The Blessed Virgin Mary

Peasant Times-Dispatch Issue 13

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Back By Popular Demand

Last month I wrote about the Assumption of Mary and asked if anyone would be interested in a bit more of a primer on Catholic teaching about Mary. Some of you said yes! So here we are, another post that will serve as a good introduction.

But before I get too deep, some of you may be wondering— “Scoot, this is the Peasant Times-Dispatch, not the Mary Times-Dispatch! Why are you talking about Mary?”

To which I would respond—Mary is one of the most Peasantly doctrines the Catholic Church has! Let me explain.

Have any of you experienced a scenario like this? You have a friend, and you are best friends, you hang out all the time. You are as welcome at their house as they are at your house. You get to know their parents pretty well, and your parents get to know your friend pretty well too. You treat your friends parents with utmost respect, because they are important to your friend—and your friends parents treat you with kindness, because they like that you are their child’s friend. It’s almost like having a second set of parents!

Many times we refer to ourselves as “friends of Christ”. When we visit Christ’s house, his Mother will be there. It is good to pay respect and devotion to Christ’s mother! We love our mothers, we love our friends mothers, we are friends of Christ, we love Christ’s mother. It’s really that simple.

Doctrinal Devotion

The Catholic Church does however teach four ironclad doctrines about Mary. I want to get these up front so when I talk about some of the other things you can have these doctrines sitting in the background, and you might see the connections between the Doctrinal teaching and the tradition and practice.

The four doctrines of Mary are these: Mary is the Immaculate Conception; Mary is the Mother of God; Mary is the Perpetual Virgin; Mary was Assumed into Heaven.

That’s a lot of words, what do they mean?

One of the core concepts of Catholic Teaching, and an idea you can find all throughout scripture, is that Holy things must be treated reverently from start to finish, handled with care, and if necessary kept separate. Moses convened with God in a tent and emerged glowing. A man accidentally brushed the Ark of the Covenant and was destroyed immediately. Holy things are powerful. Mary was called to contain the Holiest thing—the infant Christ, the second person of the trinity, God incarnate. But before Mary was called to contain Christ, she was, from the very beginning, called to contain the ovum that would become Christ. In order for her to contain Christ, she needed to be spotless, stainless, immaculate. That is why Mary is the immaculate conception—she was conceived without the stain of original sin, so that she could be pure and spotless enough to bear throughout her life the egg that would give flesh to Christ, to bear the Christ-Child himself, and then to nurse and raise Him, and finally to follow him to the Cross.

The second doctrine is that Mary is, in fact, the Mother of God. The Greek word you might see describing this is theotokos—God Bearer. This doctrine is more about Christ than about Mary—Jesus was fully man and fully God, the Hypostatic Union. When Mary gave birth to Christ—painlessly, as painful birth was a consequence of original sin—she was giving birth to the second person of the trinity, God entire, the incarnation. This is actually the second oldest Marian doctrine, which was dogmatically defined at the Council of Ephesus in 431AD. This council was called to combat the heresy of Nestorianism which did not accept the Hypostatic Union. Asserting the Hypostatic Union and the nature of Jesus as both fully man and fully God has logical implications on Mary who gave God his human nature.

The third and oldest doctrine is that Mary is perpetual virgin—even through the birth of Christ. This was also codified in response to a heresy. It’s worth noting—things that are Doctrines in the Catholic Church are not “invented”. They reflect things people believed without objection since the time of Christ, and only when they are challenged and the faithful begin to be led astray does the Church come out firmly and specify something is doctrine. The heresy was called Jovinianism, in opposition to Christian asceticism. The perpetual virginity of Mary is also attested to in the Protoevangelium of James, a non-canonical document that records extensive details about early church beliefs. What is funny is that getting Mary wrong inevitably leads to getting Christ wrong.

The fourth and final doctrine of Mary is her Assumption into heaven, which I speak about extensively in my previous article.

OK, those are doctrines, but why does Mary Matter?

Mary Matters for many reasons but here are my favorites.

Mary is Queen-Mother. In the time of Solomon, he had many wives. Who was the Queen if he had many wives? His mother. Imagine this: Solomon has a child with one of his many wives. That child could now become an heir to the throne. The childs mother could vigorously defend her sons claim, fight off competitors, look out for him. When Solomon died, who would be best positioned to look after the young heir? The mother. Who would hold a position of prominence and respect once the heir took the throne? The mother. Mary is the Queen-Mother, to Christ’s reign as King—she nurtured the King, protected him, taught him, and then followed him throughout his ministry.

Mary is OUR Mother. Fulton Sheen remarks¹ that the three kinds of people we find at the foot of the Cross are embodied by Mary, Mary Magdalene, and John—Innocent, Penitent, and Priest. On the Cross, Christ bequeaths us to the care of his mother, and vice versa: “Woman, behold your son. [John], behold thy mother.”² John, on behalf of the human race, accepted Mary as his Blessed Mother; Mary, on behalf of her Son, our God, accepted us as her spiritual children.

