Mary, Ever Virgin, Yet Mother of All
In these latter days of Advent, our focus, liturgically and devotionally, is on Our Lady, expectant, preparing to give birth to the One who would redeem the world. And we too wait, with joy, with her.
God often does the unexpected – a God of surprises, as one wise woman said to me years ago, when I could have used a surprise or two. We might even describe Him as a master of irony, of playing against expectation. To be born of a virgin, and one as yet unmarried? But in retrospect, such was fitting, even perfect. A consecrated, untouched womb for the Holy One; a chosen shrine, to house the Architect divine, as Venantius Fortunatus aptly put it.
Mary’s perpetual virginity was defended vigorously by Saint Jerome against the proto-heretic Jovinianus, who claimed that virginity was no better than marriage, and that Our Lord’s birth was a ‘natural’ one, with all that entailed. Au contraire, the Church declared at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, that Mary was aieparthenos, a virgin before, during and after the birth of her Son.
What is more, our Tradition has it that she chose this state from the earliest age. We may gather this from the mysterious and puzzling reply she gave to the Angel, when it was announced she would be the mother of the promised Messiah:
Πῶς ἔσται τοῦτο, ἐπεὶ ἄνδρα οὐ γινώσκω
Which is often translated as ‘How can this be, since I have no husband’.
Of course, Mary did have a husband, as she was betrothed to Joseph. Every Jewish maiden longed to be chosen as the mother of the promised redeemer, a new Moses or David, who would lead their people out of bondage and slavery to a new ‘promised land’. The expected reply, if Mary were intending to live a ‘normal’, conjugal married life, would have been ‘Alleluia! Praise be to God!’
Instead, what she actually said was ‘How can this be, since I do not know man?’, which in context implies that, even with her impending full betrothal to Joseph, she intended never to ‘know man’. Much as someone who has sworn off alcohol, when given an expensive bottle of fine single malt Scotch for Christmas, might say, ‘Thank you – But how can I use this, since I don’t drink?’
In other words, God chose the very woman to be the mother of His Messiah, who, out of the depths of her love, had sacrificed to Him any hope of ever being the mother of the Messiah. Perhaps she considered herself too insignificant, too unworthy, too…humble.
But, as Our Lady herself later sang, God had regard for the humility of His handmaid, and has cast down the mighty from their thrones, lifting up the lowly.
In today’s reading, we hear of Hanna, who had earlier prayed, begged, God for a child. Soon after Samuel was born, in thanksgiving, she ‘lent him to the Lord, for as long as he lives’. Samuel paved the way for David, of whose lineage Christ was born.
Mary did even more than her ancestor Hanna, giving up any hope of children, grandchildren, or descendants. But she is now the Mother of all, of untold billions of souls, guiding them to eternal life, if they but heed her voice, calling them to heed her Son.
Venite, adoremus.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk
(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Divine Mercy Sunday – An Echo of Every Mass
Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe’… ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jn. 20:18)). Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and as we celebrate the end of the Easter Octave, we contemplate the wounded side of our Saviour, the Church’s source of life. On Good Friday in the[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
Saint Gemma Galgani
On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→