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Okay, "whoever does the will of my father ..."

Mary did not do that? Did anybody hear the Word or serve the Word more than Mary did?

Ιδου η δουλη κυριυ΄γενοιτο μοι κατα ρημα σου. And she carried the child to term, gave birth, did the stuff mothers do. Mary did the will of God pretty intimately and thoroughly.

I am struck that you think that's the only time the Lord "corrects" someone any woman in the Gospels. I'd say that he "corrects" his parents in the temple and he sho' 'nuff brings the Syro-Phonecian woman up short.

WE Catholics think Jesus is THE Word of God. It is not IMHO "throwing up smoke" to have a huge chunk of one's thinking determined by the first verses of John. Are you suggesting that when Jesus Himself spoke to MAry she should have said, "Not now, dear, I'm reading my Bible." Do you think she was not attentive to the Word of God when she hovered over Him as mothers do and looked to His needs?

Well, that is a nice little theory, but it doesn't line up with what the passages actually say.Becuase you say so? (That was an argument you used when I referred to the text. I was wondering if it would persuade you? I bet not.)

Christ makes it very clear that the issue in the Christian life is following His words...

Well anybody who wants to be Jesus's Mom, who makes that the aim of his spiritual life (except in a certain sense as articulated earlier in this thread) is wasting his time. I think you are almost agreeing with what I said was the meaning of the Blessed is the womb exchange. The job of Mom is filled and we are not in any way let off the hook because we can't be His Mom.

Thank you for your tendentious and irrelevant aside about the Mass which shows nothing but that you have missed my point.Some are so sure I'm wrong that they don't want to understand what I think, because it ges int he way of their prejudices.

But when you want to avoid what scripture actually says, any reasoning will do.

Yeah. I can see that. And when one is so sure that one knows exactly what a Greek particle means and can conclude from that a highly specific meaning of a text then one thinks that everyone with another opinion doesn't want to see the truth. People are funny that way.

But maybe it would be better to avoid personal remarks.

The distinction between equal and same helps me like this. All the blessed are the same in that they receive Grace. They may differ in the, so to speak, amount or degree or even, possibly, the kind of Grace. Okay, "whoever does the will of my father ..." Mary did not do that? Did anybody hear the Word or serve the Word more than Mary did? Ιδου η δουλη κυριυ΄γενοιτο μοι κατα ρημα σου. And she carried the child to term, gave birth, did the stuff mothers do. Mary did the will of God pretty intimately and thoroughly.

And none of that makes her sinless or better than any other Christian who also did God's will.

I am struck by your dancing around the issues.

I never brought up the issue of the Lord correcting anyone.

I brought up the issue that the Lord stated very clearly that His relationships with all Christians was equal to that of even his own immediate family.

And what does that have to do with what the Bible actually says regarding Christ's own view on His new relationship with His family?

The fact that Mary gave birth to Christ doesn't make her equal to Him or sinless.

He died for her sins as well.

Because you still haven't said anything relating to actual scripture which you simply ignore.

Deal with what the scripture says, not with what you wish it said.

[ Christ makes it very clear that the issue in the Christian life is following His words... ]

And as far as Christ was concerned being His earthly mother was irrelevant as far as spiritual relationships were concerned.

Well, you haven't said a single thing in this post that made any sense.

The only thing my posts dealt with were the scriptures which you avoid dealing with and replace with meaningless and empty rhetoric.

[ But when you want to avoid what scripture actually says, any reasoning will do. ]

There is nothing about the Greek particle that changes anything in any verse, so stop making up stuff as you go along.

Christ made it very clear that during His ministry His relationship with His mother was equal to that of all believers who do His will.

But maybe it would be better to avoid personal remarks.

Well, you certainly wasted my time with this post!

If you have nothing to say, don't waste my time with posts that reflect that fact.