I have often heard people who are not Catholics object that, if Catholics were logical, they would, consistently with their principles, attribute Immaculate Conception of soul, and incorruptibility of body, not only to our Lady, but also to our Lady's own mother and indeed to all her ancestors. But surely thus to argue is strangely to misconstrue the situation. Mary is not on a level with her Son. He is the Creator, she is His creature. That which is necessary for the honour of the Creator need in no wise be necessary for the honour even of the noblest of creatures. "For the honour of her Son," we, with Augustine, "would not speak of sin" where the Mother of God is concerned; it does not follow that for the honour of Mary we would not speak of sin where her own mother is concerned. Anyone who should maintain that, because God preserved His Mother from seeing corruption—the appointed fate of sinful flesh—it follows that Mary could similarly preserve her mother's flesh, is in effect making Mary equal to God—a blasphemy most horrible. Exceptional graces bestowed upon the Mother of Jesus need not be bestowed upon the mother of Mary. Catholics, it is true, venerate and pay great honour to the holy parents of our Lady, but Joachim lived with his wife as other husbands live, and Anne was as other mothers in her childbearing. The virginal childbearing of Mary stands alone, not only in itself, but in all its implications. The relations of Mary to her Maker are without parallel in creation. From Mary's privileges it is impossible to argue justly to any other case, since all those privileges were conferred upon His Mother for the honour of her Son. The mother of Mary of Nazareth has no title to exemptions from the common lot of Adam's children which were bestowed solely upon the one and only Mother who was chosen to give human birth not (as Anne gave birth) to a sinless creature, but to the All-Holy God.
