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Lesson 10: Mary, Mother of the

1. Introduction

I. “Mary, Mother of , Mary, ” A. She is the archtype of the Church: 1. (CCC 967) By her complete adherence to the Father's will, to his Son's redemptive work, and to every prompting of the , the Mary is the Church's model of faith and charity. Thus she is a "preeminent and...wholly unique member of the Church"; indeed, she is the "exemplary realization" (typus) of the Church. B. She is the Mother of the Church: 1. (LG 61) "In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace." 2. (LG 60, 62) "Mary's function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. The Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men ... flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it... No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and ; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by his ministers and the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source."

2. The Four Marian Dogmas:

I. Mary, Mother of God: A. The and the Incarnation: 1. (CCC 466) The Council condemned the error of Nestorius, who said was two persons, one human person united to a divine person. The council decreed that Jesus is one divine person with two natures. 2. Saying that Mary was the “Mother of God” (theotokos) was a definitive argument defending the one personhood of Jesus Christ against Nestorius. This is because motherhood is of person to person, not person to nature. My own mom is not the mother of my human nature, but the mother of me. Mary is mother of the one person of Jesus Christ, not just his human nature, as Nestorius said. 3. (CCC 487) What the faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ, and what it teaches about Mary illumines in turn its faith in Christ. B. Our profession that Mary is the “Mother of God” is the first and most foundational belief about her. All other gifts and graces she received from God are in relation to this truth— She is the mother of Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy . It was through her cooperation with God that Jesus was able to take a human nature! C. Scripture verses stating Mary’s motherhood of Jesus: Lk 1:43; Matt 2:13; 2:20; Jn 2:1-3; :14.

The : Lesson 10 — Mary Page 1 of 4 II. : A. What is the Immaculate Conception? 1. What the Immaculate Conception isn’t: a) Jesus’s conception in the womb: that refers to the virgin birth. b) Mary was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit: we don’t believe that. B. Pius IX formally defined the doctrine in 1854: “The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of .” Ineffabilis Deus (quoted in CCC 491). 1. Original sin is the state of deprivation of God’s grace. Everyone is born in this state of deprivation. However, Mary was preserved from sin and conceived into a state of grace. We have to be baptized to be reborn into a state of grace. 2. “By a singular grace and privilege” means that God gave this to Mary alone in view of her divine motherhood. 3. “By virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ” means that she received this privilege not of herself, but from Jesus. The Church doesn’t teach that Mary doesn’t need a savior. She was saved before committing sin, we are saved after committing sin. Her was greater than ours because it was preservative. This is a higher form of redemption. (See CCC 492) C. Being his own mother, it is entirely fitting that Jesus would preserve Mary from sin and it’s effects. Also, the Immaculate Conception is fitting (but not necessary) so that Mary could give Jesus a human nature entirely free from sin and corruption. D. The Immaculate Conception in Scripture: “The ,” (Luke 1:28) 1. Kekaritomene is a perfect passive participle, which can be translated, “you who have been perfectly, completely, enduringly endowed with grace.” It is an event that has happened in the past and continues to occur. 2. “This grace...is at once permanent and of a singular kind. The Greek indicates a perfection of grace. A perfection must be perfect not only intensively, but extensively. The grace Mary enjoyed must not only have been as ‘full’ or strong or as complete as possible at any given time, but it must have extended over the whole of her life, from conception.” (“Catholicism and Fundamentalism”, p. 269)

III. Perpetual Virginity: A. The professes for belief that Mary was a virgin all her life. This means that before, during and after the birth of Jesus Christ she remained a perpetual virgin. 1. Before the birth of Jesus Christ: a) [CCC 496] From the first formulations of her faith, the Church has confessed that Jesus was conceived solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, affirming also the corporeal aspect of this event: Jesus was conceived "by the Holy Spirit without human seed". The Fathers see in the virginal conception the sign that it truly was the Son of God who came in a humanity like our own.

