The Blessed Virgin in the History of Christianity [Ecumenical]

Insight Scoop ^ | January 1, 2009 | John A. Hardon, S.J.

[NYer]

Christianity would be meaningless without the Blessed Virgin. Her quiet presence opened Christian history at the Incarnation and will continue to pervade the Church's history until the end of time.

Our purpose in this meditation is to glance over the past two thousand years to answer one question: What are the highlights of our Marian faith as found in the Bible and the teaching of the Catholic Church?

New Testament

The first three evangelists were mainly concerned with tracing Christ's ancestry as Son of Man and, therefore, as Son of Mary. St. Matthew, writing for the Jews, stressed Christ's descent from Abraham. St. Luke, disciple of St. Paul, traced Christ's origin to Adam, the father of the human race. Yet both writers were at pains to point out that Mary's Son fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah about the Messiah. He was to be born of a virgin to become Emmanuel, which means "God with us." Luke gave a long account of the angel's visit to Mary to announce that the Child would be holy and would be called the "Son of God" (Luke 1:36).

St. John followed the same pattern. He introduced Mary as the Mother of Jesus when He began His public ministry. In answer to her wishes, Christ performed the miracle of changing water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana in Galilee. What happened then has continued ever since. Most of the miraculous shrines of Christianity have been dedicated to Our Lady.

It is also St. John who tells us that Mary stood under the Cross of Calvary as her Son was dying for our salvation. Speaking of John, Jesus told His Mother, "This is your son." To John, He said of Mary, "This is your Mother." The apostle John represented all of us. On Good Friday, therefore, Christ made His Mother the supernatural Mother of the human race and made us her spiritual children.

Mother of God

In the early fifth century, a controversy arose in Asia Minor, where the Bishop of Constantinople claimed that Mary was only the Mother of Christ (Greek=Christotokos). He was condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431, which declared that "the holy Virgin is the Mother of God (Greek=Theotokos).

St. Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria in Egypt, was mainly responsible for this solemn definition of Mary's divine maternity. It was St. Cyril who thus composed the most famous Marian hymn of antiquity. It is a praise of Our Lady as Mediatrix with God:

Through you, the Trinity is glorified.
Through you, the Cross is venerated throughout the world.
Through you, angels and archangels rejoice.
Through you, the demons are driven away.
Through you, the fallen creature is raised to heaven.
Through you, the churches are founded in the whole orld.
Through you, people are led to conversion.

Every other title of Mary and all the Marian devotion of the faithful are finally based on the Blessed Virgin's primary claim to our extraordinary love. She is the Mother of God. She gave her Son all that every human mother gives the child she conceives and gives birth to. She gave Him His human body. Without her, there would have been no Incarnation, no Redemption, no Eucharist; in a word, no Christianity.

Mary's Virginity

Logically related to her divine maternity is Our Lady's perpetual virginity. From the earliest days the Church has taught that Mary was a virgin before giving birth to Jesus, in giving His birth, and after His birth in Bethlehem.

All of this is already stated or implied in the Gospels. In St. Matthew's genealogy of Jesus, all the previous ancestors are called "father." But then we are told there came "Joseph, the husband of Mary of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Christ" (Matthew 1:16). St. Luke twice identifies Mary as "virgin," who "knows not man."

Already in the early Church, those who questioned Christ's divinity were the same ones who denied His Mother's virginity. As explained by St. Augustine, "When God vouchsafed to become Man, it was fitting that He should be born in this way. He who was made of her, had made her what she was: a virgin who conceives, a virgin who gives birth; a virgin with child, a virgin labored of child-a virgin ever virgin."

Given the fact of the Incarnation, its manner follows as a matter of course. Why should not the Almighty who created His Mother have also preserved the body of which He would be born? But this appropriateness of Mary's virginity makes sense only if you believe that Mary's Son is the living God.

Immaculate Conception

Mary's freedom from sin, present at her conception, is already taught by St. Ephraem in the fourth century. In one of his hymns, he addresses Our Lord, "Certainly you alone and your Mother are from every aspect completely beautiful. There is no blemish in you my Lord, and no stain in your Mother."

By the seventh century, the feast of Mary's Immaculate Conception was celebrated in the East. In the eight century, the feast was commemorated in Ireland, and from there spread to other countries in Europe.

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, some leading theologians, even saints, raised objections to the Immaculate Conception. Their main difficulty was how Mary could be exempt from all sin before the coming of Christ. Here the Franciscan Blessed John Duns Scotus (1266-1308) stood firm and paved the way for the definition of the Immaculate Conception by Pope Blessed Pius IX in 1854.

In the words of Pope Blessed Pius IX, "We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception . . . was preserved from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful."

Four years after the definition, Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette in Lourdes, identifying herself as the Immaculate Conception. The numerous miracles at Lourdes are a divine confirmation of the doctrine defined by Pius IX. They are also a confirmation of the papal primacy defined by the First Vatican Council under the same Bishop of Rome.

