Comments on: Preserved Sinless from the Moment of Humanity http://catholicexchange.com/2009/12/08/124435/ Catholic News, Catholic Articles, Catholic Apologetics, Catholic Content, Catholic Information Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:09:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.2 By: felix1571 http://catholicexchange.com/2009/12/08/124435/comment-page-1/#comment-44413 felix1571 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:54:32 +0000 http://catholicexchange.com/?p=124435#comment-44413 I agree with your insight about God's timing. He was preparing his Church for the extravagant errors of late. In meditating on this mystery of the Immaculate Conception, we should consider a couple of things. There has been a movement of Personalism in the Church that has been used to deal with contemporary problems, such as the worker (e.g. Rerum Nevarum) or conjugal love (e.g. Humanae Vitae). (John Paul II was a Personalist.) We have long been employing the language of "human rights," as the Church felt a need to adopt a language with which many have been made familiar. A focus on Mary and her individuality seems to be a theological parallel with this movement in thought and language. The Immaculate Conception is all about priviledge; but it is the priviledge that is granted to the lowly. A contemporary coinage is "a preferential option for the poor." By lifting up the poor, God was able to lift up the person in his or her very persoonhood. The poor are often without cultivated virtue. Rather, they have to live life in the midst of its bitterness. In their pursuit of happiness, they must often rely on the goodness and beauty infused in nature, rather than seeking cultivated goodness and beauty that is beyond their reach because of lack of resource and constant toil. In her Immaculate Conception, the Virgin is infused with goodness and beauty, identifying her with the lowly and making her accessible as a raw good!! This reminds us of her relationship with all created things: the connection of the words "matter" and "mother" has been noted elsewhere by prominent authors. That being said, we must revive within us a sense of Mary as the daughter of Joachim and Anne, her family context that enabled her to be pure and holy. Her time in the Temple and her relationship with the prophetess Anna. Her holiness was granted uniquely in conception, but it was also cultivated during her upbringing by the many influences around her. One way to enter into this mystery is by considering the Divine Liturgy. The Mass is indeed beauty itself (It too was conceived without stain of sin), but it also must be cultivated in beauty. Many recent efforts (post Vatican II) have been made to move away from cultivated liturgy. Clergy and religious intended these efforts to make the liturgy more accessible, tapping into the energies of the faithful. There has been some success in this, but most successes have occured where the poor are knit together in communal life outside of the parish (A good thing and perhaps a better definition of "parish"). Thus, they are able to cultivate resources for the Church, so that in drawing from the people, the Mass is beautiful (that is, It is beautiful in the cultivated sense). The Mass would seem to be an entirely different issue from personalism, human rights and the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, but it appears that all things in the Church are deeply connected. A change in the theology affects the outlook of moral theologians and liturgists alike. In the end, we can thank God for sending us his Mother in the 1800s to prepare us to "take on the modern world." I agree with your insight about God’s timing. He was preparing his Church for the extravagant errors of late. In meditating on this mystery of the Immaculate Conception, we should consider a couple of things. There has been a movement of Personalism in the Church that has been used to deal with contemporary problems, such as the worker (e.g. Rerum Nevarum) or conjugal love (e.g. Humanae Vitae). (John Paul II was a Personalist.) We have long been employing the language of “human rights,” as the Church felt a need to adopt a language with which many have been made familiar. A focus on Mary and her individuality seems to be a theological parallel with this movement in thought and language.

The Immaculate Conception is all about priviledge; but it is the priviledge that is granted to the lowly. A contemporary coinage is “a preferential option for the poor.” By lifting up the poor, God was able to lift up the person in his or her very persoonhood. The poor are often without cultivated virtue. Rather, they have to live life in the midst of its bitterness. In their pursuit of happiness, they must often rely on the goodness and beauty infused in nature, rather than seeking cultivated goodness and beauty that is beyond their reach because of lack of resource and constant toil. In her Immaculate Conception, the Virgin is infused with goodness and beauty, identifying her with the lowly and making her accessible as a raw good!! This reminds us of her relationship with all created things: the connection of the words “matter” and “mother” has been noted elsewhere by prominent authors.

That being said, we must revive within us a sense of Mary as the daughter of Joachim and Anne, her family context that enabled her to be pure and holy. Her time in the Temple and her relationship with the prophetess Anna. Her holiness was granted uniquely in conception, but it was also cultivated during her upbringing by the many influences around her.

One way to enter into this mystery is by considering the Divine Liturgy. The Mass is indeed beauty itself (It too was conceived without stain of sin), but it also must be cultivated in beauty. Many recent efforts (post Vatican II) have been made to move away from cultivated liturgy. Clergy and religious intended these efforts to make the liturgy more accessible, tapping into the energies of the faithful. There has been some success in this, but most successes have occured where the poor are knit together in communal life outside of the parish (A good thing and perhaps a better definition of “parish”). Thus, they are able to cultivate resources for the Church, so that in drawing from the people, the Mass is beautiful (that is, It is beautiful in the cultivated sense).

The Mass would seem to be an entirely different issue from personalism, human rights and the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, but it appears that all things in the Church are deeply connected. A change in the theology affects the outlook of moral theologians and liturgists alike. In the end, we can thank God for sending us his Mother in the 1800s to prepare us to “take on the modern world.”

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