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Show . The Immaculate Conception. MONDAY, Dec- 8, the church celebrates cele-brates the Feast of Immaculate Conception, which means that Mary was exempt from the hereditary stain, or original sin, which affected all children of "Adam. The teaching of the Catholic church in regard to Mary's immaculate conception, many other churches apply to all children. Hence the rejection of baptism by the latter as necessary for infants. Adhering Adher-ing to the ancient faith as taught by Synagogue, that Adam's tainted nature descended to all his posterity; "Behold, I was conceived in iniquities: and in sins did my mother conceive me!" (Ps. 50: V); also that of the New Testament, "Unless one is born of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter the kingdom king-dom of heaven," the Catholic church i teaches lhat there M as one exceptionV i. e., one who was never defiled by orig-' orig-' inal sin Mary, the Virgin Mother of 1 the Redeemer of the human race. That pious belief, which was coeval with Christianity, the late Pope Pius IX defined de-fined as an article of faith on the Sth day of December, 1S54, in the following words: "We define the doctrine which holds . the Blessed Virgin Mary in the first instant of her conception to have been preserved free from all stain of original sin. by the singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, and through the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, to be a doctrine revealed re-vealed by God, and therefore to be firmly and constantly held by all the faithful." To those denying that children inherit the tainted nature of Adam, or are born in original sin, there can be no difficulty diffi-culty in admitting the church's teaching teach-ing which applies only to Mary; for, when understood in the proper sense, it simply means what they say of all children. chil-dren. Others, following the ancient faith, deny that there was any exception, and that Mary,' like all children born ac cording to natural generation, was at-fected at-fected with Adam's tainted nature, and, like all others, born in Original Sin. That Mary was exempt from the general gen-eral sentence pronounced on Adam and his posterity is evident from the sacred scriptures. After the disobedience of our first parents, addressing the serpent, ser-pent, God said: "I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel." Gen. iii, 15. The Catholic teaching is here included in the first revelation made by God to man. It is older than Christianity. The meaning of those words, "I will put enmities," is simple, their significance is far-reaching, whilst the doctrine they contain is positive and explicit. Assuming that human nature was infected in-fected by Adam's disobedience, which is not merely a religious tenet but the confession of the Tiuman race in every age, it would follow that the devil by his first victory had gained dominion over man and was not at war with the human race. Whilst at peace with the human race, the text predicts enmity between the serpent and the woman that is, Mary. That enmity was radical rad-ical and continuous, and not for a single sin-gle moment did the serpent have any empire over her. It began with her conception when God, through sanctifying sancti-fying grace, suppressed the effects cf Adam's tainted nature in her behalf. That is the meaning of the Immaculate Immacu-late Conception. Objections to this doctrine arise, in most instances, from a misunderstands ing of its meaning. It does not mean that Mary was more than a creature, or j in any sense the equal of her son who was God. It does not mean that she I was conceived as she herself conceived j the second person of the Blessed Trin-! ity by the operation of the Holy Ghost. Born of Anne according to the natural laws of generation, by the power of God she was exempt from the hereditary hered-itary stain, or original sin, to which all humanity are subject, is the real meaning mean-ing of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. |