Posted on 06/11/2007 8:11:53 PM PDT by markomalley
| CHURCH GREW IN UNDERSTANDING OF MARY’S ROLE |
| Pope John Paul II |
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Down the centuries, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Church has sought to understand more clearly the revealed truth about the Mother of God "The sparse information on Mary's earthly life is compensated by its quality and theological richness, which contemporary exegesis has carefully brought to light", the Holy Father said at the General Audience of Wednesday, 8 November, as he continued his reflections on the Virgin Mary. The Pope's catechesis on Mary in Sacred Scripture and theological reflection was the fourth in the series on the Blessed Mother and was given in Italian. 1. In our preceding catecheses we saw how the doctrine of Mary's motherhood passed from its first formula, "Mother of Jesus", to the more complete and explicit, "Mother of God", even to the affirmation of her maternal involvement in the redemption of humanity. For other aspects of Marian doctrine as well, many centuries were necessary to arrive at the explicit definition of the revealed truths concerning Mary. Typical examples of this faith journey towards the ever deeper discovery of Mary's role in the history of salvation are the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption, proclaimed, as we know by two of my venerable predecessors, respectively, the Servant of God Pius IX in 1854, and the Servant of God Pius XII during the Jubilee Year of 1950.
Mariology is a particular field of theological research: in it the Christian people's love for Mary intuited, frequently in anticipation, certain aspects of the mystery of the Blessed Virgin, calling the attention of theologians and pastors to them. Mother of Jesus had role in salvation history 2. We must recognize that, at first sight, the Gospels offer scant information on the person and life of Mary. We would certainly like to have had fuller information about her, which would have enabled us to know the Mother of God better. This expectation remains unsatisfied, even in the other New Testament writings where an explicit doctrinal development regarding Mary is lacking. Even St Paul's letters, which offer us a rich reflection on Christ and his work, limit themselves to stating, in a very significant passage, that God sent his Son "born of woman" (Gal 4:4). Very little is said about Mary's family. If we exclude the infancy narratives, in the Synoptic Gospels we find only two statements which shed some light on Mary: one concerning the attempt by his "brethren" or relatives to take Jesus back to Nazareth (cf. Mk 3:2 1; Mt 12:48); the other, in response to a woman's exclamation about the blessedness of Jesus' Mother (Lk 11:27).
Nevertheless, Luke, in the infancy Gospel, in the episodes of the Annunciation, the Visitation, the birth of Jesus, the presentation of the Child in the temple and his finding among the teachers at the age of 12, not only provides us with some important facts, but presents a sort of "proto-Mariology" of fundamental interest. His information is indirectly completed by Matthew in the account of the annunciation to Joseph (Mt 1:18-25), but only with regard to the virginal conception of Jesus. Moreover, John's Gospel deepens our knowledge of the value for salvation history of the role played by the Mother of Jesus, when it records her presence at the beginning and end of his public fife. Particularly significant is Mary's presence at the Cross, when she received from her dying Son the charge to be mother to the beloved disciple and, in him, to all Christians (cf. Jn 2:1-12; Jn 19:25-27). Lastly, the Acts of the Apostles expressly numbers the Mother of Jesus among the women of the first community awaiting Pentecost (cf. Acts 1:14). However, in the absence of further New Testament evidence and reliable historical sources, we know nothing of Mary's life after the Pentecost event nor of the date and circumstances of her death. We can only suppose that she continued to live with the Apostle John and that she was very closely involved in the development of the first Christian community. 3. The sparse information on Mary's earthly life is compensated by its quality and theological richness, which contemporary exegesis has carefully brought to light. Moreover, we must remember that the Evangelists' viewpoint is totally Christological and is concerned with the Mother only in relation to the joyful proclamation of the Son. As St Ambrose observed, the Evangelist, in expounding the mystery of the Incarnation, "believed it was better not to seek further testimonies about Mary's virginity, in order not to seem the defender of the Virgin rather than the preacher of the mystery" (Exp. in Lucam, 2, 6: PL 15, 1555).
We can recognize in this fact a special intention of the Holy Spirit, who desired to awaken in the Church an effort of research which, preserving the centrality of the mystery of Christ, might not be caught up in details about Mary's life, but aim above all at discovering her role in the work of salvation, her personal holiness and her maternal mission in Christian life. Faith of the simple recognized Mary's holiness 4. The Holy Spirit guides the Church's effort, committing her to take on Mary's own attitudes. In the account of Jesus' birth, Luke noted how his mother kept all these things, "pondering them in her heart" (Lk 2:19), striving, that is, to "put together" (symballousa), in a deeper vision, all the events of which she was the privileged witness. Similarly, the people of God are also urged by the same Spirit to understand deeply all that has been said about Mary, in order to progress in the knowledge of her mission, intimately linked to the mystery of Christ.
As Mariology develops, the particular role of the Christian people emerges. They co-operate, by the affirmation and witness of their faith, in the progress of Marian doctrine, which normally is not only the work of theologians, even if their task is indispensable to deepening and clearly explaining the datum of faith and the Christian experience itself. The faith of the simple is admired and praised by Jesus, who recognized in it a marvellous expression of the Father's benevolence (cf. Mt 11:25; Lk 10:21). Down the centuries it continues to proclaim the marvels of the history of salvation, hidden from the wise. This faith, in harmony with the Virgin's simplicity, has led to progress in the recognition of her personal holiness and the transcendent value of her motherhood. The mystery of Mary commits every Christian, in communion with the Church, "to pondering in his heart" what the Gospel revelation affirms about the Mother of Christ. In the logic of the Magnificat, after the example of Mary, each one will personally experience God's love and will discover a sign of God's tenderness for man in the marvels wrought by the Blessed Trinity in the woman "full of grace". |
You’ll need to speak to Jesus. He designed His Church that way. We simply followed His orders, FRiend.
