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Posted on 01/02/2007 11:46:14 AM PST by pjr12345
The Virgin Mary is blessed above all women, and therefore Christians have always called her “The Blessed Virgin Mary” in fulfillment of prophecy (Luke 1:28, 42, 45, 48).
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ who is God. She is, therefore, truly the Mother of God, the Mother of that Person who is God the Son, not by generating his divinity, for he was divine before his conception in the womb, but by generating his humanity and carrying him to birth in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit and not by any human father (Luke 1:35; 41, 43, 48).
The Blessed Virgin Mary is mentioned in both the first and the last books of the Bible. In Genesis 3:15, God foretold that he would put enmity between the seed or offspring of the devil and the offspring of the Woman, and that the offspring of the Woman would crush the head of that old serpent, and the serpent would strike the heel of the offspring. Eve had surrendered to the serpent’s tempting, so there was no enmity between them, for “you are slaves of him to whom you yield yourselves to obey as slaves” (Rom. 6:16). The Woman foretold in Genesis could not have been Eve. Eve was not Satan’s enemy, but his slave. However, mention of the Woman, Mary, is found in the last book of the Bible in the twelfth chapter of Revelation (the Apocalypse).
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the woman who gave birth to him who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron, namely Jesus Christ, and she is, therefore, also the Mother of all Christians, who are her offspring, those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, and we are bound to honor her, our Mother, the Second Eve, as Jesus Christ honors her (Exod. 20:12; Sirach 40:1; John 1:29; 1 Cor. 15:45-47; Rev. 12:1, 5, 17).
The Blessed Virgin Mary, in giving birth to Jesus Christ, the head of that body which is his Church, also gave birth into eternal life to the members of that body, all baptized Christians, and she is, therefore, the Mother of the Church and the Mediatrix of All Graces which come to us through Christ. As our Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary brings forth Christ in our hearts as she brought him forth in her womb (Gal. 2:20).
Blessed Mary is holier than the Ark of the Old Covenant, to touch which was death, for she was set apart as the Ark of God the Son for the exclusive use of our Great High Priest Jesus Christ, as his Mother, and she is, therefore, ever Virgin, the “garden enclosed” and, as she contained him whom the heavens cannot contain, she is the Holy of Holies, the Saint of Saints (Exod. 26:33; Lev. 16:2-34; 2 Sam 6:6-7; 1 Kings 8:27; Luke 1:34; Heb. 9:3, 12).
In accordance with her title in the Eastern Church, “The All-Immaculate One,” the Blessed Virgin Mary, as the Mother of Our Lord and God Jesus Christ, by a special privilege of Divine Providence, has been, from the moment of her conception, “full of grace,” even the “Uncreated Grace” who is our eternal life, namely God the Son, who lived in her heart before he became incarnate in her womb, and thus she was and is “filled with all the fullness of God,” and she has been preserved unstained by personal sin or by our disordered passions resulting from the original sin of Adam (Luke 1:28; John 1:4; 10:10; Rom. 5:12, 17; Eph. 3:19; James 1:15). For Mary and Satan are enemies; he has no part in her (Gen. 3:15).
The Blessed Virgin Mary exercised the greatest virtue by risking death by stoning for adultery for consenting to be the Mother of God; by being the first to believe in Jesus, and thus working the greatest of the works of God, the Incarnation of his Son; and by suffering the most agonizing sword of sorrow that pierced her Immaculate Heart at the crucifixion of her Son and the piercing of his Sacred Heart (Matt. 1:18-19; Luke 1:38, 45; 2:35; John 6:29; 19:25, 34).
God the Son has not suffered his Mother, the blessed, glorious, and ever Virgin Mary, to see corruption, but has honored her as the first of the saints, and assumed her, body and soul, into heaven (Exod. 20:12; Ps. 16:10; Rev. 12:1, 3, 14).
The Blessed Virgin Mary has been crowned Queen of the Universe by God the Father, whose daughter she is, by God the Son, whose mother she is, and by God the Holy Spirit, whose faithful spouse she is, and she has been crowned by the stars and clothed with the sun, and had the moon put under her feet in token of her being set, under her Son, the King of Kings, over all other created beings, as Queen of the Universe (Rev. 12:1, 5, 17; 17:14; 19:16).
