Explaining the Faith - The Immaculate Conception: How to Answer all Questions

well thank you everybody for joining  us I'm father chris aylar one of the   marians of the immaculate conception here  at the national shrine of the divine mercy   in stockbridge it's live coming to you today  we still got some great people to come here   even though it's drizzly weather uh thank you for  joining us from around the world you know um i'm   actually and if we could turn our our cell phones  down please um but i'm actually embarrassed to say   that it's taking me and i i looked at this in  disbelief that it's taken me almost 80 episodes of   these saturday morning talks to  get to the immaculate conception   mary please look past that mistake i i should have  been doing this topic way way earlier especially   because we're marians of the immaculate conception  i have fitted into other talks but today   we are going to focus on this most important  important topic you know um and stay with   us because at the very end we have something  really interesting to share with you uh about   mary's immaculate conception and the founding  of the new world christopher columbus america   things that i bet you didn't know and we're  going to show you a beautiful download free image   that you can use for your computer or your cell  phone is so awesome the immaculate conception   image is beautiful so let us begin with the  prayer in the name of the father and of the son   and of the holy spirit amen heavenly father we  ask for the grace of the holy spirit to be sent   down upon us we give you thanks for the gift of  your mother you gave her to us from the cross   and let us be like john and take her into our  homes the homes of our hearts and we ask all this   through christ our lord amen the name of the  father and of the son and of the holy spirit   amen so you saw from the title that today's topic  is the immaculate conception and how to answer all   these questions that we as catholics for the most  part don't know how to answer and when we don't   know how to answer it it it first of all it shakes  our faith and then it certainly makes us feel   like well you know what why am i catholic and it  certainly reaffirms those who are questioning us   of why they're not catholic and so we always talk  about evangelizing and bringing people to christ   to know our faith then we can love our  faith is the way to do that all right now   i always talk about taking you back to seminary  i'm really taking you back to seminary right now   this is a course we call mariology yes that's  an actual course in seminary the study of mary   mariology and one of the best instructors in the  world is mark maravali right out of steubenville   franciscan university where i went for my  philosophy and so a lot of this stuff is is is   incredible and we're gonna share it  with you today i hope to break it down   in the easy to understand way good stuff but stuff  that we don't really always understand so let us   give that a try all right now when we talk about  the immaculate conception most of you know this   we're not talking about the virginal conception  of jesus uh we are talking about the conception of   mary in the womb of and the natural uh act  that joker and anne brought conception of   mary and so we're not talking about the  virginal conception of jesus that's not   the immaculate conception like i thought when  i was a kid this is the conception of mary so   let's look at our our slide here's joachim and  anne a famous uh mosaic of joachim and anne   it happened in the natural way the natural  conception of mary with joe come in in joachim and   anne's beautiful marital covenant there right now  let's get to the core of what i'm going to start   right off the bat here now most people will argue  the bible says everybody sinned and are sinners   we're all sinners and therefore mary sinned  right well we have to look at the context here   because we in the immaculate conception say that  mary was created without original sin now if you   say that's impossible if you say that is not  possible that any human being in human history   what about adam and eve they were created  without sin so we have here they didn't   have any sin when they were created so it is  possible now saint paul calls jesus the new adam   so if if saint paul calls jesus the new adam  it makes sense that there should be a new eve   adam and eve were inseparable so if saint paul  calls jesus the new adam why don't we call   somebody else the new eve and there's  no better person than mary right all   right let's look at our next slide all  right so let's talk about this example   now there is a woman without sin take a look at  this picture here there is a woman without sin   and an angel of light appears to her look at your  screen that's an angel lucifer the angel of light   lucifer means light he was the angel of light  so you have this woman undefiled a virgin and all of a sudden an angel of light appears  to her but this angel of light is lucifer   he speaks words to her and causes her to  disbelieve to disobey basically to say no to   god all right the effect of that disobedience  listen to this is passed on to the man and then to all the world so you go from an angel  a fallen angel satan to a woman eve to a man adam   to the whole world this disobedience this sin  notice the whole line there is broken satan   eve adam us notice that  whole line has become broken   the effect of that disobedience is passed  on to the whole world this is what father   mike schmitz calls the fall team remember the a  team back in the 80s this is the fall team satan   eve adam us then father mike schmidt  says there was the redeemed team   a team that also consisted of an angel an  angel of light but this time it's gabriel   an angel who didn't fall then that  message is passed on to a woman   guess what a new eve this is mary then this  mary passes it on through her womb to a new man   a new adam and then this adam passes it on to  the rest of the world but what are we talking   passing it what is it not disobedience  not sin redemption obedience   so now we went from disobedience being passed  around to the world to obedience through gabriel   the right angel mary the new eve jesus the  new adam and then to us a redeemed mankind   so we go from broken mankind to redeem mankind  through an angel through a woman and through a man   do you just want to cut that woman out of the path  you want to just cut that woman out of the process   do you want to just cut that new eve out of the  entire thing that's what every single non-catholic   wants to do this is why we're catholic because  the woman as it says in genesis 3 15 plays a role   this is a critical role from the angel to the  woman to the man to us we're just going to cut out   the woman i don't think so the woman makes sense  this is the redeemed team let's look at our next   picture there it is there's the angel of light  gabriel appearing to also an undefiled virgin   but this time she doesn't say no she says yes   she obeys undoing eve's disobedience she says yes  to god's message because she believes and trusts   unlike eve who didn't believe and didn't trust  she then hands on this obedience to the man in   her womb and then he hands it on to the world  that's what mary did to jesus and jesus did to   the world the man in her womb as we said is the  new adam and he said yes to the father unlike adam adam didn't say yes but jesus said yes to the  father adam said no so instead of like adam who   handed down death to the world jesus now hands  on life both teams play a part in human history   which team are