F
What you just wrote makes no sense
Joseph loved Mary and had faith to believe what the angel told him.
What makes you think you can,t have love without sex in a marriage anyway?
Good night Brother.I,m out on business til late tomorrow.Perhaps Dear livius can shed more light on this
Is it permissible under the law for Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, to heal on the Sabbath? Is it permissible under the law for Jesus to say, "I AM."
FRiend, why won't you allow God to be God? How can one commit adultery when God's Will is involved and when He sent angels to both Mary and Joseph to express His Divine Will and both those asked consented to it?
Mary conceived by "the power of the Holy Spirit." The Mystery of the Incarnation rumbles through the mind's of theologians to this day. God took on human form: He was a Divine Person with both Divine and human natures which John so beautifully describes. Why not let it go since it is a Mystery we cannot possibly fathom! "Verbum caro factum est et habitavit in nobis!"
Given the implications for the position you're arguing from, I should think the 223 that are Catholic would keep you up all night.
So you claim. I disagree, and unless convinced by Scripture and plain reason it will continue to be so.
Post #67 goes begging, friend.
Joseph loved Mary and had faith to believe what the angel told him.
What makes you think you can,t have love without sex in a marriage anyway?
First of all, what was said regarding sex and marriage was quite relevant. Second, the issue remains...even absent the issue of sex...that what you are saying is that the mother of our Lord had two spouses. I should think that is a repulsive thought for any Christian.
Good night Brother.I,m out on business til late tomorrow.Perhaps Dear livius can shed more light on this
Be safe!
Begging the question perhaps...
I have a question about your tagline: Jerry Falwell: Now a Calvinist in Glory
I thought Baptists were free-will types, not predestination types. (not Pelagian denial of original sin, but that elected had to ultimately exercise his free will to accept that election)(this is in opposition to the concept of reprobation where God decides from the foundation of the world that a certain person was going to hell)
I may not be expressing myself all that well (the different Protestant soterologies is confusing to me, with due respect).
Don’t take all that much time in answering, as it’s just an academic curiosity for me. But if you have a moment, I’d appreciate a clarification.
If a doctrine is fabricated out of whole cloth it should be looked at as nothing more than a myth.
No different than if you were to say that Falwell is now a Catholic :)
When have you ever observed me use blinking text or any other blinking thing on FR?
Oh, I don’t think I’m perfect by a wide margin, yet.
And it’s entirely plausible that someone hereon could find a chip or a spot of thin skin.
But generally speaking, those don’t tend to be my pressing growing edges.
I know very keenly and emphatically of the stinking clay from which I was dug.
And, I know very emphatically the horrid fruit of sowing brittleness and vain reactionary responses out of fear and insecurity. Lived there for at least 30 years.
And you?
There are exceptions, I’m sure.
But I have, GENERALLY been impressed with the leadership’s oversight in evaluating such things.
I still don’t know what to make of a LOT of visionary things in or out of the RC edifice.
Counterfeits can be so slick.
That’s my point about cousin, too.
The text did not specifically take pains to specify cousins. Or nephews. Or uncles. It could have. It didn’t.
So AT LEAST it’s arguable.
I have long found it unwise to build any significant doctrine on such shakey evidence.
There’s nothing productive in spreading fiction about each other’s churches, friend...unless you’re looking to produce a fight.
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PREACH IT BRO! PREACH IT!
Witness the title of this thread. They could have made it a caucus easily.
Yet we are accused of baiting.
Do we need to start logging such examples in a journal? Sigh. ‘Tis not the way of Love, to keep a record of wrongs.
I’ve never experienced, observed or found that
accepting hogwash—to whatever percent—to be edifying and upbuilding in my spiritual walk.
And there’s certainly plenty of it in the Proty realm.
Would you please point out where in this thread (or for that matter on any other thread) I have stated that a doctrine was based upon this apocryphal document? Read carefully so that you don't misinterpret something that I wrote.
Note, for example the initial post on the thread (apparently the one that really set you off...this time): rather an early non-canonical source that reflects the views of, at least, some of the Church in the second century AD -- that's a couple of centuries before Constantine for the conspiracy theorists in the audience.
In that statement, did I state that the doctrine was based upon that document? No. What I did say was that it reflected the views of at least some of the Church in the second century.
An archaeologist 1,000 years from now could pull a Free Republic religion thread and make the same statement. Does any thread on Free Republic define dogma (for anybody)? No. Does the content of threads reflect the opinions of a certain percentage of religious people (for right or for wrong)? Yes.
If you aren't able to do that, then perhaps you could show me (using reliable sources...be they Protestant -- such as Schaff -- or Catholic -- such as Denzinger or Ott) identify where this apocryphal document is cited as the basis for any doctrine? Again, you won't be able to do so. Or if you can, I'd love to read it.
If you can't do that, FRiend, you're beating a dead horse. Based on your posting history, that is a realistic possibility in of itself (just as I am known for being a little more in-your-face with some Protestants -- those who are in the habit of beating dead horses -- more so than is appropriate for Christian charity). If you can do so, I'd be sincerely interested in reading up on it.
Thanks
The great leap is in the self-reinforcing notion that the earthly institution of the Roman Catholic Church is the sole and infallible fulfillment of this teaching.
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Excellent point.
2 Peter 1:20: “First of all, you must understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation.” (cf. 2 Peter 3:15-16).”
21 For prophecy came not by the will of man at any time: but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost.
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