Posted on 08/18/2019 7:05:12 PM PDT by Al Hitan
Today the Church remembers with thanksgiving the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. Historically, this day was understood to mark her dormition, or "falling asleep," which was most anciently regarded as her natural death and burial. From early on, however, the Church considered that she who conceived and gave birth to the very God of very God, by His Word and Holy Spirit, was also resurrected and ascended into heaven, in both body and soul, soon after her death. There is no word of Holy Scripture to teach these traditions as doctrine, but we should not be too quick to dismiss them as merely pious devotion. Such piety, at its heart, is a confession of that which is the Church's faith in Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary's Son, our Savior and our God.
St. Mary is uniquely honored among all the saints of God in Christ, not only by the Church, but first of all by the Lord God Himself. He has had mercy upon her, blessed her with His grace and favor, and chosen her above all other women to bear the almighty and eternal Son of God. She is rightly called, and truly is, the Mother of God; for her own dear Son, the Fruit of her womb, is indeed the one true God, begotten of the Father from all eternity. It is from her flesh and blood that the Lord has taken for Himself a true and natural body, bone of her bone and flesh of her flesh, so that henceforth He is true Man, the perfect second Adam, our elder Brother, our kinsman Redeemer, the promised Seed of the Woman, by whom we are reconciled to God. As the ancient fathers of the Church confessed, God thus became like us, in order that we become like Him, by grace. It is that great salvation that we celebrate in commemorating any of the saints, and in particular the Blessed Virgin Mother of God, St. Mary.
She is an icon of the Church, a living Sacrament of Christ, and a beautiful example of faith, of all the true children of father Abraham. Her body was comprehended by the Word and Spirit of God to become the tangible means by which the Son of God became flesh and was given to us, and not only for us, but for the life of the world. It is His body, conceived and born of St. Mary, that our sins and sorrows did carry. It is a human body, like our own in every way, save without sin, because He was born of this woman (born under the Law to redeem us). Thus do we recognize in her an archetype of the Blessed Sacrament of our Lord's body and blood.
What is more, in conceiving and giving birth to the Son of God, she is a type of the Church, the holy mother who surely gives birth to the sons of God in Christ. We too have been conceived and given new birth by the same Word and Spirit of the same Holy Triune God that overshadowed the Blessed Virgin Mary and knit within her womb the incarnation of the only-begotten Son. Thus are we, like Him, "born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God" (St. John 1:13).
Along with her vocation as the woman by whom the Son of God was given to and for the world, St. Mary also stands with us as a living member of the Church, the Body of Christ. When the Word of the Gospel was announced to her, she received that Word in faith, obtained in her by the mercies of God, and meekly bowed her head in humble trust: "Let it be to me according to Thy Word." Blessed is she who has heard the Word of God and kept it, who treasured it in her heart, who believed that there would surely be a fulfillment of all that God had spoken to her. In all of this, St. Mary is one of us, a faithful disciple of her own dear Son, and among that great cloud of witnesses with which we are surrounded, of that blest communion, fellowship divine.
When the Church in pious tradition has considered St. Mary to be resurrected and ascended to heaven, already in both body and soul, it is a confession of faith in that which Christ Jesus our Lord has accomplished for us and for all by His victorious Cross, Resurrection and Ascension. We may indeed contemplate that she by whom the Lord became like us, should exemplify the way in which we all become like Him, recreated in the glorious Image of the Man from heaven. Of course, we do not rest faith upon the tradition of St. Mary's dormition and assumption into heaven; faith clings to Jesus Christ alone and finds true peace and Sabbath rest forever in Him. But what we envision concering St. Mary, we understand to be the Church's hope precisely in Christ our Lord, our Savior and our God. For we know that He is the Resurrection and the Life, and that she who believes in Him will live even if she dies; yes, and everyone who lives and believes in Him will never die.
We believe, teach and confess with the absolute certainty of faith that St. Mary is the Mother of God; that the almighty and eternal Son of the living God was born of this woman, born under the Law, to redeem us who were under the Law. In celebrating that marvelous incarnation of God the Son, in which He died and rose again for us men and our salvation, we may also celebrate proleptically the resurrection of the body that all His saints share with Him by grace through faith in the Gospel. And in that glorious light, we sing: "O higher than the cherubim, more glorious than the seraphim, lead their praises: 'Alleluia!' Thou bearer of the eternal Word, most gracious magnify the Lord: 'Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!"
There are things He cannot do.
The above is heresy.
Excellent.
Thank you.
Big family?
Chapter and verse please.
Where was Christ’s “big family” at His Crucifixion?
You need to take that up with the Holy Spirit.
It's Scripture, not heresy, unless you want to be found calling the Bible that Catholics claim their church gave us, *heresy*.
2 Timothy 2:11-13 The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.
Titus 1:1-2 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began ...
Hebrews 6:17-20 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
James 1: 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.
Mark 6:2-3 And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands?”... “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?”
You are wrong.
[38] And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. Luke Chapter 1.
“Probably”?
You protestants amaze me.
Yes, Lord God:
Psalm 100:3 Know that the LORD Himself is God
Leviticus 11:44 For I am the LORD your God
Leviticus 18:2 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 18:4 I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 18:30 am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:3 I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:4 I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:10 I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:25 I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:31 I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:34 I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:36 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt.
Leviticus 23:22 I am the LORD your God
Leviticus 23:43 I am the LORD your God
Leviticus 24:22 for I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 25:17 So you shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 25:38 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
Leviticus 25:55 Verse Concepts I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 26:1 for I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 26:13 'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would not be their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and mad
Numbers 10:10 I am the LORD your God." Numbers 15:41 Verse Concepts "I am the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the LORD your God. Deuteronomy 5:6 I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Deuteronomy 29:6 You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the LORD your God.
Judges 6:10 and I said to you, "I am the LORD your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not obeyed Me.
Leviticus 26:44 I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God.
Psalm 83:18 That they may know that You alone, whose name is the LORD, Are the Most High over all the earth.
Deuteronomy 4:35 To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him.
Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments
1 Kings 18:39 When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God.
Deuteronomy 4:39 Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.
Deuteronomy 10:17 For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.
2 Samuel 7:28 Now, O Lord GOD, You are God, and Your words are truth, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant.
Joshua 22:34 The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar Witness; "For," they said, it is a witness between us that the LORD is God.
You're channeling Elizabeth now?
The flesh of Jesus could never have made it to heaven...It would have burned up traveling thru the atmosphere.
Please come in from the fringe.
You're very welcome.
Did not the infant, John the Baptist, recognize it? Why do you think his mother did not?
Oh ye of little faith.
How could the flesh of Jesus resurrect from the dead?
Seems as if you, AL, are trying to interpret FR Threads like the RCC interprets Scripture. You read BETWEEN the lines of a post, something that CLEARLY does not exist, and base your claims and accusations on the text that ISN’T EVEN THERE. Sorta like “Mary was without original sin, Mary was bodily resurrected at her death, Mary is the queen of Heaven, etc.”.
If you spent more time ACTUALLY reading what is ACTUALLY written, you might find a little peace. And security.
Those claiming "sola scriptura" sure do a lot of channeling, don't they?
The "Mary was merely an incubator" heresy rears its head.
Please come in from the fringe.
It's "sola" only when convenient for them.
You're responding to post 36. I did not make that post.
Well said.
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