LESSON V

MARY IN THE CATHOLIC DOCRINE

PART ONE: HUMAN EXPERIENCE

Awit Kay Inay

For Reporter: (Bali mag adlib ka lang tanong ka about sa song then kung anong related
nito sa mother nila)

PART TWO: SERVICE OF LIFE

Value Explanation:

Every human being is called to service of life. By her nature, a mother IS especially
called to be life giving. The woman's biological nature defines her human calling.

Life as a gift for a woman to be instrument in giving life is truly a privilege. Bearing life
IS a privilege participation in continuing the human race for nature generations. A mother,
therefore, is truly doing a noble service to humanity.

The life that a mother bears is not for her alone. Her human calling finds fulfillment in
beginning forth life so that the child may live his/her own life. The life that a mother bears
belong to the child, the family, and to the community.

PART THREE: CHRISTIAN MESSAGE

Service of life is a significant mark of women throughout the ages. It is their nature, their
gift and their privilege. To be at the service of life is not only to bear life, to bring forth life, and
to talc care of life. It is also to be involved in ways that liberate and draw out life in people who
are in death dealing situations.

Mary as woman and mother is for us a person who is truly at the service of life of others.
Her life teaches us today to be Christian disciples who value life and work for life.

A. PROCLAMATION OF WORD
Reading: Mary at the Foot of the Cross (Jn. 19:25-27)
 “… Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the Wife
of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala When Jesus saw his mother and the disciples there
whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son." Then he said to the
disciples, "Behold your mother” And from that hour the disciples took her into his
home."

B. EXPLANATION
Only the Gospel of John, pictures the mother of Jesus as standing near the cross
with the Beloved Disciple. When he sees them, Jesus not only entrusts her into the
Beloved Disciples keeping, but confides him, as a model of every disciples, to the
protection of his mother, now mother of his community (19:25-27)
This is the touching moment. Jesus in his agony thinks more of his mother's future
than of himself it was his duty, since Joseph death, to look after his mother
Mary stood "at the foot of the cross" which meant that, as a mother of Jesus, she
shared the intense pain and humiliation of Jesus condemnation, crucifixion and death.
Knowing her pain and sense of loss, Jesus showed her a new beginning, a different and
radical re-orientation other service life.
The virtue of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the Catholic Church encompasses a
variety of Marian devotions, including prayer, pious acts, visual arts, poetry, and music
devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It has been supported by Popes, who have also taken
attempts to modify certain of its forms. The Holy See has emphasized the necessity of
differentiating "true devotion from false devotion, and authentic doctrine from its excess
or imperfection," according to the Vatican. In comparison to other Western Christian
traditions, Roman Catholics have many more titles, feasts, and venerative Marian
practices.

PART FOUR: CHURCH TEACHINGS

1. Mary in the Catholic Doctrine

The Four Marian Dogmas

a. Mother of God
The title of Vatican II exposition of Mary is ''The Role of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, Of God", is the mystery of Christ and the Church (LG #8). the most
basic truth and the essential core of Mary's unique dignity and role in God's
salvific plan IS sharply emphasized LG 53
This doctrine 'Smother of God and of the Redeemer is expressed every
time we pray the Hail Mary" Holy Mary, Mother of God" This asserts not that
Mary is a goddess but that her son is truly God Mary gives Jesus what any human
mother gives her baby. Through her, Jesus is truly man. "The son of Mary and the
son of God's action" The Eternal Son of God united to his person the baby
conceived in Mary's womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. The baby born of
Mary was the God-man Jesus." Thus the holy Fathers have unhesitatingly called
the holy virgin Mother of God" (Theolokos, God- bearer).

The bible first used the expression Mother of God but Mary is clearly
identified as the mother of Jesus and the mother of the Son of God. Mary is
identified as the mother of our Lord and Savior, throughout the New Testament.
Saint Paul wrote in Galatians 4 verse 4, the fullness of time that “God sent forth
his Son, born of woman”.

Objections against the divine motherhood of Mary:

 Christ was the true God, but not a true man. Therefore,
since Christ did not receive a human nature from Mary, she
could not be called His mother.
 Christ is truly a man, but not God. Therefore, Mary is truly
the mother of Christ, but in no sense the mother of God.
 The third error, called Nestorianism, is what occasioned the
Church’s definition at the Council of Ephesus. According
to this view, there are two persons in Christ being it as one
divine and one human; but Mary gave birth only to a
human person. She could rightly be called the Mother of
 Christ (Christotokos) or even the Receiver of God
(Theodokos), but not the Mother of God (Theotokos).
b. Blessed Virgin
Mary's Perpetual Virginity is not simply abstention from sexual
intercourse, but the positive value of perfect personal integrity in her total gift of
self to God. Mary's virginity flowered into maternity not only for Jesus, the first-
born of all creation but also for all who would be born again to new life in him
(cf. Jn 3:3; 1 Jn 5:11).