you going to be on you want to be  on the fall team or the a-team the redeemed team   that's the whole message of the immaculate  conception because in order for all of this to   happen it has to be without sin the  original eve was without sin god gave that   in her creation so why wouldn't he not  give that same thing in the new creation   you're going to make the new  eve less than the original eve   the original eve was created without sin  why would the new eve be created with sin   it makes no sense and so this is our faith if both  on the fall team had it was without original sin   it makes sense that both adam and eve on the  redeemed team would be without sin and father   mike schmitz uses that term i liked it i  picked it up the fall team and the a team   yes god could have done this on his  own but he wills us to be part of it   he wills mankind to be part of our own cooperate  was it saint augustine god created us without us   but he will not redeem us without us we  have to cooperate so that is who mary is   just like eve a creature but what was  great about mary wasn't her accomplishments mary didn't have to build new schools and new  convents although many have been done in her name she simply surrendered and said yes it  was trust and that's the whole message   of divine mercy jesus i trust in you she simply  surrendered and said yes to god while eve said no   it's about trust and obedience you know  you'll never be asked to do more than mary and all mary was asked to do was  to trust and be obedient that's it   you don't have to build like i said a new hospital  you don't have to build a new convent if you trust   in our obedience in your day-to-day actual  lives say yes to god you know you've heard   me say this before but i love the example of  tertullian and i always ask my seventh grade   kids this i want to repeat it i always ask  who did satan overthrow the man or the woman   and all the boys say satan overthrew the woman  and all the girls say satan overthrew the man   who did satan overthrow the man or the woman did  satan throw overthrow adam or eve he overthrew   both he overthrew both the man and the woman  sir tretulian tells us if satan overthrew both   a man and a woman it's gonna take both a man  and a woman to liberate humanity from satan   wow it just makes so much sense that's what  our catholic faith is mary just surrendered   you know all marian dogmas are about jesus this isn't about something great mary did   god did it for mary he conceived her she didn't  do anything she had no say in her conception   all marian dogmas are about god  jesus let's look at our next slide god equips us for the task we are given and  what task was mary given to be the new eve   so look at your screen there we call mary the  new eve as they did from the earliest centuries   of early christianity mary was the new eve  and mother of jesus therefore it's fitting   that she be purified that she be clean if god  asks us to honor our own mother in the fourth   commandment honor your father and mother don't  you think that that means he would honor his   mother too and if jesus honors his mother and  his mother is mary then we need to honor her too think about it god asks you to honor your  father and mother he says honor your mother   if god asks us to honor our mother why wouldn't  jesus honor his mother jesus did so if jesus   honored his mother who was his mother mary and if  jesus honored mary so should we it's very simple now people will argue i saw  this all over the internet   the problem with the church is they  invented all this stuff centuries later   when was the dogma of the  immaculate conception declared 1854 now non-catholics look at that and they say what  a joke you're inventing stuff after the fact   it took 1800 years to come up with   the dogma of the immaculate conception that  proves it's not legitimate no it doesn't you know   doctrine is mostly defined when it's disputed  doctrine wasn't defined if everybody agreed to it   because that's just an accepted belief everybody  believed in the immaculate conception in the   early church there was no need to define  it as dogma because everybody accepted it   it wasn't until the protestant reformation that  it was even questioned that's when the dogma   was defined so if anybody says to you that  the catholic church didn't make it up to   centuries later you could say well it wasn't  till centuries later that anybody disputed it so these are the things we don't understand  so what happened on december the 8th 1854   pius the ninth the pope published his papal bull  in fabilis deus which defined for all catholics   which we must believe the doctrine of the  immaculate conception that she was full of grace   let's read the catechism on our next slide   the most blessed virgin mary was from the first  moment of her conception by a singular grace and   privilege of almighty god and in virtue of the  merits of jesus christ that's very important   savior of the human race preserved immune  from all stain of original sin the splendor   of an entirely unique holiness by which mary is  enriched from the first instant of her conception   comes wholly from christ not from her do you  think she caused her own conception of course not   she is redeemed in a more excellent  fashion by reason of the merits of her son   now the immaculate conception means  that from the first moment of her   existence mary's soul was preserved from  the effects of the fall of adam and eve   it is a preventative medicine it still took  a savior if it takes a savior to clean you up   and be forgiven of your sins after you get dirty  what do you think it takes to prevent you from   falling into the mud pit in the first place also  a savior mary needed a savior because just like   we need a savior to clean us up after sin mary  needed a savior to prevent her from getting dirty   so that means jesus was mary's savior god saved  her by preserving her in the first place it says   that this was done from the merits of jesus we  just read it as a result she was full of grace   right from the start now why god can apply  graces to any person at any point in history   well wait a minute mary was conceived before  jesus's passion death and resurrection yes jesus   is outside of time what about the people of the  old testament moses was given grace because of   jesus christ well wait a minute jesus was lived  much later than moses because god is outside a   time he can apply his graces at any point in time  to any human by the merits of jesus christ now   this is what we don't often know about our  faith this this is important god poured out   graces upon the patriarchs upon the prophets  of the old testament even before jesus these   graces came from jesus but they were applied even  before because god's outside a time he did this   for mary but very uniquely right from the first  moment i want you to read this a father feroni   wrote in his book know and defend what you love  i love that title know and defend what you love   here's what he said in objection to the immaculate  conception claims that mary cannot be immaculate   otherwise she would not have been redeemed  by jesus she didn't need a redeemer she was   already immaculate what they don't understand  is to get immaculate in the first place   you need a redeemer this would detract they  say from the universality of the redemption   of jesus the only mediator between god  and man in whom alone there is salvation   mary herself says i need a savior in luke 1 47.  