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Catholicism - Catholics, Jesus and Mary
Why do Catholics honour Mary, and what do they believe about Jesus? Explore key beliefs about his identity, birth, and Mary’s role in Catholic worship.
1 .
With all due respect to Mary herself and the millions of Catholic believers, it might almost seem hard now to set a question asking 'where HADN'T a vision of the Blessed Virgin' somehow been claimed to have been seen by someone or other down 2,000-odd intervening years. However, the following list includes three very well-attested shrines and one knowing fake. Which is the duff one?
An appearance of the Virgin is honoured by annual pilgrimages to Walsingham in East Anglia
Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego in Mexico in 1531 (Her first such manifestation in 'Latin' America)
There is a shrine to Our Lady in the volcanic hills above Christ Church, New Zealand (S Island) since an earthquake there in the 1840s
The Virgin appeared to St Bernadette in the grotto at Lourdes, in south-west France (1858)
The others are all plentifully researchable if you are interested ... along with Lisieux, Fatima, Knock and many sites as far afield as Africa and the Philippines
2 .
So far as English-speaking Catholics are concerned, Mary's whole adventure as mother of Jesus of Nazareth began with the Archangel Gabriel's announcement (Annunciation) to her: 'Hail Mary, full of grace ...' [ ... then what?]
Fear not
Blessed among women
The Lord is with you
Peace be upon you
Although (apparently) there are 365 occasions on which God ~ or His angel / agent ~ appears to Bible characters and urges them not to be afraid, this event at the start of the Gospel is the first time any human had ever been addressed in quite so direct a way. The Vulgate (Latin) version 'Ave Maria' has become a prayer and song in several famous, and probably familiar, musical settings
3 .
The Catholic Church allots itself a series of festal days each year to contemplate and honour aspects and incidents in Mary's life. One that is completely unique to her (rather than how a birthday, or martyrdom anniversary, would be with any lesser saint) is the Assumption ... of what, and when?
Mary's bodily Assumption (taking-back-up) into heaven, celebrated on 15 August
Lady Day (25 March, being 9 months prior to Christmas as per the standard duration of a human pregnancy)
Good Friday (variable date from year to year, but in the early spring): the day on which her precious Son was put to death
Our Lady of Seven Sorrows (15 September)
Lady Day (Ans.2), at least in the Protestant system, is a 'quarter-day' (along with midsummer and St Michael, or Michaelmas, in late September) but this is based on the premise that Jesus was 9 months in the womb and born in December, which latter seems unlikely (not least since the sheep in the Nativity story would not have been out on the hills in midwinter). Good Friday of course has a bearing on Mary as we have already noted, but is not first and foremost a Marian feast-day; the Seven Sorrows are unique to Her, but of a secondary order compared with Christmas &/or the Assumption
4 .
Mary's response to the Annunciation message was, for all Christians, besides being historically crucial, a model of humility. As one might almost expect at such a surprising and emotional moment, her diction becomes poetic rather than everyday (slightly like how characters break into 'song mode' at key moments in operas and musicals, rather than just carrying on ordinary dialogue): she draws various contrasts between 'the meek and the mighty', as she prioritises God's purpose. Her song ~ adopted as a Canticle, rather like the Psalms she would already have known as a pious Jewess ~ is traditionally known by the Latin version of its first word ... as ... ?
Sanctus
Adoremus
Venite
Magnificat
A modern English translation expresses this as 'Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord'. The Magnificat is certainly one of the set canticles for formal Anglican Evening Prayer, and as such has been set by almost innumerable composers for use in cathedrals and elsewhere. One particularly evocative setting is the one in G major by Charles Stanford, often referred to as the 'spinning-wheel Magnificat' (an anachronism, but well-meant in the sense of conjuring a picture of a young woman patiently doing a long slow task; listen to the organ accompaniment and the delightful solo line, and you may catch one interpretation of the occasion!)
5 .
Catholic doctrine draws out three particular strands in the life and actions of Mary ( ~ the Church's beloved Three, perhaps not accidentally echoing the persons of the Trinity?). Which of the suggestions below is the least genuine?