Assumption into Heaven

Not unlike his predecessor, Pope Pius XII defined Mary's bodily Assumption into heaven. On November 1, 1950, the pope responded to the all but unanimous request of the Catholic hierarchy by making a formal definition:

By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare and define as divinely revealed dogma: the Immaculate Mother of God, Mary ever Virgin, after her life on earth, was assumed body and soul to the glory of heaven.

The day after the definition, Pius XII told the assembled hundreds of bishops his hope for the future: May this new honor given to Mary introduce "a spirit of penance to replace the prevalent love of pleasure and a renewal of family life stabilized where divorce was common and made fruitful where birth control was practiced." If there is one feature that characterizes the modern world, observed the Pope, it is the worship of the body. Mary's bodily Assumption into heaven reminds us of our own bodily resurrection on the last day, provided we use our bodies on earth according to the will of God.

Mother of the Church

Never in the history of Christianity has any general council spoken at such length and with such depth about Mary as the Second Vatican Council.
This is not surprising in view of the extraordinary devotion to the Blessed Virgin in our day. What the Council did was put this devotion into focus and spell out its doctrinal foundation.

First a quiet admonition. The council "charges that practices and exercises of devotion to her be treasured as recommended by the teaching authority of the Church in the course of centuries." True Marian piety consists neither in fruitless and passing emotion, nor in a certain empty credulity.

Rather authentic devotion to Mary "proceeds from true faith by which we are led to know the excellence of the Mother of God, and are moved to filial love toward our Mother and to the invitation of her virtues" (Constitution on the Church, 67-8).
What are we being told? We are told that true devotion to Our Lady is shown in a deep love of her as our Mother, put into practice by the imitation of her virtues-especially her faith, her chastity and charity.

These are the three virtues that the modern world most desperately needs.

• Like Mary, we need to believe that everything which God has revealed to us will be fulfilled.
• Like Mary, we need to use our bodily powers to serve their divine purpose no matter what the sacrifice of our own pleasure.
• Like Mary, we are to be always sensitive to the needs of others. Like her, we are to respond to these needs without being asked and, like her, even ask Jesus to work a miracle to benefit those whom we love.

No wonder the Catechism of the Catholic Church makes this astounding profession of faith: "We believe that the most holy Mother of God, the new Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in heaven her maternal role toward the members of Christ." It all depends on our faith in her maternal care and our trust in her influence over the almighty hand of her Son.

[AnAmericanMother]

Beautiful! (yes, the Adoration of the Shepherds is Korean, and Joseph is a man of substance vide his hat!)

Here's another beauty, Van Eyck's Virgin from the Ghent Altarpiece:

[Coleus]

The most sublime of Mary’s privileges is her Divine Maternity. Without that Maternity, her other privileges would not exist; she herself would not exist, for she was created only to be the Mother of God.

Mary’s Divine Maternity is great also because this privilege is the reason for her other privileges – her Immaculate Conception, miraculous virginity, fullness of grace, Assumption, and the spiritual maternity of all mankind. The Divine Maternity explains everything in her; without this Maternity nothing in Mary can be explained.

In her teaching concerning the union of the human and the Divine natures in Christ the church states that Jesus Christ is God and Man, perfect God and perfect Man, and that this Divinity and Humanity are united in only one Person so that the actions of the Divine Nature or the Human nature are the actions of one person, the Divine Person.

Since God was born of Mary, she is the Mother of God. If we could not say that she is the Mother of God for having given a body to the Son of God, then neither could we adore this Body; nor would we have been redeemed by the sacrifice of this Body on the Cross; nor would we be united to the Divinity in receiving this Body in the Eucharist.

Mary’s Divine Maternity is such a sublime privilege that no creature, not even Mary herself, can understand it fully. To understand her dignity as Mother of God in all its fullness, we would have to understand fully the dignity of the Son of God whose Mother she is.

The dignity of the Divine Maternity raises Mary above all the rest of creation. As Mother of God she surpasses, in an immeasurable degree, all other creatures, Angels, and men. They are God’s servants, but she is His Mother.

We have the sublime dignity of being children of God by adoption; Jesus alone is His son by nature. But Mary is not the adoptive Mother of the Son of God; she is His real Mother. We can lose our Divine adoption, but Mary can never lose her Divine Maternity. God might have created a more beautiful world, more perfect people, more marvelous spirits; He could not have made anything more wonderful than a Mother of God.

Mary’s Divine Maternity places her in a very wonderful relationship with the three Divine Persons. She is the loving daughter of the Father because, before all creatures, she was predestined to be His daughter at the same moment that He decreed the Incarnation of His son. He bestowed marvelous privileges upon her and loved her more than all other creatures together. As Mother of the Son of God, she is associated with the Father in the generation of His Son. With the Father she, too, can say: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

Mary is the Mother of the Son of God. She fulfills the duties and enjoys the rights of a true mother. From her own flesh and blood, she formed the Body of her Son. She nourished him, clothed Him, educated Him. She commanded Him and He obeyed. How can we ever understand the great love that bound their hearts together!

Mary is the spouse of the Holy Spirit because according to the Gospel and the teaching of the Apostles’ Creed, she conceived of the Holy Spirit the Son of God, made Man. She is also called the temple of the Holy Spirit because, in virtue of her Immaculate Conception and her fullness of grace, He dwells within her in a most singular manner.

