To reflect on the relationship of Mary
to Christ brings one to consider
the relationship of Mary to the Father.

The Immaculate Conception:
Some reflections on the liturgy

by Sean Kinsella

God, our Father, through the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin you prepared a worthy dwelling-place for your Son. You preserved her from all stain because of the death you foresaw your Son would suffer. We ask that, through her intercession, you cleanse us from sin and allow us to come to you in heaven.

Collect for the Solemnity of the
Immaculate Conception1

n The feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the four Solemnities of Mary celebrated in the Roman calendar and is the first in precedence in terms of the unfolding of salvation history. For this reason the feast occupies a singular place among all other Marian feasts because it marks the very point of origin from which the celebration of other feasts becomes possible.

As Christopher O'Donnell pointedly observes at the opening of his discussion of the feast of the Immaculate Conception in his work At Worship with Mary, "More than any other feast the Immaculate Conception spurred on and anticipated doctrinal development."2 The popular devotion of the faithful to the Immaculate Conception, as articulated through worship and prayer, slowly but certainly became, through theological reflection and doctrinal legislation, the belief of the Church, catholic and universal. The example of the development of the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a strong affirmation of the theological axiom lex orandi, lex credendi: as we pray, so do we believe. This point was recently stated very clearly by the Congregation for Divine Worship in their Orientations and Proposals for the Celebration of the Marian Year.

In what refers to popular religiosity, the faithful easily understand the vital connection between Son and Mother. They know that the Son is God, and . . . the Mother, is also their Mother. By intuition they know the Immaculate sanctity of the Blessed Virgin, and even though they venerate her as glorious queen in heaven, they are still sure that she, full of mercy, intercedes for them, and therefore implore her patronage confidently.3

Historical development of the feast

For this reason it is important to approach any study of the feast of the Immaculate Conception through the history of its liturgical development. Unfortunately, in an essay limited in length and focused in its intention on the Scriptural and euchological texts for the feast, a historical examination of the development of the feast is not possible.4 There are, however, two points that may be profitably made.

The first is to note the very ancient roots of the feast, which lie in the Protoevangelium of James, an apocryphal work which dates from the middle of the second century. The work tells of the parents of Mary, Joachim and Anne, and how, although old and unable to have children, they receive an annunciation from an angel foretelling the birth of Mary. This is a classic Semitic model but, unique among the annunciation scenes related in Scripture, this angelic announcement celebrates the arrival of a girl, not a boy. Thus, very early in the Christian community's reflection on the meaning of its faith, the singularity of Mary is recognized and, furthermore, her presence at the commencement of salvation history is implicitly stated: this is a new beginning and Mary is its sign and promise.

The second point that may be made is that, originally, as the feast was celebrated in the East from the sixth century onwards, it was (and still is, even among those Eastern churches in communion with Rome) kept on the 9th of December and its focus was on the conception of Mary by Anne. This feast, the Maternity of St. Anne, has never suggested, in any sense, that Mary was conceived without sin. Indeed, Mary's place in the feast is almost invisible. The emphasis of the feast is on Anne's maternity, of her conception of Mary, not on Mary's conception. The feast considers Mary only implicitly and quite passively. Her sinlessness is not even considered.

The weakness of this is apparent: Christ does not enter into the feast at all. The relationship between Mary and her Son is not even alluded to. It is only with the development of the feast of the Conception of Mary in the West from the early eleventh century and the moving of the date of the feast from the 9th to the 8th of December that the true development of the meaning of the feast begins. It is this re-focusing of the celebration of the feast of the conception of Mary by Anne to the celebration of Mary's conception that allows the evolution of, and the reflection on, the meaning of the feast. Consideration of Mary's role in the unfolding of salvation history led to a gradual insistence, particularly on the part of the theologians of the Franciscan Order, that Mary's conception had been without sin; that Mary had not been cleansed from sin while in the womb of her mother, but had in fact been preserved from sin from all eternity. John Duns Scotus (1266-1308), the foremost thinker on the Immaculate Conception in the Middle Ages, argued that Mary's conception free from all sin was the first sign of the universal redemption promised by Christ.5 Therefore, the person of Mary, her singular role and place, must be considered in relation to the salvific and redemptive nature of the incarnation of her Son. The meaning of the Immaculate Conception is Christological. Centuries of such reflection on the Immaculate Conception have brought the Church's understanding of the meaning and significance of Mary ever closer to the mystery of Christ. This is briefly but profoundly summarized in the description of Mary's role in the liturgical celebrations of the Church found in the Vatican II document on the liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium.

In celebrating this annual cycle of Christ's mysteries, holy Church honors with especial love the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, who is joined by an inseparable bond to the saving work of her Son. In her the Church holds up and admires the most excellent fruit of the redemption, and joyfully contemplates, as in a faultless image, that which she herself desires and hopes to be.6

Comparing euchologies

The readings for the feast of the Immaculate Conception from the Roman Missal, published before the reforms of Vatican II were enacted in the liturgy, and the readings of the modern Lectionary and Sacramentary can be distinguished very clearly in their treatment of Mary. For the Roman Missal, the euchologies reflect a Mary singularly privileged and aiding the faithful from a unique and elevated position. In the modern euchologies Mary is expressed in terms which place her, less as an exalted individual, and more as an ecclesial model. The Preface of the feast, very much a reflection of the Vatican II documents Sacrosanctum Concilium and the eighth chapter of Lumen Gentium, epitomizes this shift in focus.