okay he says good point but the answer he says the   answer to that shows a fundamental misconception  that to be full of grace what the angel called   mary full of grace means an absence of  redemption no he said that's a misconception   when you say full of grace that doesn't mean  that you are not in need of redemption means   that redemption helps you to get to be full  of grace on the contrary he says it implies   it does imply redemption when the angel said full  of grace doesn't mean mary didn't need a savior   it means it implies redemption was needed because  mary's fullness of grace is the fruit of jesus's   redemption mary has been redeemed like us only  in a special way not by cure but by prevention   a doctor can save our life by  curing sickness after we're sick   but if he gives us medicine that keeps us from  getting sick in the first place he also saved us   get that so the doctor can save you after  you're sick by helping to cure you but if he   gives you medicine to prevent you from getting  sick in the first place then he also saved   you right now for instance um i i guess you could  say the vaccine salk vaccine cured me or saved me   from polio because i never got polio now that's a  true vaccine we're not talking about experimental   biological agents here topic of another talk  but a true vaccine can prevent you from getting   sick in the first place again talking true  vaccine not some experimental biological agent   that vaccine is mary's immaculate conception  we got cured after we got sick mary   was preserved from before interesting god often  gives extraordinary graces to those whom he trusts   in trust with extraordinary responsibilities  who could be given ever a more extraordinary   responsibility than mary being the mother  of jesus the only reason she's the only   one immaculately conceived is she was  the only one given that responsibility   as much as i love all of you none of you were  the mother of jesus only mary mary was given the   special grace of an immaculate origin to prepare  her for the most special vocation in history   mother of god mother of jesus so she should  get a unique grace she had a unique vocation very important remember mary gave jesus  his human nature so if jesus got his human   nature from mary and mary had original  sin that would mean mary had a broken   human nature and that would mean mary passed  on a broken human nature to jesus impossible jesus cannot accept a broken human nature  so if mary had a broken human nature   she would have passed on that  broken human nature to jesus let's watch a quick video  it's only two minutes long   but it's going to tell you a little bit  more about the immaculate conception on december 8th catholics all over the  world celebrate mary's immaculate conception   some people confuse this feast with the virginal  conception of jesus in mary's womb by the power   of the holy spirit but the immaculate or perfectly  clean conception is when mary was conceived free   from original sin by her parents saints anne  and joachim in order to give birth to our lord   mary needed to be totally pure because god would  dwell within her mary's sinlessness does not mean   that she did not need to be redeemed by her son  as blessed john dun scotus points out mary was   saved in advance at the moment she was conceived  through the divine privilege of being preserved   from original sin god basically took the power  of jesus sacrifice and applied it to a moment   in time that occurred before calvary he can do  that because well he's god saint teresa of avila   compared this special act of redemption to that  of preventing someone from falling into a pit versus pulling them out after they've already  fallen in either way it requires a savior   we might also compare the immaculate conception  to a vaccine although the analogy isn't perfect   it's much better to get the flu shot and  be prevented from getting sick in the   first place than to get the flu and have  to take medicine to get better afterwards god prevented mary from original sin in the first  place because we cannot be saved or do anything   pleasing in god's sight without grace mary needed  to be a pure vessel to carry christ and she needed   the grace to respond to the will of god since  she had the most important task of being well   his mother the feast day emphasizes  that we can do nothing to earn grace   it is generously given by god  to all of us to fulfill his will okay so that is a very good clip uh but  as you saw in the video i can want to   be pointing out on the vaccine true vaccines  again not experimental biological agents now   here's what's important by original sin we  mean something negative a lack of something   it is the deprivation of supernatural grace  which adam and eve had when they were created   so what does original sin mean a lack of that  a lack of that grace but here's the thing   the angel said hail full of grace the  angel didn't say hail lack of grace   when the angel said full of grace that  meant mary lacks nothing and original sin   by definition means lacking grace so if mary is  full of grace there's no way the angel could say   lack of grace the angel said you are full of grace  so speaking of that let's go to the bible now   because people are going to say where is that in  the bible here we go now there are two passages   there's others like revelation and the 12 stars  and the and the woman in the sky the new ark of   the cove i could spend a whole talk on just the  biblical passage we're going to focus on two   all right two passages in the bible where we can  find the seeds of this doctrine the immaculate   conception all right first the biggie genesis  3 15. why because after the fall of adam and   eve the lord says to the serpent who tempted  them i will put enmity this is key e-n-m-i-t-y i will put enmity between you and the  woman between your seed and her seed now   this old testament passage genesis 3 15  is a prophecy for the seed of the woman   who will crush the serpent's head that's the devil  so the one who does this can only be jesus so it   follows that the woman whose seed would crush the  head of satan is the woman prophesized in genesis   3 15 has to be mary it could be nobody else  because who's the savior who crushes satan jesus   who's his mother mary she has to be the woman from  whom that seed came so it follows that the woman   prophesies must be mary called here the woman  that's why it cracks me up when non-catholics   read canaan and they say look how disrespectful  jesus was to mary woman what does this have to do   with me he didn't mean that disrespectfully  he made that connection to the new eve   woman calling her woman at cana related directly  back to her of the woman of genesis 3 15.   