Mary as God's Grace
Mary: "Full of
Grace"
The
Fathers of the Church taught that Mary received a number of distinctive
blessings in order to make her a more fitting mother for Christ and the
prototypical Christian (follower of Christ). These blessings included her role
as the New Eve (corresponding to Christ’s role as the New Adam), her Immaculate
Conception, her spiritual motherhood of all Christians, and her Assumption into
heaven. These gifts were given to her by God’s grace. She did not earn them,
but she possessed them nonetheless.
The key
to understanding all these graces is Mary’s role as the New Eve, which the
Fathers proclaimed so forcefully. Because she is the New Eve, she, like the New
Adam, was born immaculate, just as the First Adam and
Eve were created immaculate. Because she is the New Eve, she is mother of the New Humanity (Christians), just as the first Eve was the mother of humanity. And, because she is the New Eve, she shares the fate of the New Adam. Whereas the First Adam and Eve died and went to dust, the New Adam and Eve were lifted up physically into heaven.
Eve were created immaculate. Because she is the New Eve, she is mother of the New Humanity (Christians), just as the first Eve was the mother of humanity. And, because she is the New Eve, she shares the fate of the New Adam. Whereas the First Adam and Eve died and went to dust, the New Adam and Eve were lifted up physically into heaven.
Of
particular interest in the following quotations from the Fathers are those that
speak of Mary’s immaculate nature. We will all one day be rendered immaculate
(sinless), but Mary, as the prototypical Christian, received this grace early.
God granted her freedom from sin to make her a fitting mother for his
Son.
Even
before the terms "original sin" and "immaculate conception"
had been defined, early passages imply the doctrines. Many works mention that
Mary gave birth to Jesus without pain. But pain in childbearing is part of the
penalty of original sin (Gen. 3:16). Thus, Mary could not have been under that
penalty. By God’s grace, she was immaculate in anticipation of her
Son’s redemptive death on the cross. The Church therefore describes Mary as
"the most excellent fruit of redemption" (CCC 508).
The Ascension of Isaiah
"[T]he
report concerning the child was noised abroad in Bethlehem. Some said, ‘The
Virgin Mary has given birth before she was married two months.’ And many said,
‘She has not given birth; the midwife has not gone up to her, and we heard no
cries of pain’" (Ascension of Isaiah 11 [A.D. 70]).
The Odes of Solomon
"So
the Virgin became a mother with great mercies. And she labored and bore the
Son, but without pain, because it did not occur without purpose. And she did
not seek a midwife, because he caused her to give life. She bore as a strong
man, with will . . . " (Odes of Solomon 19 [A.D. 80]).
Justin Martyr
"[Jesus]
became man by the Virgin so that the course which was taken by disobedience in
the beginning through the agency of the serpent might be also the very course
by which it would be put down. Eve, a virgin and undefiled, conceived the word
of the serpent and bore disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received
faith and joy when the angel Gabriel announced to her the glad tidings that the
Spirit of the Lord would come upon her and the power of the Most High would
overshadow her, for which reason the Holy One being born of her is the Son of
God. And she replied ‘Be it done unto me according to your word’ [Luke
1:38]" (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 100 [A.D. 155]).
Irenaeus
"Consequently,
then, Mary the Virgin is found to be obedient, saying, ‘Behold, O Lord, your
handmaid; be it done to me according to your word.’ Eve, however, was
disobedient, and, when yet a virgin, she did not obey. Just as she, who was
then still a virgin although she had Adam for a husband—for in paradise they
were both naked but were not ashamed; for, having been created only a short
time, they had no understanding of the procreation of children, and it was
necessary that they first come to maturity before beginning to multiply—having
become disobedient, was made the cause of death for herself and for the whole
human race; so also Mary, betrothed to a man but nevertheless still a virgin,
being obedient, was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole
human race. . . . Thus, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience
of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed
through faith" (Against Heresies 3:22:24 [A.D. 189]).
"The
Lord then was manifestly coming to his own things, and was sustaining them by
means of that creation that is supported by himself. He was making a
recapitulation of that disobedience that had occurred in connection with a
tree, through the obedience that was upon a tree [i.e., the cross].
Furthermore, the original deception was to be done away with—the deception by
which that virgin Eve (who was already espoused to a man) was unhappily misled.
That this was to be overturned was happily announced through means of the truth
by the angel to the Virgin Mary (who was also [espoused] to a man). . . . So if
Eve disobeyed God, yet Mary was persuaded to be obedient to God. In this way,
the Virgin Mary might become the advocate of the virgin Eve. And thus, as the
human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so it is rescued by
a virgin. Virginal disobedience has been balanced in the opposite scale by
virginal obedience. For in the same way, the sin of the first created man
received amendment by the correction of the First-Begotten" (ibid., 5:19:1
[A.D. 189]).
