But yes, I love the Blessed Virgin too! I think of her as reaching down to me and helping to lift me up. And my good Saint Anthony of Padua is like my strong and brave big brother who gives me a boost when I need it . . .
Posted on 12/08/2008 6:45:30 AM PST by mlizzy
Pinged you to see painting in the orig post.
Thanks, I appreciate it! Looks like a Murillo - very beautiful.
I am NOT pursuing a flamewar, just trying to be sure I understand what people believe...is it the view of the Catholic leadership and therefore it’s people that Mary, physical mother of Jesus, held not only “most favored woman” status at his birth for being sinless, but also, from that point forward, never, ever, sinned? That is, she was a sinless human?
I think this version has the most beautiful face, but here are three for comparison: Murillo and the Immaculate Conception
Hail Mary, full of grace.
Our Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among 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.
And for those who didn’t already know.
Amen. The Hail Mary is based on these passages from the Bible:
Luke 1:28-35, 42-48.
It's difficult to accept for a lot of people because they think that somehow the Virgin Mary herself had something to do with her sinlessness - that it was through her virtue or her own conduct that she did not sin. And that of course would be preposterous and even monstrous in one of God's creatures.
That is not the case -- it was entirely through God's miraculous grace and glory that the Virgin was preserved from sin, not by any means through her own merit.
If you think about it, it does make sense. God works so many miracles, major and minor, that he would certainly preserve His own mother from sin. As the new Ark of the Covenant, bearing God within her own body and - perhaps more importantly - having the nurture and raising of Him until He began His public ministry, the Virgin Mary would have to have the strongest divine support to shoulder that awesome responsibility.
Yes.
CCC 966 states:
Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians:
Also:
CCC 411
The Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the “New Adam” who, because he “became obedient unto death, even death on a cross”, makes amends superabundantly for the disobedience, of Adam.305 Furthermore many Fathers and Doctors of the Church have seen the woman announced in the Protoevangelium as Mary, the mother of Christ, the “new Eve”. Mary benefited first of all and uniquely from Christ’s victory over sin: she was preserved from all stain of original sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life.
You are amazing! Is there anything that you're not knowledgeable of?
but here are three for comparison: Murillo and the Immaculate Conception
Thank you. I won't expound but I love our. Blessed Virgin.
Thank for the question. The Church teaches that Mary, from the moment of conception was without sin due to the merits of her Son, Jesus Christ.
But Mary was not only "most favored woman" (poor translation) but "Full of Grace".
Thanks very. Although first a Christian, and second a Baptist, I view unity in the overall Body of Christian believers to be something we need to dearly hold to in These Days. Your explaination is workable across the Faith, and helps me.
That does make sense that she would need to be sinless. If Jesus was also fully human, how could a sinner partake in raising him? I would have to agree with the church.
Dear Ben Franklin said that we must all hang together or we will most assuredly hang separately.
Like a family, Christians may have disagreements among themselves but must never forget the truths we hold in common against the secular and destructive World.
I'm a convert, by the way, my ggg grandfather was a Baptist Deacon and would no doubt be shocked.
But yes, I love the Blessed Virgin too! I think of her as reaching down to me and helping to lift me up. And my good Saint Anthony of Padua is like my strong and brave big brother who gives me a boost when I need it . . .
Also, I think many people get hung up on the sinless part but Adam and Eve were sinless before the fall so God has no problem creating a sinless creature. Obviously Christ was sinless but, He is the only begotten Son, not created. An enormous difference.
Another point, this Holy Mystery shows the most incredible virtue of humility, Christ obedient to His Mother; God obedient to His creature. A thought to ponder upon forever!
I hold that some things form our core beliefs (The Trinity, Christ as both man and God, His gift as complete salvation with our Faith in that as core, and our Works as a thank you to him for our pardon) are the Foundation of the unity of Christians. A lot of the other stuff is Tradition that is the beams, paint, drywall, and stained glass that makes the walls of our individual churches. As Screwtape might opine, one good way to make Christians ripe for folly is to get them to spend all their time arguing internally. With Muslims at the gates, and the civil government of many nations working at opening those gates in the name of diversity, it is well that we should stand together in the Faith, brother.
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