in genesis 3 both jesus and mary are said to  be in a state of enmity now here's the key   enmity against the serpent which in  the hebrew means complete and radical   opposition to so in other words jesus and mary  are in enmity or complete and radical opposition   to satan why is this important well father we do  that okay did you think about this for a minute it is for this reason that it's not possible  that god allowed mary to have original sin to inherit the condition of original sin from  adam and eve why because any participation   of mary even the slightest in the disorder and the  corruption of adam and eve that the soul inherits   would place the mother of jesus or the woman  of 315 partially under the sway of satan whoa   if 3 15 of genesis tells us that the woman  and her seed will have complete enmity that   means that satan cannot have even the sliver of  control over them but if mary was born with sin   that would mean satan had some control  over her then you violate the bible   so you ask your non-catholic friends when they  question you say do you want to violate the bible   do you want to go against the bible  because the bible in genesis 3 15   says both the woman and the seed had radical  opposition to satan enmity that means if mary   had any sin whatsoever even original  sin she would not have complete enmity   she would be under the sway of satan even just  a little bit but that's not complete enmity so the bible tells us right there   and this isn't me speaking this is this  has been taught by the church for centuries this is why we're catholic all right this  would contradict what was said in genesis   3 15 if mary had sin all right the other  passage the second passage is luke 1 28   gabriel came to mary at the annunciation  as we said and said hail full   of grace not lacking in grace in the original  greek which the new testament was written in the   phrase full of grace uses the word kachara tomine  that is very important because that full of grace   is used here as a title for mary and she  is the only one ever addressed in this   fashion in the bible nobody else it must  mean there's something special about her   now some model my uh modern versions of  the bible use the word hail o favored one   they changed it that's not the original greek hail  o favored one is inadequate it's an inadequate   translation of the original greek and many people  will say it doesn't say hail full of grace you   catholics don't know what your bible says it says  hail favored one in your mistranslation it does   read the original greek the original greek  from the beginning says hail full of grace now   to say hail o favored one is not accurate  because that kachara tomine is the greek word   has a root called charis which is translated  into english as grace so if you say hail o   favored one you don't have the word grace the very  greek word charis in the greek word used means   grace so the english word favor on the other  hand only refers to some kind of external gift   here's the point god's highest favors are  grace not some cow or or some new house   not an external gift god's highest favors are  grace so if god's going to give the highest favor   of his son he's not going  to give anything but grace and the greek word used in the new testament  is grace so it's hail full of grace not hail o   favored one that was changed 15 1600 years later  but we don't know that we don't know our faith   some argue that by using this word kachara tomine  the angel only meant that mary was being graced in   the sense that at that very moment she was called  to be the mother of god okay now i got you father   okay i'll give you grace i'll see  your favor and i'll raise you grace   i've got you now because she was just given  the grace at that moment to be the mother   so she had no grace before that god picked  her and now she's given the grace to be the   mother so yeah i'll give it to you  father it could say the word grace   but it still doesn't mean she was conceived  without sin doesn't mean she was immaculate   she basically meant that mary was being given  grace at that moment to be the mother of god okay gabriel you know this is why i'm so happy  to take you all back to seminary with me   because as i'm sitting in seminary class i had  so many scripture classes and i'm sitting there   in class i'm looking around at all these other  seminars i'm like don't you just want to jump   up and down don't you just want to shout on the  rooftops to every catholic in the world that this   is what we don't know and this is what we have  to learn to know our faith to love our faith   here's the answer gabriel goes on to say in verse  30 do not be afraid mary for you have already   found favor with god in other words the  grace isn't happening just at that moment   this implies that she had already been  graced in a special way to get to this point   you have already found favor with god don't be  afraid it is on that basis alone on the basis of   that earlier divine gift of grace that she was now  being called by god to be the mother of his son so the grace wasn't just in that  instance that grace had been from before   you've already found favor with god this  means that she was being called by god to   her special vocation but she was being  called because she was already graced man why don't we know this in our catholic  faith i didn't know this i'm not blaming   anybody i didn't know this until i was sitting  in seminary and i'm sitting there thinking   do i have to actually become a priest to  learn this every catholic should learn this   then we could love our faith and the angel  speaks of a gift that mary already received   even before the angel came to her same thing  with john the baptist you know john the baptist   was sanctified by the holy spirit in his mother's  womb i don't believe that father that's luke 1 15.   it is likely that mary would receive  a lesser grace than john no way   if john was sanctified in the womb and it  tells us that in the bible it is likely   that mary would have received less impossible  she would have received more grace to peer   prepare for her role as the mother of the  savior than john did to simply baptize incredible now i'm not making this up  all the church fathers all the early   centuries of the church taught this  let's look at our next slide all right   many early church fathers such as saint irenaeus  saint justin martyr saint ambrose saint jerome   saint cyril of jerusalem saint ephraim saint  peter's christogonist all of them i can go on   and on taught that jesus is called by saint paul  the new adam the head of the new redeemed humanity   so therefore they say the blessed virgin mary  must be the new eve see it on your screen   there's a beautiful painting of jesus  and mary the new adam the new eve   all right there was no disagreement on this in  the early church this is why the doctrine didn't   need to be defined it wasn't until centuries  later in the protestant reformation that any of   this was ever questioned that's when the church  defined it oh well the church is just creating   this centuries later yeah because it wasn't till  centuries later that anybody disagreed with it as eve the mother of all the living had  ushered in the age of sin we're talking   the original eve here now so just as eve the  mother of the living that's what eve means   had ushered in the age of sin by succumbing to  temptation right and the fallen angel the serpent   so now mary the mother of the redeemed so eve  is the mother of the living everybody's living   mary's the mother of the redeemed she reversed  eve's sin by her obedience to the angel and thereby ushered in the dawn of salvation eve was given the same start as mary a state of  innocence and grace before she began her life   because she was the vocation of mother of  all the living so she was given that grace   having no wound or corruption in her soul of  original sin there was nothing but then she   fell so if god's gonna undo this can we imagine  that the blessed virgin mary whose vocation   was greater than eve the original eve but to be  the mother of the redeemer and all the redeemed   would receive a less grace than the original eve  if the original eve was created immaculate why   would we expect mary the mother of the son of god  and all the redeemed to be given less than that   again we're talking the mother not you and me   you and me are not the mother of all humanity  like the original eve and we're certainly not   the mother of jesus like mary our mary so we're  talking about two special people here but why   should our mary get less the new eve get less than  the original eve if anything she