Immaculate Conception
Today, the Church celebrates the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, where we recognize God's preservation of Mary from the stain of original sin from the first moment of her conception.
It is fitting that she who gave birth to the Savior, who God promised would have enmity for Satan, proclaimed to "full of grace" by an angel, proclaimed to be blessed among women be remembered in this manner. After all, as the "God-bearer" (Theotokos),she must be kept pure and holy, pure and holy enough to carry the physical presence of God within her.
Think of it this way: Remembering how pure the high priest had to be just to be in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant, which was just a symbol of presence of God and some items recalling all he had done for the Israelites, how much more pure would someone have to be to carry the actual physical presence of God inside her? And so, Mary was kept free from sin from the moment of her conception, not out of any merit of her own, but as a result of her being the one chosen to give birth to God.
And in memory of this great honor, we have the courage to pray:
O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, didst prepare a worthy dwelling place for thy Son, we beseech thee that, as by the foreseen death of this, thy Son, thou didst preserve her from all stain, so too thou wouldst permit us, purified through her intercession, to come unto thee. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who livest and reignest with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen
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