Virginity of Mary

The Church has four Marian Dogmas, namely, Divine Motherhood of Mary, Perpetual Virginity, Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. Last week, I dealt with the dogma of Divine Motherhood of Mary, in which I posited that Mary is the Mother of God and Mary is the God-Bearer. This week let us try to apprehend what the Church says about Perpetual Virginity of Mary.

The annunciation of Mary inaugurates “the fullness of time”, the time of the fulfilment of God’s promises and preparations. The time for the Word made Flesh, the time for the Godhead to enter into human reality. Mary was chosen to conceive that Word made Flesh who would dwell ‘bodily.’ Mother Mary responds to the call of God by her question, ‘How can this be, since I know not man?’ At this moment Mary was given the privilege of the Holy Spirit to conceive the ‘Emmanuel’, ‘the Holy Spirit will come upon you’ (Luke 1: 34-35). The Holy Spirit, ‘the given of life’, is sent to sanctify the womb of the Virgin Mary and divinely fecundate it, causing her to conceive the eternal Son of the Father in a humanity drawn from her own.

What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ, and what it teaches about Mary illuminates in turn its faith in Christ (CCC 487). God, from all eternity chose Mary as the mother of His Son who is a daughter of Israel, a young Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee, a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David (Luke 1:26-27). The virginity of Mary goes back even before the annunciation. She also is immaculate, which means, free of any stain of sin.

The expression perpetual virginity, ever virgin, or simply Mary the Virgin refers primarily to the conception and birth of Jesus. The Council of Lateran posits that Mary conceived ‘without any detriment to her virginity, which remained inviolate even after his birth’ (649). The Catholic Church holds that Mary was and is Virgin before, in and after Christ’s birth. The Vatican Council II reiterated the teaching about Mary, the Ever-Virgin, by stating that Christ’s birth did not diminish Mary’s virginal integrity but sanctified it.

I would like to encourage us to focus our attention to the choice that God made for His Son to be born in the world. He chose Mary, who is considered powerless and weak because God is faithful to His promises. Mary stands out among the poor and humble of the Lord, who confidently hopes for and receives salvation from him. If Mary is humble and poor, we are also called to be humble and poor in our own ways. We are called to follow Mary, as the model of the Church; hence, we will be called to be virgin or chaste in our lives. Mary remained faithful to the Lord by remaining virgin. Let us also encourage each other to remain faithful to the Lord and His body, the Church by embracing a chaste life; remaining faithful to spouses, children and family. We also shall ask our Lady to give us that sensus Christi in our sesus fidei.

Immaculate Conception of Mary

We celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December. What does the Church teaching say about Immaculate Conception? The Church teaches us that from the very moment of her conception, the Blessed Virgin Mary was free from all stain of original sin. Mary was in a state of grace whilst she was conceived in the womb of her mother, St. Anne. In our case, original sin is removed from our soul by baptism but in the case of Mary, this sin wasn’t there at all, rather she was in the state of original sanctity, innocence, and justice, as opposed to original sin.

The primary understanding of Immaculate Conception comes from two scriptural references, namely, 1. In the book of Genesis 3:15, we see the parallel between Mary and Eve. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed: he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” If there was an enmity between the woman and the serpent, she never should have been in any way subject to him even briefly, this implies an Immaculate Conception.

2 In the Gospel of Luke 1:28, the angel calls her ‘full of grace’. Mary was full of grace, which means she must not have not submitted to evil one. Hence, she must have been conceived immaculate.

In 1854, Pope Pius IX in his Bull Ineffabilis Deus proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception: “we declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which asserts that the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God, and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from every stain of original sin is a doctrine revealed by God and, for this reason, must be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful.” (DS 2803). This constitution affirmed Immaculate Conception of Mary on 8 December 1854. Therefore, we celebrate this feast on 8 December. This day also is the feast of the Cathedral of our Diocese.

Mary was sanctified in her mother’s womb because Word had to make flesh, in other words, Son of God had to be born in the womb of Mary. The Mother of the Redeemer had to be free from the power of sin and God gave her this privilege to the God-Bearer.

Immaculate Mary is our model in the Church. Let us take her example of immaculate in our own ways in this life. We are called to be immaculate, free of sin, pure and without blemish. We are also called to live a life worthy of God. If God has to make his home in us, we have to be sinless as Mary was by being faithful to God’s call to each one of us.

I would like to encourage all of us to be God-bearers for which we need to immaculate or pure. We are God-bearers when we receive Holy Eucharist, for which we need to prepare ourselves and be clean of every stain. We shall ask our Lady to pray for us with her Son to consolidate us in our faith in the Holy Communion and that we might become truly carriers of Christ in our lives. This way, let our life be perpetually and intimately related to God, and thus remains holy.

The Assumption of Mary: Certain Hope of resurrection

The fourth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary is The Assumption. This week, let us reflect on the dogma (teaching) about the Assumption. We have reflected on other three dogmas on Mother Mary in the last three weeks. Pope Pius XII proclaimed this Marian dogma on November 1, 1950 in his encyclical called Munificentissimus Deus.