According to Luke chapter 1, Mary had taken a vow of virginity prior to

the Annunciation. The dialogue between Mary and Gabriel focuses on
announcing the Incarnation. In Gabriel's message:

1.) Mary will conceive in her womb, bear a son and will name Him
Jesus;
2.) He will be great and called the Son of the Most High;
3.) The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; and
4.) He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, his kingdom having
no end.

Some objection against the attack of the perpetual virginity of Mary:

1. Mat. 1:25- "He (Joseph) knew her not TILL she brought forth her first born son.. The
word till in the Old and New Testament often implies only that something has not
happened up to a certain point in time, without the additional implication.
2. Jesus as the Firstborn child This expression is not a mere numeral expression but denotes
a rank with rights and duties. This is the right to a double portion of inheritance and to
paternal authority in the family assembly, with the duty of being redeemed from service
in the sanctuary, of providing for the father's widow and of ensuring shelter and
livelihood for any younger brothers and sisters.
Some object and say this dogma is a Catholic invention. Those who hold
Scripture alone as the final authority for our faith reject it. Second,
Scripture never explicitly states that Mary was a perpetual virgin. The
 entire case for Mary’s perpetual virginity is one of implication. Third
objection is that several times in the Gospels, Christ is said to have
brothers. And Jesus is called the “firstborn” son of Mary. This proves that
Mary had other children with Christ being the first.

c. The Immaculate Conception

The feast of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated on December 8 and
is usually a holy day of obligation (on which Catholics are required to attend
mass).

This signifies that Mary was, "from the first moment of her conception, in
view of merits of Christ Jesus the Savior of the human race, preserved immune
from all stain of original sin."
The dogma of the Immaculate Conception is all about the mother of Jesus
who was conceived and born of the two humans parents like all of us. What it
means is that from the Instant human parents she began to exist as a human
person in her mother womb. She was graced by God, so filled with God's love, as
to be free of original sin: therefore her passive conception, her coming into
existence as human person, was a sinless coming into existence, was an
Immaculate Conception.

Immaculate Conception, Roman Catholic dogma asserting that Mary, the

mother of Jesus, was preserved free from the effects of the sin of Adam (usually
referred to as “original sin”) from the first instant of her conception. Although
various texts in both the Old and the New Testaments have been cited in defense
of the doctrine, it seems to have arisen from a general acceptance in the
early church of Mary’s holiness. Especially after Mary had been solemnly
declared to be the mother of God at the Council of Ephesus in 431, most
theologians doubted that one who had been so close to God could have actually
experienced sinful acts.
 The dogma was defined in 1950 and declared by Pope Pius XII that “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.”

Mary did not suffer from original sin and was gracefully accepted
according to catechism. Based on the teachings known as the Immaculate
Conception, God's supernatural life has existed in Mary since the beginning of her
existence.

The doctrine Immaculate Conception is not just about Mary. Its roots are
in early Christianity, which is ultimately about the mystery of Jesus Christ. God
became human in Mary's womb.

The Immaculate Conception serves as the basis for understanding Mary's

acceptance. The doctrine also states that the mother of Jesus was united with her
Son Christ in heaven in glory, in perfect person (body and soul), in her last days
on earth. This is a mystery full of God's grace, the coming of Christ to accomplish
his feat in Mary.

d. The Assumption
Literally speaking, assumption is taking up, a lifting up, a raising up. What
means in fact as a doctrine, is that the Mother of Jesus, at the end of her days on
earth, was united with Christ her son, in heaven, in glory, in the fullness of her
personality (body and soul). This is a mystery of the fullness of God's grace, of
Christ come to achievement in Mary.
Assumption is taking up of Mary body and soul into heavenly glory upon
the completion other earthly sojourn. Mary reveals the fullness of God redeeming
work for all of us. This is a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim people
like us. Mary was not blinded or confused by pride or false self-centeredness.
 More fully and "human" than we are, Mary then can truly appreciate our human
trials and failures.

The other main argument for the Assumption was that it fitted well with
other Catholic teaching, and would reinforce believers' faith that they too would
eventually go to heaven. The Assumption was also clearly in harmony with other
Catholic ideas about Mary:

• Her immaculate conception

• Her perpetual virginity

• Being the mother of God

Theologians argued that the Mother of God could not be separated from
God, and so must have been taken up to be with him in heaven.

