The Blessed Virgin Mary: Mother of God Dulia, Hyper-dulia, and Latria The Greek language is a much more descriptive language than the Eng- lish that we speak. This is important to keep in mind when trying to un- derstand concepts from biblical/Early Church times. Often it takes several English words to properly define one Greek word. Dulia, Hyper-dulia, and Latria are Latin examples of Greek words, and also explain that while Catholics do honor the Mother of God, we do not worship her. Let’s go over the meaning of these three words: Dulia: This is the veneration (honor) shown to the Communion of Saints when we strive to follow their example and ask for their prayers. Hyper-dulia: This is a higher veneration (honor) given to Mary. Why do we honor her more than the other Saints? Because she was chosen by God for the role of Queen Mother. Latria: This is adoration—the highest form; worship that is given to God alone. Worship always has and still does involve sacrifice. We only sacrifice to God.
Mary as the Mother of God It is an important distinction that the teaching of Mary being the Mother of God is not saying that Mary is the origin of God. She did not create God, she is a creature like you and I, and God has no beginning and no end. She did, however, give birth to the whole person of Christ who was both fully man and fully God. Therefore she is, in fact, the Mother of God.
The Immaculate Conception
At times there is confusion about what the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception even means. Some mistakenly think it refers to the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary, but this is incorrect. Others think it means that Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit the same way Christ was, but this is also incorrect. So what is it? The Immaculate Conception refers to Mary, conceived without sin, in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne. Oftentimes this doctrine is challenged by those who misunderstand it and think that the Church teaches that Mary didn’t need a Savior like the rest of us. This is false. Mary was indeed saved by Christ, just like you and I—but the method was different. Whereas we are saved after our birth by Christ, she was saved at her conception by Christ. God is not bound by time like we are. Mary herself attests to her need for a Savior in Luke 1:46-47: “And Mary said: ‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.’” Mary as the New Eve Genesis 3:15— known as the ‘protoevangelium’ (“first gospel”), is where God responds to the serpent, hinting at his first promise of redemption after the fall of Adam and Eve: He says to the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.” This sets the stage for the battle that takes place through salvation history, culminating in the victory of Christ. Eve was created without sin, but chose to be disobedient to God. Mary, also created without sin, rights this wrong by her obedience to God: her yes in giving birth to Christ. How do we know that Mary is the “woman” from Genesis 3:15? There are multiple scripture references to it, but one comes right from the mouth of Jesus Himself in John Chapter 2, where Jesus works his first miracle at the request of His mother at the Wedding at Cana: “When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ [And] Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.’” (John 2:3-4, emphasis added) This was not Jesus being disrespectful to His mother, but a reference to her role in God’s plan of salvation.
Mary as the New Ark of the Covenant
Let’s start with the Original Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament. What was it? It was a chest that contained three very important things. Let’s look at Hebrews Chapter 9, verses 3-4: “Behind the second veil was the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies, in which were the gold altar of incense and the ark of the covenant entirely covered with gold. In it [the ark] were the gold jar containing the manna, the staff of Aaron that had sprouted, and the tablets of the covenant.”
Let’s take these three things and compare them to Mary, and Who she held in her womb. The Ark held the manna, the miraculous bread from heaven that God sent to feed the Israelites in the wilderness; Mary held Jesus, the “bread from heaven.” The Ark held the staff of Aaron, the high priest; Mary held Jesus, the great High Priest. The Ark held the tablets of the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God; Mary held Christ, the Word of God made flesh.
