Marian Dogmas

 All four Dogmas of Mary:  

Divine Motherhood, Perfetual Virginity, Immaculate Conception, The Assumption

Divine Motherhood

Early in the fifth century Nestorius, a bishop in the Easttaught tthe heresay of two separate persons in Jesus one divine, the other human as opposed to the doctrine of two natures, true God and true man, its adherents claimed Mary was only the mother of the human Christ, not His entire person.

 In 431 AD, at the Council of Ephesus, Nestorianism was condemed and the first Marian dogma was proclaimed : Mary Mother of God ---Teotokos --- God bearer. Upon hearing the news, the people in this city went around cheering: "Holy Mother of God, pray for us sinners." The chant eventually became the second part of the "Hail Mary." the first comprising the greetings of the Archangel Gabriel and Elizabeth. All her titles flow out from singular privilege as Mother of God.

  God created His own mother free of the stain and curse of sin. The eternally begotten Son had to be formed in a spotless vessel; a ggrace-filled sinless mother, for God and sin cannot mix.

Perpetual Virginity

Mary's Perpetual Virginity was stressed in the Lateran Synod of 649 where Pope St. Martin I formally declared the Doctrine as an article of faith. Luther, Calvin and Zwingli --- the leaders of the Refornation --- all professed Mary's Perpetual Virginity that succeeding generations of Protestants rejected.

   If she had remained virgin all her life, how do we explainthen the brothers and sisters of Jesus as mentioned in the Bible? Wasn't He also referred to as the "first born"? There is a verse too in regard to Mary and Joseph that "he knew her not until she gave birth." Without Church Tradition and apart from Hebraic context , these passages can easily lead to wrong conclusions. 

   Closely-knit Jewish culture had no word for brother, a word that is used in 371 verses from Genesis to Revelation. These are four meanings of the word "brother" in biblical usage : siblings, relative or cousin, tribesman of Christian fraternity. Herman and Asaph are "brothers" sharing common ancestry from Levi (1 Chronicles 6:33-43). David called Jonathan , Saul's son, his brother (2 Samuel 1:26).

   "Brothers and sisters," as used in some Bibles, is an English translation from the Greek "addelphos" meaning kindred. it could denote either sibling, cousins and other relatives. This posed no problem to early Christians who were better catechised and addressedeach other as "brother" in the same wayCharismatics do today except for Helvidius and a few of his adherents. Today's misunderstanding is an offshoot of subjective or private interpretation among Protestants who have been cut off from the Sacred Tradition and teaching Magisterium of the Church. 

   The term "first born" denoted a male child that opened the womb, an an ancient Hebrew term (Ex 13:2; Nb 3:12) Mosaic Law prescribed  that the child be presented to the Temple with an offering 40 days after birth . "First born" did not necessarilly mean there weeeere other children, as our modern English usage connotes "Until" or "till" in Sacred Scripture expresses an action that had not happened up to a certain point but does not imply that it took place later. 

    For instance, "Michal, the daughter of Saul had no children until the day of her death" (2 Samuel 6:23). From that  would we assume that she bore a child after she died?  Noah released a raven from the ark thar "went back and forth and do not return till the water dried up upon the earth" (Genesis 8:7). Fact is, the raven never returned at all! Or about the location of the grave of Moses that no one knows "until this present day" (Deuteronomy34:6). Does that mean it has already been found today?

Immaculate Conception

Motherhood of God is the basis for the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, proclamed by Pius IX 1854. He said, "The Blessed Virgin Mary was preserved by a singular grace and privilege of God Omnipotent and because of the merits of Jesus Christ the Savior of all men, free from all stain of Original Sin." Mary was conceived free of sin and its consequences. She is not just another woman.

     She was the Virgin Mother (Matthew 1:23) who remained virgin throughout her life --- before, through and after the conception  and birth of Jesus according to Church teaching from antiquity. The only time this belief was questioned in the early Church was in 380 AD when Helvidius said that the "brethren of Jesus" were other children of Mary and Joseph.

    St. Jerome defended  Mary's Perpetual Virginity, using Scripture and writings of Apostolic Fathers, Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenaeus and Justin Martyr. He labelled Helvidius and his teaching "novel, wicked, and a daring affront to the faith of the whole world."