To understand why Catholics are so affectionate and attached to Mary, the

Immaculate Conception, you need look no further than to the bond between a mother and
her child. Catholic devotion to Mary is nothing more than a logical extension of a child’s
personal affection for her own mother. Official Catholic doctrine on Mary is called
Mariology; some significant roles she plays include:

• Mother of God: Mary gave birth to the Son of God, so although she was
human and could not create God, she gave birth to Jesus, who is God, which
makes her the Mother of God.

• Mother of the Church: This title can only be properly understood as a

metaphor: Christians are children of God and brothers and sisters in Christ by
adoption. So by extension, Christians inherit Christ’s mother Mary.

• Mother of the Mystical Body of Christ: Mary is called the Mother of the
Church, because she’s the Mother of Christ, and the Church is the Mystical Body
of Christ. So the Mother of Christ can also be called the Mother of his Mystical
Body. This mystical title means that the Church is more than an external
organization, structure, and institution, but also and more primarily, it’s a union of
all the members forming one body.
 The biblical foundation that supports the assumption of Mary is stated in
the Revelation 12:1: “A great sign appeared in the sky: a woman clothed with the
sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”
Since she is the Mother of the Church, she is crowned with 12 stars representing
the 12 apostles. She wears the sun, which represents the Holy Spirit. There is a
moon at her feet because she reflects God's love like the moon.

e. The Mediatrix and co- Redemptrix

Mary's intercession does not in any way detract from, or add to, the unique
mediation Of Christ Jesus Christ is the one and only mediator (Tim 2:5).
1. Gods continuing act Of Creating, the one goodness of God is
communicated diversity to all creatures.
2. The Priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by scared
ministers and by all the baptized. Mary's mediation is a special
cooperation due to her God's given role within His saving work
through Christ and the Spirit.
Co-Redemptrix, in Latin version, it means "with the Redeemer". This term
must not be used in the English meaning of "Co" which means equal; but in Latin
"Co" (cum) means "with" and does not convey the sense of dependence. The title
"Co-Redemptrix" connotes Mary's cooperation or association with Christ the
Redeemer in the salvation of mankind.

In order to claim for the Blessed Virgin a part in objective redemption we

must be able to designate some acts, either physical or moral, or both, which
exerted an influence either on the redemptive acts of Christ or on the effects of
redemption. Discussion centered on three acts:

 Mary's consent to the Incarnation of the Redeemer,

 her maternal offices to the Child Jesus, and
 her compassion
 Mary certainly merited and satisfied for men; she offered the death of her
Son in sacrifice for the salvation of mankind; she offered her Son and her own
sufferings as a ransom to God for the redemption of man.

Mary, Mother of the Church

As the "Mother of the Church" is the reflection and extension of her being
the Mother of God and the associate in Christ saving work.

1. Spiritual Mother
2. As associate in Christ saving work through her obedience, faith, hope and
burning charity in the work of the savior.

Paul VI did not hesitate to affirm that "knowledge of the true catholic doctrine
regarding the Blessed Virgin Mary will always be a key to the exact understanding of the
mystery of Christ and of the Church." The church learned to imitate Mary faith and love
carrying out the Father s will. In her motherhood in the Spirit, Mary embraces everyone in
the Church and through the church.

Christ is Mediator between God and man by reason of His twofold office of
Redeemer and Advocate. His intercessory power derives from His redemptive work. Mary's
title of Mediatrix of All Graces rests at least upon her mediation in the dispensation of grace,
while some would extend her mediation to immediate cooperation in objective redemption.
Mary's mediation in the dispensation of grace is honored in the liturgy on May 31.

3. Mary, Model of the Church

Mary is model of the church because she "shines forth to the whole community of the
elect as the model of virtues". Mary is the first to be evangelized, and the first
evangelizer.

As the first to be evangelized and redeemed.

1. In her relationship to Christ as the most admirable fruit of Christ redemption.

 2. In her life of the church and its members, she is model of faith as both virgin and mother,
and the perfect Disciples of Christ. She is blest among women.

As the first evangelizer:

Mary is the model of ecclesial service, the handmaid of the lord who proclaimed her
service in her Magnification and collaborated with her Son to evangelize for the liberation of all.