What happened to the Ark of the Covenant? The book of 2 Maccabees tells us that Jeremiah the prophet hid it in a cave on Mt. Nebo. One of the things, besides the Messiah, that the Jewish people were waiting for was the return of the Ark. Jeremiah had said that the location of the Ark would remain hidden until God shows His mercy and brings back the glory cloud. Where do we see the return of the Glory Cloud? At the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel asks Mary to be the mother of Christ. Gabriel tells Mary “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow (Greek: episkiazo) you.” Compare this to back in the Old Testament in Exodus 40:35 which reads: “The cloud of the Lord’s glory overshadows (Greek: episkiazo) the Tabernacle. It is in the conception of Christ in the womb of His mother that we find the return of the Glory Cloud. There are other Scriptural references to Mary as the New Ark, such as the Visitation to Elizabeth and the Book of Revelation. Those will be discussed in class. Mary as the Queen Mother Jesus lived in a particular time and place in history and was a faithful Jewish man. This is the reason we must look back at history and see Scripture through Jewish eyes. Proper context is one of the ways we arrive at proper interpretation. This is very true in the case of the Queen Mother. Why do Catholics refer to Mary as the Queen of Heaven and Earth? Because her Son is the King. In ancient Israel, the culture that Jesus lived in, the Queen was not the wife of the king because the king had many wives. He only had one mother however, and she was his Queen. We see a clear example of this in Scripture with King Solomon and his mother Bathsheba: “So Bathsheba went to King Solomon, to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne and had a seat brought for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right. Then she said, ‘I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.’ And the king said to her, ‘Make your request, my mother; for I will not refuse you’” (1 Kgs. 2:19–20). We can see that the Queen Mother intercedes for the people, just as our heavenly Queen Mother intercedes for us. With the proper context of the Old Testament background we see that the origin of this teaching comes straight from Scripture.
The Perpetual Virginity of Mary The Church holds that Mary was a virgin before, during and after the birth of Christ. There are several questions that are often posed to challenge this view. One of the biggest ones is that Scripture appears to say that Jesus had brothers and sisters. But again, we must read these words in their proper context, in light of the language and culture of the time. First, we must understand that the term brother has a wide range of meaning in Scripture. It can mean a biological brother, an extended relative, or even a spiritual brother. In Genesis 13:8 and 14:12, we read of one example of brother being used to describe an extended relationship: Abraham and Lot. Though they were actually uncle and nephew, they called one another “brother. In biblical culture extended families all lived under one roof. When someone got married, they built on to the house. Therefore, cousins grew up like siblings, and the prevailing language did not have a word that specified biological brothers and sisters, but instead one word that encompassed many types of relations.
Mary As Our Mother
The Church teaches that Christ gave Mary to all of us as our spiritual mother. Where is this in Scripture? Right at the foot of the Cross. When Jesus speaks from the Cross – which would have come with great effort and pain—and tells the Beloved Disciple to “Behold your mother!” (John 19:25-27) he is speaking not only to Saint John, but to all of us as well. From the Cross, He gifted us with His own mother. As a good mother her goal is consistent—to lead us closer to her Divine Son.
The Assumption of Mary The Church teaches that Mary, at the end of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven by her Divine Son. She was unstained by original sin, and therefore did not know the corruption of the grave. This has been the belief of the Church dating back to the time of the Apostles. The Queen Mother now reigns in heaven with her Divine Son, our King and Lord, offering us her prayers and protection.
Marian Apparitions
A Marian apparition is a supernatural appearance of Mary to a person (or group of people) on earth. Since the early centuries of the Church, there have been many reported Marian apparitions. “Reported” is a key word here; just because someone says that they saw Mary doesn’t mean that they really did. The Church, under the guidance of the bishop in whose diocese the alleged apparition occurs, carefully investigates alleged apparitions according to a set of criteria established by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. When they have been fully investigated, the Church will tell us whether or not the apparitions are “worthy of belief.” All approved apparitions are ‘private revelation’ meaning that they are worthy to be believed, however the faithful are not required to believe them.
Why would Mary bother to come to earth? Well, the character of her visits offers a clue. Many of her messages carry the same themes: a call to prayer, a desire for peace, an invitation to personal penance. Marian apparitions can be seen as ways that she gets our attention when we’ve strayed off course, nudging us back on the path that was laid out for us by Christ. ______
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