Meditation;
Feast of the Immaculate Conception,
(Celebrated 8 December)

Meditation;
Feast of the Immaculate Conception

by Saint Alphonsus Liguori

First Meditation

It was indeed becoming that the three Divine Persons should preserve Mary from original sin. It was becoming that the Father should do so, because Mary was His first-born daughter. As Jesus was the first-born of God, "the firstborn of every creature" - Colossians 1:15, so also was Mary, the destined Mother of God, always considered by Him as His first-born daughter by adoption, and therefore He always possessed her by His grace: "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways". For the honor, therefore, of His Son, it was becoming that the Father should preserve His Mother from every stain of sin. It is also becoming that He should do so, because He destined this His daughter to crush the head of the infernal serpent, who had seduced man, as we read in Genesis, "she shall crush thy head" - Genesis 3:15. How, then, could He permit that she should first be the slave of this infernal serpent? Moreover, Mary was also destined to become the Advocate of sinners; therefore it was also becoming that God should preserve her from sin, that she might not appear guilty of the same fault of men, for whom she was to intercede.

Second Meditation

It was becoming that the Son should have an immaculate Mother. He Himself chose Mary for His Mother. It is impossible to believe that a son who could have a queen for his mother would choose a slave. How, then, can we imagine that the Eternal Word, Who could have an ever-immaculate Mother, and one who had always been the friend of God, would have one defiled by sin, and at one time the enemy of God? Moreover, as an ancient author says, "the flesh of Christ is the flesh of Mary". The Son of God would have felt horror to have taken flesh of a Saint Agnes, a Saint Gertrude, or a Saint Teresa, because these holy virgins were defiled by sin before Baptism; and therefore the Devil could then have reproached Him with being clothed with flesh which had once been subject to him. But as Mary was always pure and immaculate, Our Lord felt no horror at becoming man in her chaste womb. Besides, Saint Thomas says, "Mary was preserved from every actual sin, even venial"; for otherwise she would not have been a becoming Mother of God; but how much less would she have been so, had she been defiled by original sin, which renders the soul hateful to God.

Third Meditation

It was becoming the Holy Ghost, that this His most beloved Spouse should be immaculate. As men who had already fallen into sin were to be redeemed, He willed that this His Spouse should be redeemed in a more noble way; that is, by being preserved from falling into sin. And since God preserved the body of Mary after her death, how much more should we believe that He preserved her soul from the corruption of sin? Hence the Divine Spouse calls her, in the sacred Canticles, "an enclosed garden, a fountain sealed up" - Canticles 4:12; for an enemy never entered the blessed soul of Mary. Therefore He praised her, calling her all beautiful, always His friend, and all pure, "Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee" - Canticles 4:7.

Ah, my most beautiful Lady, I rejoice in seeing thee, by thy purity and thy beauty, so dear to God. I thank God for having preserved thee from every stain. My Queen, since thou art so loved by the most Holy Trinity, disdain not to cast thine eyes on my soul, which is so defiled by sin, that, seeing it, thou mayest obtain me pardon and eternal salvation from God. Behold me, and change me. Thou, by thy sweetness, hast drawn so many hearts to thy love, draw also my heart, that from henceforward it may love no other than God and thee. Thou well knowest That I have placed all my hopes in thee, my dear Mother; abandon me not. Help me always with thine intercession in life, and especially at the hour of my death; grant that I may die invoking and loving thee, that I may love thee for ever in Paradise.

Amen