One
of the most difficult Catholic doctrines and practices we Catholics avoid to
discuss is on Mary. On the solemnity of Mary, the Mother
of God, here is my attempt to shed light on what and how we as Catholics regard
the Blessed Virgin Mary, especially the two Ex Cathedra, dogma on Mary –
Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary’s body and soul into Heaven.
To
begin, let me state two truths that the Church teaches most emphatically.
First, God alone, the Supreme, Infinite Being, must be adored. To adore any
creature, however exalted, would be to commit idolatry. It is simply absurd and
also grossly unfair to say that Catholics adore Mary. Second, Jesus Christ
alone is our Mediator of Redemption. He alone, by his supreme sacrifice, of
infinite value, redeemed and ransomed mankind.
What Honor May be Shown to Mary? If
God alone is to be adored and worshiped, may any honor be shown to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and, if so,
what kind of honor?
There is an innate law engraved on the human heart that
dictates that special honor should be shown to creatures who are clothed with a
special dignity. Children must honor their parents, servants must respect their
masters, soldiers must obey their officers, subjects must show loyalty to
their rulers. God himself has, in fact, positively commanded, in his revelation
to man, this honor as the natural law prescribes. It is clear as day that, besides the supreme honor
that we give God, and which we term adoration, there is an inferior honor that
we not only may but must show to all creatures who are clothed with special
dignity.
The reason we moderns get confused
about worship is that we’ve forgotten the principle of sacrifice so we don’t
really know what worship is all about. From time immemorial worship was identified with a particular action: the action of sacrifice. Pagans worshipped their gods by making sacrifices to them. The Jews worshipped by making sacrifice to Yahweh. This is understandable from the
point of view of Protestants because they got worried about the sacrifice thing
500 years ago and threw it out. What is most depressing is that most of us
also don’t understand the “sacrifice is worship” idea either. We have heard that the Mass is all about “the family of God gathering around the table of
fellowship to increase our mutual self esteem and discuss peace and justice
issues.”
Because of this nonsense the majority
of Catholics around the world don’t have a clue what the sacrifice business is
all about, and therefore
we don’t know what worship is supposed to be about either. Like the neo-Protestants,
we have come to think that worship is all about hearing a sermon, singing
some songs and praying. This is one of the reasons why many non- Catholic
Christians think Catholics worship Mary. They think worship and prayer is the
same thing. Therefore, if you are praying to Mary you must be worshipping Mary and when confronted by the same question, we readily concede.
Well, let us think again. The Catholic faith has been
around for a long time,
and believe it or not, these questions have been asked before. I am sure you
have heard that scripture uses the word Love, which has three Greek equivalent
words, i.e, agape, philia and eros and to apply the equivalent Greek word in
drawing out exegesis of the scriptural text, you will have to understand the
context of the scripture writer. In the interest of time and space, I will not
discuss that here. However, the word worship takes the same element: there are three categories of respect due in the realm of worship.
They go by specific names: Latria, Dulia and Hyperdulia.
Latria is worship. It is the worship that
is due only to God. This worship consists of offering God our lives, our souls,
our minds and our bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans. 12. 1-2). As Catholics
we do this pre-eminently through the sacrifice of the Mass.
Dulia is not worship. It is honor. We
honor anyone who is eminent and accomplished. We honor them for their brains,
their discipline, their wit, their achievement. We honor our parents and
grandparents because we owe them that. We honor our loved ones. Part of this
honor is that we ask them for things. We come to them with our needs. We look
up to them. We respect them. They are our role models and mentors. We have a
relationship to them of subservient honor. They are awesome to us. Dulia
is also what we give to the saints and angels. We give them the honor that is
due to them. As part of this we have a relationship with them. We ask them for
things. This is called “praying to the saints.”
Hyperdulia is the honor we give to the
Virgin Mary. We give her the highest honor because she is unique amongst all
God’s creation. She is higher than the cherubim and seraphim. She is the only
created being who was honored by God so greatly that his son took his flesh
from her. She has totally unique place of honor in heaven and therefore also
amongst all of God’s people on earth. The honor we give her, therefore, and the
dulia we give her is higher than any other being. But it is not latria.
We’re clear about that. We do not worship Mary. The sign of this is that we
do not make sacrifice to her. You don’t find any Catholic priest offering a
Mass to Mary. No. The sacrifice of the Mass is offered to God the Almighty
Father.