The Blessed and ever Virgin Mary always bids us to do whatever Jesus says (John 2:5). Together with the rest of the angels and saints, as a witness to our lives, she sees our lives and hears our prayers now and is, as our Mother, our most potent intercessor with God (Matt. 18:10; John 2:1-11, esp. v. 3; Heb. 12:1; Rev. 5:8-10; 8:3-4).
The Bible does not ask us to pay Mary the adoration due to God alone; that would be idolatry. But the Bible does teach us: Honor thy mother, Mary, as Jesus did! We can also be assured that our Blessed Mother hears our prayers for she, as well as the other saints in heaven, is one of the “cloud of witnesses,” who observe us (Heb. 12:1), and witnesses are those who can testify under oath in court as to what they have seen and heard. Therefore, we should frequently request our Blessed Mother to pray to God, to obtain his graces for us. Following are several prayers to the Blessed Virgin that have been widely used throughout the Church over the ages.
The Hail Mary
Hail Mary, full of Grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen (Luke 1:28; 42-43, 45, 48).
Your use of an apocryphal book is allowed only in the manner you've used - to support an historical claim. Had you used it to draw doctrine from, it would have to be poo poo'ed with great prejudice.
Very interesting analysis. I can't wait to see the response of others more learned than I!
"And when they saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said unto him, Son, why has thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee, sorrowing."
I realize that his mother was upset, especially the inconvenience of having to return to Jerusalem with all his other little brothers and sisters, but is that what I think it is? --- an untruth issuing forth from the immaculate one.
What makes a book apocryphal?
Buzz off....I asked a SIMPLE question.....I didn't ask if he was GAY, I asked what denomination he was. Why are non-Catholics always afraid to answer that??? Catholics ALWAYS identify themselves, yet non-Catholics do not. It makes no sense.
What is a no denomination Christian? Non denominational IS a denomination Church isn't it? Do you attend Church every Sunday?
Well put.
If you mean to exclude them and only hold to the 66 books in the Protestant Canon, you should specify that for the benefit of all of the posters on the thread.
Ping
Who decides what is scripture and which passages relate to Mary, Martin Luther, nearly 2000 years of consistent, uninterrupted Church teachings?
Why, for instance, do you omit the passages about the Mother of Jesus in Revelations 12?
THE BIBLE declares that
ALL [humans] have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Can we hold to the Canon as it was decided before the Council of Trent?
Actually all we see here is an English translation of a Greek Story, written from the oral teaching of St Paul by the Apostle Luke. St Paul was not present when this occured (likely in Aramaic).
Can you please show us the greek for father, and son? (You'll note that in this verse the normal Greek for biological son isn't used).
Uh-oh....I know where this is going.
We have a "non denominational" church in our small city.
They believe that Mary isn't worthy of prayer and adoration or respect. They teach that all who pray to Her are non christian.
I don't think Mary's Son would be pleased.
Not Mary, the Mother of GOD!!!
as a completed action to which nothing more needs to be added,
= = =
As a completed action is a viable Greek comment, note.
"which nothing more needs to be added"
is an inference, an extrapolation.
The parameters of the grace are not specified in the Scripture. There is plenty of ambiguity about that Grace. Therefore, lots of inferences are plausible and few to none may be accurate from God's perspective.
We can conclude from the reference that Mary was Graced. Period. The reference doesn't include the purpose of the grace, the extent of the grace, the size, shape, tone, feelings, boundaries, of the grace. It merely indicates she was graced--and that THAT PARTICULAR PAST GRACING was completed--perhaps for that time, that moment, that unspecified purpose. Perhaps with follow-on implications. Perhaps not. Not specified, clarified, elaborated.
Catholics do not ADORE MAry, we REVERE her as the MOTHER OF GOD!! I just do not understand why protestants can't see that the MOTHER OF G O D is SINLESS from conception! It's the onlt thing that makes sense.
I never construed Holy Spirit as one of the parents living with Mary and Joseph as a parent.
It is plausible that He graced Mary with Jesus then took on other roles in her life, Joseph's life and the lives of all their other children.
Groping toward Far-Sided extrapolations not rooted in Scripture seems a huge hazardous leap, to me.
I'm trying to get a clarification on just that from the thread-starter. Who decideds what is scripture, and on what authority.
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