Mary Mother of God

God created men sinless, Adam and Eve was without sin in Eden. Both Adam and Eve disobeyed God and introduced Sin into the world. Eve was the first to sin but the Original Sin is credited to Adam. This is an important point.
The Blessed Mother was the Immaculate Conception because she was to be the Mother of the incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ. By the will of the Father, the Holy Spirit took one of the ova of the Blessed Mother and infused the Son, thus making the second person of the Most Blessed Holy Trinity, Man. The second person, The Son, now has two natures, God and Man. In addition, just as the Most Blessed Holy Trinity is inseparable, so now the two natures of Our Lord Jesus Christ are inseparable.
The Creator created the Blessed Mother without sin. Her Salvation was through Our Lord Jesus Christ. It was credited to her, (LK 1:46-47) and not of her own merits Yes, the Blessed Mother still need a savor but her salvation was credited to her, just as Moses, Elijah, Enoch, Abraham, and Lazarus salvation was credited to them from the sacrifice of Calvary. In addition, The Blessed Mother stayed sinless and was Assumed into Heaven body and soul. This should not be hard to accept because this was to be the faith of our first parents, Adam and Eve before their fall from grace. Moreover, Mary was full of grace, The Arch-Angel Gabriel said so, (LK 1:28).
There will be some that will argue, from their mistranslation of Holy Scriptures, that Gabriel said, “Favor one”. Nevertheless, this is not true. St. Jerome translated the Greek into “Animousus Pacis” Animousus meaning: “Full of” as in breath or air, and Pacis meaning “of God’s graces or law”. St. Jerome translated this from the Greek, “pliris evlogia”. Pliris meaning complete, full, thorough, unabbreviated, and evlogia meaning beatification, benediction, blessing. If the Greek had been “gematos chari” then the translation “favored one” would have been correct.
Prophets in the bible has their prophecies recorded, but false prophets did not. The Blessed Mother, we see, was a prophet when she said, “For he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.” (LK 1:48)
She was the first to accept the mandates of God, (LK 1:38), just like Eve was the first to reject (Gen 3:6). However, Salvation still comes through Our Lord Jesus Christ just as our damnation came through Adam (1COR 15:22). Our Lord Jesus Christ needed His mother sinless so that he himself would not be taint by sin.
The wrongness of saying that “Mary was just a vessel” is to deny the humanity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. If the Blessed Mother was just a vessel then she wasn’t a mother and another prophet told us that Mary was the Blessed Mother, Elizabeth, “ And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”, (LK 1:43) Note: On Elizabeth being a prophet, see LK 1:42. Our Lord Jesus Christ was 100% human, without the ovum of the Blessed Mother He would not have been a continuation from Adam. This is important. Christ was the New Man, but he had to be a continuation of the old man. If He was not the continuation of the old man then He was not one of us and his Sacrifice at Calvary would have no power for us.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was 100% Divine. He had a Father; the First Person of the Most Blessed Holy Trinity, and Our Lord Jesus Christ was 100% human. He had a mother, the Blessed Mother. Moreover, Our Lord Jesus Christ kept His commandments, Ex. 20:12. If Our Lord Jesus Christ was not human and only God then the sacrifice on Calvary was a meaningless hollow gesture. Sense no sacrifice was preformed and Our Lord Jesus Christ lost nothing and in loosing nothing then why would he be in such agony that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground (Lk 22:44). And if Our Lord Jesus Christ was not God then the sacrifice on Calvary would not have had any power to save (Heb. 10:12).
So Christ is 100% God and 100% human, (LK 1:37) and a continuation of Adam. In addition, for this to happen God used one of his most perfect creatures who is the Mother of God because Our Lord Jesus Christ is both God and Man.
All of this is God’s Will.
Curious, when we look at the apocrypha (the other religious works written around the same time as scripture) in the book of The Protevangelion written in the first century A/D. in the 8th chapter verse 6 we see, “And behold the angel of the Lord came to him and spake, Zacharias, Zacharis, Go forth and call together all the widowers among the people, and let every one of them bring his rod, and he by whom the Lord shall shew a sign shall be the husband of Mary.”
Now the apocrypha is not The Word of God. However, it has historical value because it records the beliefs and gives historical account and support to the belief at this time. The above passage shows that Widowers were the ones consider to the betrothing of Mary.
Chapter 8 Vs 11: The last rod was taken by Joseph, and behold a dove preceded out of the rod, and flew upon the head of Joseph.
Chapter 8 Vs 12: And the high-Priest said, Joseph, Thou are the person chosen to take the Virgin of the Lord, to keep her for him;
Chapter 8 Vs 13: But Joseph refused, saying, I am an old man, and have children, but she is young, and I fear lest I should appear ridiculous in Israel.
The above three verses shows that it was believe in the early part of the second century Joseph was an old man and had children already.
Another apocrypha work, “The Gospel of the Birth of Mary” which was written in the first century and attributive to St. Mark said, “Among the rest there was a man named Joseph, of the house and family of David, and a person very far advanced in years, who drew back his rod, when everyone beside presented his.” Chapter VI Vs 1.
Both of these books shows that it was a common belief in the first century that Joseph was already old, which is why we see no mention of Joseph after Our Lord is twelve, and a widower. Moreover, sense in Lev. We see that the eldest son is to take care of his father widow, and Jesus was not the one that was taking care of Mary, then Joseph must have had an older son that took care of Mary. Also, as was the custom, a rabbi only had younger men in his group. Jesus was considered a rabbi, and all of the apostles were younger. None of his “brothers” were among his group, which would make sense if they were all older, we see a James the Brother of Our Lord present in Acts and the epistles of Paul. However, were was this James when Christ was alive on earth?
He would not have been with Jesus’ group because Jesus was younger than he was. Notice too that in the passages that mention the brothers and sisters of Jesus they also mention that Jesus was the son of the carpenter. And we know that Jesus was not the son of the carpenter but the Son Of God.
So why was not the term “Step-brother” used? Stepbrother /sister are a modern term only appearing first in the 19th century. Because we started to see the union of Widows and Widowers who had children already.
Half brother came into use only when medieval royalty was working out the different degrees of blood relations. Look in the Book of Genesis; the story of Joseph, Jacob had twelve sons by four wives. Joseph after being reunited with his brothers was very happy to see his only blood brother,Benjamin, (they shared the same Father and Mother).
The Book of The Gospel of the Birth of Mary also mention about Mary vowel of Perpetual Virginity to God. That explains why an old man advanced in years was betrothed to Mary. Why the book of The Gospel of the Birth of Mary was not considered canonical? That is beyond me, but it is interesting to note that the Gospel of the Birth of Mary ends where The Gospel of St. Mark begins. This may have been all one longer work like the Gospel of Luke and The Acts of the Apostles. In addition, Remember, Mark was the scribe of St. Peter, so he got his information from the Rock upon which Christ built his Church.


