Pope John continued his
discourse to take the marian
theology to its next stage
where some of the statements
are very revealing.
"The conciliar Constitution
uses these terms from the
Roman Canon of the Mass,
thereby stressing how faith
in the divine motherhood of
Mary has been present in
Christian thought since the
first centuries. In the
newborn Church Mary is
remembered with the title
"Mother of Jesus"." Is
this not an admission that
Jesus was actually
remembered by the early
church not as the mother of
God but as the mother of
Jesus. for this purpose Pope
quotes the Lukan reference
"Is this not ... the son of
Mary?", the residents of
Nazareth wonder according to
the Evangelist Mark's
account (6:3), "Is not Mary
known to be his mother?", is
the question recorded by
Matthew (13:55)" The true
implication of this
sarcastic remark is missed
here. In the Jewish
tradition children were
known after their legal
father. Even a child born of
illegitimate relation
outside the marriage is
known after the husband. Why
then the difference here?
They were actually laughing
at Jesus indirectly
indicating that he was born
out of wedlock, before the
marriage even indicating
adultery. It is in this
context they mention his
brothers by name.It is
highly improbable that such
sarcastic reference could
refer to cousins and not
real brothers.
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"For them, Mary
is a person
unique in her
kind: she
received the
singular grace
of giving birth
to the Saviour
of humanity; she
lived for a long
while at his
side; and on
Calvary she was
called by the
Crucified One to
exercise a "new
motherhood" in
relation to the
beloved disciple
and, through
him, to the
whole Church. "
|
At the side of the cross,
Jesus handed over Mary to
the care of John.
In this statement it is hard
to find how it becomes a
statement that Mary is the
Mother of Church unless John
is identified as the Church
which the Roman Church
certainly deny. For
practical purposes John was
the spiritual heir to Jesus
if Apostolic succession is
based on loyalty and
fidelity to Jesus and to the
faith that was handed over
to the saints. He was the
disciple whom Jesus loved
most. Yet this particular
incident cannot be
interpreted allegorically as
declaring Mary as the Mother
of the Church nor does John
represent the Church. No
such concept existed within
the church in the first
centuary at least untill the
death of John. John the last
of the Apostle did not even
mention Mary the mother of
Jesus except at the foot of
the cross, and that to show
that he was given the charge
to take care of her. The
other Gospels refer to Mary
in the context of coming to
take Jesus forcefully to be
put in an assylum because
his family thought he was
mad or was possessed by a
devil. The only reference to
Mary in the Acts of the
Apostles is just one
sentence where Mary is part
of the group that were
praying: Act. 1:14 They all
joined together constantly
in prayer, along with the
women and Mary the mother of
Jesus, and with his
brothers. It is interesting
to note that now the entire
family is part of the
believing crowd.
Even Catholic theologians
are aware of the difficulty
of the scriptural
interpretation. Catholic
theologian L. Ott comments:
"Specific scriptural proof
does not exist. Theologians
look for Biblical support
for Christ's words in John
19:26: 'Woman, behold thy
son!' but according to its
literal meaning, these words
only refer to those to whom
they were directed: Mary and
John." Fundamentals of
Catholic Dogma, Cork,
1966, p. 214. The concept
that Mary as the universal
mother of all believers did
not in fact appear until the
11th century.
Earlier the family including
Mary were very hostile to
Jesus. In spite of the
appearance of the Angel and
Angelic messages and the
events connected with the
birth Mary was totally taken
up and believed that Jesus
was mad or was possessed of
the devil just like his
opponents. Note these
references:
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Mark 3:20-35
Then Jesus entered a
house, and again a
crowd gathered, so
that he and his
disciples were not
even able to eat.
When his family
heard about this,
they went to take
charge of him, for
they said, "He is
out of his mind."
And the teachers of
the law who came
down from Jerusalem
said, "He is
possessed by
Beelzebub ! By the
prince of demons he
is driving out
demons."
..................................................................
I tell you the
truth, all the sins
and blasphemies of
men will be forgiven
them. But whoever
blasphemes against
the Holy Spirit will
never be forgiven;
he is guilty of an
eternal sin." He
said this because
they were saying,
"He has an evil
spirit." Then
Jesus' mother and
brothers arrived.
Standing outside,
they sent someone in
to call him. A crowd
was sitting around
him, and they told
him, "Your mother
and brothers are
outside looking for
you." "Who are my
mother and my
brothers?" he
asked. Then he
looked at those
seated in a circle
around him and said,
"Here are my mother
and my brothers!
Whoever does God's
will is my brother
and sister and
mother."
|
This story is described in
Mathew, Mark and Luke. But
only Mark gives us the
reason why his mother and
brothers went to see him.