Tertullian
"And
again, lest I depart from my argumentation on the name of Adam: Why is Christ
called Adam by the apostle [Paul], if as man he was not of that earthly origin?
But even reason defends this conclusion, that God recovered his image and
likeness by a procedure similar to that in which he had been robbed of it by
the devil. It was while Eve was still a virgin that the word of the devil crept
in to erect an edifice of death. Likewise through a virgin the Word of God was
introduced to set up a structure of life. Thus what had been laid waste in ruin
by this sex was by the same sex reestablished in salvation. Eve had believed
the serpent; Mary believed Gabriel. That which the one destroyed by believing,
the other, by believing, set straight" (The Flesh of Christ 17:4
[A.D. 210].
Pseudo-Melito
"If
therefore it might come to pass by the power of your grace, it has appeared
right to us your servants that, as you, having overcome death, do reign in
glory, so you should raise up the body of your Mother and take her with you,
rejoicing, into heaven. Then said the Savior [Jesus]: ‘Be it done according to
your will’" (The Passing of the Virgin 16:2–17 [A.D.
300]).
Ephraim the Syrian
"You
alone and your Mother are more beautiful than any others, for there is no
blemish in you nor any stains upon your Mother. Who of my children can compare
in beauty to these?" (Nisibene Hymns 27:8 [A.D. 361]).
Ambrose of Milan
"Mary’s
life should be for you a pictorial image of virginity. Her life is like a
mirror reflecting the face of chastity and the form of virtue. Therein you may
find a model for your own life . . . showing what to improve, what to imitate,
what to hold fast to" (The Virgins 2:2:6 [A.D. 377]).
"The
first thing which kindles ardor in learning is the greatness of the teacher.
What is greater [to teach by example] than the Mother of God? What more
glorious than she whom Glory Itself chose? What more chaste than she who bore a
body without contact with another body? For why should I speak of her other
virtues? She was a virgin not only in body but also in mind, who stained the
sincerity of its disposition by no guile, who was humble in heart, grave in
speech, prudent in mind, sparing of words, studious in reading, resting her
hope not on uncertain riches, but on the prayer of the poor, intent on work,
modest in discourse; wont to seek not man but God as the judge of her thoughts,
to injure no one, to have goodwill towards all, to rise up before her elders,
not to envy her equals, to avoid boastfulness, to follow reason, to love
virtue. When did she pain her parents even by a look? When did she disagree
with her neighbors? When did she despise the lowly? When did she avoid the
needy?" (ibid., 2:2:7).
"Come,
then, and search out your sheep, not through your servants or hired men, but do
it yourself. Lift me up bodily and in the flesh, which is fallen in Adam. Lift
me up not from Sarah but from Mary, a virgin not only undefiled, but a virgin
whom grace had made inviolate, free of every stain of sin" (Commentary
on Psalm 118:22–30 [A.D. 387]).
Augustine
"Our
Lord . . . was not averse to males, for he took the form of a male, nor to
females, for of a female he was born. Besides, there is a great mystery here:
that just as death comes to us through a woman, life is born to us through a
woman; that the devil, defeated, would be tormented by each nature, feminine
and masculine, as he had taken delight in the defection of both" (Christian
Combat 22:24 [A.D. 396]).
"That
one woman is both mother and virgin, not in spirit only but even in body. In
spirit she is mother, not of our head, who is our Savior himself—of
whom all, even she herself, are rightly called children of the bridegroom—but
plainly she is the mother of us who are his members, because
by love she has cooperated so that the faithful, who are the members of that
head, might be born in the Church. In body, indeed, she is the Mother of that
very head" (Holy Virginity 6:6 [A.D. 401]).
...
"Having
excepted the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom, on account of the honor of the
Lord, I wish to have absolutely no question when treating of sins—for how do we
know what abundance of grace for the total overcoming of sin was conferred upon
her, who merited to conceive and bear him in whom there was no sin?—so, I say,
with the exception of the Virgin, if we could have gathered together all those
holy men and women, when they were living here, and had asked them whether they
were without sin, what do we suppose would have been their answer?" (Nature
and Grace 36:42 [A.D. 415]).
Timothy of Jerusalem
"Therefore
the Virgin is immortal to this day, seeing that he who had dwelt in her
transported her to the regions of her assumption" (Homily on Simeon and
Anna [A.D. 400]).