should get more   wow let's look at cardinal newman said let's go  to our next slide cardinal newman once wrote that   would mary you know he said basically would  mary not have at least the same grace of eve   no it would actually be more what did he say  let's read your screen if eve was raised above   human nature by that indwelling moral gift  we call grace this is the original eve now   is it rash to say that our mary  wouldn't have a greater grace   and this consideration gives significance to  the angel's salutation to her as full of grace   and if the original eve had this supernatural  inward gift given to her from the first moment of   her personal existence is it possible to deny that  mary also had this gift from the very first moment   of her existence this is simply and literally  the doctrine of the immaculate conception   fascinating from the earliest centuries  christians hailed the virgin mary as the   all-holy one the one without even the slightest  stain and the one blessed beyond all others   way before the reformation how could mary carry the god man  in her if her soul lacked anything   and original sin means a lack of grace so how could mary carry the god-man in her  soul if she lacked a complete outpouring   of the holy spirit and sanctifying grace she  couldn't have and thereby carried in her soul   disorder and corruption there's no way  god can't coexist with sin if mary had sin   running through her dna this is the fact that  jesus shares mary's dna jesus is in her womb   god can't co-exist with sin if there was  any sin in mary god could not coexist there he has to be in the purest of all vessels  god can't coexist with sin if mary was a   vessel of sin god couldn't be in it and even  non-catholics agree god was in that vessel wow in the teachings of the early fathers and the  early liturgies the doctrine of mary's fullness   of grace the immaculate conception was present  way before the reformation all right but many   non-catholics will object some evangelicals object  to this doctrine of the immaculate conception   on the grounds that the scripture teaches that  there is a fallenness of humanity universal   fallenness everybody has fallen all right let's  read this there is no one righteous that's psalm   14 all have sinned and fallen short of the glory  of god that's romans 3 23. i'm sure these are   the bible passages that will be sent to me by  non-catholics but please don't isolate scripture   and separate it from the full context i always  invite people to write me but when you send an   isolated biblical passage and you separate it from  the entire context it changes meaning through one   man's offense judgment came to all men romans  5 18 all right you see the point but here's the   point the bible often uses broad language even  hyperbole to make a point for example when the   bible says all have sinned or all we like sheep  have gone astray does it include little children a little two-year-old child who dies of leukemia did that little child was that a sheep who  went astray he says in the bible all are   sheep who have gone astray well wait a minute  what about a little two-year-old child who died who have never committed it's impossible for  him to commit any sin he's not he doesn't even   have human reason yet it's not until seven years  old that we teach that there's even human reason how how is a little two-year-old child that dies   a sheep that went astray can you please  list their sins for me well they cried no when the bible says as in adam all die  even so in christ shall all be made alive   this is first corinthians 15 22. that's that  we can't take that literally because not   everyone will live souls will be condemned  to hell souls will choose hell and will not   be made alive by christ in the glory of heaven  in union with the father so the bible says right   there in christ all will be made alive to share  in the union of god no some will choose not to so we have to be careful when we use   these examples from the bible because  we have to understand the context   does not mean to tell us that the whole human  race will be saved well wait a minute it says all we know for a fact jesus says that there are  souls that are wailing and gnashing a teeth so jesus himself says not all will be  saved all have been redeemed and you know   this is the whole point is this doctrine of  immaculate conception is really divine mercy   you know non-catholics will tell us that we're  wrong because they said you can't earn god's   grace mary did not earn the immaculate conception  how did she earn her own conception she couldn't   we believe that grace is a gift of god well you  catholics you're wrong because you think you have   to earn earn it no we don't we we we admit  grace is a gift what is divine mercy divine   mercy isn't something i earn praise be to god  it's something that i'm given despite myself   i don't earn god's mercy it's a gift given to  me over abundant undeserved and unconditional   it's god's undeserved and unconditional divine  grace given for our misery what do we call this   look at our next slide prevention grace you ever  hear the term we learned it in seminary that's why   i'm sharing it with you now when i got december  i'm like what's preventing grace never heard of it   it's grace that comes before we ask  for it even non-catholics believe this   so if non-catholics believe if calvin  and luther believed in preventing grace   grace that god gives you before you even ask for  it why is it so hard to believe that mary couldn't   be given this grace without even asking for it  theologians call this a form of divine mercy this   preventing it grace it comes from the  latin praeveneer which means come before   even before we ask for it apart from  the fact that we do not deserve it   and have not earned it in the least god takes the  initiative and gives us grace preventive grace   is the complete free gift of god's mercy  like a child gets your full gift of love   did that little crying two-year-old baby that  just filled his diaper kept you up all night   refused to eat what you fed him and threw his  toys all over the floor did he earn your love no way but you still love him and you still give him your love that's  what god does for us catholics teach this   so it always makes me shake my head when  people accuse us catholics of saying   we have to earn our grace no  works we have to cooperate yeah   a child is loved by his parents not because  the child has earned it or even asked for it   in any way no way rather the parent's love comes  from the start from the very beginning the child   was conceived as soon as we find we're pregnant  and i i don't like that term but we're pregnant   the beautiful gift of the mother is pregnant  through the cooperation of the father   okay now it's a complete free gift just because  who the child is he was conceived in love   so they shower that love that is  human miser uh mercy human mercy   par excellence and it's a mere image of divine  mercy because this is what god does for us   so when you think about it that's exactly what  is on display in the immaculate conception this is what the immaculate conception is all  about is anything i've said so far not true everything we've said so far is true  the immaculate conception is really   the manifestation of god's  prevenient grace his unmerited mercy   after all mary didn't merit it she didn't earn  her immaculate conception nor did she ask for it   it was done solely by the grace  of god and the merits of his son passion death and resurrection of  jesus and so is all the grace we get   why do you know there's grace in  the confessional