Simple compact, digested version of the teachings - If Mary is good enough for Jesus, she’s good enough for us!
Four Dogmas on Mary
- Divine Motherhood
- Perpetual Virginity
- Immaculate Conception
- Assumption
Mary’s Special Role
- Prophesized in the Old Testament (Gen 3:15:)
- Mary is the New Eve - her Magnificat - my soul glorifies the Lord
- Eve brought sin & death into the world through her disobedience (my will)
- Mary brought redemption into the world (Jesus - the fruit of her womb) through her fiat - your will be done
- Mary’s special place is all due to God grace hence - Hail Mary full of grace
- The old covenant (Ten Commandments) were held in an ark
- The Ark of the New Covenant - the first Tabernacle
Divine Motherhood (Council of Ephesus 431)
- Jesus, who is fully God and fully man, “was born of a woman” Gal 4:4
- Mary was that woman
- Theotokos
- Determined in conjunction with the answer to the heresy that Jesus was not both Man/God
- St. Josemaria in Friends of God #274 (Read the whole section. It's pretty good)
She is our Mother John 19:27
And since mother of Christ who is head of the Church she is also Mother of the Church
Perpetual Virginity (Ancient Creeds) - virgin before, during and after birth of Christ
- The messiah would be born of a virgin
- Based on Scripture (Matthew 1:18, Luke 1:27 and 1:35) and the ancient creeds, early Baptismal rites, early liturgy
- A2 Jesus had brothers
- No word for cousins
- Does not make logical sense - would create doubt about Jesus’ status as the Son of God
- Council of the Lateran, 649 Mary conceived "without any detriment to her virginity, which remained inviolate even after his birth"
Immaculate Conception (Pius IX, December 8, 1854) - from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege from Almighty God and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, was kept free of every stain of original sin."
- No original and no personal sin
- "at the first moment of Her conception, Mary was preserved free from the stain of original sin, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ." Blessed John Duns Scotus
- The angel Gabriel said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Luke 1:28). The phrase "full of grace" is a translation of the Greek word kecharitomene. It therefore expresses a characteristic quality of Mary.
- Kecharitomene is a perfect passive participle of charitoo, meaning "to fill or endow with grace." Since this term is in the perfect tense, it indicates that Mary was graced in the past but with continuing effects in the present. So, the grace Mary enjoyed was not a result of the angel’s visit. In fact, Catholics hold, it extended over the whole of her life, from conception onward. She was in a state of sanctifying grace from the first moment of her existence.
- Doesn’t it make sense that God would have chosen to perfect the means he would come to Earth
Assumption (Pius XII, November 1, 1950) - Mary was assumed into Heaven body & soul
- Intimated in scripture
- Sg 2:10; 4:7
- Rev 12:1
- Must distinguish from what it is not
- Mary was assumed thru God’s drawing her up
- Jesus ascended with His own power as God
- She reigns in heaven as Queen; mother queen
- Negative proof - no relics/remains; as highly as we esteem Mary wouldn’t we have her bones, etc if she remained here on Earth
- Over the centuries, the Fathers and the Doctors of the Church spoke often about the fittingness of the privilege of Mary’s Assumption. The speculative grounds considered include Mary’s freedom from sin, her Motherhood of God, her perpetual virginity, and—the key—her union with the salvific work of Christ.
- The dogma is especially fitting when one examines the honor that was given to the ark of the covenant. It contained the manna (bread from heaven), stone tablets of the ten commandments (the word of God), and the staff of Aaron (a symbol of Israel’s high priesthood). Because of its contents, it was made of incorruptible wood, and Psalm 132:8 said, "Arise, O Lord, and go to thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy might." If this vessel was given such honor, how much more should Mary be kept from corruption, since she is the new ark—who carried the real bread from heaven, the Word of God, and the high priest of the New Covenant, Jesus Christ.
Mary intercedes for us - Wedding at Cana
She always takes to Jesus
Pray the Rosary - spiritual weapon (Padre Pio & St. Josemaria)
Every General has to have weapons
Her mission is the same as her Son’s – our redemption
Her weapon – don’t leave home without it: The Rosary
This is the weapon
JP2 instructed us to pray everyday after 9-11
The last several popes prayed all the decades every day: busier than the Pope?
He’s got time to pray the Rosary everyday.
The Rosary is a Prayer of the Gospel - the Word Made Flesh - not something but somebody
You could ask your Protestant friends what do you have against the Gospel?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church & Scripture
CCC 963-972 - Mary’s influence in our lives
CCC 484-507 - Mary Mother of God
CCC 490-493, 508 - Immaculate Conception
CCC 510-511 - Perpetual Virginity
CCC 966 - The Assumption
CCC 971 - Mother of the Church
CCC 484-507, 2674 - Helper of Christians
Gen 3:15 - The Second Eve
Gal. 4:4 - Mother of Jesus
John 19:27 - Mother of Church
Matthew 1:18, Luke 1:27 and 1:35 - Perpetual Virginity
Luke 1:28 - Full of Grace (Immaculate Conception)
Song of Songs 2:10; 4:7 and Rev 12:1 - The Assumption
Books
Hail Holy Queen, Scott Hahn
True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis de Montfort
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