This also should be understood
clearly - the dulia and hyperdulia which we give to Mary and the
saints is ultimately honor given to God. We honor the saints (including the
Blessed Mother) not for who they are, but for who God made them to be. We honor
in them the completed work of grace. We honor in them their faithful obedience,
which itself is a gift from God. The Blessed Virgin says, “the Almighty has
done great things for me!” We honor Mary and the saints because we are struck
with delight and awe at the wonderful things God has done for them. As the moon
reflects the sun, so the Virgin and saints reflect the light of Christ. Without
him they are nothing. With him they have become divinized–sons and daughters of
the Almighty Father.
Scripture Teaches Devotion to Mary. If
we read carefully the first chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, verse 26 to
verse 55. It is very hard to understand how any Christian can study this
passage and then refuse to honor Mary. Why? The "Hail Mary," which
Catholics love to address to the Blessed Virgin, is explicitly given there;
part of it was said by the angel Gabriel and part by Elizabeth.
The
angel was inspired by God and Elizabeth "was filled with the Holy
Ghost" (v. 41). Let us put together the words that
the angel Gabriel and Elizabeth addressed to Mary: "Hail, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee: blessed are thou among women" (v. 28).
"Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb."
Here we have the salutation that Catholics address to Mary. The only additions
we have made are the two names, "Mary" and "Jesus." So
that, in saying the Hail, Mary, Catholics are explicitly following the Bible.
You
will notice, that Mary in that sublime canticle known as the Magnificat,
which is recorded by the inspired writer from verse 46 to 55, declared:
"Behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed" (v.
48). Who then fulfills this prophecy? Those who refuse to apply the
adjective blessed to the Virgin Mary, or Catholics, who love to call
Mary the Blessed Virgin? How much more biblical you may want to be?
The Name Says it All. And
the angel Gabriel came to Mary and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is
with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in
her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her,
"Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God." (Luke
1:28-30).
Non
Catholic bible commentators will insist this text to be little more than a
common greeting of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary.
"What does this have to do with Mary being without sin?" Yet, the
truth is, according to Mary herself, this was no common greeting. The text
reveals Mary to have been "greatly troubled at the saying and considered
in her mind what sort of greeting this might be" (Luke 1:29).
What
was it about this greeting that was so uncommon for Mary to react this way?
We can consider at least two key aspects. First, according to Catholic biblical
scholars, the angel did more than simply greet
Mary. The angel actually communicated a new name or title to her. In Greek, the
greeting was kaire, kekaritomene, or "Hail, full of grace." Generally
speaking, when one greeted another with kaire, a name or title would be
found in the immediate context. "Hail, king of the Jews" in John 19:3
is one biblical example of this.
The
fact that the angel replaces Mary’s name in the greeting with "full of
grace" was anything but common.
This would be analogous to me speaking to one of our tech guys at work and
saying, "Hello, he who fixes computers." In
Hebrew culture, names and name changes tell us something permanent about the
character and calling of the one named.
Just recall the name changes of Abram to Abraham (from "father" to
"father of the multitudes") in Genesis 17:5, Saray to Sarah ("my
princess" to "princess") in Genesis 17:15 and Jacob to Israel
("supplanter" to "he who prevails with God") in Genesis
32:28. In each case, the names reveal something permanent about the one named.
Abraham and Sarah transitioned from being a "father" and
"princess" of one family to being "father" and
"princess" or "mother" of the entire people of God (see
Rom. 4:1-18; Is. 51:1-2). They become patriarch and matriarch of God’s people forever. Jacob/Israel becomes the
patriarch whose name, "he who prevails with God," continues forever in the Church, which
is called "the Israel of God" (Gal. 6:16). The People of God will
forever "prevail with God" in the image of the patriarch Jacob.
What’s
in a name? St. Luke uses the perfect passive participle, kekaritomene,
as his "name" for Mary. This word literally means "she who has
been graced" in a completed sense. This verbal adjective,
"graced," is not just describing a simple past action. Greek has
another tense for that. The perfect tense is used to indicate that an action
has been completed in the past resulting in a present
state of being.
"Full
of grace" is Mary’s name. So what does it
tell us about Mary? Well, the average Christian is not completed in grace and
in a permanent sense (see Phil. 3:8-12). But according to the angel, Mary is. You
and I sin because of a lack of grace, or a lack of our cooperation with grace,
in our lives. This greeting of the angel is one clue into the unique character
and calling of the Mother of God. Only Mary is given the name "full of
grace" and in the perfect tense, indicating that this permanent state of
Mary was completed.
The
Immaculate Conception, from the documents of the Church herself.
"The Blessed Virgin Mary..." In the Constitution Ineffabilis Deus of 8 December, 1854, Pius IX pronounced and defined that the Blessed Virgin Mary "in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege
and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin." The subject of this immunity from original sin is the person of Mary at the moment of the creation of her soul and its infusion into her body.