     Who will doubt one of the Church's greatest patriarchswho look part in deciding what  books were to go into the Canon of Sacred Scripture at the Synod of Hippo? Apart from his reputation for translating the Bible into the Vulgate which all of Christendom used for centuries, Jerome is considered as the greatest Bible scholar of all time. A Bible commentary is even named after him, although the new edition by modern scholars is not as clean cut in orthodoxy as the previous one.

Assumption

Sacred Scriptures and uninterrupted Church tradition witnessed by the Fathers of the Church are the basis for celebrating Mary's being assumed body and soul into heaven. On November 1, 1950, Pope pius XII issued the PapalBull Munificentissimus Deus promulgating the fourth Marian Dogma.

  AlthoughMary's Assumptionis a fairly recent Marian dogma. It is not a entirely new belief, nor is it new revelation --- the Church teaches all public revelation ended with the last Aposle. This solemn feast dates back to the earliest Christian era. The Artmenian Lectionary of Jerusalem  (c 451) points to Mary's Qssumption, oriiginally known as the Dormition of Mary; it was generally believed she did not die, but went into a deep sleep and was brought up to heaven. In the eighth century , the title "Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary" was given to the feast in the Gregorian Sacramentary. We have evidence of this as an early doctrine in liturgy.

 

The Virgin of Revelation, Rome

 On April 12, 1947 in Rome, Saturday after the Easter, Bruno Cornacchiola, a railway worker, decided to take his three children, Isola, aged ten, Carlo aged seven, and Gianfranco, aged four on a picnic. Early that afternoon he providentially missed a train going to Ostia and so decided to go to Tre Fontane instead , just outside of Rome noted for the shrine where St. Paul suffered Martyrdom. It was also , alas, notorious as a place of sin in which even the bodies of dead aborted babies were found. There, in the shade of the eucalyptus, while his children played, Bruno poured over his Bible, to deliver his speech in a meeting attacking the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

    Although Bruno had been baptized a Catholic and his First Holy Communion, he wasn't a practicing Catholic. His parents weren't very religious and his environment in an ill-famed district of Rome certainly didn't foster his Faith. A few months after he was married, he deserted his wife and volunteered to fight in the Spanish Civil War. It was there that he left the practice of the Catholic faith and embraced Protestantism, eventually becoming a militant Seventh Day Adventist. He returned to Rome and his wife, who remained a practicing Catholic, in 1939. In his uncontrollable anger, he often beat her up. He wouldn't allow her to bring the older children to church refused to have the youngest son baptized.

    Besides being a wife-beater, Bruno Cornacchiola was not a very good Christian. His language was punctuated frequently with obscenities, blasphemy and he had affairs with other women. The very morning of the picnic he passed a statue of Our Lady which had at its base the writing, "Virgin Mother." Bruno wrote there in pencil, "You are neither virgin nor mother." In his great hatred of the Church, he had even devised a plot to assassinate Pope Pius XII on September 8, 1949, the feast of the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the late afternoon of the 12th, in the middle of his preparation for his attack on Mary's great prerogative, one of his children interrupted him. Would he help them find their ball? Bruno put aside his Scripture text and the notes he had taken and joined in the search. While searching for the ball, Bruno found his youngest son, Gianfranco, kneeling at the entrance to a dark cave. The boy's hands were folded in the attirude of one engrossed in prayer, as though in ecstasy . with a happy countenance and his eyes fixed on a certain point of the cave, the child on a certain point of the cave, the child repeated, "beautiful lady! Beautiful lady!" as though he were addressing a living person.

    Bruno was surprised, then uneasy, and finally terror seized him. He could see nothing in the interior of a cave. What was he to make of his son's behaviour ? Excitedly  he turned to Isola and Carlo for an explanation. But the children's curiosity and fear for their younger brother were brief.  Within seconds they also-first Isola and then Carlo - fell to their Knees and joined their hands in prayer, enraptured with the same vision. Bruno was dumbfounded. Then he heard all three of his children cry out together: "Beautiful lady!" He tried to move each child, but they were as if glued to the ground. He was terrified.

