The poet Wordsworth honored Mary with the phrase
“our tainted nature’s ~ solitary boast.”
Mary was without sin - immaculate - from the first moment of her conception. The word “immaculate” refers to freedom from manacles and chains. Sin enslaves us with “chains” of destructive behavior. Mary was free from Original Sin and all sin. She was full of grace! Mary, under the title of the Immaculate Conception is patroness of the United States.
The Archangel Gabriel announced, “Hail, full of grace! Yes, Mary was the recipient of the prevenient grace won by the death and resurrection of Jesus. God our Father wanted to prepare a worthy mother for His Son, Jesus.
Members of the human family have the defect of Original Sin which is transmitted from the disobedience of Adam and Eve. Our journey to heaven as adopted children of God begins with the life-giving waters of Baptism when Original Sin is taken away!
Prayer:
The Virgin ~ by William Wordsworth
Mother! whose virgin bosom was uncrost
With the least shade of thought to sin allied.
Woman! above all women glorified,
Our tainted nature's solitary boast;
Purer than foam on central ocean tost;
Brighter than eastern skies at daybreak strewn
With fancied roses, than the unblemished moon
Before her wane begins on heaven's blue coast;
Thy image falls to earth. Yet some, I ween,
Not unforgiven the suppliant knee might bend,
As to a visible Power, in which did blend
All that was mixed and reconciled in thee
Of mother's love with maiden purity,
Of high with low, celestial with terrene!
Action: During these days of Advent, let us strive to grow in God’s grace!
Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation ~ Confession ~ let us experience the forgiveness of our sins!