



If you don't agree with Joseph's accurate statement of the Catholic dogma
of Mary's perpetual sinlessness, then how do you interpret Luke 1:28,

	And when the angel had come to her, he said, "Hail, full of 
	grace, the Lord is with thee.  Blessed art thou among women."

and Luke 1:48? 

	...for, behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

I suppose that these verses might be interpreted to mean that Mary was
possessed of some limited quantity or quality of grace, just as some of 
filled to the brim, incapable of containing more.  The only other people we 
know of who have an abundance of grace are those souls existing in heaven now 
(another Catholic dogma, based on the communion of saints, as I explained in 
an earlier post).  Full of grace to me means sinless, and anyone who has 
ever sinned in his life cannot be without sin in the same sense as Mary  
was sinless.  

As a Catholic, I too find certain of the dogmas tough to embrace.  But
that's where the Catholic faith and prayer come into play.  I pray God
to strengthen my will to accept the faith given the bride of Christ,
which in turn usually strengthens my community faith in His Church.  And,
as you probably know, faith in Christ's Church is tantamount to faith in
Christ inasmuch as the Church is Christ's Mystical Body.  A Catholic by
nature must have two aspects to his faith in Christ: (1) a personal faith in 
Christ as his own personal redeemer and (2) a community faith in the Church 
as the body of Christ.

 
-- 
Randal Lee Nicholas Mandock 
Catechist
gt7122b@prism.gatech.edu 