father because   the passion death and resurrection of jesus  christ how do you know there's grace in the   eucharist father because of the passion  death and resurrection of jesus christ we can even say that the immaculate  conception was the great divine act of grace   that laid the foundation for  god's whole work of salvation   salvation actually began with the  immaculate conception that was the beginning of god's foundation of the work of salvation   and in the fullness of time this special grace  enabled mary to receive our savior into the world   without it we couldn't receive the savior because  if you have a dirty vessel sorry but the god-man   can't come jesus even told saint faustina if  there's anything else in your soul i can't come   if your soul is filled with worship as something  else sex money power another person yourself   christ said jesus said in 1689 of the diary   think it's 1689 i'm gonna i'm gonna go off  the memory of my head here 1689 of the diary   if i remember correctly says this listen  to this 1689 in the diary um i implanted it   recognizes that my own strength power  came from above these two pillars   okay upon the pillars i saw hand finishing  multiple people we met maybe 1683.   all right i'm not going to do too much time  here okay okay here it is 1683 my mistake   all right jesus says i cannot he says here he says  um the soul that does not even after some time   inner emptiness if i would come to me with  everything in their soul without knowledge   ah my goodness i'm sorry the bottom line is  in one of these passages jesus makes it clear   oh here it is no i was i'm sorry i  was right write for the benefit of   the religious souls that it delights me to  come into their hearts in holy communion   but if there is anyone else in such a heart  i cannot bear it and quickly leave that heart   taking with me all the gifts and graces that i  have prepared for that soul don't be that soul so that's the point here that's the point that  we are making the fact is that god comes into   this soul the fullness of time this special  grace enabled her to prepare jesus could   not have come into the womb of mary if it was  filled with anything else of any sin especially   that's why jesus can't come into a heart if it's  filled with anything especially that that fullness   is junk sin there's no way jesus could come in  to that vessel of mary if it was filled with sin   in short the whole world's salvation began with  one foundational act of unmerited unprompted   and freely given divine mercy the immaculate  conception the act of mercy par excellence   god's greatest act of mercy ever bestowed  on a creature the immaculate conception   this is why we catholics next slide brother  mark can put up celebrate this great feast day every december 8th why do we celebrate  december 8th because mary's birthday has   traditionally been september the 8th so  if mary's birthday has traditionally been   september the 8th that makes her conception  nine months earlier december the 8th   as we said all are called to honor our mother  and father according to the ten commandments   the son of god honored his earthly mother by  pouring his graces into her heart from the start as disciples of jesus we're called to follow  him and everything shall let us to honor who   he honored his mother by celebrating god's  special gift the immaculate conception   after all it was given to her not just  for herself but for the good of all of us   it's our gift for by this special grace mary  brought into the world our savior for our   salvation so mary's immaculate conception is thus  the greatest act of mercy all right getting close   here now there's a connection between divine mercy  and the immaculate conception why do you think we   mirian fathers of the immaculate conception of the  most blessed virgin mary that's our official title we always call ourselves marians or marian  fathers our official title is the marian   fathers of the immaculate conception of the most  blessed virgin mary the mother of mercy province   well wait a minute father you sound like you're  all about mary you're not about divine mercy   they're connected let's show our next slide  this is our this is our crest notice our crest   our crust has the immaculate conception mary there  pure that's why we mirians were given the task   of being caretakers of divine mercy why not the  fathers of mercy why was it given to the miriam's   of the immaculate conception because his father  seraphim says god wanted the message of mercy   to be under the mantle of mary it makes perfect  sense why we a ragtag group of guys ended up   giving this you know we there's a documentary  out that brother mark and i saw part of   it was about the american revolution  i mean what these guys went through   i'm not sure there's any of us alive today  that could go what those guys went through   without any clothes at valley  forge feet being eaten by frost by   all because they were fighting for freedom  and we're just throwing our freedom away and it said the most powerful fighting force  in the world the british came onto our shores   and what the americans did is they became a  ragtag group of guerrilla warfare guys that that   that that found they had to fight a different  way they were just this ragtag group of guys this   outnumbered tremendously that's who our  marian fathers are we're just a ragtag grouper   outnumbered tremendously by the jesuits and by  the franciscans but i'll tell you god bless them   but when you look at some of the teachings  it's like have you lost your way here that's   why i think god has given this message to the  miriam's yeah we've got tons of problems here   we've got all kinds of issues but you'll never  hear a marian priest get into this pulpit   and teach that abortion should be  allowed marriage should be redefined   or religious liberty should be stripped away  you will never hear a miriam priest say that   and i think that's why god chose us as a  ragtag group just like the american revolution   to fight this battle and all of you are with  us the reason you're here right now in this   shrine or on this youtube channel or this facebook  page is because god is saying join in the battle as the bells toll they always told at  the perfect time you know john paul ii   told us marians to be apostles of divine mercy  under the loving and maternal guidance of mary   saint faustina the great apostle of divine  mercy had a special devotion to the immaculate   conception in diary 1412 and 1413 she said  i prepared for the feast of the immaculate   conception i'm reading the words of faustina  now not only by means of the novena but i also   made a personal effort to salute her get a load  of this only saint faustina this is amazing st   faustina says i made a personal effort  to salute her a thousand times each day   saying a thousand hail marys for nine days  in her praise and we complain about a rosary   saint faustina saluted our lady a  thousand times for nine consecutive days   although i must admit that such a matter  requires a good deal of attention and effort nothing is too much when it comes to  honoring the immaculate virgin let's take   a lesson from saint faustina you know today  december the 11th is the 351st anniversary   of the oblazio of our founder saint stanislaus  the marian devotion of him of saint stanislaus   focused on the immaculate  conception hence our name   this was some two centuries before the  official dogma would be declared by the   church let's take our next at our next slide  this is saint stanislas this is our founder   we were the first men's community in the  world to bear