3. How Mary became our model?

1. Interior attitude of service and sacrifice
2. A total obedience to God will and the desire to help others marked her daily life,
3. PCP Il declares that "we need to consider Mary qualities such as faith generosity,
courage at the Annunciation and the Crucifixion, her intercessory role at Cana and at
the Upper Room before Pentecost, her gentleness and nurturing love.
4. Paul VI- Mary can be truly a model for the modern women through her decision
making, her free choice of virginity for total self-consecration to God, her
proclamation of God vindicating the humble and oppressed, her courageous stand in
flight, exile and the persecution of her Son, and her support of the apostolic
community.
5. Mary is an example to be imitated, not precisely in the type of life she led, and much
less for the socio-cultural background which she lived. But as an example for the wav
in which, in her own particular way of life, she fully and responsibility accepted the
Will of God. She heard the word of God and acted on It She IS the first and most
perfect of Christ disciples.
It is not true to conceive that Christ as the model of men, and Mary as the model
of someone Christ is the Lord and savior of all-men and women. Those who consider
Mary only in her attitude of service and obedience, supposedly representing the ideal
values of "Femininity, forget that Christ is the model of service and obedience. Mary
yes is Christ. Leading to the struggle of the Cross, Mary, then is the fulfillment of
Israel raise to a new level. Following Christ, Mary is model for both men and women.

PHASE FOUR: FAITH RESPONSE

 (Demonstration ata ito, bali ipapakita mo lang if papaano gawin)

A. CELEBRATION/WORSHIP

Preparation:
Student prepare an altar With Mary Image or statue and a lighted candle Each of them
identifies who Mary IS through a symbolical presentation and write a word, phrase or sentence in
bold letter in a banner-like material.

Opening Prayer:
Lord, you have prepared a worthy dwelling place for your son by the Immaculate
Conception of the Virgin, Mother of God. Grant, we pray, that as you preserved her from all
stain in your foreknowledge of his death, so we, by her intercession, may come to you with pure
hearts. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Opening Song:

MOTHER OF CHRIST

Mother of Christ, Mother of Christ What shall I ask of three?

I do not sigh for the wealth of earth, For the joys that fade and flee.

But, Mother of Christ, Mother of Christ, This do I long to see.

The bliss untold which your arms unfold, the treasure upon your knee.

Mother of Christ, Mother of Christ, I toss on a stormy sea, Oh, lift your Children as a beacon
light, to the port where I fain would be,

And, Mother of Christ, Mother of Christ, and this do I ask of thee, when the voyage is o' er, O
stand on the shore. And show him at last to me.

Offering the symbol and posting of Marian Banner: Who is Mary for me?
Reading Jn. 1925-27

Silent Reflection: Sharing.

Our Father:

Song: Immaculate Mother Immaculate Mother,

to you do we plead To ask God,

our Father for help in our need.

Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria; Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria

We pray for our country, the land of our birth

We pray for all nations that peace be on earth.

Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria; Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

According to Catechism no. 509, summarizing that Mary is truly the Mother of God,
since she is the mother of the eternal son of God made man, who is God himself. The title
Mother of God points to the truth of the Incarnation, that Jesus Christ is true God and true man.
The church teaching concerning Mary's divine maternity is rooted in the scripture and tradition,
and was dogmatically defined at the Council of Ephesus in 431. The Church celebrates this as
the mystery of our Catholic faith on January 1. The most cited prayer, the Hail Mary, explicitly
invokes “Holy Mary, Mother of God.” Catholics call Mary the “Blessed Mother,” which points
to our participation in the divine life as adopted children of God Perpetual virginity of Mary was
defined as a dogma of the church at the Lateran Council in 649 A.D. In the dialogue between
Gabriel and Mary, she asked in concern that she had previously taken vows of virginity before
God. The church teaches us that Mary is “Aeiparthenos” which means that she was a virgin
before, during, and after the birth of Christ. Protoevangelium supports the perpetual virginity of
Mary, according to Genesis 3 verse 15 - “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and
between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel”. Mary
because of enmity that God has put between her and sins, she is immune from committing sins
which include lust and sins of flesh. The Nicene Creed also declares the virginity of Mary. It is
also called the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, because it was defined at the Councils of
Nicaea (325 A.D.) and Constantinople (381 A.D.). These privileges of Mary (Immaculate
Conception and her assumption) do not separate Mary so much from us. They are a privilege of
abundance and perfection. Mary's grace is shared everywhere. Their privilege is the privilege of
abundance. We are called to share with them. Mary was not blinded or confused by pride or false
selfishness. Mary is more perfect and "human" than us, and she can truly understand human trial
and error.

Mary understood that each one of us has our own calling, but one thing that she didn’t
expect is that she was chosen to bore the son of God. Through this Mary who was always an
obedient person and would do anything as God tells her to do, became the image of a mother in
the Catholic Doctrine. As an immaculate conception, her perpetual virginity and the mother of
our savior, paved the way of her calling on becoming the mother of the catholic church.