It is said that the bonds of the sons are loosed; that God, hearing the Saints and Righteous Joachim and Anna, above all hope, promised them the Immaculate Conception. So clearly, they would give birth to the Daughter of God, of whom the Unbegotten One was born, and became Man, commanding the Angel to cry to her, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you.

The Immaculate Conception is the day on which the Mother of God was conceived and born naturally by her parents, Saints Joachim and Anne, who so pleased God that they were enabled at an advanced age and after a holy life and unceasing prayers to be the begetters of the Virgin without blemish.

Saints Joachim and Anna were childless until old age, when the Archangel Gabriel descended upon each of them, blessing them with the birth of the Virgin Mary. Out of love for mankind, God made the barren womb of Anna fruitful, and at the appointed time, she gave birth to a female child, the Virgin Mary.

Why was Mary chosen for the Immaculate Conception?

The apocryphal Gospel of the life of Our Lady tells us that Joachim said to his wife Anna, “My heart does not desire me to go into my house. I am going to the mountain, and there I will fast and pray to God to give us a child”. What is lovely is that Joachim does not say how long he will stay. He doesn’t go to ask God for half-measures, and so Dum.

According to apocryphal and biblical writings, Mary was chosen for the Immaculate Conception because she was an angel of God prepared by the incarnation on earth to be the Birth Mother of Jesus. Holy Scripture gives us no information about the Birth of the Mother of God. This event is reported in the apocryphal writings. The Protoevangelium of James, a Judeo-Christian work from the 2nd century, gives more details about the origin and childhood of the Mother of God.

According to researchers, the fragment referring to the Virgin Mary was written around 0140. Although it is not considered canonical writing, the information provided can be regarded as truthful, with the necessary reservations.

Read also: Why is Boaz important? Did Ruth pursue Boaz?

Is the Immaculate Conception the birth of Jesus?

The Virgin Mary’s birth narrated in the Sinaxar led to the expression “immaculate conception” in the writings of Paschasius Radbert. According to this dogma, the Mother of God was protected from ancestral sin, having been brought into the world. By the shadow of the Holy Spirit, like the Saviour. Against this innovation. To admit the immaculate conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary implies the presupposition of an immaculate conception. Of all ancestors up to Adam so that the Blessed Virgin herself could be born without hereditary sin. Which leads to the rejection of the whole biblical anthropology.

According to Apocrypha, the Immaculate Conception is not the birth of Jesus Christ but the advent of His Mother, the Virgin Mary. On 9 December, the Orthodox Church celebrates the Virgin Mary’s Birth by St Anne. Because we are in Lent, Christians have disobedience to fish, wine, and oil. Anna was the youngest daughter of the priest Matan of the tribe of Levi. She married Saint Joachim of the tribe of Judah, and in their old age, they gave birth to the Mother of God.

The Mother of God’s worthiness did not consist in her sinless birth but rather in her acceptance by God in the general human condition, i.e., under hereditary sin. By this fiat, in the sense of the doctrine of synergy as presented by St. Paul, through Mary, man is a co-worker with God in his salvation.

Read also: Who is Rahab? Who did Rahab marry?

Key Verse related to the Immaculate Conception

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, death spread to all men because all sinned.”

Romans 5:12 (NIV)

Read also: What is the story of Ruth? How is Ruth related to Jesus?

Is the Immaculate Conception Biblical?

The Holy Fathers, hymnographers, and iconographers, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, with inspired discernment, have borrowed, developed, and used in their works only truthful information from the apocryphal texts which have received the approval of the conscience of the Church. In the present case, the antiquity of the Protoevangelium of James, but mainly its citation by the Holy Fathers, gives it special status among the non-canonical writings.

According to the Gospels, the Feast of Immaculate Conception is not biblical. The Gospels do not refer to this moment, not even in passing. Although, perhaps surprisingly to some, we find details of another equally important birth, that of St John the Baptist (Luke 1:5-25). This is why the biographers of the Virgin Mary have taken information from the Holy Tradition or even from apocryphal writings. The best-known and widely used writing bears witness to the grandparents’ origins. After the mother of the Saviour, Christ is the Protoevangelium of James.

