Mariology and Christology
Does it matter what we believe about Mary?
- CCC 487: “What the Catholic 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.”
- Council of Ephesus 431 AD: Theotokos - Mother of God. Also defined the Hypostatic Union.
- If you deny Mary as “Mother of God” you either deny Jesus’ title as “Son of Man” or “Son of God.” → What we believe about Mary absolutely matters for what we believe about Christ.
Mary as the New Eve/The Woman/Virgin in Scripture
- Genesis 3:15 (Proto-Evangelium/The Woman)
- Isaiah 7:10-14 (The Virgin/Annunciation)
- Micah 5:2-3, Revelation 12 (The Woman)
Immaculate Conception
- Refers to Mary being conceived in her mother Anna’s womb without original sin.
- Officially defined by Pope Pius IX in Ineffabilis Deus, 1854 → the Church’s awareness and understanding about this developed and was concretely realized in this declaration. This truth of the faith was there since the beginning, it was not added.
- Luke 1:26-56 (Annunciation/Ark of the Covenant)
- She carries the presence of the Lord in her very womb, she is the New Ark of the Covenant.
- Enables her to receive Christ in her womb and makes her offer of human nature to Christ total and perfect. She provided the humanity which the eternal Son assumed. Without sin, her offer is total and complete, revealing the most perfect union between mother and child.
- The reason for her sinless nature is because of the merits of Christ’s cross. His work is not bound by time, therefore his salvific work is applied to the moment of Mary being conceived, preserving her from original sin. (She still needed saving, she was saved before sin, we are saved after we sin).
- CCC 494: As St. Irenaeus says, "Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race." Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert...: "The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith." Comparing her with Eve, they call Mary "the Mother of the living" and frequently claim: "Death through Eve, life through Mary."
Perpetual Virginity (in 4 reasons)
- CCC 503: Mary’s virginity manifests God’s absolute initiative in the Incarnation. Jesus has only God as Father.
- CCC 504, CCC 505: Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary's womb because he is the New Adam, who inaugurates the new creation: "The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven." By his virginal conception, Jesus, the New Adam, ushers in the new birth of children adopted in the Holy Spirit through faith. "How can this be?" Participation in the divine life arises "not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God".
- CCC 506: Mary is a virgin because her virginity is the sign of her faith "unadulterated by any doubt", and of her undivided gift of herself to God's will. It is her faith that enables her to become the mother of the Savior: "Mary is more blessed because she embraces faith in Christ than because she conceives the flesh of Christ."
- CCC 507: At once virgin and mother, Mary is the symbol and the most perfect realization of the Church: "the Church indeed... by receiving the word of God in faith becomes herself a mother. By preaching and Baptism she brings forth sons, who are conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of God, to a new and immortal life. She herself is a virgin, who keeps in its entirety and purity the faith she pledged to her spouse." → She is totally united to God, this enables her to be a spiritual mother to all, to lead us to her Son.
Assumption
- Pope Pius XII – 1950 – defined infallibly as a dogma.
- This is her participation in the resurrection of her Son, Jesus. Christ did this for her so that she may be more fully conformed to her Son.
- Death is a consequence of sin. She had no sin. Therefore no death.
- No grave site for Mary, though there are for the apostles. It is reasonable to assume Mary would have a grave site if she died a natural death.
- Her Assumption is ultimately Christocentric.
Mariology and Christology
Does it matter what we believe about Mary?
- CCC 487: “What the Catholic 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.”
- Council of Ephesus 431 AD: Theotokos - Mother of God. Also defined the Hypostatic Union.
- If you deny Mary as “Mother of God” you either deny Jesus’ title as “Son of Man” or “Son of God.” → What we believe about Mary absolutely matters for what we believe about Christ.
