Detroit is home to the truly wonderful Detroit Institute of Arts. It is a magnificent place for encountering art of the centuries. My children of all ages always love the opportunity to visit the museum. One of the treasures in the museum is relevant to the season of Advent and the Catholic Church's celebration of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th.
The painting below is titled "The Immaculate Conception". It is by Spanish artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.1617-1682. I took this picture on my last visit to the museum. It is a beautiful and stunning image being almost seven foot tall.
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is often misunderstood to be the conception of Jesus. But it is actually the celebration of Mary being conceived without sin. For many throughout the centuries this has been a challenging thought. But if you think about this very simply and fundamentally, from the perspective of who would God want his mother to be, it makes perfect sense. St. Josemaria Escriva beautifully explains this below.
"Almighty God, Omnipotent and Infinitely Wise, had to choose his Mother. What would you have done, if you had had to choose yours? I think that you and I would have chosen the mother we have, filling her with all graces. That is what God did: and that is why, after the Blessed Trinity, comes Mary.
Theologians have given a rational explanation for her fullness of grace and why she cannot be subject to the devil: it was fitting that it should be so, God could do it, therefore he did it. That is the great proof: the clearest proof that God endowed his Mother with every privilege, from the very first moment. That is how she is: beautiful, and pure, and spotless in soul and body! (The Forge, 482)
Thou art all fair and in thee there is no stain. —Thou art a garden enclosed, my sister, Spouse, an enclosed garden, a sealed fountain. —Veni: coronaberis. —Come: thou shalt be crowned (Cant 4:7, 12 and 8).
If you and I had had the power, we too would have made her Queen and Lady of all creation.
A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman with a crown of twelve stars upon her head. —Clothed with the sun. —The moon at her feet (Apoc 12:1). Mary, Virgin without stain, has repaired the fall of Eve: and she crushed the head of the infernal serpent with her immaculate heel. Daughter of God, Mother of God, Spouse of God.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost crown her as the rightful Empress of the Universe.
And the Angels render homage unto her as her subjects... and the patriarchs and the prophets and the Apostles... and the martyrs and the confessors and the virgins and all the saints... and all sinners and you and I. (Holy Rosary, Fifth Glorious Mystery)
OH MARY CONCEIVED WITHOUT SIN PRAY FOR US WHO HAVE RECOURSE TO THEE!
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