the title the immaculate   conception that is why i believe we were given  the grace to be the caretakers of divine mercy   because we were the first men's community in the  world to bear the title the immaculate conception   they are they are integrally connected they cannot  be separated wow you know others believe this   not just catholics what way before the dogma was  declared early christians all believe this they   all defined mary as immaculately conceived  remember we don't define the dogma sometimes   till after it's disputed back in the early  church none of this was disputed even martin   luther let's put this one i'll hold this one up  there i have brother mark colossa you can take a   picture of this screen when somebody rips on your  catholic faith about mary being without sin let's   read the words of none other than martin luther  and this is a brand new quote i've given quotes   of martin luther before i've never given this  one even martin luther taught the immaculate   conception all right now what does he say it is  a sweet and pious belief this is martin luther   it is a sweet and pious belief that the infusion  of mary's soul was effected without original sin so that in the very infusion of  her soul she was also purified   from original sin and adorned with god's gifts  receiving a pure soul infused by god thus from the   first moment she began to live her con conception  she was free from all sin don't believe me   martin luther sermon on the day of the  conception of the mother of god 1527. we need to know this because the protestant  reformation did not teach that mary should be   thrown in the gutter it's become that way so we  have to understand the truth the dogma received a   dramatic ratification from heaven at lourdes when  mary came and said just four years later i am the   immaculate conception i'm gonna do a whole another  talk on lords i wanted to do it here but i can't i   don't have time so what does this dogma mean let's  finish up now with some really interesting stuff   because of the fall now when we are conceived when  a human soul is created at conception it lacks   the indwelling of the holy trinity and sanctifying  grace this isn't me making this up father how dare   you say my child doesn't have that well if  your child child's not baptized i'm sorry   child doesn't have it this is why we need  children baptized as soon as possible   you want the indwelling of grace and the  trinity in their soul no matter how old they are   child doesn't choose what family they're born  into you don't say well gee i'm going to let   junior become 18 years old and choose  if he wants to be part of our family   no junior is a part of your family since day one  since he was conceived and when you have your   child baptized you bring them into the family of  god one of the biggest tragedies that i think is   the biggest reason for our problems in the world  today as we we're not baptizing our children   can't believe how we've lost that and so now because of the fall we lack  this indwelling of sanctifying grace   faith hope and charity it's restored  at baptism it's washed away the sin   but we are wounded we have disordered passions  we have what's called concupiscence what is   concupiscence concupiscence is our tendency  to want to sin lust and gluttony and sloth   we have a tendency that's a lot funner than pure  chastity hard work you know and and and fasting and so we don't get this sometimes but we  have this concupiscence this is a darkening   of our intellect why do you think the world is  so crazy today when you watch the news you see   how could anybody believe this stuff how could  anybody believe that a boy can say he's a girl   but the whole world is saying this today  it's because our intellects are darkened   and the more people that we have that aren't  baptized the more our intellects in the world   are darkened and we fall into this this is a  huge problem this concupiscence darkening our   intellect weakening our will draws us into sin  it inclines us to sin last page there is a remedy   there is a remedy however  as i started to say baptism   we are washed clean of all stain of  original sin and then in confession   we are forgiven in these sins that we've committed  since baptism baptism communion in the eucharist   that's your triple trifecta that's  how it works for ordinary human beings   but mary is no ordinary human being her conception  was extraordinary let's look at our next slide   this is the role she was created for to be  the mother of god mary was preserved from   all stain of original sin including concupiscence  people always say did mary have concupiscence no   she did not have a disorder tendency to sin but  she had free will she could have said no to god   grace was fully present in her at conception she  lacked none that's why again the angel said full   of grace so further mary never sinned throughout  her life on earth just like john the baptist or   saint joseph do you know that's our tradition  the saint joseph and saint john the baptist they   were conceived with sin but they never committed  sin they were conceived with it so they had sin   but they were cleansed in the in the wombs now  mary had free will just as adam and eve did   and she was immaculate sinless  just as adam and eve did   she is sinless only through though the grace  given to her by god and her savior jesus christ   when we are forgiven of our sins we are  cleaned she was preserved where we are forgiven   she is preserved both are a  work of god both need a savior   you know on that i want to mention this  real quick but in that video if you saw   it maybe some of you here didn't if you  have a small child running along a path   and they trip over a rock and fall into a mud  puddle the father will run to that child pick   them up brush them off wash their clothes clean  them up give them a bath and they're on their way they got dirty but they got cleaned up that's like   you and me in the confessional we  get dirty we get a spiritual bath   this is us we have fallen into sin the father  forgives us watches us clean in the precious blood   now imagine though another child running down that  path the father sees the rock ahead of the child   and pulls the rock off of the path the child  runs by never falls down into the mud puddle   the child never trips and falls that is what  god did for mary both are an act of god this   is mary's situation the father applied  the merits of the precious blood of jesus   at her conception preserving her so that she could  fill this task to be free to be that mother of god   it was fitting for jesus the son of god savior  of the world to be born of a spotless virgin why   because the old testament tells us isaiah tells  us one of the complete enmity between the devil   where sin would never find a home so mary in her  immaculate conception is a constant sign of pure   purity and joy hope and joy she demonstrates  though that it's possible to be a great saint   not because of anything we've done but  because of what jesus christ has done for us   our goal is to be like mary to live immaculate  lives of love and conform our will to god's will   i always say if you could make your own mother  perfect wouldn't you who would say if i could make   my mother i would like to make her a great sinner  didn't that just crush your heart when you learned   something about your parents when you thought they  were perfect you know when you're a little kid   right you think your mom and dad are perfect  and then you find out something it's like whoa   so if any of you could create your own  mother you wouldn't create her with sin   god was the only one who had the  power to create his own mother   and he did not make her with sin  non-catholics say this dogma cannot be true   because if mary were without sin she would  be equal to god well wait a minute not true   in the beginning god created adam and eve and the  angels without sin were they equal to god no all   right so i want to finish here with just a couple  minutes of something i find extremely interesting   the founding of the new world this is fascinating  brother mark read and did a lot of research on   this so he helped me chris sparks uh helped  me and learning some details and brother mark   really did some great research on this and i  hand picked a few things i think are fascinating   let's look at this number one guy on the  cancel culture list today christopher columbus   let's look at this you know where christopher  columbus landed it was not in the united states   he landed in the bahamas and he landed at a place  called san salvador what does san salvador mean   holy savior it's now the capital of el salvador  which means the savior he landed there in 1492.   