Mary was conceived without sin, because the eternal Father would not do less for the second Eve than He had done for the first; yet the latter was created, as was also the first Adam, in the state of original justice, which she forfeited by her disobedience. The Son of God would not permit that Mary, from whom He was to take the nature of man, should be deprived of that gift which He had given to Eve. The Holy Ghost, Who was to overshadow Mary, and through whose operation she was to become the Mother of the Incarnate Word, would not permit that foul stain of sin in which we are all conceived to rest even for an instant on His Bride. All men were to contract the sin of Adam. The sentence was universal, the condemnation went out against all the race; but God’s own Mother could not be included. God, Who is the Author of that law; God, Who was free to make it as He willed, had power to save her from its effects; His omnipotence could exempt her, and it was nothing more than proper, even according to our frail reason, that she was exempted. Prayer. O Lord Jesus, Who didst, for the love of us, etc., etc. Twelfth Day. Certainly God’s omnipotence came into active operation when He created the soul of Mary. When Adam and Eve stood before Him in the garden of paradise, the Lord said to the woman, “Why hast thou done this?” She replied, “The serpent deceived me, and I did eat.” Then God was angry, and turning to the serpent He said, “I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head.” Thus was salvation promised to the human race, under the form of a victory over Satan, and it is to be gained by the woman. The second Eve is to be worthy of the second Adam, conquering Satan and sin. The human race is one day to be avenged, not only by God made man, but also by the woman miraculously exempted from every sin, in whom the primeval creation, which was in justice and holiness, will thus reappear, as though original sin had never been committed. Raise up your hands then, ye children of Adam, and shake off your chains. On this day of the Immaculate Conception the humiliation which weighed you down so heavily is annihilated. Prayer. O Lord Jesus, Who didst, for the love of us, etc., etc. Thirteenth Day.