      Suddenly, Bruno was also overcome by the strange mystical experience. His eyes were filled with intense light for a moment; then everything in front of him disappeared, his children and the cave. He felt himself becoming weightless, ethereal, as if his spirit had been freed of his body. When he regained his sight, after the momentary blindness, Bruno saw in the most illuminated part of the cave a woman of indescribable celestial beauty. Her head was adorned by a halo of brilliant golden light. The lady had black hair, and was clothed in a radiant white dress, gathered together by a rose-colored  sash whose edges fell gracefully at her side; over her shoulders she wore an attractive green mantle. The three colours of the dress (white), sash (rose-coloured) and mentel (green) have special significance to Bruno. He explains that they signify Mary's relationship to the Three Divine Persons and the three apparitions of Lourdes, Fatima and Rome. In fact, Our Lady identified herself as, "Daughter of the Father, The Mother of the Son, and The spouse and Temple of the Holy Spirit." At her bare feet lay a black cloth which had a smashed crucifix on it. Her face had an expression of motherly kindness, although clouded by sadness at times. In her right hand she held , resting on her breast , a small grey book. Her hands were crossed at her breast , but she unfolded them once to point to the broken pieces of crucifix. She then joined them together again. In a noteworthy departure from other modern apparitions, Mary appeared not only only to a non-practicing Catholic but to a zealous enemy of the Church and of herself personally. what message did she have for the wayward Bruno Cornacchiola and our times? We know only part of it; the remainder was to be delivered to Pope Pius XII, who later was to bless the statue of the Virgin that stands in the grotto where she appeared.

    When the Blessed Virgin identified herself to Bruno Cornacchiola, she did so with two profound truths. The first was of a general nature:  "I am the one that is of the Divine Trinity." Because of her reletionship to each person in the Blessed Trinity - daughter of the Eternal Father, spouse of the Holy Spirit and mother of the Divine Son - she is altogether unique among all of God's creation. In the second identification she chose to reveal herself in relation to Bruno's activity of Bible reading: "I am the Virgin of the Revelation."

    Then the Virgin of the Revelation addressed herself directly to Bruno, "You persecute me - enough of it now! Enter into the true fold, God's Kingdom on earth. The Nine First Fridays of the Sacred Heart have saved you. You must be like the flowers which Isola picked, they make no protest, they are silent and do not rebel .... With this dirt of sin . I shall perform powerful miracles for the conversion of unbelievers."

     She revealed to Bruno the sad condition of his soul, and at once all his mental state muddled in the vicious arguments and prejudices against the Church fell apart and he saw before him the way to salvation-the Roman Catholic Church.

    At that point, the Virgin of the Revelation taught him the sure means of salvation. for him  and for all mankind, which is prayer, and in particular the daily recitation of the Holy Rosary. "Pray much and recite the Rosary for the conversion of sinners, of unbelievers and of all Christians."  As a reward to those souls who would listen to her message of prayer for the salvation of mankind, the  Virgin promised great  favours  from Heaven. "In this place of sin I shall perform wonderful miracles for the conversion of unbelievers". 

     "Every time you meet a priest in church or in the street, you are to approach him and address him with these words, 'Father I must talk to you' . If he answers , 'Ave Maria! My son, what do you want?' beg him to stop because he is the chosen one. He will direct you to another priest by saying, 'he is the one for you'". It was quite a test that Our Lady put him through. He had to ask the question, countless time it seemed, to every priest he met without getting the proper response and had to walk away sadly aware of being thought of as rude or even out of his mind. It upset him so much that he was on the point of despair and even thought of committing suicide.

     Then he prayed as he had never prayed before. Didn't )Our Lady ask him to pray and suffer for the conversion of sinners, of unbelievers and for unity of all Christians? He persevered and it eventually happened exactly as Our Lady predicted. However, as the wrd of the apparition got around he had much to suffer from friends and associates who accused him of being a fanatic, crazy, etc. Others saw him as an exploiter of a situation that brought much attention to him. He was examined by the police and given, along with his children, psychiatric examinations. If he at times became depressed, he now turned to his spiritual guide, Our Lady of Good Counsel.

    As if to refocus attention on the shrine and her message to Bruno, on April 12, 1980, the 33rd anniversary of the Virgin's visit, a most astounding public miracle occurred at Tre Fontane in the presence of 3,000 people (including some 25 priests), who had gathered to hear Bruno Cornacchiola recall the first apparition and to attend a commemorative Mass. During the Holy Sacrifice strange images appeared in the sky above the Grotto. The sun seemed to turn backwards in the heavens and began to draw near the earth. It could be seen without straining the eyes. It appeared bigger than normal, and showed within its corona brilliant and diverse colours, in much the same way as the sun "danced" in the sky over Fatima, Portugal in 1917.

