I was surfing the internet and came accross to your site which is timely indeed because there's one question about the Blessed Virgin Mary that bothers me for a while now. I live in a country where the majority of the population is Lutheran and contact with a Catholic priest is kinda difficult. Perhaps you could help me with this question: What is that concept of original sin and its direct connection to Marian Dogma?
Any insight will be very much appreciated. I'll be grateful if you could answer me personally.
Thanks in advance and God Bless.
Best regards,
Lorena
*********
Dear Lorena,
Good to hear from you. We can see the doctrine of original sin from the fact that man is a riddle to himself. As St. Paul say, the good I know I should do, that I don't do, but the bad which I should not do, that I do. "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Rom 7:24) I am sure you have some idea what he is talking about.
Have you noticed how we are not just an improved model of higher animals like apes and whales? We are in some ways better, but in others much, much worse. Chesterton observed that no other animal invented something so good as wine, or so bad as drunkeness. We take things which are very good and pervert them. Something has gone wrong with our race. The Christian teaching is that this has come about not because of God's creation, but because of our primordial rebellion against Him. That is called original sin.
That Mary was preserved from original sin (by her Immaculate Conception) is a more complex question. Catholic Answers has some other good articles which may help you.
Prayers for you, Lorena. I take it from your address that you are in Norway. I feel a certain affection for that country since my ancestors came from there. My great great grandfather's surname was Anderson, but the town he came from was "Blom" which became the family name when he passed through Ellis Island.
God bless,
Fr. Phil Bloom Other Questions
Catholic Home Study Resources