"...in the first instance of her conception..." The term conception does not mean the active or generative
conception by her parents. Her body was formed in the womb of the mother, and the father had the usual share in its formation. The question does not concern the
immaculateness of the generative activity of her parents. Neither does it concern the passive conception absolutely and simply which, according to the order of nature, precedes the infusion of the rational soul. The person is truly conceived when the soul is created and infused into the body. Mary was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin at the first moment of her animation, and sanctifying grace was given to her before sin could have taken effect in her soul.
"...was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin..." The formal active essence of original sin was not removed from her soul, as it is removed from others by baptism; it was excluded, it never was in her soul. Simultaneously with the exclusion of sin. The state of original sanctity, innocence, and justice, as opposed to original sin, was conferred upon her, by which gift every stain and fault, all depraved emotions, passions, and debilities, essentially pertaining to original sin, were excluded. But she was not made exempt from the temporal penalties
of Adam — from sorrow, bodily infirmities, and death.
"...by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of
the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race." The immunity from original sin was given to Mary by a singular exemption from a universal law through the same merits of Christ, by which other men are cleansed from sin by baptism. Mary needed the redeeming Saviour to obtain this exemption, and to be delivered from the universal necessity and debt (debitum) of being subject to original sin. The person of Mary, in consequence of her origin from Adam, should have been subject to sin, but, being the new Eve who was to be the mother of the new Adam, she was, by the eternal counsel of God and by the merits of Christ, withdrawn from the general law of original sin. Her redemption was the very masterpiece of Christ's redeeming wisdom. He is a greater redeemer who pays the debt that it may not be incurred than he who pays after it has fallen on the
debtor.
The Assumption of
Mary into Heaven
How did the “Assumption of Mary into Heaven theory” come about? It’s more than a theory. It’s an
official dogma of the Catholic Church, and one of only two Ex Cathedra,
infallible statements ever proclaimed by a Pope, throughout the history of
the Church. There are a number of valid theological reasons for the Assumption
of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as earlier scriptural precedents for it in
the apparent bodily “translations” of Enoch, Elijah, and possibly even Moses.
It is known from scripture that Satan spared no effort trying to locate
and claim the dead body of Moses, as some sort of a “trophy” … finally being frustrated by the
concerted efforts and strong rebuke of Michael the Archangel. Knowing this, if
you were Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, triumphantly returned to
Heaven after your successfully completed mission, but knowing full well that
Satan, while officially powerless, still remained a dangerous fugitive back on
earth, how long would you permit Satan to have his way with your own mother?
Then there’s the traditional explanation. A number of the apostles witnessed
Mary’s apparent death. Her body was placed in a tomb, and several days later,
the tomb was found to be empty, her body seemingly replaced by a huge volume of
flowers.
Sometime later, St. John received the Book of Revelation from Jesus
Christ, and John
correlated the images and events in the last part of chapter 11 and the first
part of chapter 12 with the events surrounding the “dormition” of the Blessed
Virgin. Based on this, the Catholic Church has always understood that God would
not allow the sanctified flesh that was used to fashion Christ’s human body to
see the corruption of the tomb. And since Mary, by special privilege of God,
was necessarily sinless from conception, and further sanctified by some 34
years of dwelling in the immediate presence of Christ himself, there was
absolutely no need for Mary to await the resurrection, since according to God’s
grace, Mary had absolutely no sin that would warrant divine judgment … or death
… for that matter.
The Church authoritatively and dogmatically explains all of this here,
much better that I can in my own words. this short excerpt from the above
document sums things up pretty well:
Hence the revered Mother of God, from all eternity joined in a hidden way with Jesus Christ in one and
the same decree of predestination, immaculate in her conception, a most perfect
virgin in her divine motherhood, the noble associate of the divine Redeemer who
has won a complete triumph over sin and its consequences, finally obtained, as
the supreme culmination of her privileges, that she should be preserved free from
the corruption of the tomb and that, like her own Son, having overcome death,
she might be taken up body and soul to the glory of heaven where, as Queen, she
sits in splendor at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages.
The Assumption: Definition - "Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved
free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was
finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the
Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to
her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death. [LG 59; cf. Pius
XII, Munificentissimus Deus (1950): DS 3903; cf. Rev 19:16.] "The
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's
Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians:
Did Mary Die? It's an open question in Catholic
theology (note how carefully the definition is phrased); but most theologians
think she did, hence the ancient title of the feast of the Assumption, the
"Feast of the Dormition", i.e., Mary's "falling
asleep" in death).