Mary had a choice. Mary was fully human—she had free will, just like you and I have free will. But her will was perfectly yoked to the will of God. God didn’t dictate to her—he asked her. Mary asked questions— “How is this possible?”—and then the whole of salvation history hinged on a knifes edge, when Mary gave her blessed fiat— “let it be done to me according to Thy Will”. This is the definition of abandonment to divine providence! How different would our lives be if we imitated Mary in telling God— “let it be done to me according to Thy Will”. The Magnificat is a beautiful prayer for this reason.

Ad Jesum Per Mariam—To Jesus Through Mary. Mary was the vessel through which Christ was brought to the world. Mary told the workers at the wedding of Cana “Do whatever he tells you” and allowed Christ to perform his first miracle. Mary brings Jesus to us. Devotion to Mary will bring us closer to Jesus too.

How can I start a devotion to Mary?

Pray a Hail Mary. The Hail Mary goes like this:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

The Hail Mary is a short but very powerful prayer. The text of the Hail Mary is derived entirely from scripture. It highlights several key doctrines of Mary. It reminds us of the two most important times in our lives—right now and the moment we die.

Read about Mary. Luke’s Gospel is full of details about Mary that we don’t find in other Gospels. It is believed that Luke may have been one of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and he would have spent time with the disciples in Jerusalem and it is believed he spoke extensively with Mary in order to get the details of her life. He traveled with St Paul and diverged to spend time in Greece—I believe some believe Mary was there as well. Read about Mary and meditate on her presence in the Gospel.

Pray the Rosary. This is an advanced devotion, but if you can say a Hail Mary you can say a Rosary. One of the important components of the Rosary is learning the Mysteries of the Rosary, which highlight moments in the life of Mary and Jesus. There are twenty mysteries—the first fifteen were traditionally held since the inception of the Rosary, the last five were introduced by Pope St. John Paul II.

The Mysteries are:

Joyful Mysteries:

• The Annunciation - God announces his plan to Mary and Christ is conceived by the Holy Spirit

• The Visitation - Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist

• The Nativity - Mary gives birth to Christ

• The Presentation - Mary and Joseph pay the ransom for Christ of two turtledoves as is custom of poor first century Jews

• The Finding in the Temple - Young Christ goes missing from the party and Mary and Joseph search for Him—He is found in the Temple, “Don’t you know that I must be in my Fathers house?”

Sorrowful Mysteries:

• The Agony in the Garden - Christ’s Agony at Gesthemane

• The Scourging at the Pillar - Christ’s public flogging at the hands of Romans

• The Crowning with Thorns - Christ is humiliated and mocked

• The Carrying of the Cross - Simon the Cyrenian is made to help Christ carry his Cross

• The Crucifixion of Christ - Christ is Crucified and dies for us.

Glorious Mysteries:

• The Resurrection of Christ - Christ is Risen Indeed!

• The Ascension of Christ - Christ Ascends into heaven

• The Holy Spirit descends on the Apostles - The Holy Spirit descends as tongues of flame

• The Assumption of Mary - Mary is assumed into heaven

• The Coronation of Mary - Mary is crowned with glory as Queen of Heaven and of Earth

Luminous Mysteries:

• The Baptism of Christ - Christ is baptized in the Jordan River

• The Wedding at Cana - Christ performs his first miracle and begins his ministry

• The Proclamation of the Kingdom - Christ proclaims the Kingdom of God is at hand

• The Transfiguration - Christ is Transfigured before Peter, John, and James

• The Institution of the Eucharist - Christ at the last supper gives us his body and his blood.

There are many, many, many devotions to Mary. I personally wear a Brown Scapular, I keep green scapulars on hand, I have Miraculous Medals for wearing and giving out as the occasion requires. I pray the Rosary as often as I can. I celebrate some Marian Feasts. I am a member of the Legion of Mary. You can choose as many or as few as you like—the important thing is to choose something that speaks to your soul and helps you to grow spiritually.

TL;DR

Mary is a peasantly devotion because it is the simplest to understand—devotion to a mother, Christ’s mother, Our Mother. Mary brought Christ to the world, and Mary brings Christ to us. Devotion to Mary can only ever lead us closer to Christ, because He loves His mother and can only be pleased when others love His mother also. The prayers and devotions to Mary, while many, remind us of the importance of Christ, and the mysteries of the Rosary tell the story of Christ’s ministry on Earth. You can never go wrong by being devoted to Our Blessed Mother!

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Thank you for reading! God bless you all!

Ad Jesum Per Mariam

1. Watch This Video

2. John 19:26-27