Expert: Griff Ruby - 1/5/2012

Question
I was just reading elsewhere that in order not to be tainted by sin Jesus' mother must have been born without original sin. The question naturally occurred to me, why would not Mary then have been tainted by sin if her mother was born with original sin. So if it could be managed for Mary how do we know it could not simply have been managed for Jesus and Mary be born in the usual way?

Answer
What His mother had, being concevied of the lineage of Adam through the conventional means as utilized by her natural parents, is quite different from what our Lord had at His conception.  She was still a daughter of Adam and Eve, and the protection from sin that is claimed by the Church (in ancient sacred Tradition believed from the earliest ages onward) is that her being spared the sin of Adam was the result of a special act of Grace.  In effect, she was made, intrinsic to the very moment of her conception itself, exactly as if any of us will be once all sin has been cleansed of us and we are finally ready to enter Heaven (in terms of all perfect sinlessness), though not with the glorious non-earthly qualities as Jesus demonstrated after His resurrection (appearing and disappearing, while yet substantial, etc.).
He was not to be born in the conventional pangs of childbirth, as neither was he conceived as a result of any natural violational union of a woman's virginity, in order that the virgin indeed would be with a Child, as a holy sign, as prophesised by Isaiah.  It is also intended that She was to be the new Eve, even as Jesus was the new Adam, and in the original messianic prophecy of Genesis, it is "She" (not "He," as often found in numerous mistranslations and defective biblical texts published today) who was to crush the head of the serpent.
So the immaculate conception of Mary is not some idea merely cooked up to explain Jesus not being born in Adam's sin (or perhaps, even, in Adam at all, not having Adam as a biological father at all), but part of the same biblical prophetic structure of the sacrifice on the cross, the lashes, the pieces of silver, the birth in bethlehem, and so forth.
Hope this helps, God bless!