Therefore, Mary could not have remained a virgin after the birth of Jesus. Perpetuating a sham marriage would not burnish the halo of the normal woman (not goddess) who became the means God chose for the Incarnation.
A sham marriage is a form of fraud, of the vilest kind, since it lays an ax to the roots of the most sacred of human bonds. In Catholic doctrine, this is grounds for an annulment, a declaration that a real marriage was never formed, since there was no intention of consummating it.
Somehow, I fail to see how a fraudulent union, a sham wedding, would provide a normal and wholesome family for our Lord to grow up in. Imagine -- a marraige founded in a lie, perpetuated by a fraud, and maintained by the decision of the partners to cheat one another of their legitimate and normal marital obligations. The Freudian stresses induced would have precluded the sane, wholesome, and exuberant delight our Lord had in life, and demonstrated in the course of enjoying His everyday life. Say what you will, Jesus was breathtakingly normal. That's one reason the Jews failed to recognize Him!
(unless, of course, sex is in and of itself a "defilement." This sounds more neoplatonic than Biblical!)
I agree with you. Mary was married to Joseph. Why would a normal husband/wife relationship diminish her being the mother of Jesus?
Besides, Mary doesn’t have anything to do with my salvation, other than the fact that she gave birth to the Savior. For me, she doesn’t have any power to save. That lies with Jesus alone.
However, this overlooks the fact that the Holy Family was the most decidedly ABNORMAL family in all of history.
Keep in mind that both the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph had been visited by Gabriel and told that Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit. They were entrusted to watch over the Son of God, could you imagine even considering ANYTHING which would distract them from this? Do you honestly think that they would consider sex more important than the fact that they actually had God living in their home?
Also, recall that NOBODY is referred to as a child of Mary other than our Lord and NOBODY identifies themself as a brother of our Lord. It is entirely possible that Joseph had children from a prior marriage and these would be step-brothers and sisters, but the notion that Jesus Christ had half-brothers and sisters is not found in Scripture. Additionally, this would have created a very difficult situation down the line where some might have tried to set-up a kingship through the bloodlines of Mary's other children and this NEVER happened.