Unfortunately, Father X decided to use Mary's Magnificat in the Gospel reading as a platform for his political beliefs. He concluded by daring talk radio hosts to brand Mary as a Communist! Even worse, he characterized the Blessed Mother as a self-centered teenager, randomly chosen by God, who hesitated to give her fiat to the Angel Gabriel because "she had her whole life ahead of her..." (I'm quoting Fr. X here.) As if Mary could possibly have had a better plan for her role in Salvation History!
I prayed that someone would educate Fr. X in Marian history. Anyone who has studied the Blessed Mother knows that she was never a "typical teenager" or a typical girl or woman, for that matter. Nor was she chosen out of a hat for her role as the Mother of God. She is God's masterpiece of Creation, planned from all eternity. Mary is the Immaculate Conception, free from sin from the very moment the egg was fertilized in St. Anne's womb. Due to this special gift, Mary did not have concupiscence, or a tendency to sin. Although she is very different from us, Jesus gave her to all humanity as our mother as part of His Seven Last Words from the cross: "Behold your mother." (John 19:27)
Mary also received another special gift, which we honor today. God would never allow his new ark of the covenant (Rev 11:19) to decay in the earth. Instead, Mary likely experienced a "dormition" or "falling asleep." It was not like the death that we will experience, but she probably did go through a type of "death" before receiving the gift of a glorified body before the Second Coming. There is still some debate about the death of Mary (see second link below for more), but Catholics do believe that Mary was assumed, or brought up into heaven, body and soul.
On this great feast, we look with hope to the future and our own glorified bodies. Mary has given us a tool to fulfill that hope-- the Rosary. Don't forget to pray it today. (Please also pray for Fr. X.)
Related links:
- A great article on the Assumption/Dormition by my friend, Lisa Hendey, whom I finally had the privilege to
meet in person last week at the Catholic Writers' Guild Conference last week
- A blog post on the Assumption by another friend, Sarah Reinhard (whom I just missed meeting in person at
another conference in Boston)
- A brief article on the Assumption and Dormition at Catholic Culture
- Another good article at New Advent
- A wonderful collection of resources on the Assumption, again at Catholic Culture (If you want to learn
more about the Assumption and Marian doctrine and Apologetics, this link is well worth your time
to investigate.)
11 comments:
Good grief. That is painful to hear even second-hand. Had you thought that you might be the one to set this sorry cleric straight?
Don't you think what you actually do is DEhumanise Mary? It is very important that she be viewed as a true, real human being - as we are - because it's the only way Jesus could redeem OUR common nature. If He were given an immaculate one, the job would have already been done! So why the transfiguration, crucifixion and resurrection if Mary had been granted their fruits before they actually happened? Was she more divine than human? That doesn't seem right, does it?
I also found an interesting article about the Dormition/Assumption providing a broad perspective on the feast’s history and the various ways it is observed. Worth checking out: http://dstp.cba.pl/?p=2399
Thank you both for taking the time to comment.
Anon, I am considering contacting Fr. X but will not do so wihout a lot of prayer and reflection first.
Sanchez, I understand your point about de-humanizing Mary, but I never said that she wasn't human and I certainly did not say that she was divine-- that would be heresy.
My point is that Mary, without the effects of Original Sin, was an entirely different human from the rest of us. It would be more fair to compare Mary to Eve before the fall. Both Mary and Eve were very human, but were created with special gifts from God which included a highly virtuous nature that made commiting a sin very difficult.
Eve, through free will, chose to sin, which must have taken a lot of effort to turn away from her nature. Mary, through free will, chose lifelong obedience. Eve's disobedience led to our fallen nature and tendency to sin. Mary's obedience brought our Redeemer into the world.
Jesus gave Mary to us as our mother, as I stated in the post. We don't de-humanize her, but we honor her as the Mother of God. She is our model for virtue and our link to Jesus. She loves each of us as she loves her Divine Son. We turn to her, through the Rosary (and other Marian devotions), to grow closer to Christ.
The teaching is that it is by "anticipation" that Mary received the graces of the Redemption before the death of Christ on the cross. God is not confined by time and He chose to fill Mary with grace at her own conception. What is grace but the life of God within us? Mary called herself the Immaculate Conception at Lourdes, where she appeared to St. Bernadette. The Church calls this apparition worthy of belief by the faithful. Far from making her less human, sinlessness makes her more so, for are we not all meant to be so?
Good point! I should have mentioned that Mary was redeemed by anticipation. I just learned this a few months ago when I was teaching my children from the Baltimore Catechsim. There is so much to learn about Mary. The few brief mentions in the Gospel are only the beginning.
If God can play with time, why didn't he redeem all of us "in anticipation"; more so, why didn't he make us immaculate, all instead of just one? That would be so much easier and no pain needed!
And If you mentioned the words of Lourdes (irrelevant whether they be truly uttered by Mary or merely an illusion), one thing should be said - she claimed to BE the immaculate conception and not to HAVE BEEN conceived without sin. She is the immaculate conception, because it was through her that Jesus was born; she is the one that made it possible. Through her free will, her obedience, her purity - yes indeed (whether they be biological or not, it doesn't really matter). Yet to infer that she herself had a nature different that the one of their fellow human beings - of us - is highly implausible.
Also, Mary is not "our link to Christ"... we have a direct connection, so to speak. We EAT him. Why a third party?
