws all its power from it. In no way does it impede, but rather does it foster the immediate union of the faithful with Christ (60).

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