[metmom]

They are interpreting wrongly because they are ignoring the much wider context, which is that Mary is a creature and God is the Creator; Mary is handmaid and God is Lord; Mary is saved and God is Savior.

We all are.

And we are all blessed in Christ as well.

The problem is, Song of Songs is Scripture. Most of the Catholic specific teaching about Mary is not.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I'm in and out of the house today and thus cannot make heroic epistolary efforts ("That's a joke, son")---

but the key to Catholic doctrine on Mary is Scriptural: not one of these doctrrines can be correctly understood outside of Scripture. And even more urgently, no doctrine on Mary can be understood outside of Christ: He is the supreme and original, she is (like any disciple) derivative, dependent and finite, a sort of reflection.

So let me offer you this nifty video (Link) which just covers the high points.

(I really hope you will look at this, it provides a thought-provoking Scriptural background.)

On another topic: I don't think the Church can be thought of as replacing Israel. Permit me a fast cut-and-paste from the Catholic Catechism here:

When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People, "the first to hear the Word of God." The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God's revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews "belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ", "for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable."

You can read that part of the Catechism in context HERE (Link)

It would be better to say that the Church is prefigured and prophesied in Israel.

Likewise Israel abounds in types, not only for the Church, but also for Mary, and of course there is overlap, as so many of the prophecies are multiplex: they are true not just once, but true over and over, in different ways.

Just a handful of examples: Mary is

• a new Eve, because where Eve was disobedient and did what she wanted, Mary was obedient and did what God wanted
• a new Tamar, she chooses God’s promise even when the Chosen People don’t.
• a new Ruth: Ruth said to Boaz: "You are most gracious to me, my lord, for you have spoken kindly to your maidservant . . ." and Mary says "My soul magnifies the Lord, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden."
• Even a new Bathsheba, for Mary brings into the world a new Solomon, who, like the old Solomon, is a judge, but Jesus is infinitely greater, the Judge of all the world.

And that's just drawing from the females mentioned by Matthew in the Genealogy. There are more.

Just a few little items for us to ponder, "turning them over in our hearts."

Good day to you all!