Day 72: Mary’s Motherhood (502-511)
It is DAY 72!!
The last little section here on the Blessed Virgin Mary
We will talk about MARY’S VIRGINAL MOTHERHOOD IN GOD’S PLAN
It’s interesting because what is the reason?
What is the purpose?
We’ve talked about the Blessed Virgin Mary or the Ever Virgin Mary
So what?
Why is that important?
There are REASONS that touch on both the PERSON OF CHRIST and HIS REDEMPTIVE MISSION
AND…
The WELCOME that Mary gave that mission on behalf of ALL HUMAN BEINGS
Paragraphs 503 to 507 are the REASONS
Why would Mary have to be EVER VIRGIN?
Paragraph 503 says, “Mary’s virginity manifests God’s absolute initiative in the Incarnation.”
This is NOT a human invention
THIS IS GOD’S INITIATIVE!!
HE is the one who WANTS THIS TO HAPPEN
Paragraph 504 says, “Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary’s womb because he is the New Adam, who inaugurates a new creation…”
Paragraph 503 is about GOD’S ABSOLUTE INITIATIVE
Paragraph 504 is about God inaugurating a NEW CREATION in the NEW ADAM
Paragraph 505 says, “By his virginal conception, Jesus, the New Adam, ushers in the new birth of children adopted in the Holy Spirit through faith.”
They keep BUILDING ON EACH OTHER
Paragraph 506 says, “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.”
Paragraph 507 says, “At once virgin and mother, Mary is the symbol and the most perfect realization of the Church…”
Mary become an IMAGE or a SYMBOL of the Church as well in her virginity freely and fully receiving the grace of the Lord
THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!
There are REASONS that make it fitting for the VIRGINAL CONCEPTION OF JESUS
We have other reasons we talked about
For example, Jesus is TRULY the Son of the Eternal Father
Jesus is the Second Person of the Trinity who has a HUMAN and a DIVINE nature
THAT IS REALLY CRITICAL!!
These other reasons that the Church offers are WORTH OUR REFLECTING ON FOR A WHILE
So to recap…
Paragraph 503 says, “Mary’s virginity manifests God’s absolute initiative in the Incarnation…”
Paragraph 504 says, “Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary’s womb because he is the New Adam, who inaugurates the new creation…”
Paragraph 505 says, “By his virginal conception, Jesus, the New Adam, ushers in the new birth of children adopted in the Holy Spirit through faith.”
Paragraph 506 says, “Mary is a virgin because her virginity is the sign of her faith…”
Paragraph 507 says, “At once virgin and mother, Mary is the symbol and the most perfect realization of the Church…”
These are some of the reasons why it was part of God’s plan for Mary to be EVER VIRGIN
We also have MCNUGGET DAY in Paragraphs 508-511
Let’s say a prayer!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise. We love you and we thank you. We thank you for the mystery of the Incarnation. We thank you for the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary and we thank you for making us your adopted children. We ask that you please just like for Mary, you gave her everything she needed for her mission, we ask that you please remember to give everything that we need for our mission. And give us the trust, give us the faith to count on you, to know that you have not and will not ever abandon us, that you will always provide exactly what we need. Give us this day our daily bread. Give us this day everything we need. And help us to use it. Help us to use it for your Glory, according to your purposes and according to your Will. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”
The Church gives us some REASONS for why God’s saving plan He wanted His Son to be BORN OF A VIRGIN
Whatever we BELIEVE about Mary are things we BELIEVE about Jesus
What we TEACH about Mary ILLUMINE what we BELIEVE AND TEACH about Jesus
Paragraph 503 says, “Mary’s virginity manifests God’s absolute initiative in the Incarnation. Jesus has only God as Father…He is naturally Son of the Father as to his divinity and naturally son of his mother as to his humanity, but properly Son of the Father in both natures.”
THIS IS SO CRITICAL!!
THIS IS THE WORK OF GOD SO THAT NO HUMAN BEING MAY BOAST!!