John totally omits this
story. The reason for it is
clear. The gospels were
written when Mary and the
brothers of Jesus were all
leaders of the Church. So in
order to avoid hurting the
feelings of those brethren
and sister in Christ they
were mentioned without
descriptions. John avoided
the story altogether because
Mary was given into his
care. Mary was living with
John when he wrote the
gospel. How could he mention
it without hurting her. Mark
on the other hand giving the
perspective of Peter and
with his very direct method
(Mark had a critical
attitude towards disciples
and to all who were close to
Jesus ) alone mentions why
Mary and Jesus' brothers
came to him. The honesty of
the gospel is to be admired.
Now consider verse 29 in the
above quote. The whole
matter of blasphmy against
the Holy Spirit seems out of
place. Holy Spirit is not
brought into the picture at
all. What is Jesus then
referring to? It is a sad
story, but true. Mary who
had been given grace -
unmerited mercy - from God
himself to bring Jesus into
the world, to whom the Angel
appeared and proclaimed the
good news, who accepted the
role of being a surrogate;
could not understand what
was going on. (But then John
the Baptist who showed Jesus
as "the Lamb of God that
take away the sins of the
world", had the same doubt)
She knew that it was through
the Holy Spirit she became
pregnant with Jesus, she has
seen and heard the stories
of the shepherds and the
wise men from the east, she
heard the prophecy of
Simeon. Yet when it came to
the understanding of his
public ministry Mary was
totally misled. It was
indeed a blasphemy against
the Holy Spirit. Mary - his
own mother, who should have
understood him all along,
along with his own brothers
came to take him up by force
to put him in a mental
assylum. Verse 30
corroborates the point
clearly. "He said this
because they were saying "He
has an evil spirit". How
could Mary say that?. Did
she all of sudden came to
think that she became
pregnant with the evil
spirit? A very real
possibility. Then Jesus goes
on to the declaration of
disclaim of Mary as his
spiritual mother. Is it any
wonder Mary featured very
little in the early Church?
Yet in another occasion
there were mothers in the
crowd who thought Jesus was
great and began to eulogize
his mother. Notice his
instant reply.
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Lk 11:27 -28 As
Jesus was saying
these things, a
woman in the
crowd called
out, "Blessed is
the mother who
gave you birth
and nursed you."
He replied,
"Blessed rather
are those who
hear the word of
God and obey
it."
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This incident in reported
by all the three gospels,
(again John omits it). In
all four gospels there is
not one occasion where
Jesus address Mary as
mother. At all times he used
the third party term mother
(of course with respect
because he honored his
father and mother according
to the law.)
What a different picture is
painted for us by the Roman
Church!
From what is given to us in
the Holy Scripture, we know
that Mary and his brothers
did not believe in him. We
are told that Jesus appeared
to James - his brother. We
know also that James became
the bishop of Jerusalem. He
established his mother and
brothers into his faith by
appearing to them and
confirming his divinity.
Then we see Mary among the
believers. She needed the
forgiveness most.
Even though
official church documents
does not consider, some
unofficial catholic
apolegetics goes to the
abusrd extent of considering
Mary as the spouse of the
Holy Spirit. These are
published under the official
imprimatur of the Catholic
Church and gives us the
direction of the Marian
movement within the church.
Anyone reads throguh these
will know what will be the
infallible dogmatic
statement in the coming
decade. There is even a
covert attempt to invalidate
the espousal of Mary to
Joseph by making him a
guardian for Mary. A study
of this aspect can be found
at various pages in::
http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/
.
Some scattered quotes from
this study is probably
illustrative.
"13. 7° As the Holy
Ghost has espoused
Mary, and has
produced in her, by
her and from her,
His masterpiece,
Jesus Christ, the
Word Incarnate, and
has never repudiated
His spouse, so He
now continues to
produce the elect,
in her and by her,
in a mysterious but
real manner.
Source: The Secret of
Mary, by St. Louis Marie
Grignon de Montfort,
published by Montfort
Publications, Bay Shore,
New York 11706, bearing
the Imprimi potest,
Nihil obstat and
Imprimatur of the
Catholic Church, page
15. ........."
"Reflection: The
Holy Spirit is given
to us to fashion us
ever more according
to the likeness of
Jesus. And the more
we are like Jesus,
the more Jesus leads
us to the Father. Do
we, each day, pray
to the Holy Spirit
to be more open to
His transforming
influence? Do we
strive each day to
grow in union with
Mary? The greater
our union with our
Mother, the spouse
of the Holy Spirit,
the greater is the
transforming action
of the Holy Spirit
within us. "
Online at
Shepards of
Christ Ministries.