Full of grace, she was to be a worthy
mother of your Son,
our sign of favor to the Church at its
beginning,
and the promise of its perfection as the
bride of Christ, radiant in beauty....
You chose her from all women to be our
advocate with you
and our pattern of holiness.7

The Preface conveys a very ecclesial theme which relates Mary to Christ through the idea of the Church. Her motherhood of Christ, her freedom from sin ("You allowed no stain of Adam's sin to touch the Virgin Mary"8), and her place in heaven are all considered in terms of their significance for the Church and not as singular privileges of Mary. That is, her blessedness among all women serves, not to confirm her unique person, but to be "our pattern of holiness." As well, the conception of Mary is passed over to emphasize the conception of Jesus ("she was to be a worthy mother of your Son"), and even in that, the role of Mary is not significant in itself but only in that it is a "sign of favor to the Church at its beginning."

One of the clearest demonstrations of this shift in focus from Mary as person to Mary as model is the translation in the English text of the euchology where the word intercessione (intercession) is read as prayer. The meaning of these two words is not synonymous. The Latin text asks of God that through the intercession of Mary we may be allowed ("the Latin text, literally translated, runs: 'as you preserved her from every stain, may we, through her intercession, come to you cleansed.'"9) to come to him (ad te pervenire) in heaven. In the modern English euchology the translated version of this opening prayer reads, "that through the prayers of the sinless Virgin Mary, God will free us from our sins,"10 and, later, asks "Help us by her prayers to live in your presence without sin."11 The role, then, of Mary has been shifted from that of the Mother of God, aiding us toward God in an active and dynamic way, to Mary as one praying with us for some present good. The eschatological sense of the original is no longer evident. Additionally, the sinlessness of Mary is no longer considered adequately in the euchology. Her own sinlessness is not important in itself; it only serves as a model for our own intentions ("to live in your presence without sin").

More significantly, the sense of the word intercession has been completely lost. Intercession means (i) interposition between parties at variance with a view to reconciliation; (ii) mediation; (iii) prayer, petition, or entreaty in favor of another; and (iv) in Roman and civil law, the assumption of liability for the debt of another either by substitution or by the addition of a new debtor.12 Consider then the fullest sense of what asking Mary to intercede for us means: intercession means that Mary mediates between our sinfulness and God's gracious love; it means that Mary reconciles humanity to God through her intercession as she also reconciled God to humanity through her maternity of Jesus; and it means that Mary stands in our place before God, sharing with us the debt of sin which she herself never incurred. By translating intercession as prayer, the English euchology entirely undercuts the fullest meaning of the opening prayer. Intercession includes the idea of prayer but prayer alone does not convey the depth and richness of meaning that intercession does. The address to Mary is reduced to a simplistic moralizing wherein the beauty and complexity of Mary's place in our relationship to God, realized through her Son, is qualified and weakened. The dynamic sense of Mary's place in the unfolding of salvation history is much compromised by placing her in the liturgical texts, not as our Mother in heaven, interceding (in the fullest sense) on our behalf, but as an abstract model of petition. The profound and far-reaching dimensions of the Church's understanding of Mary and her singular presence in the continuing drama of the universal redemption are compromised by the modern English mistranslation.

The opening prayer, and the alternative opening prayer, of the current Sacramentary express a very ecclesiological sense of Mary's role and importance. Indeed, the alternative opening prayer reads, "the image of the Virgin is found in the Church,"13 which almost inverts the relationship between Mary and the Church. If Mary is the model of the Church, then wouldn't the Church find its image in her, rather than her image in it? There is certainly an interplay between Mary and the Church but this idea that the Virgin is found in the Church seems to confuse the reflection with the image being reflected. The alternative opening prayer goes on to ask, "Trace in our actions the lines of her love,"14 which seems a very clumsy, and none too clear, rephrasing of the directness and clarity of the words of Mary at the Annunciation, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word."15 Again, the euchologies place Mary as a model and a pattern for the praying Church without emphasizing very strongly her unique role and individual example.

Undermining Scripture

In avoiding the very words "Immaculate Conception" the current euchologies also unnecessarily confuse the point and meaning of the feast. The Scripture readings, in fact, although excellent, are undermined by the euchologies. For example, the second reading from the letter of Paul to the Ephesians (1:3-6, 11-12) addresses the wonderful promise of creation intended by God to be fulfilled in us: "he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him."16 The whole point of this reading, that Mary is the perfect representative of the beauty and wholeness of God's plan for creation, is lost when her freedom from sin is not seriously considered in the euchologies; even to the point of not using the theological language of the Church to explain or describe what the Immaculate Conception is. This is not to say that the euchologies do not say that God kept sin from Mary because they do, but consider how they say it: "You kept her free from sin from the first moment of her life."17 Now, look back to the letter to the Ephesians-the point is that God kept her free from sin from the first moment of creation! The scope and scale of the Scriptural reference is shrunken and diminished by the euchologies which surround it.