There is a very interesting text - with a mystical note - about the motherhood of Mary becoming our own. Worth checking out: http://dstp.cba.pl/?p=2455
1. Our ways are not God's ways. The reason He redeemed Mary "in anticipation" is that Jesus had not yet died to redeem all of us. Yet the all-knowing God knew that He would and therefore redeemed Mary. Mary HAD to be the Immaculate Conception because God's Son could not possibly have been born to a sinful or prone-to-sin woman. Mary is the new Eve AND the new ark of the covenant. Just as the old ark was made of pure gold, so the new ark is made pure through the Immaculate Conception. (BTW, the Immaculate Conception refers to Mary being conceived without Original Sin, NOT to Mary conceiving Jesus at the Annunciation.)
2. Certainly it would be easy for God to make all of us free of Original Sin, but that is apparently not His plan.
3. Why could Mary not have a nature different than ours? Her role as Mother of God was the most important role in human history. As you said, God can do anything. Mary had to be full of grace and virtue because her role was to raise Jesus as a child and young man. No other human has been given such a role. If you want to understand better what humans may have been like before the fall, read Perelandra by C.S. Lewis.
3. All of us can strive to be more like Mary. Although Adam and Eve passed on original sin, which may seem "unfair," we commit actual sin through our own free will. Even though we are prone to sin, we can choose to become more virtuous.
4. Certainly we have a direct connection to Christ! We can pray to Him or God the Father or the Holy Spirit at any time. Yet Jesus showed us that Mary is our intercessor. One example is the Wedding Feast at Cana where Mary's intercession actually changed Jesus' mind. Another, I already mentioned-- before dying on the cross, Jesus gave us Mary as our mother. To better understand Mary's role as our intercessor, I recommend True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort.
For more on the Assumption, read Pope Benedict's homily, including this gem:
"Dear friends! Let us not limit ourselves to admire Mary in her glorious destiny, as a person who is far from us: no! We are called to see what the Lord, in his love, also willed for us, for our final destiny: to live through faith in perfect communion of love with him and thus to truly live."
More at this link: http://www.zenit.org/article-30066?l=english
1. Our ways are not God's ways. The reason He redeemed Mary "in anticipation" is that Jesus had not yet died to redeem all of us. Yet the all-knowing God knew that He would and therefore redeemed Mary. Mary HAD to be the Immaculate Conception because God's Son could not possibly have been born to a sinful or prone-to-sin woman. Mary is the new Eve AND the new ark of the covenant. Just as the old ark was made of pure gold, so the new ark is made pure through the Immaculate Conception. (BTW, the Immaculate Conception refers to Mary being conceived without Original Sin, NOT to Mary conceiving Jesus at the Annunciation.)
2. Certainly it would be easy for God to make all of us free of Original Sin, but that is apparently not His plan.
3. Why could Mary not have a nature different than ours? Her role as Mother of God was the most important role in human history. As you said, God can do anything. Mary had to be full of grace and virtue because her role was to raise Jesus as a child and young man. No other human has been given such a role. If you want to understand better what humans may have been like before the fall, read Perelandra by C.S. Lewis.
3. All of us can strive to be more like Mary. Although Adam and Eve passed on original sin, which may seem "unfair," we commit actual sin through our own free will. Even though we are prone to sin, we can choose to become more virtuous.
4. Certainly we have a direct connection to Christ! We can pray to Him or God the Father or the Holy Spirit at any time. Yet Jesus showed us that Mary is our intercessor. One example is the Wedding Feast at Cana where Mary's intercession actually changed Jesus' mind. Another, I already mentioned-- before dying on the cross, Jesus gave us Mary as our mother. To better understand Mary's role as our intercessor, I recommend True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort.
For more on the Assumption, read Pope Benedict's homily, including this gem:
"Dear friends! Let us not limit ourselves to admire Mary in her glorious destiny, as a person who is far from us: no! We are called to see what the Lord, in his love, also willed for us, for our final destiny: to live through faith in perfect communion of love with him and thus to truly live."
More at this link: http://www.zenit.org/article-30066?l=english
BTW, Sanchez, all the links you post are from the Episcopal Church. Are you a Catholic? If not, your church may have a very different interpretation of Mary's role. I am trying to explain the Catholic position on Mary. I'm not a Marian expert, but I am trying to address your points as best as I can based on my studies.
I am glad you addressed Sanchez's confusing statements...
N.B., Sanchez: Mary has a human nature. The only difference (big one) between her and us is, as Peggy stated, the absence of sin in her at the moment of HER conception. The Immaculate Conception of Mary had been established as a doctrine (MUST be believed) by the pope before Mary spoke those confirming words at Lourdes. So even if one does not believe in the Lourdes apparition a faithful Catholic must believe in the Immaculate Conception and can question, but not doubt, its meaning. Believers see and know its precious and delightful truth.
Our Lord Jesus, on the other hand, has two natures, the nature of God and the nature of man, thus he is not a human being but a Divine Being.
Thank you for your insightful comment, Anon.
Sanchez, I appreciate the points you bring up and your charitable manner in doing so. I hope I have answered your questions.
I welcome comments from readers of any faith, as long as they are charitable.
I understand that other faiths have different views on Mary, but I will always present and defend the Catholic doctrine, teaching or tradition. If you are Catholic, I highly recommend that you thoroughly study the teaching of the Church on a given topic before you venture to the websites of other faiths.
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