"Moreover, Mary's
profound union with
the Holy Spirit, the
Sanctifier, leads to
her role as
Mediatrix of every
grace bestowed to
the human family. As
St. Maximilian Kolbe
taught, the
Holy Spirit is so
deeply united to
Mary in the work of
sanctification, that
their inexpressible
spousal union
resembles (without
fully reaching it)
the union of the
divine nature and
human nature in the
one person of
Christ. And since
the Holy Spirit
always acts through
the Virgin Mary in
His sanctifying
action, then all
graces must come
through Mary as
Mediatrix of all
graces.
Source: Quote from
Introduction to Mary,
by Mark Miravalle, S.T.D.,
copyright 1993, bearing
the Imprimatur and Nihil
Obstat of the Catholic
Church, published by
Queenship Publishing
Company, P.O. Box 42028,
Santa Barbara,
California, 93140-2028,
page 167. "
"Please note that the
above claims that Mary
through her union with
the Holy Spirit has
very nearly achieved the
same status of diety /
humanity as Jesus
Christ! And because
of the presumed status
of near-deity, Mary is
allegedly qualified to
dispense all grace in
the role of Mediatrix!
This is blasphemy! Who
does not see the spirit
of AntiChrist in this?
In scripture, you will
find that the only
spouse mentioned for
Mary was her husband,
Joseph: "
"The Bible is quite
silent about Mary being
the "spouse" of the Holy
Spirit and you have to
dig a little to find
references to this
teaching in Catholic
sources. Even the new
Vatican Catechism does
not mention it. I
suspect this idea
originates in the
delicate sensibilities
and logic of the
Catholic mind, which
apparently assumes that
for the Holy Spirit to
conceive Jesus in Mary,
the two should rightly
be married! This same
kind of human logic
results in the dogmas of
the Immaculate
Conception of Mary, the
Perpetual Virginity of
Mary, the Assumption of
Mary into Heaven, the
Queenship of Mary and
the doctrine of Mary the
Mediatrix of all graces,
all of which cannot be
found in the Bible and
are nothing more than
the Traditions of men."
Another concept which is
developed parallel to the
spouse of the Holy Spirit is
the concept that Mary is the
new Eve. This is to support
the concept that she is the
mother of all new mankind -
mother of the Church. Jesus
is the New Adam and Mary is
the New Eve according to
this approach. However the
problem is that Bible
nowhere refers to Mary as
the New Eve. None of the
Apostles ever declared her
as such. There is also the
problem that while First
Adam and First Eve were
husband and wife, the New
Adam and Mary are son and
mother. Or did Jesus marry
Mary? Is this a case of
gnostic mistaken identity
who consider Mary Magdelene
as the wife of Jesus or is
it a confusion with the
legend of Semiramis and
Tammuz?].Actually nowhere in
the Bible Eve is blamed for
the fall. Eve was deceived.
But it was Adam who fell who
willingly and in full
knowledge disobeyed God. So
the onus of redemption
rested fully on Man
1 cor 15:22 For as in Adam
all die, so in Christ all
will be made alive.
Bible also defines the role
of women and how they can
bring salvation.
1 Tim 2:13 For Adam was
formed first, then Eve.
14 And Adam was not the one
deceived; it was the woman
who was deceived and became
a sinner.
15 But women will be saved
through childbearing---if
they continue in faith, love
and holiness with propriety.
Mary's role was just that
Eph 5:23 For the husband is
the head of the wife as
Christ is the head of the
church, his body, of which
he is the Savior.
As such we do not encounter
the concept of New Eve in
the Apostolic Church at all.
Nowhere in the scripture the
name New Eve is ever
mentioned. It is a concotion
of human mind in the latter
period in order to
accomodate Mariolatory.
If none of these fit Mary to
the position of New Eve,
what is the comparison? The
identification is based on
the obedience. First Eve
disobeyed the command of law
in eating from the forbidden
tree. Mary submitted herself
before the Lord and agreed
to be the surrogate mother
for Jesus to incarnate. The
real comparison is very
meagre to warrant any vast
theological implication from
it. Again don't every
believer have the same
choice? We are born again in
the Spirit only of our free
choice. Does that also make
us new Adam and new Eve? Did
not generations of Jews
submit themselves to the
will of the Lord even unto
death by being obedient to
the Lord? Imagine the
mothers of the holocaust. We
have many who were martyred
because of their faith. So
spiritual interpretation of
this concept is intended
every believer beomes the
New Eve and Mary does not
have any predominance.
Actually this interpretation
is intended when Jesus was
asking the question, "Who is
my mother?".
Mat. 12:48 He replied to
him, "Who is my mother, and
who are my brothers?"
49 Pointing to his
disciples, he said, "Here
are my mother and my
brothers.
50 For whoever does the will
of my Father in heaven is my
brother and sister and
mother."