Humility before God the Father and Creator, in acceding to His will at and after the Annunciation
Obedience to God and loyalty to her own, amazing, male Son during His ministry
Poverty, in laying aside any claims of her own to riches, peace or reputation in her own life
Service to Jesus, from giving Him birth to cradling His body deposed from the Cross
Vows of poverty are a powerful monastic tradition, and there are plenty of spiritual parallels, but this one isn't usually identified in these terms
6 .
As reported in the Gospels, Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was six months ahead with her own pregnancy, and Elizabeth felt her child 'quicken' (move inside her) for the first time in presumed direct response to being in proximity to Mary and Jesus. Who was Elizabeth's baby to become?
The Apostle James
John the Baptist
Lazarus
The writer of Mark's Gospel
John baptised Jesus in the River Jordan many years later, but had already drawn various (not all, favourable) attention from his preaching about 'another man coming after [me], so much greater that I do not even deserve to tie/untie his sandals'. Later again, John would be beheaded for his faith and convictions, virtually on the apparent whim of a royal princess whose mother was upset by his message
7 .
Mary was present at Jesus' first recorded public miracle: what was this miracle, and its context?
The First Supper
Bringing Lazarus back from the tomb
Walking on the Water of Lake Galilee
Transforming water into wine at a wedding in Cana (Galilee)
This is the first of His 'miracles over nature', widely referred-to in the preamble to Christian marriage services as a model of power and generosity. Some commentators have even suggested the wedding could have been Jesus' own, but this is at best tentative. Be that as it may, she had had Him conceived within her through the miraculous intervention of God's Holy Spirit, and now she was witnessing what He could bring to the world. Indeed, it is Mary who (in faith) prompts the servants at the wedding to carry on about their business while He quietly took care of the wine shortage by whatever means He would
8 .
Which of the following correctly describes Mary's demographic status at the time of the Annunciation?
She was engaged to be married to Joseph, a carpenter from Nazareth
She and Joseph were newly married
She was Joseph's handmaid
She was Joseph's cousin
They were 'betrothed' (i.e. engaged) but not yet married. The 'handmaid' reference (Ans.3) is to Mary's response to the Annunciation, when she put herself fully at God's disposal by declaring herself to be His 'handmaid'
9 .
Obviously, the circumstances of Jesus' birth (the Annunciation, the first-Christmas trek to the stable and 'all that') were pretty unusual: but Mary also, much later, had to endure one particular agony that not many mothers ever do. What was probably the worst aspect of this?
She watched her own Son die within her own lifetime
He was put to death by particularly barbaric means while innocent of any crime
She saw virtually everyone turn definitively against Him
He returned from the dead on the first Easter morning
The death itself was clearly designed to be punitive and painful, but the added twist of it being inflicted on a false / mistaken pretext would surely have made this even worse for His mother of all people. Compared with this, having temporarily lost track of Him on return from a pre-barmitzvah pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Luke 2:41-52) seems a minor episode
10 .
Catholics do not 'worship' Mary as such, but they revere her and send their prayers through her, since they believe she was and is a uniquely close and potent channel to the Godhead. Which of the aspects or attributes below would you identify as the least directly applicable, or transferable, to modern Catholic witness?
The historical Mary was a pillar of faith, responding to whatever God demanded of her without pressing her own doubts or questions ('Why me? Why here? Why now? Why this?' etc.)
While obviously not male, she was to all other intents countable as a faithful and diligent Disciple, and frequently mentioned in their company (bearing in mind how different assumptions generally were, in those times, about women's presence and participation)
Hearing and obeying God's Word, she is a model for the Church's relationship with Him as 'the Bride of Christ'
She is typologically identified as the New Eve (the 'old' one having played a key role in the Fall from Grace'; Mary is instrumental in enabling Salvation)
Answer 4 is usually given (not always in quite these terms), and clearly is immensely important in terms of a theologically structured interpretation of the chain of Biblical events ~ but while crucial for this 'background', arguably it is less directly significant as a model for everyday Catholic witness in modern times. Non-Catholics, meanwhile, would probably notionally respect the gist, but jib at the implications
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