now you may know this but let's look at our next  slide here's the picture christopher columbus he   sailed in three ships you all remember from your  childhood the nina the pinta and the santa maria   but did anybody ever tell you what  those mean the word nina means the girl   pinta means the paint and santa maria  means mary and his boat was actually   called the santa maria of the immaculate  conception now what's interesting think   about this nina pinta santa maria the  girl the paint and mary that is guadalupe mary the girl was painted for  the new world just 30 years later nina the girl pinta the paint santa  maria mary and it was sent to me of   the immaculate conception now let's look at our  next slide because the appearance to juan diego   do you know when juan diego appeared at guadalupe  yeah father december the 9th ah do you know when   the feast of the immaculate conception of mary  used to be in spain the 9th december the 9th   mary appeared in guadalupe of mexico on the  feast of the immaculate conception in spain   and this is where the spaniards were  in mexico so it made sense to them   on his second voyage back christopher columbus  named an island santa maria de guadalupe and i said 30 years sorry it was 40 years later  she would appear that's still just a blip at that   time they celebrated the first mass in the new  world at a point called point conception in haiti   it's amazing how's mary's immaculate conception  is all over the new world the first mass ever   celebrated and the new world was in  haiti at a place called point conception   the structure that was there became the  very first church in all of the new world one of the first catholic churches in what is now  the united states our continental united states   is dedicated to the immaculate conception and  was in 1584. i was just there a couple years   ago the basilica of the immaculate  conception in jacksonville florida let's take our look at our next  slide this is archbishop john carroll   the first bishop in the united states he had a  great devotion to the blessed virgin mary and   in 1792 he placed the diocese of baltimore and the  13 colonies under her protection and then finally   on may 13th notice the date may  13th 1846 the u.s bishops officially   made mary the patroness of the united states  but not just mary the immaculate conception   and it's not just of the church in the united  states but actually of the united states other countries also have the immaculate  conception as their patroness if you are   watching us from brazil south korea spain and god  bless you the philippines your patroness is the   immaculate conception wow you know the mississippi  river nobody knows this the mississippi river   our biggest river here in the united states  was the river of the immaculate conception   we don't know this stuff the largest marian shrine  in the united states is dedicated to immaculate   conception the basilica of the national shrine  of the immaculate conception in washington d.c   it's where i used to live i used  to i went to seminary down there   that's where i would go the first public mass  for the national shrine was celebrated on the   feast of the immaculate conception even though  the church wasn't finished yet guess what year   1917. fatima unbelievable  how this all comes together you know i want to give you a gift if brother mark  can show the slide you can get a free download   for your computer or your cell phone of that  beautiful image of the immaculate conception have   her with you have her protecting you if you go to  marion.org m a r i a n dot o r g slash saturday   you can download it you can download it on your  pc or your phone and so this is my gift to you   carry mary with you always this is amazing stuff  and you know be part of our marian family if you   aren't already god bless so many of you already  have but if brother mark can show the next slide   visit us at micprayers.org because these prayers  of our marian fathers our masses our rosaries   our chaplets our prayers if you become a mirian  helper and there's no cost i don't care if you   donate i mean if god puts on your heart to  help our ministry and donate god bless you   we can't survive without that but i'm not here  for that i'm here to to bring souls to jesus   become a mirian helper it doesn't cost anything it  takes 10 seconds to sign up visit mic prayers.org   and by decree of the holy see you can share in all  our graces of our rosaries prayers masses penance   just like you were mary and priest it's  amazing and then finally if you want to   see my talks on mary we still have our dvd the  first original 13 talks on shopmercy.org or call and 800-462-7426 brother mark and quick show i  have a book all about divine mercy on the next   slide you can get it at that same location  or if you want to know more about our faith   and where god's mercy is seen get our final  book after suicide even though it's not just   about suicide it's really about any kind  of suffering or loss if you've experienced   this book will help you tremendously so we  invite you to be part of our marian family   and it's with excitement that we are going to  now also be presenting to you the movie purgatory   i don't have the slide for it yet but the movie  purgatory will be coming in just a couple days   uh live streaming you can get it you can give  it to friends for christmas and we're going to   show you how to do that we'll get the link set  up and you can give it to people for christmas   it's a beautiful gift only 9.95 to get that movie  purgatory live streaming and we'll have the dvd   shortly as well for 14.95 just a donation but  god bless all of you share this message be   living your faith and there's no greater part than  the blessed mother bringing us to jesus so until   next week may almighty god bless you and keep  you the father the son and the holy spirit amen you

Channel: Divine Mercy

Views: 52,664

Keywords: Divine Mercy, Mercy, Jesus, Christ, Marian, priest, grace, pray, prays, praying, chris alar, alar, fr. Chris, fr. alar, Catholic, Church, God, fr. chris alar, blessed virgin, Mary, blessing, worship, Salvation, Faustina, Prayer, Our Lady of Mercy, Immaculate Conception, Original Sin, Prevenient grace, Full of Grace, Annunciation, Mother of God, Christopher Columbus, Our Lady, Conceived without sin, Adam and Eve, the New Adam, the New Eve, Genesis 3:15, the Fall, Garden of Eden, Concupiscence

Id: 6yg80UGvNL4

Length: 80min 50sec (4850 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 11 2021