The Semantics of the Immaculate Conception

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Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception which celebrates the Roman Catholic doctrine that:
A) Mary, from her moment of conception, was sinless
B) Mary conceived Jesus without having sex
C) Mary conceived Jesus who was sinless
D) Elizabeth conceived John the Baptist after being barren for many years

This is probably one of the most misunderstood doctrines in Catholicism, confused by Catholics and non-Catholics alike. The answer is A, although many people will answer B because the readings at mass today are about Gabriel announcing Mary's pregnancy. This confusion has a few interesting semantic implications.

Let's start with the definition of Immaculate, according to Merriam-Webster:

1. Having no stain or blemish
2. Containing no flaw or error
3. Spotlessly clean

Those who confuse the Immaculate Conception with Jesus' conception do so because tradition holds Mary was a Virgin. Virginity and Immaculateness are conflated. To say that Mary conceived Jesus without sex and immaculately then - according to the definition - implies that Mary conceived Jesus in a clean way, without flaw, sinlessly. The opposite of this would then be for Mary to conceive Jesus through sex. Thus, sex and immaculate are set up as a binary. Sex becomes dirty and sinful, and Mary conceived Jesus without having to go through that soiling activity.

If this opinion of sex is doctrine, then holy cow, SAINT John Paul II was off his rocker spouting heresy when he wrote Theology of the Body. Quite the contrary, man and woman become co-creators with God in the procreative act. Creation is neither dirty nor flawed. Creation is in the image and likeness of God.

Mary IS immaculate. From her earliest state of life - conception - she is without stain, without error, clean of original sin. She is sinless so that she can bring Jesus who is God (who is sinless) into the world. She is sinless so that she can be procreative with God the Father. God prepared her body from the point of conception so that her body could be used to bring about the body that would bring salvation (Jesus). Her virginity is another issue altogether.

Thus, these two viewpoints - the doctrine and the misunderstanding of the feast day/doctrine - really speak to Catholicism versus Puritanism (or often misunderstood Catholicism): through the body comes holiness, rather than in spite of the body comes holiness.

In this way, Mary is given the chance to reverse the choices of Adam and Eve. Eve and Mary both enter the flesh immaculately, but Mary, in her resounding YES to Gabriel's proclamation of God's will, reverses Eve's NO to God's will by biting the apple. Both through free will. Both through choice. Mary reopens the path to God that will become Jesus Christ.

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception celebrates God giving humanity a second chance through Mary, to be fulfilled in his son Jesus Christ. Humanity can only be saved through a human. For this reason God became flesh. To become flesh, He had to enter the world through the flesh, a flesh that was spotlessly clean. Hail Mary for having the grace and fortitude to live a life of holiness and for saying YES.