The Blessed Virgin Mary

Mary

Introduction

The Blessed Mother is known by many names and titles: Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, The Immaculate Conception, the Seat of Wisdom, the House of Gold, and many more. All these names and titles refer to one and the same person - Mary of Nazareth. Catholics refer to Mary in many ways, but all these ways refer to her as the Mother of Jesus - the great Mother of God whom all Catholics honor and venerate but do not worship. Without knowledge of Mary, Jesus would only be a mythic figure coming from nowhere. The gospel image of a real baby in the arms of Mary tells all that Jesus was incarnated in the womb of a virgin. That gospel image is often celebrated every Christmas season and never fails to touch human hearts with joy, peace and a strong sense of family ties.

Mary in the New Testament

Mary is mentioned in all of the four gospels. It is however in the gospel of Luke where she is mentioned more:

• she assented to be the Mother of God upon announcement of the angel Gabriel that God's favor rests well on her [Luke 1:26-38]
• she is a virgin: "one who does not know man" - with the term "know man" as connotating sexual relations [Luke 1:34]
• she visited her cousin Elizabeth to help her since Elizabeth was also with child but in her old age [Luke 1:39-56]
• she gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem with simple shepherds paying homage to the baby Jesus in the manger [Luke 2:1-20]
• she, together with Joseph, presented Jesus in the Temple to be consecrated to God [Luke 2:21-40]
• with Joseph, she sought and found the child Jesus in the Temple - speaking words of wisdom with the elders there [Luke 2:41-52]
• she and some of Jesus' relatives were considered part of a greater family for Jesus: "those who hear the word of God and do God's will" [Matthew 12:46-50]
• she was also instrumental in solving the problem in the wedding of Cana [John 2:1-11]
• she, two other women, and the disciple John, stood by Jesus at the foot of the cross [John 19:25-27]
• after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, Mary waited together with the apostles and disciples for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost [Acts 1:14]

These are some of the references to Mary in the New Testament. There are many more and all of them help readers obtain a gospel image of Mary as a person. A good book that will help understand this gospel image of Mary is "Mary in the New Testament", edited by Raymond E. Brown, Karl P. Donfried, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and John Reumann.

Mary's Assumption into heaven

The dogma or doctrine on the assumption of Mary to heaven teaches that Mary has been taken body and soul - her full humanity - to heaven where she receives the full and eternal vision of God. Traditional sources do not say that she did not die, only that she has already received what all the faithful will also all receive in fitting degree when all are finally brought to the Father. This article of faith on the assumption of Mary is not in the Bible. There is an apocryphal account of it in the Transitus Beatae Mariae of Pseudo-Melito, but it is not considered inspired text like the Bible. In Catholic faith, when the Bible is silent or ambiguous on a certain event or person, the Church often sources out the truth in Sacred Tradition (the unwritten word of God). And a lot that was discussed on the truth of the Assumption of Mary were taken from Sacred Tradition. However, although not a full reference, the Church maintains that there is a biblical allusion to the assumption of Mary in the passage of Apocalypse 12:1 - "A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars."

The Immaculate Conception

This dogma is one of the most Catholic, and sometimes misunderstood article of faith in Catholicism. This article of faith is found within the text of the gospel account of the Annunciation of the angel Gabriel to Mary. Catholics believe greatly in the Immaculate Conception - meaning that from the moment of Mary's conception in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, Mary was kept free from original sin by the power of divine grace. Since she was to bear the Son of God, it is but fitting that the womb that will conceive and bear Him, is pure and completely untainted with any trace of sin. Thus is she titled, the Immaculate Conception. Mary continued to remain sinless throughout her life. Since she did not have original sin (the sin all mankind inherits upon conception because of the disobedience to God of Adam and Eve), she did not deserve to suffer the consequences of it, so at the end of her life, she was assumed in her full humanity by God into heaven.

Devotion to Mary

Devotions are traditional forms of prayers that are not part of the Mass. They can be public or private - expressing love for God and neighbor personified in Mary (or the saints). One form of devotion to Mary is the praying of the holy rosary. The holy rosary is made up of decades of beads to represent the four mysteries (joyful, sorrowful, light, and glorious) of the Christian faith which sum up the life of Jesus and Mary's participative role in it. Another form of devotion to Mary is the May crowning. May is the month of honoring Mary for Catholics. Traditionally, Catholic parishes pick one day in May to host a devotion called a May crowning. On this day a young girl is chosen to place a crown of roses on a statue of Mary which is sometimes carried in a procession around the neighborhood. All those in attendance sing hymns and pray the rosary. Other devotions to Mary include: the First Saturdays devotion, the pilgrimages to Marian shrines all over the world, and the honoring of Marian apparitions through scapulars and medals.

Except for Jesus, Mary, throughout the ages is the subject of many poems, hymns, statues, icons, paintings, treatises, and sermons more than any other in all human history. To understand why Catholics are so affectionate and attached to the Mother of God, we just have to look at the most primal of all emotions: the bond between a mother and her child.