During all eternity it will be one of our greatest joys to admire the infinite love of God for Mary whose Son he willed to be, just as He is in all truth the Son of the Father. The Divine Maternity itself, more than any particular privilege, is a mark of God’s unequalled love for Mary. We should rejoice with her in the happiness that filled her heart because of such love. We can ask Mary to pray to God that we return His love with some of the generosity and fervor with which she loved Him.

THE WORD OF GOD
“When the designated time had come, God sent forth His Son born of a woman….so that we might receive our status as adopted sons.” (Gal 4:4-5)

“Shout for joy ….O daughter of Jerusalem!….the King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst.” (Zep 3:14-15)

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, and we have seen His glory: the glory of an only Son coming from the Father, filled with enduring love.” (Jn 1:14)

“Mary gave birth to her first-born Son and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger.” (Lk 2:7)

[vladimir998]

The Van Eyck is beautiful!!! By the way, the Latin says: HEC E SPECIOSIOR SOLE + SVP OEM STELLARV DISPOSICOEM LVCI PATA IVEITVR POR . CADOR E ENI LVCIS ETERNE . + SPECLM SN MACLA DI MAIESTIS.

Wisdom 7: “This one is more radiant than the sun and surpasses any arrangement of the stars. Compared to the light she is deemed to be purer, as she is the echo of the eternal light, the immaculate reflection of God’s majesty.”

[RobbyS]

Yes, but evangelical do deny her an important role. She is never mentioned except at Christmas, if then. And the Church has developed a doctrine of Mary because without reference to her there is no coherent theology of the God- man. Mariology is corollary to the doctrine of the Trinity. Ithink this can be seen in the events of the past two centuries in Catholic Countries. The Enlightenment rejects the divinity of Jesus, repudiates the Incarnation. God has not, in its estimation visited man. The Virgin Birth is absurd. In response to this unbelief we have many reported visions of the Virgin, as if in replay to the claims of the infidels, with their demand for empirical proof. As if in mockery of their science, we have the Virgin appearing to children, and often signs that challenge their claim to all knowledge. And always the Virgin is pointing to Jesus, but as often as not, the Jesus who is the judge of all mankind. The most dramatic instance is that of Fatima because of its apocalytic character and its timing, the eve of the Russian revolution and in the midst of the Great War that pulls down the Proud Tower of Europe. Mary in these instance is serving as an angel of the Lord, with God perhaps letting the children see His Mercy and His justice made manifest in a form most soothing to these children.

[Marysecretary]

Through CHRIST all these things are done.

[Marysecretary]

Amen, LiteKeeper.

[Marysecretary]

These articles always do. Sadly.

[Marysecretary]

Babies are also dependent on their fathers. But they’re never mentioned...

[Desdemona]

placekeeper

[Religion Moderator]

This thread is tagged “ecumenical” in the Religion Forum. Antagonism is not allowed. Personal attacks are never allowed.

[A.A. Cunningham]

“And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Luke 1:43

[LiteKeeper]

If I implied that Mary contributed absolutely nothing to Christianity, I stand corrected. However, it still remains that ONLY the Lord Jesus Christ gives ANY meaning to Christianity. He, alone, is the Creator; He, alone, is the God Man; He, alone, is the Savior; He, alone, is seated at the right hand of God; He, alone, is coming again.

I reject the Mother of God line. Elevation of Mary to an exalted status, sharing in any way in our redemption, serving in any way in our access to the Son is bordering on idolatry. It is not Scriptural; it is not acceptable.

[Iscool]

Archbishop Fulton Sheen told one such story, he had been visiting (or trying to visit) a hardened sinner in the hospital and trying to get him to accept Christ and be saved,

Been on these threads for years...This is the first time I've heard a Catholic talk about accepting Jesus and getting saved...

You must be a transplant from a Protestant religion...

[Iscool]

Do you think she contributed nothing to his education, he who was subject to her and Joseph

Jesus was carring on intelligent conversations with doctors at 12 or 13...He learned that from Mary??? What, she had a PHD???

You guys are good at telling tales...

[Iscool]

Mary's free cooperation in saying, "Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum"

Well I guess Mary did have a PHD...She spoke Latin as well...

[Iscool]

I guess I left out a small detail, he had confessed Christ to a Minister,

I'm guessing you mean he confessed Jesus is Lord, come in the flesh...And if it was a Protestant Minister, your father in law likely accepted Jesus as his Saviour...In which case, he's in Heaven this very minute...

Seeing a vision or ghost of Mary will get you nothing...And seeing a vision of Mary does not mean it was the Catholic Mary...

[Iscool]

His statement, treat the sinner, who has rejected the Church, like a Gentile is a reference to Jewish practice towards Gentiles at the time,

You're wrong, of course...Jesus told the apostles NOT to preach to Gentiles...There wasn't a Gentile in the bunch when Jesus made the reference to Gentiles...Hence, no Catholic church...

[GonzoII]

"I reject the Mother of God line."

The Scriptures say "The mother of my Lord" Lk:1:43