To reflect on the relationship of Mary to Christ brings one to consider the relationship of Mary to the Father. If God has intended the Incarnation as the most perfect expression of his love, then Mary must be considered, from the very beginning, as being part of that Incarnation. The Scriptural texts for the feast of the Immaculate Conception before the liturgical reforms of Vatican II express this very clearly with the theme from Proverbs 8:22-35 which begins, "The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts . . . . Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth."18

The connection, then, between this understanding of Mary and the Immaculate Conception is thus made clear and an intimacy of profound proportion between Mary and her Son in God's plan for creation is suggested. The work of creation, the very cosmic enterprise of God's love, and the work of redemption, the restorative self-sacrifice of the Son of God, intersect in the person of Mary, in whom the Incarnation was first intended and through whom it was accomplished.

The Office of the Readings does a splendid job in making this connection by using as its first reading the letter of Paul to the Romans (5:12-21) on how, in Christ, the new Adam, life has come into the world in an entirely new way through the grace of God; and as its second reading a lovely sermon by St. Anselm (1033-1109) which declares that all of the natural world rejoices in Mary because through her "they are in some sense restored to their lost beauty and are endowed with inexpressible new grace."19

Lady, full and overflowing with grace, all creation receives new life from your abundance . . . through your blessing all creation is blessed, not only creation from its Creator, but the Creator himself has been blessed by creation . . . . The whole universe was created by God, and God was born of Mary . . . . The God who made all things gave himself form through Mary, and thus he made his own creation. He who could create all things from nothing would not remake his ruined creation without Mary.20

The current euchological texts in English for the feast of the Immaculate Conception do not convey either the enthusiasm or vision so passionately expressed by St. Anselm. The fullness of reflection on the meaning of Mary, and her relationship to Christ in the unfolding of God's plan for the whole of creation, is denied implicitly, and certainly practically, because the euchological aspects of the liturgy do not allow for it. Indeed, not only is the cosmic scope of God's creative love ignored altogether, but even when Mary is considered she tends to be depersonalized and is described in abstract terms (pattern, image, sign) that cannot help but narrow the focus of the feast. In narrowing the focus of the feast, and by avoiding the use of the words which explain the feast, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the relationship between Mary's freedom from sin, her worthiness to be the Mother of God, and the promise of new life in Christ is never clearly or eloquently expressed.

And this is a great loss because if Christ is true, then he is true for everyone, throughout the world, and if Christ, then Mary also. To treat Mary, then, not as a person but as a type and a type of one faith, of one people, is to miss entirely the wonder, the beauty and the truth of Mary in the very being of all creation. n

1 Translated by Martin O'Keefe in his Oremus: Speaking With God in the Words of the Roman Rite (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1993), 177.

2 Christopher O'Donnell, At Worship With Mary: A Pastoral and Theological Study (Wilmington: Michael Glazier, 1988), 213.

3 Congregation for Divine Worship, Orientations and Proposals for the Celebration of the Marian Year, 67.

4 Do see, however, O'Donnell, 213-229. Also see Cornelius A. Bouman, "The Immaculate Conception in the Liturgy," in Edward Denis O'Connor, ed., The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception: History and Significance (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1958), 113-158.

5 On Blessed John Duns Scotus and the Immaculate Conception see Allan B. Wolter and Blane O'Neill, John Duns Scotus: Mary's Architect (Quincy: Franciscan Press, 1993). Also see George Tavard, "John Duns Scotus and the Immaculate Conception," in H.G. Anderson, J.F. Stafford, and J.A. Burgess, eds., The One Mediator, the Saints, and Mary (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1992), 209-217.

6 Sacrosanctum Concilium, 103. A slightly different translation appears in Walter M. Abbott, ed., The Documents of Vatican II (New York: Herder and Herder/Association Press, 1966), 168.

7 The Sacramentary (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1974), 474.

8 Ibid.

9 John Allyn Melloh, "Mary in the Mysteries of Christ from Advent to the Baptism of the Lord: Liturgical References," Marian Studies XLI (1990), 57

10 The Sacramentary, 678. Emphasis mine.

11 Ibid. Emphasis mine.

12 Webster's Third New International Dictionary (Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 1986), 1176.

13 The Sacramentary, 678.

14 Ibid.

15 Luke 1:38.

16 Lectionary for the Mass: Book of Readings from the Word of God (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1970), 1498.

17 "Prayer over the Gifts," in The Sacramentary, 678.

18 Roman Missal (New York: Catholic Publishing Co., 1964), 467.

19 The Office of the Readings (Boston: St. Paul Editions, 1983), 1659.

20 Ibid. Emphasis mine.