Thou art all fair O Mary...

A Meditation as a Preparation for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M.
December 8, 2013

And the original stain is not in thee. O Mary! By thy holy and immaculate conception, make my body pure and my spirit holy. O Mary! Conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee, and for those who do not, especially the enemies of the Church and those recommended to thee. O Mary!

It seems right to say that every human person has an innate love of their mother and sees her as the most beautiful person of their lives. Even when a mother has to correct or bring to good behavior their child, that child can come running to grasp the mother's knees and cry for love and forgiveness. A mother's presence and actions are needed to most of our way of life and the mother, above all, is trusted without limit and without question.

Thus a mother is seen as "fair" in the many meanings of the word:

1. free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice: known to be truthful: 2. acceptably sought, pursued, done, given, etc.; treats all the same by rule: 3. reasonably gifted; ample insights: balanced ways of upbringing. 4. neither excellent nor poor; moderately or tolerably good: fair to the demands of the moment. 5. marked by favoring conditions; likely; promising: in a fair way to succeed.


Most of all Mary Immaculate is free of the sin, the enslavement that has held captive humanity since Adam and Eve wanted to "know good and evil as God knows" only to discover their nakedness, limit of knowledge, understanding and righteous fear of the Lord. In this state of defilement wisdom is not innate but must be sought after by deeply surrendering to God's holy and untarnished will, such as Mary in reply to the Archangel Gabriel who called her "full of Grace" – that is full of God. This amazing Grace is what can be ours when we acknowledge that He who is Mighty is the One who alone does great things for us for Holy is His Name.

Let us look into the Catechism of The Catholic Church (entries 491-492) and see what has been accomplished by the Virgin who is pure as God is pure, one in mind and heart:

Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, "full of grace" through God, was redeemed from the first moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854:

"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, 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: she is "redeemed, in a more excellent fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son."
" O Mary, conceived without Original Sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee."