The Immaculate Conception

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. May everyone enjoy this blessed solemnity by imitating the holiness of the Blessed Virgin Mary. While we do not share this feast in common with most other Christians, we do share a basic understanding of Mary’s sinlessness with the East, and a strong veneration of Mary with many high-church Protestants. May this be a start of unity!

This entry was posted on December 8, 2006 at 12:01 pm and is filed under Catholic, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “The Immaculate Conception”

  1. Patrick Says:
    December 9, 2006 at 1:37 am

    As a former Protestant I disdained the Catholic Church’s veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. But now I see its universality in east and west from very ancient times and I am convinced that this is what the Church always was and always should be.

    The irony is that most Protestants venerate themselves before they would venerate Mary. They expect to somehow be perfected, be ushered into heaven, and reign with Christ for eternity. But they cannot understand Mary doing all that now. Strange!

  2. Greg Says:
    December 10, 2006 at 5:26 am

    huh?

  3. A Simple Sinner Says:
    December 13, 2006 at 1:41 pm

    Well said. (Not the “huh” post…)

  4. Greg Says:
    December 14, 2006 at 4:51 pm

    “A Simple Sinner”…

    The reason I reacted by saying “huh?” was because of the absurd statement from Patrick, in which he stated that “most Protestants venerate themselves…”. What’s with that? How is that “well said”, my friend? I mean no ill will, and I already feel out of place for saying what I’ve said…but that’s just inappropriate. I constantly hear about evil Protestants, who “know nothing” about Catholicism, railing against Catholics due to their ignorance - Yet a Catholic can make an ignorant statement and get laud for it. What’s the deal?

  5. Patrick Says:
    December 16, 2006 at 2:31 am

    Greg,

    Your point is well taken. My attempt at comparison was not one of my best. Let me try again.

    Protestants (in the main) smugly assume they will go straight to heaven (no purgatory), and they will reign with Christ. However, when those same ideas are advanced about Mary, they think that’s heretical- that it leads to worship of Mary. My point is two-fold: to confront those who think this way with their arrogance (presumption), and to show that Catholic veneration of Mary is not really such a far stretch for fundamentalist evangelicals to grasp.

    Hope that is clearer.

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