Why did the Church promulgate such teachings and not just leave well enough alone? The answer lies in the reason the Church promulgates Marian doctrine at all: namely, that Marian doctrines are always a commentary on Christ and/or the nature of the Church or the human person.
So, for instance, the dogma of the Theotokos (i.e., "God bearer" or "Mother of God") was defined in order to "build a hedge" around the doctrine that Christ is one divine person with two natures, not two persons, one human and one divine occupying a single head. Likewise, the Perpetual Virginity of Mary is a commentary on the purity and holiness of the Church and the goodness of virginity, and the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception reflects the ancient biblical understanding of Christ's Bride the Church as spotless and without wrinkle.
It is, in short, a commentary on the thoroughness of the saving work of Christ (and on the fundamental dignity of the human person). Significantly, the Holy Spirit saw fit to emphasize the Immaculate Conception at just the moment in world history where the dignity of the origins of the human person was coming under severe assault from materialist philosophies which saw the human person as a mere product of wind and weather (Darwin), of economic and political forces (Marx), as divided by race and class (Herbert Spencer), or as a creature driven solely by sex and powerless against unconscious forces (Freud).
The definition of the dogma directly contradicts these unbiblical views of the human person.
So we come to 1950 and the definition of the Assumption. Why choose that moment to reiterate that ancient teaching? I believe it was because at that time the Church was witnessing the most colossal, systematic, and satanic assault on the dignity and particularly the destiny of the human person in the history of the world.
Right smack in the middle of the century of genocide, totalitarianism, hedonism, materialism, mass propaganda and the worship of everything from sex to the state to science, the Church says, in this dogma, that the proper destiny of the human person is not Auschwitz, the Gulag, the Playboy Mansion, Costco, or the boob tube. It is Heaven. And Mary is, once again, the icon of that destiny, for what she has received from Christ we are also meant to receive.
That, in a nutshell, is what the Church is up to in Marian theology. The more I look at it, the more penetrating a reading of Scripture it appears to be. In particular, I am struck by how St. John calls us, not only to think in terms of Jesus, but also to see ourselves associated with Mary.
And so he includes the incident at the foot of the cross, not to give us details about Palestinian domestic arrangements for widows, but to make us see ourselves as included in "Woman, behold your son" and "Behold your mother."