Patrologists’ and historians’ analysis of more than 30 Greek, Syriac or Latin manuscripts has led to the conclusion that the text dates from the 2nd century, with St James the Less, the first Bishop of Jerusalem, as its supposed author, who wrote his work in famous Greek. Origen, therefore, calls it ‘The Book of James.’ From its contents, it can be seen that the author uses the Gospels according to Matthew and Luke as sources, quoting them correctly, to appease the curiosity of the early Christians.

Read also: Who was Sarah in The Bible? Lessons from the life of Sarah in The Bible

Do Catholics believe that Mary is more important than Jesus?

Incredible as it may seem, the truth is that we don’t know much about the mother of Jesus Christ. We have yet to determine the exact date of his birth, even though the calendars show it as September 8. Nor the date of his death, which is marked annually on August 15. When we celebrate, at least in a declarative way, the “Assumption of the Mother of God.”

Catholics do not believe that Mary is more important than Jesus but that Jesus could not have been born without the Virgin Mary. According to the New Testament. At the time of Jesus’ conception, which was revealed to him by the Archangel Gabriel. She was the fiancée of Joseph of Nazareth. In the Christian tradition (Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran), as well as in the Muslim tradition. She miraculously remained a virgin during the conception and birth of Jesus.

The Virgin Mary is the only woman mentioned by name in the Koran. She is regarded as a divine sign to mankind, praised for defending her virtue, worthy of honor for her obedience. The Virgin Mary was born no more than 20 years before the beginning of the Christian era when Herod the Great was rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. Scripture scholars, archaeologists, and historians believe these dates for several reasons.

Saint Mary Prayer

O Most Holy Mother of God, of the powers above, Queen of heaven and earth,

our almighty defender and strength, receive this song of praise and thanksgiving

from us, your unworthy servants. Lift our prayers to the throne of God and your Son,

that he may be merciful to our iniquities. May he add his grace to all

who reverence your holy name and, with faith and love, adore the miracle worker of your icon.

We are not worthy of being married by the Lord, and for this, we seek you,

for you are our helper and our swift helper.

Amen.

Primary Takeaways

• Saints and Righteous Joachim and Anna are the parents of the Mother of God, the grandparents of Jesus Christ. Their feast is celebrated on 9 September, the day after the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, and St Anne’s Assumption is celebrated on 25 July.
• Saints Joachim and Anne were childless until their old age. Then the Archangel Gabriel came down to each of them, blessing them with the Virgin Mary’s beatification. Out of love for people, God made the barren womb of Anna fruitful. In due time, she gave birth to the Virgin Mary.
• On the feast of the Virgin Mary, you are not allowed to wash and sew. Also, because it is a fast day, you must give up worldly pleasures and spend the day in prayer.

Conclusion

Our Lord and God desire to prepare a dwelling place on earth for Himself. A holy house for His salvation. Sent His angel to the righteous Joachim and Anna, from whom He willed His Mother to be born. And told them, who were ungodly and barren, that God had given them the gift of marriage. For the birth of the Virgin. Therefore the Blessed Virgin Mary was born of the seed of a bearded man. But of a fagged one, her parents being old and barren. For Christ alone was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary above the flesh. Unborn and untouched, as He alone knows, without bodily will. And, God being perfect, He took upon Himself all the things of His ideal flesh. That is to say, the nature of men, as He built it and fashioned it from the beginning.

This day, therefore, we celebrate as a remembrance of the Mother of God’s annunciation in her mother’s womb. The holy and righteous Anna, an annunciation blessed on earth to her parents and men by an angel.

This God did, who out of nothing founded them all, weaning the barren womb to bring forth fruit. And she who had grown old childless, the mother of children, with loving care worked her, a worthy end to the just request of her righteous parents. Giving the Virgin, from whom God Himself was to come in the flesh, for the second birth of all that is.