Mary, Mother of God, Virgin Forever until the end.

Mary: Mother of God, Virgin Forever.

Catholic Tradition, Catholic Theology, Catholic Teaching.  These are some of the pronouncements that most Protestants do not adhere to and waste no time in discounting our beliefs.  Let's look at some of the understandings from the CCC, keeping in mind these are the truths according to the Magisterium of the Church.

To become the mother of the Savior, Mary “was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role.”  The angel Gabriel at the moment of the Annunciation salutes her as”full of grace.”  In fact, in order for Mary to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God’s grace.  (CCC 490).

I have heard at least one TV minister say the grace had nothing to do with Mary, it was simply God’s grace alone.  In this manner God could have chosen any virgin from among the many women of that area.  

Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, “full of grace” through God, was redeemed from the first moment of her conception.  That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854. (CCC 491).

The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.  (from Pius IX).  

The liturgy of the Church celebrates Mary as “Aeiparthenos” the Ever-Virgin.  (from CCC 499).

Against this doctrine the objection is sometimes raised that the Bible mentions brothers and sisters of Jesus.  The Church has always understood these passages as not referring to other children of the Virgin Mary.  In fact James and Joseph, “brothers of Jesus,” are the sons of another Mary, a disciple of Christ, whom St. Matthew significantly calls “the other Mary.”  They are close relations of Jesus, according to an Old Testament expression.  (CCC 500).

In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormotion you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life.  You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.  (Footnote to CCC 966)  (Dormition in the Orthodox Church - the passing of the Virgin Mary from earthly life.).  

“All generations will call me blessed”:  “The  Church’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.”  The Church rightly honors the Blessed Virgin with special devotion.  From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of Mother of God, to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs.  This very special devotion differs essentially from the adoration which is given to Incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration.  The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an “epitome of the whole Gospel.” express devotion to the Virgin Mary.  (CCC 971).

After speaking of the Church, her origin, mission, and destiny, we can find no better way to conclude than by looking to Mary.  In her we contemplate what the Church already is in her mystery on her “pilgrimage of faith,” and what she will be in the homeland at the end of her journey. There, “in the glory of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity,” “in the communion of all the saints,” the Church is awaited by the one she venerates as Mother of her Lord and as her own mother.   (CCC 972).

As a final expression of why so many protestants and TV evangelists are completely adverse to Catholic Traditions and beliefs is that ever since the Reformation, October 31, 1517,  Martin Luther a Catholic priest convinced the Church was wrong in many traditions and therefore every belief we as Catholics believe in are contrary to the rest of Christianity.  These include the Transubstantiation of the Holy Eucharist and Purgatory to name a couple.  If you are Roman Catholic and adhere to the beliefs found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, from which the above are taken, then the belief in the doctrines regarding the Blessed Mother of God are truth.

Ralph B. Hathaway