Paragraph 504 says, “Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary’s womb because he is the New Adam, who inaugurates the new creation.”
WHICH IS REALLY REALLY CRITICAL!!
1 Corinthians 15:45, 47 in Paragraph 504 says, “The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.”
Paragraph 504 continues, “From ‘his fullness’ as the head of redeemed humanity ‘we have all received, grace upon grace.’”
Because Jesus’ conception is VIRGINAL…
Because Jesus’ conception is the INITIATIVE OF GOD…
Because Jesus is the NEW ADAM…
From HIS FULLNESS as the head of REDEEMED HUMANITY we have all received grace upon grace
Just like how Adam, as the head of FALLEN HUMANITY we receive that BROKENNESS
Paragraph 505 says, “By his virginal conception, Jesus, the New Adam, ushers in the new birth of children adopted in the Holy Spirit through faith…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.’ The acceptance of this life is virginal because it is entirely the Spirit’s gift to man.”
There is something about RECEIVING
We merely have to RECEIVE IT
Paragraph 506 says, “Mary is a virgin because her virginity is the sign of her faith.”
This basically enables her to be the MOTHER OF HER SON
St Augustine in Paragraph 506 says, “Mary is more blessed because she embraces faith in Christ than because she conceives the flesh of Christ.”
That is kind of a paraphrase from Luke Ch 11
A woman from the crowd raises her voice and cries out, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast at which you nursed!”
And Jesus says, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.”
Mary is MORE BLESSED because she embraces FAITH IN CHRIST rather than because she CONCEIVES THE FLESH OF CHRIST
WHICH IS REMARKABLE!!
Paragraph 507 says, “At once virgin and mother, Mary is the symbol and the most perfect realization of the Church.”
Here is the Church that through no gift of our own, no blessing, power, strength, or beauty OF OUR OWN (Ok I’m sorry I have NO IDEA what Fr. Mike is trying to say here so just go with it… 🤔)
Paragraph 507 continues, “...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.”
This is that sign of Revelation Ch 12
That woman who is with child and gives birth to that child
The Church has ALWAYS said that is MARY GIVING BIRTH TO JESUS
AND…
IT IS ALSO THE CHURCH GIVING BIRTH!! (Wanna have some fun reminiscing? Go and read the recap in The Bible in a Year for this passage! https://www.thebibleinayearstudyguide.com/day-362 😁)
MARY SYMBOLIZES THE CHURCH!!
What we learn about the Church is in some ways what we learn about Mary
Why?
Because Mary brought forth the Son of God into the World
AND…
Through the Church, the Son of God comes into the World
Does that make sense?? 🤔🤔🤔
Sometimes it is an ANALOGY
Sometimes it is REALLY REALLY DEEP AND PROFOUND IMAGES AND SYMBOLS
BUT…
The truth is we have taken a couple days to dive deeply into WHO WAS CONCEIVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT AND BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY
Now we know a little more deeply and clearly about what we pray…
EVERY SINGLE TIME WE PRAY THE ROSARY!!
EVERY SINGLE TIME WE PRAY THE APOSTLE’S CREED!!
EVERY SINGLE TIME WE PRAY THE CREED AT SUNDAY MASS!!
Tomorrow we will dive into the MYSTERIES OF CHRIST’S LIFE
The first mystery of Christ’s Life is…
(SQUIRREL!! 😉)
Well, the first thing we are going to look at is how CHRIST’S WHOLE LIFE IS MYSTERY
We aren’t leaving Mary or the Holy Spirit behind
We’re not LEAVING ANYTHING BEHIND
We are ADDING TO EVERYTHING
So what are some of the CHARACTERISTICS COMMON TO JESUS’ MYSTERIES?
It’s going to be exciting!!
We get to meditate and reflect tomorrow and the next few days on these MYSTERIES OF CHRIST’S LIFE
These MOMENTS that reveal something DEEP AND PROFOUND about WHO JESUS IS
Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!
Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!
I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!