     The phenomenon lasted about a half an hour. Meanwhile, the Mass that had been in progress was halted so that the people could calm down and return their attention to the eternal Son present on the altar. when the Mass continued it was amid the visible emotions of the congregation. Many lapsed Catholics who had not gone to confession for years returned to the Faith. There were also many physical cures. A medical was set up and after extensive researched confirmed that the cures were miraculous and beyond any medical or scientific explanation. Two years later the same miracle of the sun was repeated , again on the anniversary date, April 12, 1982. Again the people  could look directly at the sun without hurting their eyes. An interesting difference between the two miracles of the sun is the first one in 1980 it was lay people who gave testimonies, whereas in the 1982 miracle the testimonies were given by the clergy. Incidentally, Our Lady had a fourfold message for priests: they were to have a deeper faith in the revealed truths of the Faith, greater obedience to the Teachings Authority of the Church, aa vigilant prudence in dealing with people, and a pure and dignified life style.

       Source: MARIAN SHRINES OF ITALY, Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, available from EWTN.

Dignity of birth and dignity of death: MOTHER TERESA'S VALUE

Whether title'Goddess of kindness' or 'Spendid woman of the gutter', "Saint on Earth", Saint of Gutters", "Angel of Mercy", "Living Saint of Calcutta", she was well known in the world as she was among the poor. She had many other names too, including some malicious ones like, "Hell's angel", "Hell's puppet", the "Popes' emissary" etc... But who does not get names good and bad especially when doing good going against the current?

Even Jesus had a variety of names such as, 'Glutton", "Samaritan", "possessed", "Beelzebul", "out of mind", "impostor", "a friend of publicans and sinners" and similar ones. Such was the fury of those who opposed his message and his ways that they could not call him by anything kinder name than what we have cited above.Granted that Mother Teresa used in her title, "Missionary" and spoke against abortion and too often spoke about Jesus, it is a great wonder that the attack against her was not really very big and she was never subject to violence. She went against the unethical and immoral trends of the present age and still was the darling of the media and of celebrities and rulers all over the world. People rushed to see her as though for absolution for their sins and to re-invent themselves and make a come back to respectability. Consider the thousand of volunteers who put up with the unbearable conditions of Calcutta to do what they could not do in the West,that is, to serve the poorest of the poor.In the same process, some even set their conscience right and do amends for the past life, as they take part in the recollection and prayer programmes at the Mother House.

As to her legacy, the media may say what it likes but for the honest on-looker it is impossible to explain how the frail - looking nuns are able to endure the extreme hot situations in Calcutta and sleep with out fans that many of the poor today have. The giant leap of the diminutive Saint of Kolkata is unbelievable in terms of thousands of followers they have, with hundreds of centres in thier care and lakhs of volunteers visiting them and extending their services to them and to the many thousands of the sick and the dying. it is estimated that some 80 thousand sick people who were picked up in a dying condition have been able to die with dignity and in peace in the homes of Mother Teresa.Only those who have some faith in a peaceful and happy death to gain eternal life and its bliss can understand this.

Another phenomenal achievement is the dignified life given to thousands of unwanted babies who have been either given in adoption or settled in life, something that Teresa the "Mother of the Living" from heaven will be now taking delight in. Even if the media has given  wide coverage to Mother Teresa at the most important moments of her life, death and after-death glorification, yet we should say that there is a lot that still remains unnoticed. Take, for example the homes for babies,mentally challenged women and HIV patients that are located at Tangra and is known by the name Shantidan (the gift of peace) - all these works which along with the HIV centre run by the male counter parts under the direction of the MC Brothers have grown into a mini township.Now it is quite well known that many of the HIV patients from these centres are able to return to normal life after two or three years in these centres.There has been reported the case of a man who was paralysed due to HIV and TB and the family too had stopped visiting him after admitting him in the centre at Deepshika run of the MC Brothers at Tangra. He is now able to walk and look cheerful.

