Chapter  8 

The Immaculate Virgin Conception of the Virgin Mary 

Sacred Scripture and the Immaculate Conception 

     Jesus answered them, `Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' The Jews then said, `It has 

taken forty six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?' But he spoke of the temple of 

his body.  (John 2:19 21). 

    This conversation between Jesus and some of the Jews occurred at the time of the Passover (Jn  2:13). Jesus 

was referring to the Temple which is His body. When Jesus said that He would raise up this Temple in three 

days, He was giving a prophecy of His own death and Resurrection (Jn 2:22). 

    The Jews did not understand what Jesus meant. They thought He was referring to the temple of Jerusalem. 

When they told Jesus that it  has taken forty six years to build this temple,  they were speaking about the 

Sanctuary building. But these words of the Jews to Jesus are part of the Gospel of John, and all of Sacred 

Scripture is God speaking to us. Therefore, God is telling us that it  has taken forty six years to build  the 

Temple of Jesus' body. 

    Jesus was not anywhere near 46 years old at this time; His Ministry began when He was about 30 years old 

(Lk 3:23). But God's work in building the Temple of the humanity of Jesus  Christ began before His 

Incarnation and Birth. The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary was the beginning of the building of 

the humanity of Jesus Christ. At the Immaculate Conception, God began to prepare for the Incarnation of 

Christ by creating the Virgin Mary and by preserving her free from all sin. God created the humanity of the 

Virgin Mary first, so that the Temple of the body of Jesus Christ would come from a holy and pure member of 

humanity. God began to build the Temple of Christ's body by creating the Virgin Mary at her Immaculate 

Conception.

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    According to Blessed Anne Catherine, Jesus had this conversation with the Jews at the time of the first 

Passover of His ministry.

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 The Gospel of John also places this conversation near the beginning of Jesus' 

ministry (John 2:19 21). Since the ministry of Jesus Christ began in fall of 

A.D.

 15, this was the Passover in 

spring of 

A.D.

 16, (see chapter 7 for details). 

    The Virgin Mary must have been about 46 years old, counting her age from her Immaculate Conception, at 

the time of this Passover in 

A.D.

 16. Sacred Scripture is telling us about the Immaculate Conception by means 

of the words of the Jews about the Temple, and so the 46 years are the number of years since the Virgin Mary's 

Immaculate Conception (as well as the number of years since the rebuilding of the Sanctuary buildings). 

Therefore, the Immaculate Conception occurred about 46 years before the Passover of 

A.D.

 16. Counting back 

exactly 46 years would bring us to spring of 31 

B.C.

 (Recall that there is no year zero between 1 

B.C.

 and 

A.D.

 1.) However, the 46 years is not necessarily counted as 46 sets of 12 calendar months. 

    Since the Jews were speaking about the temple buildings, the 46 years must also be counted back to some 

event regarding the temple buildings themselves. The Temple of Jerusalem was rebuilt during the reign of king 

Herod (the Herod who was king at the time of Christ's Birth). However, it did not take 46 years to do the 

reconstruction work on the temple. According to the ancient Jewish Roman historian Josephus, the rebuilding 

of the Sanctuary itself took 1  years, and the rebuilding of the outer enclosures took 8 years.

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 Therefore, the 

Jews were not referring to the number of years of reconstruction, but to the number of years since the temple 

was rebuilt. 

    Even so, some work related to the temple did continue up to and beyond the time of Jesus Christ's Ministry. 

Josephus counts the rebuilding of the Temple as taking 8 years, but he also places the completion of all  the 

work related to the Temple at a much later date, after the martyrdom of the Apostle James the Lesser.

483

 So, 

after the reconstruction work on the Temple was completed, some work related to the Temple must still have 

continued for many years afterwards, even to the time of this conversation between the Jews and Jesus. 

    This verse of Sacred Scripture (Jn 2:20) has a dual meaning; it refers both to the Temple of Jesus' body and 

to the temple buildings. The wording of this verse can be taken in two ways that the process of building the 

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