Could Mary have said NO to the angel Gabriel of the Annunciation?

Merry Christmas, Father.

I would like to know how MARY’s predestination to divine motherhood is reconciled, even through her IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, with her freedom as a creature.

In essence, could Mary also have said NO to the angel Gabriel of the Annunciation? And this NO how would it have related to her “special” nature as a creature?

Thank you

Maurizio

Response from the priest

Dear Maurizio,

1. God did not give us freedom to sin, but to do good with love.

2. When we talk about Mary’s theoretical possibility of saying no to God’s plan, we forget the special status that Our Lady enjoyed. That is, it is placed on the same level as ordinary mortals, albeit with a higher degree of grace.

Mary, on the other hand, belongs to a special order.

By preserving her from original sin and inclination to evil, God has poured out upon her an amount of grace greater than that of the entire Church put together.

This exceptional degree of holiness made Mary even freer, in the sense that it pushed her freely (for example, to virginity) going against all the customs of the Old Testament.

3. By virtue of this very high degree of love, Our Lady has been preserved from original sin and from every present sin.

In fact then there has been an impeccability in Mary, though different from the impeccability of Christ.

4. In fact, in Christ there was absolute impeccability for three reasons:

– for his divine person;

– for the permanent beatific vision in him from his conception;

– for the absolute and unmissable fullness of grace and charity, whose fervor could not diminish; moreover, he always received the effective grace to act.

5. We speak of Mary’s impeccability not in the same title as that of Christ, but in the sense that by a special privilege she was preserved from all sin, even venial sin.

This privilege makes us understand that her very high degree of grace and charity inclined her most strongly to the love of God and distanced her from sin.

So theologians say that Mary was confirmed in grace from the first instant of her existence.

Confirmation in grace in saints occurs through a great increase in charity, the effect of the transforming union in Christ.

This increase is accompanied by many current graces that effectively preserve from sin and push for ever higher free and meritorious acts.

6. The F Reginado Garrigou-Lagrange writes: “In Mary there was special assistance from Providence, which, even better than in the state of innocence, preserved all her faculties from deviations and, even in the most painful circumstances, kept her soul in the most perfect generosity.

This preserving assistance was an effect of Mary’s predestination, just as confirmation in grace is an effect of the predestination of the saints.

This preservation from sin, far from diminishing Mary’s freedom or free will, meant that she had full freedom in the order of good without any deviation towards evil, just as her intelligence never deviated towards error. Thus her liberty, for example that of the holy soul of Jesus, was a most pure image of the freedom of God, which is both sovereign and impeccable” (La Mère du Sauveur, pp. 58-59).

I emphasize the beautiful expression of the great Dominican theologian: the freedom of Mary “she was a most pure image of the freedom of God”, of that freedom which is at once sovereign and at the same time impeccable.

Mary is perfectly the lady of her yes and, by virtue of her very high degree of love and humility, she is preserved by God not only from the possibility of sinning but also from any imperfection of her acts.

She was indeed prepared to be a worthy Mother of the Savior.

Thank you for the Christmas greetings, which I reciprocate with those of a good and holy Lent!

I entrust you to the most powerful intercession of Mary and bless you.

Father Angelo

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