I am also struck by how Revelation sees the Church as the "rest of her offspring." I become more and more impressed by the fact that the best saints have found their sanctity enhanced, not diminished, by reverence for our Lady (just look at John Paul II and Mother Teresa).
I have come to believe the Church's Marian theology is deeply and richly biblical.
Indeed, I would argue that the reason the Church has been able to teach so brilliantly about the dignity of the human person both in Vatican II and in the writings of this Pope is that her Marian theology has prepared her like no other religious tradition to meet the onslaught of modernity and post modernity against the dignity of the human person.

It is sad indeed that there exists so much misunderstanding regarding the love and reverence that Catholics and other Christians have for the Mother of Jesus. More than likely, the problem stems from the fact that the Blessed Virgin Mary is not regarded by some as a personal, spiritual mother. For it is only is recognizing her as our true Spiritual Mother, that we will be lead to an authentic response to Mary. When Catholics say, “Mary is our Mother,” these are not just empty words. They mean rather that we recognize Mary for who she is and also for her role in the plan of God. That Mary was the mother of Jesus the God-man is almost universally accepted among all Christians and probably many non-Christians as well. Therefore, in this small space, let us focus instead on her role in the life of the Church today. We will then be better able to explain why we love, revere, and honor her and also why we are thus lead to seek her intercession and protection. Looking first at Scripture, the principal basis for the doctrine of Mary as Spiritual Mother of all humanity is found in the Gospel of John. In this scene, Mary is at Calvary at the foot of the Cross with John, the beloved disciple. John tells us, “When Jesus saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing near, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son.’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother’” (Jn 19: 26-27). Throughout the Church’s history, numerous popes, theologians, and writers have confirmed their belief that here John is symbolic of all humanity. In other words, that Jesus from the Cross gave His Mother to every human person for all time.Our Lord said, “Behold your mother.” He was not suggesting that Mary become our mother, but that Mary is our Mother. And to Mary He gave us as children. But, if this is true, how do we make theological sense of this relationship? Turning again to Scripture, we can best understand it by considering St. Paul’s beautiful doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ (cf. Col 1:18, Eph 4:15). In this whole Body, St. Paul refers to Christ as the Head and the Church as the Body. Head and Body make up the entire and whole Mystical Body of Jesus Christ.Now, if we say that Mary gave birth to Jesus, the Head of the Body, then it must be that she gave birth to the entire Body since a true body cannot be separated. Thus, it would mean that she gave birth to the members as well. In giving physical birth to Jesus, we can say that Mary made it possible for us to receive spiritual life through Him. We were dead, and through Him we have come back to life. And it was Mary’s “Yes” at the Annunciation that made our rebirth possible. To question this is to question the plan of God. For it was He who decided from all eternity that it would be so. And the list of those who have believed it is almost endless.Once we have established that Mary is our true Spiritual Mother, we must ask what this means for us in our everyday lives. What is a mother, anyway? What does a mother do? Why did God arrange it so that every human person would come into the world through a mother? There must be a reason. Does a mother simply give birth to a child only to abandon him or her? Of course she does not. A mother not only gives birth, but she also is given by God so that she might nurture, feed, teach, guide, and protect her child. God entrusts her with these tasks. In the human family, a mother is not optional. So too, in the spiritual family of the Mystical Body of Christ, Mary, our Mother is not optional.Any person who studies the history of the early Christian Church will easily discover the solid witness of how lovingly and faithfully these first believers in Christ, and countless others who went after them down through the ages, turned confidently with love and devotion to the Mother of Jesus for protection, guidance, and assistance in their hours of gravest need. Why did they do this? It seems safe to assume they did so because they wished to obey Jesus. And, after all, she had given birth to Him, nurtured, fed, guided, and protected Him. If God allowed Himself to be born of her and chose her as His Mother, can we do anything but accept her as ours? To put our trust and confidence in her will always be pleasing to God because everything she does will always lead us closer to Him.How could we possibly dare to claim that she is on an equal level with God? She is not. But, nonetheless, because we are her spiritual children, she looks tenderly on us and after us with a love so profound that we are moved to plead, “O Blessed Mother, pray for us, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

When Christ accepted the call from His Father to become a man, He accepted the responsibility to obey the law, the moral law which is summarized in the Ten Commandments. There's a commandment which reads, 'Honor your father and mother.'" I said, "Chris, in the original Hebrew, that word "honor," kaboda, that Hebrew word means to glorify, to bestow whatever glory and honor you have upon your father and mother. Christ fulfilled that law more perfectly than any human by bestowing His glory upon His heavenly Father and by taking His own divine glory and honoring His Mother with it. All we do in the rosary, Chris, is to imitate Christ who honors His Mother with His own glory. We honor her with Christ's glory." ~ This paragraph from Scott Hahn