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A great sign appeared in Heaven; a woman clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head. -- Revelation 12:1
Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, so I wanted to draw a picture to celebrate.
This is the feast day when we Catholics celebrate one of the greatest mysteries of our faith: that God, through His infinite goodness and mercy, preserved Mary from the stain of Adam's Sin at the moment of her conception in her mother's womb.
Some people have asked me the 'whys' and 'hows' of it so many times, I can't even count. Heck, even *I* have asked the 'whys' and 'hows' at certain times throughout my life. Obviously, only God knows the full answer to those questions, but many theologians and apologists have tried to answer those questions to the best of their abilities. And while I am certainly no theologian or apologist, I have used my resources to try and understand and explain this mystery as best as I can understand it (with my limited knowledge.)
First we need to understand what Adam's Sin is. Adam's Sin (also called Original Sin) is something we inherit. It is not the same thing as the sins we do when we give into temptation (those are called Actual Sins.)
We choose to commit Actual Sins because our humanity is inherently flawed and stained by Original Sin, but we did not choose to have Original Sin. This is important.
Now we must factor in that we as Christians believe that when Jesus became human, He was still Divine in nature -- 100% God, 100% Man.
Now, based on what we understand about Original Sin being inherent in all of humanity, God the Son would need to make sure His human nature did not inherit Adam's Sin.
But how would He go about doing that?
By saving His own human nature? No. Jesus is God and does not need salvation. Also, it would be selfish of Him to use those merits for Himself, which would negate His pure and selfless sacrifice on the cross.
By saving His own human mother? Yes. Because using the merits of salvation on her to prevent her from inheriting Adam's Sin would be a selfless act and would not negate His pure and selfless sacrifice in any way.
Just as a host cleans the house for a guest, God cleaned the house (Mary) for the Son's arrival.
But some people have said, "Then why didn't God preserve Mary's parents in the same way? Shouldn't she have inherited Adam's Sin from her parents?"
Mary should have indeed inherited Adam's Sin from her parents, but the Lord intervened. This is because Mary was the key to bringing Jesus into the world. While Mary's parents were indeed holy people, they were not chosen to become the dwelling place of the Word made Flesh and did not require God's intervention. Mary was chosen for that role. Her parents were not.
We also need to take into account this passage in Genesis...
"I will put enmity between you and the woman; between your offspring and hers. He will strike at your head, while you strike at His heel." -- Genesis 3:15
God is speaking to the serpent (or Devil) and He is clearly saying that the woman (Mary) will be an enemy of the Devil just as much as her offspring (Jesus) is.
This is echoed again in Revelation where the dragon/serpent (also called the Devil or Satan as John iterates) is trying and failing to destroy the woman (who John describes as being clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head.)
When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to the earth, it pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly to her place in the desert, where, far from the serpent, she was taken care of for a year, two years, and a half-year. The serpent, however, spewed a torrent of water out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the current. But the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth and swallowed the flood that the dragon spewed out of its mouth. Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus. -- Revelation 12:13-17
The dragon in Revelation is angry with the woman, because he cannot corrupt her the way he did with Eve. Remember, Adam and Eve were both perfect and sinless before the Devil influenced them. So he was trying (and failing) to influence the woman (Mary) in a similar way. The 'woman' in Revelation represents Mary and the 'rest of her offspring' represents the Church faithful, which is why we call Mary our spiritual Mother.

Please note, I am not trying to start a squabble or fight. I simply wanted to explain why Catholics believe this.

ENJOY!!

Mary - God/Heaven
Art - Porcelain-Requiem
References -

The moon under her feet...

The subtle sunlight around her...

The space around her... pekuncen.com/wp-content/upload…

Description

A great sign appeared in Heaven; a woman clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head. -- Revelation 12:1
Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, so I wanted to draw a picture to celebrate.
This is the feast day when we Catholics celebrate one of the greatest mysteries of our faith: that God, through His infinite goodness and mercy, preserved Mary from the stain of Adam's Sin at the moment of her conception in her mother's womb.
Some people have asked me the 'whys' and 'hows' of it so many times, I can't even count. Heck, even *I* have asked the 'whys' and 'hows' at certain times throughout my life. Obviously, only God knows the full answer to those questions, but many theologians and apologists have tried to answer those questions to the best of their abilities. And while I am certainly no theologian or apologist, I have used my resources to try and understand and explain this mystery as best as I can understand it (with my limited knowledge.)
First we need to understand what Adam's Sin is. Adam's Sin (also called Original Sin) is something we inherit. It is not the same thing as the sins we do when we give into temptation (those are called Actual Sins.)
We choose to commit Actual Sins because our humanity is inherently flawed and stained by Original Sin, but we did not choose to have Original Sin. This is important.
Now we must factor in that we as Christians believe that when Jesus became human, He was still Divine in nature -- 100% God, 100% Man.
Now, based on what we understand about Original Sin being inherent in all of humanity, God the Son would need to make sure His human nature did not inherit Adam's Sin.
But how would He go about doing that?
By saving His own human nature? No. Jesus is God and does not need salvation. Also, it would be selfish of Him to use those merits for Himself, which would negate His pure and selfless sacrifice on the cross.
By saving His own human mother? Yes. Because using the merits of salvation on her to prevent her from inheriting Adam's Sin would be a selfless act and would not negate His pure and selfless sacrifice in any way.
Just as a host cleans the house for a guest, God cleaned the house (Mary) for the Son's arrival.
But some people have said, "Then why didn't God preserve Mary's parents in the same way? Shouldn't she have inherited Adam's Sin from her parents?"
Mary should have indeed inherited Adam's Sin from her parents, but the Lord intervened. This is because Mary was the key to bringing Jesus into the world. While Mary's parents were indeed holy people, they were not chosen to become the dwelling place of the Word made Flesh and did not require God's intervention. Mary was chosen for that role. Her parents were not.
We also need to take into account this passage in Genesis...
"I will put enmity between you and the woman; between your offspring and hers. He will strike at your head, while you strike at His heel." -- Genesis 3:15
God is speaking to the serpent (or Devil) and He is clearly saying that the woman (Mary) will be an enemy of the Devil just as much as her offspring (Jesus) is.
This is echoed again in Revelation where the dragon/serpent (also called the Devil or Satan as John iterates) is trying and failing to destroy the woman (who John describes as being clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head.)
When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to the earth, it pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly to her place in the desert, where, far from the serpent, she was taken care of for a year, two years, and a half-year. The serpent, however, spewed a torrent of water out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the current. But the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth and swallowed the flood that the dragon spewed out of its mouth. Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus. -- Revelation 12:13-17
The dragon in Revelation is angry with the woman, because he cannot corrupt her the way he did with Eve. Remember, Adam and Eve were both perfect and sinless before the Devil influenced them. So he was trying (and failing) to influence the woman (Mary) in a similar way. The 'woman' in Revelation represents Mary and the 'rest of her offspring' represents the Church faithful, which is why we call Mary our spiritual Mother.

Please note, I am not trying to start a squabble or fight. I simply wanted to explain why Catholics believe this.

ENJOY!!

Mary - God/Heaven
Art - Porcelain-Requiem
References -

The moon under her feet...

The subtle sunlight around her...

The space around her... pekuncen.com/wp-content/upload…