50 THE SIGNS OF THE MYSTERY hesitate to call her “mother of her Creator” and to hail her with the words which Dante Alighieri places on the lips of St. Bernard: “daughter of your Son.” And since Mary receives this “new life” with a fullness corresponding to the Son’s love for the Mother, and thus corresponding to the dignity of the divine motherhood, the angel at the Annunciation calls her “full of grace.39 Therefore, the exceptionalness of Mary’s redemption through the foreseen merits of Jesus Christ does not lie in a privilege excluding her from the fate of the rest of mankind as someone without the stain of the original sin but rather in the fullness of the gift of salvific communion with God, in which Mary participates to an incomparably higher degree than any other human being, due to her extraordinary relationship with Christ. Therefore, during the Visitation, St. Elizabeth, inspired by the Holy Spirit, would exclaim, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk 1:42). The absence of original sin and any other sin is the fruit of Mary’s communion with God, which she has never broken due to a lack of faith or trust in her Creator. Elizabeth also emphasizes it saying, “Blessed are you who believed” (Lk 1:45). Therefore, the Immaculate Conception is Mary’s privilege but a privilege not of exclusivity but fullness. Redemption is offered to every man created in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:26–27), but, unfortunately, not everyone wants to accept it. Mary’s continual close bond with the Son in Whom she was created is a sign that it is possible to live without sin, because original sin is not a doom which paralyzes man’s freedom to the extent that he cannot do anything. It is a problem regarding man’s relationship with God, which can be overcome through a living faith in Christ and Baptism (cf. Mk 16:16). This faith requires accepting Christ’s lifestyle and remaining in communion with Him through obedience to His commandments (cf. Jn 14:15–21). God is not a creditor who applies Christ’s merits to Mary, because he foresees that His Son will pay off the old debt. This legalistic, juridical language fails to fully express the truth about God, revealed in the Old and New Testament as a Merciful Father, Who saves His people through the gift of His Son (cf. Jn 3:16–18), Who “comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (Jn 6:33). By transcending the limitations of juridical thinking and language in theology and embracing the Paschal perspective, 39 Saint John Paul II, Encyclical Redemptoris Mater, March 25, 1987, No. 8 and 10.
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