“God freely chose Mary from all eternity to be the Mother of his Son. In order to carry out her mission she herself was conceived immaculate. This means that, thanks to the grace of God and in anticipation of the merits of Jesus Christ, Mary was preserved from original sin from the first instant of her conception.” – Compendium of the CCC Mary received a two-fold grace. First, she was given the grace of life like all of us. None of us deserves life. It is truly a gift from God. Second, she was given the grace of mercy. Like all of us she would have come into existence alienated from God because of the sin of Adam. But God, in his great mercy and in anticipation of the grace of becoming the Mother of God in the future, Mary was given at conception the unique grace of being conceived free from sin. All are saved by grace, the grace from the death and resurrection of Jesus. Mary received that grace at conception. We received that grace at Baptism.