Mary as the New Eve/The Woman/Virgin in Scripture
- Genesis 3:15 (Proto-Evangelium/The Woman)
- Isaiah 7:10-14 (The Virgin/Annunciation)
- Micah 5:2-3, Revelation 12 (The Woman)
- Lumen Gentium 55. The Sacred Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testament, as well as ancient Tradition show the role of the Mother of the Saviour in the economy of salvation in an ever clearer light and draw attention to it. The books of the Old Testament describe the history of salvation, by which the coming of Christ into the world was slowly prepared. These earliest documents, as they are read in the Church and are understood in the light of a further and full revelation, bring the figure of the woman, Mother of the Redeemer, into a gradually clearer light. When it is looked at in this way, she is already prophetically foreshadowed in the promise of victory over the serpent which was given to our first parents after their fall into sin.(284) Likewise she is the Virgin who shall conceive and bear a son, whose name will be called Emmanuel.(285) She stands out among the poor and humble of the Lord, who confidently hope for and receive salvation from Him. With her the exalted Daughter of Sion, and after a long expectation of the promise, the times are fulfilled and the new Economy established, when the Son of God took a human nature from her, that He might in the mysteries of His flesh free man from sin.
Immaculate Conception
- Refers to Mary being conceived in her mother Anna’s womb without original sin.
- Officially defined by Pope Pius IX in Ineffabilis Deus, 1854 → the Church’s awareness and understanding about this developed and was concretely realized in this declaration. This truth of the faith was there since the beginning, it was not added.
- Luke 1:26-56 (Annunciation/Ark of the Covenant)
- She carries the presence of the Lord in her very womb, she is the New Ark of the Covenant.
- Enables her to receive Christ in her womb and makes her offer of human nature to Christ total and perfect. She provided the humanity which the eternal Son assumed. Without sin, her offer is total and complete, revealing the most perfect union between mother and child.
- The reason for her sinless nature is because of the merits of Christ’s cross. His work is not bound by time, therefore his salvific work is applied to the moment of Mary being conceived, preserving her from original sin. (She still needed saving, she was saved before sin, we are saved after we sin).
- 56. The Father of mercies willed that the incarnation should be preceded by the acceptance of her who was predestined to be the mother of His Son, so that just as a woman contributed to death, so also a woman should contribute to life. That is true in outstanding fashion of the mother of Jesus, who gave to the world Him who is Life itself and who renews all things, and who was enriched by God with the gifts which befit such a role. It is no wonder therefore that the usage prevailed among the Fathers whereby they called the mother of God entirely holy and free from all stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature.(5*) Adorned from the first instant of her conception with the radiance of an entirely unique holiness, the Virgin of Nazareth is greeted, on God's command, by an angel messenger as "full of grace",(286) and to the heavenly messenger she replies: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word".(287)
- CCC 494: As St. Irenaeus says, "Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race." Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert...: "The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith." Comparing her with Eve, they call Mary "the Mother of the living" and frequently claim: "Death through Eve, life through Mary."
Perpetual Virginity (in 4 reasons)
- CCC 503: Mary’s virginity manifests God’s absolute initiative in the Incarnation. Jesus has only God as Father.
- CCC 504, CCC 505: Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary's womb because he is the New Adam, who inaugurates the new creation: "The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven." By his virginal conception, Jesus, the New Adam, ushers in the new birth of children adopted in the Holy Spirit through faith. "How can this be?" Participation in the divine life arises "not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God".
- CCC 506: Mary is a virgin because her virginity is the sign of her faith "unadulterated by any doubt", and of her undivided gift of herself to God's will. It is her faith that enables her to become the mother of the Savior: "Mary is more blessed because she embraces faith in Christ than because she conceives the flesh of Christ."
- CCC 507: At once virgin and mother, Mary is the symbol and the most perfect realization of the Church: "the Church indeed... by receiving the word of God in faith becomes herself a mother. By preaching and Baptism she brings forth sons, who are conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of God, to a new and immortal life. She herself is a virgin, who keeps in its entirety and purity the faith she pledged to her spouse." → She is totally united to God, this enables her to be a spiritual mother to all, to lead us to her Son.
Assumption
- Pope Pius XII – 1950 – defined infallibly as a dogma.
- This is her participation in the resurrection of her Son, Jesus. Christ did this for her so that she may be more fully conformed to her Son.
- Death is a consequence of sin. She had no sin. Therefore, no death.
- No grave site for Mary, though there are for the apostles. It is reasonable to assume Mary would have a grave site if she died a natural death.
- Her Assumption is ultimately Christocentric.
Lumen Gentium Excerpts