Can a person be sinless?

Besides Jesus Christ, have there been other people, such as His Mother Mary, or others who have been or has the possibility of being sinless? We know that Jesus was the only one sinless by nature, but what about everyone else?

Well, if we look to the mother of our Lord, she was sinless, but not by her nature. She was saved from sin beforehand. Unlike Jesus, who did not need a savior, she did. She needed a savior just like any other human being. We can know that by looking at the Gospel of Luke where it says, “And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;’ (Luke 1:47-48).”

You and I are saved at our Baptism because of original sin that we contracted in the womb of our mother. It was at the sacrament of Baptism that original sin was taken away and thus we were “saved.” If you were baptized as an adult, then not only original sin, but all the sins you had committed were wiped clean. Mary on the other hand, was saved in a unique way. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin,” (CCC # 491). So, because of her calling to carry God in her womb, God specially saved her. God was not required to do this, but it was fitting to do it. He prevented her from receiving the stain and effects of original sin. Luke alludes to this when he says, “And he came to her and said, ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!‘ (Luke 1:28)” If someone is full of grace, that means there is no sin within you.

Analogy on needing a savior:

Let’s say I am walking along and fall into a big hole in the ground, and someone comes by and pulls me out of that hole. You could say then that they have indeed saved me from that hole. However, if I am walking along and just before I reach the hole, someone comes by and prevents me from falling into it, then wouldn’t you say they also saved me from that hole? Of course they did. Which means, someone can be saved from something either after they have fallen into it, or before they ever fall into it. So it is with Mary. She claims God as her Savior because He saved her, before the fact, from Original Sin, and because He saved her, by His grace, from ever committing an actual sin.

Just like the first Adam and the first Eve were conceived without sin, so too the second Adam (Jesus) was conceived without sin. Would not the second Eve (Mary) also be conceived without sin? The difference in the first Adam and the second Adam, in their human natures, was that the first Adam sinned and the second Adam did not. Does it not then make sense that the difference between the first Eve and the second Eve would be that the first Eve sinned and the second Eve did not?

But, one might say Mary is the exception. What about anyone else. Are there any more exceptions from what St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans, “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:22-23).” Well, what about all the mentally retarded children who have died? Because of their mental and moral capabilities, they did not have the capacity to sin against God.

Until next time, God bless.