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Know the Truth – Mariology

The following bible verses are referenced from the YouTube post of CEDAR Media on Mariology presented by  apologist Atty Marwil Llasos, OP from Know the Truth (KTT) Philippines. For the actual video, please check YouTube:  https://youtu.be/Y5ZxMKzQrs0

Distinguishing the views about the blessed Mary:

  1.  Mindset of other Denominations (Protestant, Iglesia ni Kristo, Born Again, etc): Either/or – example:
  • either scripture or tradition
  • either faith or good works
  • either Jesus or Mary
  • either Jesus or the church
  1. Mindset of Catholics: Both/and– example:
  • both scripture and tradition
  • both faith and good works
  • both Jesus and Mary
  • both Jesus and the church

Fallacies:

Other Denominations: False dichotomy (something with seemingly contradictory or disunited qualities). 

  1. If you are with Mary, you are not with Jesus
  2. Honor to Mary is to dishonor to Christ
  3. To love Mary is to hate Christ

What the Catholics say:

  1. Catholics is Christocentric.
  • “The angels went to her and said: Greetings! You who are highly favored. The Lord is with you.” Luke 1:28 > Therefore the Lord is with Mary, and if we are with Mary then we are with the Jesus too.
  • Christ is not threatened by honor given to Mary – Luke 1:42 >

…cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb…”

  • Mother and Son always go together – “What God has put together let no man separate.” Mk 10:9 > Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.; Mt 19: 6 > So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.
  • Get up!” the angel said. “Take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead.” Mt 2:20 > and said,“Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”
    • Gen 3:15 > I will put enmity between you and the woman,
       and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel.
    • Isa 7:14 > Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; the young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him Emmanuel.
    • Mt 2:11 > and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
    • Mt 1:13-14, 20 > Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud … 20 Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.
    • 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 disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
  • Mary always directs us to Christ– CCC 487 > What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ, and what it teaches about Mary illumines in turn its faith in Christ; Jn 2:5 > “Do whatever He tells you”.
  1. Honoring Mary:

Honor- Rom 13:7 > “Give honor, to whom honor due is”

  • Latria – Rendered to God alone. Being our creator and divine provident, He alone is to be adored and worshipped.
  • Dulia – God’s servants and friends. They are the angels and saints. Honor or veneration but not to be worshipped.
  • Hyperdulia – Superlative Dulia only given only to God’s mother, because of her fullness of grace and propinquity (nearness) to God in the hypostatic order (meaning when the Word became flesh, the Word became flesh in her).

Difference between Latria and Dulia – in essence (God – creature)

Difference between Hyperdulia and Dulia – in degree, they are the same creature but different in degree.

  1. Why do we honor Mary?
  • “Children’s children are the crown of the elderly, and the glory of children is their parentage.” Proverb 17:6 > The honor of the children is their parents. If you honor the parents it goes down to the children. Therefore, if we honor Mary, we also honor her son Jesus.
  • Because God honors her – Luke 1:30 > Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”
  • We imitate God – Eph 5:1 > So be imitators of God,[a]as beloved children.
  • Obedience to Scripture – Luke 1:48 > “All people will honor me”,
  • “Empowered by the Holy Spirit”
    • Luke 1:41-42 > When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
    • 1Cor 12:3. It is the Holy Spirit that honors Mary through us.
  • Because of her role in the Salvation history. “She is the mother of our Redeemer. She is the vessel of our Lord.”
  1. Devotion to Mary: It is based on a filial love – the tender love of a child to his dear mother. (Rom 12:10-11).
  • We love Mary because God loves her (Luke 1:28 > And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.”)
  • “Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did” – St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe.
  • Church is mystical body of Christ, if he loves Mary, then His mystical body (Church or we) is proper to love Mary.
    • Col 1:18 > He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be pre-eminent.
    • Rom 12:4-5 > For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another.
    • 1 Cor 12:27 > Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.
    • 1 Cor 12:12 > As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.
  • The Beauty of Blessed Mary- Luke 1:28 (see above). One of the proofs of God’s existence is the value of beauty. The source of perfect beauty is God himself. Mary is a pointer in that direction. She radiates the beauty of God.
  • Jesus loves His mother: when the incarnation happened, God had a heart because God became true human in Jesus Christ.
  • With a divine love –Because He is God Jesus loves all of us equally, unconditionally, eternally.
  • With a human love – His heart beats with a human heart and He loves his blessed mother very much.
  • The influence of Mary in arts and culture – Sacred arts like paintings, icons, Prose, Poetry, Music, Dance, Theater, Movies.

These remind us that there is someone who made this ideal beauty and that someone is the source of ideal beauty who is God himself.

  • Naming Mary – To name is to call, to call is to invoke, to name means there is familiarity. Titles of Mary according to our experiences about her (Reporter´s comment; In our province, we have a church called “Nuestra Senora de Salvacion” where my relative went on annual pilgrim), Biblical titles (Queen, mother, woman) as in Gospel of John.
  • Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, Spouse of the Holy Spirit according to St. Francis.
  • Pronounced “Blessed” 7 times in the bible – Lk 1:28. Lk 1:42, Lk 1:45, Lk 1:48, Lk 11:27, Lk 11:27 (b), Lk 11:28.
  • So full of grace. All grace is God and God became human through her. She is the Mediatrix of all graces (being near to her own Son, Jesus)
  • Totus Tuum Ego Sum, Maria! (I am completely yours, Maria) –
    • Jn 19:26-27 > When Jesus saw his mother[a]and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”  Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
  • Praying the Rosary (Rosary, came from the Latin word ros, meaning “dew”)

Doctrines/Dogmas about Blessed Mary

Doctrines are teachings of the church

Dogmas are infallible Doctrines

All dogmas are doctrines but not all doctrines are dogmas.

And the Marian dogmas are:

  1. Mother of God – 431 AD, Council of Ephesus. Mary is called the “Birthgiver of God” or in Greek: “Theotokos”.
  2. Perpetual Virginity of Mary – 649 AD, Council of the Lateran, Refers to the conception and birth of Jesus, uniqueness and deity of Christ, only Jesus is virgin born.
  3. Immaculate Conception – 1854 (Pope Pius IX), Mary was conceived without sin. (Gen 3:15 – Protoevangelium, see aforementioned verse, Luke 1:31 > Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.
  4. Assumption of Mary – 1 Nov 1950 (Pope Pius XII). This gives us the hope that destiny of human being is with God in heaven body and soul.

The difference between Ascension and Assumption:

  • Ascension – Jesus Christ because He is God ascended into heaven, a sign of divine power.
  • Assumption – Mary assumed into heaven by the power and grace of God.
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