As true Israelites, Joachim and Anne had been, in due course, cleansed of original sin and lived in the state of grace. But the grandeur of the conception of the Mother of the Messiah required that they be raised to a degree of holiness and purification never before attained. Therefore, they had to be endowed with very particular gifts and virtues.
In a way, the couple’s mission surpassed that of the Angels themselves, for never did Our Lady address one of these as “mama” or “papa”…
Considering that the most excellent qualities of the chosen people converged in them, in what pertains to both natural and supernatural gifts, with a view to the full manifestation of these qualities in Our Lady and in the God-Man, it seems reasonable to hold that they too, in an even more perfect manner than Tobias and Sara, were purified of the concupiscence of the flesh before Mary’s conception.
Moreover, since Our Lady is the universal Mediatrix of all graces – a mediation which, consequently, embraces the whole history of creation – would her own parents not be the first to benefit from this prerogative? This hypothesis presents itself as the most decorous and chaste mode of preparation for the dawn of Redemption, the Blessed Virgin’s conception being the break of this dawn.
The Author believes that the work of Providence was completed in both of them on that occasion, so that concupiscence would in no way tarnish the couple’s spirits in begetting Mary. Thus, the most chaste conception of Our Lady would be the prelude to the vengeance upon the serpent, which God had promised in Paradise: “She shall crush thy head” (Gn 3:15).
CLÁ DIAS, EP, João Scognamiglio.
Maria Santíssima! O Paraíso de Deus revelado aos homens.
[Mary Most Holy! God’s Paradise Revealed to Men.]
São Paulo: Arautos do Evangelho, 2020, v.II, p.68-69.
The Nativity of Our Lady – Basilica of Notre-Dame-du-Roncier – Josselin (France)
