MARY, OUR MOTHER

MARY IMMACULATE
THE PRIVILEGE

2. A Great Privilege.
It is great because it makes Our Beloved Mother appear as very great in the eyes of God, of the angels, and of ourselves. If all of us had been born in grace, we would not find this privilege one of the principal reasons to exalt the figure of Mary. She Herself was doubtlessly referring to this privilege when She sang The Lord has done great things to my soul. She adds then that in order to perform all those great things, God had to deploy all the strength of His mighty arm. And so it was. Ancient history tells us how Cyrus, in order to enter Babylon, had to change the course of the River Euphrates so that he could penetrate the City along its dry river bed. God by changing the course of the streams of original sin that was running along the river bed of human life, causing thereby Our Blessed Lady to enter it without being contaminated by its waters, did likewise.

Moreover, God showed His greatness By making Mary the object of a special redemption. All of us have been redeemed by Christ; and this is our great glory. But somebody might think that since Mary did not sin, She was not redeemed nor did She therefore need receive from Christ something that we ourselves received. Should it be possible for us to have scored a glory that is not also Hers? No! Impossible! There are two kinds of redemption: one is the liberative redemption which raises the fallen and gives new life to those who have died the death of sin. All of us were redeemed in this way. But there is also a preventive redemption -- the one which prevents one from falling. This is the redemption that applies to Mary. It was on the strength of Christ's redemption, and in view of His divine merits, that Mary and Mary alone, received the grace of not falling. Her redemption, then, is more perfect than ours. And thus also here She scores another advantage over us. Thus considered how great is this high privilege!
[From 'Marian Meditation' Book]