We are seeing a record number of Evangelical Protestants enquiring about the Catholic faith here in South Carolina.

This morning a young woman from a Baptist background came to see me and said she has questions about Mary and “just didn’t get it” about claims that Mary was sinless. So we had a discussion that went something like this:

Young Evangelical Enquirer: So why do you claim Mary was sinless? the Bible says “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

Fr DL: True, but the Bible also says Mary did not fall short of God’s glory. The angel called Mary “Full of Grace” It was a new name he gave her recognizing her status as full of God’s grace.

YEE: OK, but why does that make her sinless. She was human right?

FDL: Yes, but let’s think it through. Jesus was fully God and fully human right?

YEE: Yeh. I guess so.

FDL: Galatians 4:4 says “In the fullness of time God sent forth his Son born of a woman. It doesn’t say born through a woman, but of a woman. So the fully Christian belief is that Jesus took his human nature and his human flesh from Mary his mother. With me so far?

YEE: Sure.

FDL: So Jesus had to be the perfectly pure God-Man right?

YEE: Of course.

FDL: Perfect in his divinity, but also perfectly pure in his humanity too. Still with me?

YEE: Uh huh.

FDL: So Mary his mother–from whom he took his humanity–had to offer him a pure and innocent humanity including an innocent and pure human body.

YEE: OK

FDL: So in the first few centuries of the Church the theologians called her “the second Eve” because like the first Eve she was created in perfect innocence. Then they asked, “How did she get this perfectly pure humanity?” God must have done it as a special miracle. So when did that perfection begin?

YEE: When she was born?

FDL: When does life begin–at birth?

YEE: At conception I guess.

FDL: Right. So that’s what we call the Immaculate Conception.At the moment of Mary’s natural conception when her parents were joined in love she was preserved from the stain of original sin by God’s special action.

YEE: So she was saved

FDL: Correct

YEE: I thought everybody could only be saved through Jesus

FDL: Good one. Yes We believe Mary’s preservation from original sin was accomplished by the death of her Son on the Cross..

YEE: but that was years later.

FDL: Correct. His saving action worked retroactively–she was saved like the Old Testament people were saved–by Christ’s sacrifice (which operates outside of time) working backwards through time.

YEE: Umm…OK…

FDL: Then they asked themselves whether Mary might have sinned later and concluded that she must not have, lest that gift of innocence and purity be spoiled by her own wrong choices.

YEE: Does that mean she did not have free will?

FDL: She did have free will, but her will was totally free because she did not suffer from concupiscence

YEE: What’s that?

FDL: Concupiscence is the natural consequence of original sin. It is the tendency or bias to choose sin rather than virtue. We have free will but because of original sin it is not completely free because of this natural bias against us. Mary didn’t have that bias so her choice was completely free. When the angel Gabriel invited her to accept God’s will Mary could have said NO, but her will was free. Her innocence and purity enabled her to make the right choice.

YEE: OK.

FDL: We believe this innocence and purity continued for her whole life which is what we call The perpetual virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her physical virginity is simply a sign and confirmation of this greater purity and innocence of her whole character.

YEE: But what about Mary going up to heaven?

FDL: Have you ever heard of microchimerism?

YEE: What’s that?

FDL: The scientific discovery that fetal cells of the child pass into the mother’s body during pregnancy and that the child’s genetic material remains part of the mother’s body for the rest of her life. Thus the close bond between mother and child.

YEE: Really? That’s cool

FDL: Yeh. Well, this means some of Jesus the Son of God remained with Mary and this makes her unique among all created beings. This didn’t happen to anyone else. This is why we say she is the highest of all created beings and we venerate her and pray to her. We don’t worship her. Prayer or asking for things is different than worship

YEE: I get that. OK

FDL: And this is why we say she was taken up bodily into heaven. A little bit of heaven was part of her–was still in her body and needed to return home. That’s called the Assumption of The Blessed Virgin.

YEE: That’s awesome.

FDL: Will you read this book? Its called Our Lady? I wrote it with a friend I went to Bob Jones with.

YEE: You went to Bob Jones!?

FDL: I am a BJU grad.

YEE: You’re kidding me right?

FDL: Nope. Take this book. We discuss all the Marian dogmas in it. We don’t agree of course, but its a friendly debate.

YEE: OK Thanks a lot!

FDL: Happy to help!