Is the Assumption in Scripture? Ludwig Ott, author of the excellent
book Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma candidly says, "Direct and
express scriptural proofs are not to be had." But there is plenty of
indirect evidence, which we'll explore.
What about John 3:13, "No one has
ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man"? The name "Assumption" is
important, and one should be careful not to mix expressions here; in Catholic
terminology, the "Assumption" is something that God did to Mary in
bringing her into heaven, over which she had no control, while
"Ascension" is what Jesus, being divine, did under his own power.
When is the last time Mary is directly
mentioned in Scripture? See Acts 1:14, and Gal 4:4. Why is she not mentioned much? It's not that surprising, because Mary
was alive when most of the New Testament was being written, and her humble
nature may well have led her to shun the limelight. Her role was to bring
the Messiah into the world and nurture and teach him, and the focus of much of
the New Testament is primarily the life of Jesus and the apostolic ministry
which followed his resurrection.
What happened to her after Pentecost? Mary the mother of Jesus was given
into John's care (John 19:26-27), and John was a "pillar" of the
Church in Jerusalem for some time (Gal 2:9), before living in Ephesus until his
exile to Patmos.
Biblical Precedent: Who has been
assumed into heaven? There is good Biblical precedent for someone who is close to God being
assumed bodily into heaven. Elijah is a good example - he was assumed
bodily into heaven by a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). Enoch, similarly, as Gen 5:24 says, Enoch
"walked with God; and he was not, for God took him". He
"was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found,
because God had taken him" (Heb 11:5; see also Sirach 44:16). Moses, Jude gives us a hint about what may
have happened to Moses after his death, and refers to the Assumption of Moses
(a non-canonical book, but one which obviously contained information important
to Jude), in Jude 9 ("the archangel Michael, contending with the devil,
disputed about the body of Moses"). It seems fair to speculate that
Moses was taken up to heaven bodily, given that at the Transfiguration (Matt
17:1-8), Moses appeared with Elijah, who we are told explicitly was assumed
into heaven.
Some Other Old Testament Saints? Matthew 27:52-53: "the tombs also
were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised,
and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city
and appeared to many". There is no record of these Old Testament saints
dying and having to be buried again.
Who will be assumed into heaven? At the Second Coming we know that
"the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left,
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air" (1 Thes 4:16-17). The Assumption can be thought of as an
example of what will happen at "The Rapture". There are also the two witnesses of Revelation 11. John prophesies that they will
be assumed into heaven three and a half days after they are killed: "And
in the sight of their foes they went up to heaven in a cloud" (Rev 11:12).
Historical evidence. In the early Church the relics of
saints and martyrs were zealously sought after and prized, but no one ever
claimed to have the bones of Mary. In fact, St John Damascene tells us: "St.
Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, at the Council of Chalcedon [AD 451], made known
to the Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria, who wished to possess the body of the
Mother of God, that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her
tomb, when opened, upon the request of St. Thomas, was found empty; wherefrom
the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to heaven" (St John of
Damascus, in Migne's Patrologia Graeca Cursus Completus 96:1).
Many Christian apologists have pointed out that the First Century Jewish or Roman authorities could have
quickly squashed the early Christian faith in Christ's resurrection by simply
producing the body of Jesus; similar reasoning can be applied with respect to
Mary's Assumption. The fact that there is no hint in history of a claim
to the possession of her relics is a good point in favor of the doctrine.
Why is the Assumption not much
mentioned, compared with other doctrines? The very early Church was preoccupied
with resolving Christological questions, particularly about Christ's
incarnation and his divine and human natures and wills. Once these more
important doctrines were hammered out, the Church gradually was able to turn
its attention to Mary and explore what it meant for a woman to be chosen as
Theotokos, and in what ways it would have been fitting for God to honor her.
Mary is in many ways the "prototype" of the Church; what happened to her prefigures what
will happen to Christians when we die and go to heaven, or at the Second
Coming. For example, she was preserved by God from sin, and in heaven we
will not sin; her glorified body was caught up to heaven, and on the Last Day
the glorified bodies of all the saints will be taken into heaven.
The doctrine of the Assumption is also based largely on the
"fittingness" of the privilege given to her by God. Grounds for this include the
fact that she was chosen to be the Mother of God the Son, and her perfect
obedience to God's will. Since Jesus, who fulfilled the commandments
perfectly, would have honored his mother perfectly, it is not unreasonable to
conclude the Assumption as one of the ways in which she was honored by her
son. It is "fitting" then that she should be given the full
effects of the Redemption, which is the glorification of the soul and
body. The doctrine of the Assumption points us toward the glorious
promise that awaits us co-heirs of God's kingdom, and it illustrates and
reinforces the dignity we have as sons and daughters of God.
