There is usually one big misconception with this title. The Immaculate Conception is not refering in anyway to Jesus' conception or birth. What this title is saying is that at the moment of Mary's conception, (which was just the same as you or I) she was without original sin and in fact in the state of sanctifying grace. Just this fact alone entiltes her to many things, such as not dealing with the same human suffering as we deal with i.e. pain of child birth, etc. But, is this so hard to believe? Think back, Adam and Eve were born with out it.......Jesus couldnt be born through sin, He came to conquer it.

Scriptural Basis

Luke 1:28

The Archangel Gabriel has made himself visible to Mary. He has come into her home with the intent to bring forth a message from God, that Mary is to be the Mother of the Messiah, the long awaited One. But before anything is even announced Gabriel does something amazing (by Biblical standards) he kneels before Mary. Now if you have read any part in the Old Testament where a human encountered an angel, you would know that everytime, that person would kneel or even prostrate themself before the holy creature. Never was it said that an Angel would this to a creature. Can you imagine, this glorious, huge Acrhangel (much like St. Micheal himself) bowing to this small young girl? It can only mean one thing, she's gonna do something pretty awesome....

The first thing out of His mouth says a whole lot and really confirms this first title...(from the greek translation) "Hail, You who have been perfected in grace"....or....."Kari kecharitomine"...uuhh..sounds alot different than most translations huh? Many bibles, namely Protestant, try to down play this scene as much as possible...and totally leave out any mention of grace... What this is saying though is that by some past action, Mary was perfected in grace and made holy, sometime in her early life (conception). Which would mean to us that God has a special plan in mind for her, but this is the moment that everything has worked up to. This is the moment that this holiness comes into great importance, and quite literally the whole world depends on her, that is why her holines was so important...so that she would say one simple word,'Yes.' Now since we are on the topic of Grace, it is important to know that even though Mary, from the time of conception, was 'perfected in Grace' she was still able to grow in Grace throughout her life.

"How great?" you ask, well many Church Fathers, and many great theologians such as St Thomas Aquinas and many others, agree, that at the time of her conception alone, her grace surpassed that of all the angels and saints that have ever or will ever come upon this earth. At her dormintation(later explained) and assumption into heaven, Mary's level of grace had reached beyond that of all the saint's when they reach heaven after the fires of purgatory...COMBINED!

But of course there will always be objections, so here are a few:

Most Protestants will object to this Dogma because Mary was but a creature, and we are told that "all have sinned" (Rom. 3:23) Including the statement where she says her "spirit rejoices in God my Savior" (Luke 1:47), and only a sinner needs a Savior, and since she was a sinner, she couldnt be immaculately concieved.

First off in no way does the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception contradict Luke 1:47, for Mary too required a Savior. But she was preserved from the stain of original sin in a special way, by the anticipated works of her son. Consider this analogy:

We see a man walking down a dirt path...there is a huge deep pit in front of him and he falls in...he is trapped and cannot get out on his own. The kindness and compassion of a stranger walking past draws him to the pit and he finds the man there and pulls him out...Lets say that stranger was God....wouldnt you say that that man was 'saved' from the pit by the mercy of God? Well when talking about Mary think of it this way...when Mary was standing on the egde of the that pit...God reached out and saved her BEFORE she fell in. God in His kindness kept Mary from experiencing this and saved her through the anticipated works of her Son....for that reason she has more reason to call God her Savior more than the any of us.