The Creed: Lesson 10 — Mary Page 2 of 4 2. During the birth of Jesus Christ: a) [CCC 499] The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary's real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made man. In fact, Christ's birth "did not diminish his mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it." b) Jesus was born in the “absence of any physical injury or violation to Mary’s virginal seal...This divine act would safeguard Mary’s physical virginity which is both symbolic and part of her perfect, overall virginity; a virginity both internal and external, of soul and body.” (Miravale, p. 46 - 47) c) “Jesus passed through Mary as light passes through glass.” ~ St. Thomas Aquinas 3. After the birth of Jesus: a) Mary was about to be married, so her question to , “How shall this be for I know not man,” (Luke 1:34) makes no sense if she hadn’t taken a vow of virginity. Two important points can be observed from this: (1) Mary belongs entirely to God, not only because of her vow of chastity, but also because God preserved her from sin and perfected her in grace from the her conception! Then, when the fullness of time had come, her womb was claimed, sanctified, and consecrated by the Holy Spirit to conceive Jesus, making her the Mother of God. In light of all this, it wouldn’t be fitting that she would have sexual relations with and give her womb over to natural conception. (2) St. Thomas said it was fitting that Jesus, the only-begotten son of his heavenly Father, should also be the only-begotten son of Mary, his earthly mother. B. Objection: What about the “brothers of ” mentioned in Scripture? 1. Response: (CCC 500) “Against this doctrine the objection is sometimes raised that the mentions brothers and sisters of Jesus. The Church has always understood these passages as not referring to other children of the Virgin Mary. In fact James and Joseph, ‘brothers of Jesus’, are the sons of another Mary, a of Christ, whom St. Matthew significantly calls ‘the other Mary.’ They are close relations of Jesus, according to an expression.” a) In Hebrew and there is no word for “cousin.” If someone wanted to say “cousin,” they could use either the word for ‘’ or a circumlocution, such as “the son of my uncle.” But circumlocutions are clumsy, so the Jews often used “brother.” b) When Greek became a common language some 100 years before Christ, the Greek speaking Jews continued to use this practice of using the word “brother” (adelphos) in a broad sense for relatives even though there is a word for “cousin” in Greek (anepsios).

IV. Assumption and Coronation: A. The was defined in 1950 by Pius XII in Munifentissimus Deus. 1. "Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory,

The Creed: Lesson 10 — Mary Page 3 of 4 and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death." (CCC 966) 2. Note: The Assumption isn’t the same thing as Ascension. B. Again, we see the necessary connection with Christ: 1. Notice in the definition: “so that she might be more fully conformed to her Son.” Thus, “the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other ” (CCC 966) 2. “Mary is the first disciple, the pattern and type in faith and obedience of all the rest, Mother and first member of the Church. In her Assumption we see the pledge, the first fruits of our own glorious destiny. We celebrate, in the fact of her Assumption, her personal privilege and our promised glory.” (Fr. Matteo, Refuting the Attacks on Mary. p. 27) 3. Mary’s assumption into heaven, and all the Marian beliefs we’ve seen so far, reflects the privileges and graces that Christ promises to everyone, but to Mary in a special way as the first Christian and sign of the Church at large. C. Scripture: 1. The “Queen Mother”: 1 Kings 2:19 2. Revelation 12: a) The woman bears a son, who is obviously Jesus (see Psalm 2:8-9) b) Thus, the woman must be, in the first place, Mary. First, her body is taken to heaven, then she is crowned the Queen Mother! c) Mary is crowned with 12 stars, representing Israel (see Gen 37:9). If she is crowned with the 12 tribes of Israel, she is indeed an exalted woman, the Queen of Israel. The twelve stars also represent the new Israel, Christ’s kingdom (Mt. 13:9), so Mary is the Queen of the old and new people of God!

3. Conclusion:

(CCC 972) After speaking of the Church, her origin, mission, and destiny, we can find no better way to conclude than by looking to Mary. In her we contemplate what the Church already is in her mystery on her own "pilgrimage of faith," and what she will be in the homeland at the end of her journey. ... In the meantime the Mother of Jesus, in the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven, is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise she shines forth on earth until the day of the Lord shall come, a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim People of God. Take away points: 1. Everything we believe about Mary reflects some truth about Jesus. She is not to Jesus in any way. 2. Recognition that Mary is the Mother of God is foundational for all beliefs about her role in Salvation History. 3. The Immaculate Conception is a singular saving grace of Jesus given to Mary, his Mother. 4. Mary consecrated herself entirely to God by taking some kind of oath of celibacy. 5. As a sign and pledge of honor for the whole Church, Mary was assumed into heaven and crowned Queen Mother.

The Creed: Lesson 10 — Mary Page 4 of 4