Yeah, Mary Knew!

Pentatonix Lyrics 

(https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pentatonix/marydidyouknow.html)

 
Mary, Did You Know?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered, will soon deliver you.

Mary, did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy will calm the storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God.

Mary, did you know? Mary, did you know? Mary, did you know?..
Mary, did you know? Mary, did you know? Mary, did you know?..

The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will live again.
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb!

Mary, did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
That sleeping child you're holding is the great I am.

Mary, did you know? Mary, did you know? Mary, did you know?..
Mary, did you know? 

 

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Why must we Catholics be forced to endure this blasphemous seasonal song during Mass? I can at least turn off the radio or turn away from the radio station when it comes on, but how do I turn off the Mass?

 

I heard it (again) yesterday, at Mass - during Communion - no less! 

Any Catholic who likes this song does not understand basic Catholic theology, or the role of Mary the Mother of God in Salvation history. Or their Bible. Or the heretical Protestant origins of the song. 

 

Yes, Mary knew.

For Catholics interested in learning why the song is heretical and blasphemous, please read this article at the Catholic Thing: https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2017/12/07/mary-did-you-know-and-the-immaculate-conception/

 

For a more pointed, anti-Protestant, slant on the song, watch this video or read the transcript from Church Militant: https://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/mary-did-you-know

 

I could list another dozen or so Catholic sites condemning the song, but I hope this dead horse has been beaten enough.

 

I have yet to read one review of the song/lyrics by any Catholic priest where they do not condemn it. 

 

Let's make 2019 the last year that we will be subjected to this heretical and blasphemous song inside our churches!

 

The Other Marys

If I had any regular readers I would ask them at this point to indulge me in something I try to avoid doing: speculative theology.

My question is: were there any other Marys, i.e., other women immaculately conceived and prepared by God the Father to give birth to Our Lord Jesus Christ before Mary, wife of Joseph, gave her fiat and conceived of the Holy Spirit?

It's possible, is it not, that other virtuous and immaculate women were asked bear God's child and, faced with the burden of what was to come to Him and her sorrows, did not have the faith or courage or whatever might have been lacking to give their fiat. Not that this would make them bad women, just that it was not meant to be for them to give birth to Jesus at that time, in that place.

I'm not looking to cast doubt or aspersions on our holy Queen Mother and her providential role in salvation history, I am merely speculating on the possibility that other women were asked to fulfill this role and did not do it. Christian history would have forgotten them in time, in favor of celebrating Mary's freely given Ave.

Is there any Biblical text reference that would support the claim that Mary was the only woman in history to have ever been asked to do this? I can't think of any, but if a reader knows, please leave a comment.

Mary's Left Hand

A long time ago I set one of my favorite works of art (Michelangelo's Pieta) as my computer wallpaper, so I've had plenty of opportunity to meditate on this work. But only recently did Mary's left hand get my attention. And so I thought I'd share my thoughts about it with you.

The Pieta is Michelangelo's interpretation of the taking of Christ's crucified body down from the cross and laying Him in his sorrowful Mother's waiting arms.

Pieta image from wikipediae.com

As you can see, at the physical level, Mary supports Christ's body (His dead weight) with her right hand. Her fingers dig into the flesh of His underarm. She seems unwilling to let go of His cooling body, unwilling to let go of the physical proof of her miraculous life- and history-changing fiat, her faithful response, "Be it done to me according to Thy Word" to the archangel Gabriel's request on God's behalf for her free will assent to bear His son, to bring forth the Word into our corruptible and sinful world.

In the sculpture, Mary's right hand is on the skin of her Son, but look closely at her left hand. Her hand is open. Who holds an open hand? A beggar. Someone who either wants something placed in it, or someone who has just released something. In the context of the Pieta, Mary shows both states. She needs to release her physical hold on her deceased Son because His body and blood, after all, belong to the physical world, a world full of trials and tribulations and, for both Jesus and Mary and all humans, the realm of much anguish and sorrow.

But Mary's hand is also open, because she wants to receive something.

What can Mary possibly receive at this point in her life? What could any grieving mother want that would make the nightmare of holding her deceased Son remotely bearable? She can receive the only thing that she as a loyal servant has ever asked of God: His graces.

Mary lived her whole life – from the moment of her immaculate conception onward – for Jesus. What does she have to live for now, now that her only begotten Son has experienced such a gruesome death? As a mother, she must be despondent. Vicious Roman politicians and legionaries (compelled by the religious leaders of the day) helped to kill her Son, the miracle of life that once issued from her womb. And Mary was helpless to stop them.

But with her open left hand (and bowed head) she humbly accepts God's will, acknowledging her Son's soul and divinity. Mary has always understood herself as part of God's unfathomable Providence, and she knows deep in her heart that the death of Jesus is also part of the unfolding of His will. Not an easy situation to find comfort in one's faith.

But it is precisely Mary's perfect, although human, response to these horrific events that make us Catholics recognize her as our intermediary to Jesus and His Father. We love Jesus' Holy Mother, not as a goddess to be worshipped, but as the only perfect human being who ever lived (after Adam and Eve's fall) someone who always acted with love and who is "full of Grace", just as we should all live.

Mary understood! She did not sin, and submitted her whole life, her entire being, body and soul, to God's will. And through this submission to God's will Mary has shown us the unsurpassed strength found in the true love and humility of her son. As St. Louis Marie de Monfort observed, "To Jesus through Mary". And St. Maximilian Kolbe reminded us: "Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did."

Mary constantly reminds us that although we live in this temporary world, that we will indeed suffer much physical pain and many hardships, she herself has experienced all of these sorrows and understands our distress. We pray to Mary to intercede on our behalf to her Son, as she once did at the wedding at Cana. Why? Because, when it comes right down to it, what son has ever refused his mother's sincere request?

We need to open that closed hand and stop grasping at things. God will provide for all our needs, if only we ask Him.

~JT~

Problems?

We've all got 'em. Some problems are more serious than others. Some of them, we hope, will resolve themselves, others it seems we have to be proactive because... they are just too important to us to not do anything about.

Today, as I reflected on a recent disturbing issue, something that just doesn't look as if it can have any happy resolution, I was reminded that Mary must have felt overwhelmed quite a few times in her life, especially during the Passion of her Son, Jesus.

Imagine giving birth to a beautiful baby, through miraculous means, and then thirty two years later helplessly watching that grown up baby be tortured unto death like a common criminal. Now imagine having been told that your baby would be the new Messiah. What would Mary have thought of Jesus' ministry on that Friday afternoon, looking up at her Son crucified, suffering, and dying? Would Gabriel's earlier promises have made any sense to her at that point? Probably not.

Yet she did not doubt God's word. Once again she needed to rely on her faith; and it took for Jesus to die, go down into Hell, and rise again, for God to fulfill His promise. But Mary never doubted, even though it had to seem to her on that horrible day that there was no possible way Jesus' ministry would continue. How could it: the man was dead or dying, nailed to a cross, and abandoned by just about all of his followers!

And yet... two thousand years after the "loss" of Jesus, we see how strong his ministry is.

We need to use that faith, especially when the world looks dire, when it doesn't seem likely that we'll get the desired results we'd hoped and prayed for. Let's keep in mind that once upon a time there was much more at stake than whatever small problem is troubling us today, but Mary did not lose faith, and God's will was done.

~ JT ~