The dogma states "Mary, Immaculate Mother of God ever Virgin, after finishing the course of her life on earth, was taken up in body and soul to heavenly glory." This definition as well as that of the Immaculate Conception makes not only reference to the universal, certain and firm consent of the Magisterium but makes allusion to the concordant belief of the faithful. The Assumption had been a part of the Church's spiritual and doctrinal patrimony for centuries. It had been part of theological reflection but also of the liturgy and was part of the sense of the faithful.

God has willed that the Blessed Virgin Mary should be exempted from this general rule which is, God does not will to grant to the just the full effect of the victory over death until the end of time has come. And so it is that the bodies of even the just are corrupted after death, and only on the last day will they be joined, each to its own glorious soul. She, by an entirely unique privilege, completely overcame sin by her Immaculate Conception, and as a result she was not subject to the law of remaining in the corruption of the grave, and she did not have to wait until the end of time for the redemption of her body.

After the apostles had dispersed, the Blessed Mother goes to live with John, the beloved disciple of Jesus. She becomes a source of comfort, consolation and strength to the apostles; hence, she nourishes the Church through her unceasing intercession. We have known that Mother Mary was without sin through her immaculate conception; hence, corruption of the body of Mary is exempted because she was free of original sin.

A distinction needs to be made between Ascension and Assumption. Jesus Christ, Son of God and Risen Lord, ascended into heaven, a sign of divine power. Mary, on the contrary, was elevated or assumed into heaven by the power and grace of God.

She is taken up into heaven and she fulfills her salvific duties by interceding for us in the Church. By her maternal love she cares for the brothers and sisters of her Son who still journey on earth. Mary is the “eschatological icon of the Church” (CCC 972), meaning the Church contemplates in Mary her won end of times, that is to encourage the children of God that we have hope of the resurrection after we have completed our journey on earth.

The Holy Trinity: A family of Love

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity which is a mystery difficult to comprehend.  In our daily life we begin every one of our prayers, activities, programmes or works with the sign of the cross and call upon God, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Even though we remember the Trinity several times a day, it is difficult to comprehend the full meaning because the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit we invoke constitute a great Mystery.  The Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity consists of this: the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods, but only one God with three attributes.  We have Father who is the creator, Son, the redeemer and Holy Spirit the sanctifier and the counselor. This is the Mystery of the Trinity of Persons in the one God. If one were to seek for a comparison in order to try to grasp a little of this mystery, the only one that is completely adequate is that which Jesus himself gave us, when he said that just as the living Father has sent him, he is sending out his disciples.  They have to go and baptize all in the name of the Trinity.  He also tells us that he and the father are one and he will send the Spirit on the Apostles who will counsel and guide them in the mission.

The feast of the Holy Trinity reminds us that God is a family of love. We are dealing here not just with some terribly abstract theological doctrine, still less with a mathematical contradiction but that we proclaim our firm belief that in one God there are three Persons. What Scripture reveals to us is a unity of three real persons. Of course, to try to understand fully how one God can be three Persons is not really possible for us. We need our faith and our trust in the word of God that this Trinitarian God is always in our life who guides us protects us and makes our being a reality. Therefore St Paul tells us that the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. The Paraclete will do in them two things: first he will guide the disciples to all truth and second, he will declare to the disciples the things that are to come.  The Holy Spirit will not predict the future; but he will proclaim the teachings of Jesus in the new and changing circumstances in the lives of the disciples.  Through the presence and teaching of the Holy Spirit, the teachings of Jesus will always be fresh and new to every generation of believers.  This is how the Paraclete will glorify Jesus.

Trinity reminds us of relationship, relationship between Father son and Holy Spirit. This relationship is bonded with love. It is the Trinity of love. This same love of the trinity created this universe and created you and me because we are created in the image and likeness of God. Hence we too take part in the Trinity. The trinity ordained that you and me remain with him always. The love of the Trinity created each one of us as the children of God. God expects us to continue that relationship with each other always without any distinction because God didn't make distinctions for everyone was created in the image and likeness of God. Then why do we as humans make distinction? Are we gods to make distinctions? In the eyes of God we are all children and we do share in the Trinity. We share the responsibility of the Trinity to remain faithful to each other. But sometimes we like to make and break relationships, we break relationship of love with our self vested interest or for selfish motives. God wants us to keep the relationship with each other always. In this way we share in Gods plan for his creation or we cooperate in Gods plan for the humanity. Some times we hear husbands giving hard time for their wives or vice versa because of bad habits or infidelity and so on. Children break relationship with their parents for various reasons which brings sadness and ill feeling in the family. 

As we celebrate the jubilee of the nation we ask Lord give us the strength to remain in relationship and keep our family bonds stronger. May the Trinity help us to be strong in our faith. This way we build the kingdom of God here on earth by loving each other.