To their credit, it must be said that the Sisters and Brothers are selfless and do not run any institution for the sake of money -- something rare among many private charitable institutions, and they are not discriminatory: They care for all irrespective of caste, religion or colour.So it makes sense to say that Mother Teresa and her works have a univresal character, except for that blue striped sari that is typically Indian and even the foreigners wrap it round joyfully.

Mother Teresa has not only done much in terms of charitable works but has taught us a great deal.There is no one whether abroad or in    India who would forget to insert a quote from Mother Teresa in their talk or writing.Let us take therefore, a quote from this Saint of the slums,

The poor give us much more than we give them. They're such strong people, living day to day with no food. And they never curse, never complain. We don't have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them.

A birth centenary tribute to Mother Teresa
From the STREAMS.

MARY'S ASSUMPTION INTO HEAVEN

This feast means something more than what God done for Mary, that humble handmade, who had never foreseen her future glory. This feast means a great deal more, that is, it includes what God is doing for us too.The promise of after death glorification is our hope too, though not in the way as Mary had it. Mary was a true pro-type and image of the human kind; she belonged fully to God, and her answer to the angel says it all, " Behold the handmade of the Lord,be it done to me according to thy word".

Many things happened in her life starting with that annunciation by the angel and many roads appeared in front of her through valleys and mountains, ending on the the last mountain, Calvary where her heart was pierced from which flowed out her self-sacrificing spirit of abundant love for God and us.All this she experienced with that humility of a handmade because she didn't make plans for herself but only waited at the Master's door to know his will. All this was happening to her not only for herself but for ourselves too.Millions today who tread the Marian path know how easy it is to pass through deep valleys and go over steep mountains, always lifted high by the grace of God and Mary's hands. The final stage, the experience of heaven is there for all of us

There's Something About Mary

Our Blessed Mother is indeed so close to the hearts of many Filipinos, something that people of different faith affiliations find irreligious. "Why come to the mother when the son is the only way?" they said. But who can blame us? The Filipino culture is very matriarchal. And for most of us,even with religion aside, the way to the son or daughter is always through the mother.Our closeness to Mary is thus truly very Filipino. And I believe expressing our faith through our culture makes our belief system more solid and sound.
But faith devotion expressed through our culture must be pragmatic so as not to be led to the danger of becoming "bind"devotees of Mary.Our devotion to her must move us to emulate her. As the first disciple,Mary's life is filled with so many ideals that we can learn from in our own Christian discipleship.
The first chapter of the Gospel of Luke,which takes us one single narrative the account of the Annunciation and the Visitation (Luke 1:26-56), contains relevant standards that we can use as we judiciously live out our devotion to her.

BE LOWLY AND POOR IN SPIRIT

Mary professed her fiat.She gave her consent. And at that very moment she conceived by the power of the Spirit. So she was already with child when she went in haste to visit her cousin who was six months pregnant. The moment they met they proclaimed their praises to God's wondrous works. This is the event of the visitation.

    Mary looked at herself and saw a handmaid- she saw how lowly she was. Then Mary looked at God and proclaimed Him "mighty."In her lowliness, she was able to see the magnificence of God. She proclaimed God's tremendous deeds.

    The poor are really blessed with the gift of "life" - their worship is highly spirited. When one is "lowly" and humble or poor in spirit, he will praise God even for the small miracles in his life. Every blessing becomes an occasion of praising. Only when one humbles himself he be able to see the greatness of of the things that God performs in his life.And this is where the poor really rank high. Thus, they are truly blessed. Mary really identified herself with the poor, being an anawin herself. And her lowly disposition opened her mouth to utter words of genuine praise to God.

   In Matthew 19, Jesus' exhortation to the rich young man was received  with a sad heart prompting Jesus to say that it is  easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God. (Matthew 19: 24). This is a powerful image Jesus used here. It is tantamount to saying that it is impossible for a person with much wealth to enter heaven. In Luke 1, Mary prophesied about how the hungry shall be filled with good things and the rich shall be driven away empty handed(v. 53). In Luke 6, Jesus said quite strongly, "Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation "(v.24). The rich will remain an object of our faith's of  disfavor unless they find the blessedness of becoming poor in spirit. Real satisfaction will only come to them if, like Mary, they are able to yield to the greater power of God, humble themseleves befrore Him and offer Him the most sincere prayer of praise and thanks.

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