John the Theologian
"[T]he
Lord said to his Mother, ‘Let your heart rejoice and be glad, for every favor
and every gift has been given to you from my Father in heaven and from me and
from the Holy Spirit. Every soul that calls upon your name shall not be
ashamed, but shall find mercy and comfort and support and confidence, both in
the world that now is and in that which is to come, in the presence of my
Father in the heavens’" (The Falling Asleep of Mary [A.D.
400]).
"And
from that time forth all knew that the spotless and precious body had been
transferred to paradise" (ibid.).
Gregory of Tours
"The
course of this life having been completed by blessed Mary, when now she would
be called from the world, all the apostles came together from their various
regions to her house. And when they had heard that she was about to be taken
from the world, they kept watch together with her. And behold, the Lord Jesus
came with his angels, and, taking her soul, he gave it over to the angel
Michael and withdrew. At daybreak, however, the apostles took up her body on a
bier and placed it in a tomb, and they guarded it, expecting the Lord to come.
And behold, again the Lord stood by them; the holy body having been received,
he commanded that it be taken in a cloud into paradise, where now, rejoined to
the soul, [Mary’s body] rejoices with the Lord’s chosen ones and is in the
enjoyment of the good of an eternity that will never end" (Eight Books
of Miracles 1:4 [A.D. 584]).
"But
Mary, the glorious Mother of Christ, who is believed to be a virgin both before
and after she bore him, has, as we said above, been translated into paradise,
amid the singing of the angelic choirs, whither the Lord preceded her"
(ibid., 1:8).
Mary's name is called "FULL OF GRACE", No wonder the archangel Gabriel called out to her saying 'Hail, Full of Grace, the Lord is with you'. and since she is full with the grace of God, Saint Paul in the book of Hebrews calls us to approach this Grace of God Hebrews 4:16. but since some people have hardened their heart to it the book of Romans 11:5-10 shows God's judgement on those who have accepted and those that do not accept the Grace, because God have made them deaf to his call and blind to see his Grace.
For it is by the God's Grace that we are saved through faith Ephesians 2:8-10 and Saint Paul tells us in Titus 2:11-12 that God has revealed his Grace for us for the salvation of the world.
My brothers and sisters, we cannot be the people the book of revelation talks about as those who obeys God's Commandments and are faithful to the truth revealed by Jesus Christ unless we are the children of this Woman the bible revealed to us as FULL OF GRACE.
Then in the book of Proverb 8:35-36 FULL OF GRACE says "those who finds me finds life, and the Lord will be pleased with them. Those who do not find me hurts themselves; anyone who hates me loves death". So says the one named Full of Grace
To those who do not reverence the Grace of God, to them Isaiah 2:2 says "in days to come the mountain where the Temple stands will be the highest one of all the hills. Many nations will come streaming to it." This is the prophecy of Isaiah long ago.
The bible I believe told us Two things
- God said to Jesus, you are my Son, today I have become your Father.
- God said to Mary, you are my Mother, Today I have Become your Son
And since Mary is the Channel of fulfilled promises, she said in Luke 1:54-55 "He has kept the promise he made to our ancestors, and has come to the help of his servant Isreal. he has remembered to show mercy to Abraham and to all his descendants forever"
so she calls to us to be protected in Song of Songs 8:10, she says " I am a wall, and my breasts are its tower. My lover knows that with Him I find contentment and peace". Here she is calling to us, for she wants peace in the world.
No wonder proverbs 3:16-18 says " Wisdom offers you long life,as well as wealth and honour. Wisdom can make your life pleasant and lead you safely through it. Those who become wise are happy; wisdom will give them life".
She cries to you in proverbs 9:4-6 "Come in, ignorant people and to the foolish she says, come, eat my food and drink the wine that I have mixed. Leave the company of ignorant people, and live. follow the way of knowledge."
Oh how she love you, though being hated and insulted by you, yet she loves you as a child. Why not do same. For she will give you life. she says again, to you in Proverb 8:20-21 : I walk the way of righteousness; I follow the paths of justice, giving wealth to those who loves me, filling theri houses with treasures.
For she went on to say in Verse 22-36 "The Lord created me first of all, the first of his works, long ago. I was made in the very beginning, at the first, before the world began. I was born before the Oceans, when there were no springs of water. I was born before the mountains, before the hills were set in place, before God made the earth and it's fields or even the first handful of soil. I was there when he set the sky in place, when he stretched the horizon across the ocean, when he placed the cloud in the sky, when he opened the springs of the ocean and ordered the waters of the sea to rise no further than he said.
I was there when he laid the earth's foundations. I was his daily source of Joy, always happy in his presence, happy with the world and pleased with the human race.
Now young people, listen to me. do as I say, and you will be happy. Listen to what you are taught. Be wise; do not neglect it. Those who listen to me will be happy-Those who stay at my door everyday, waiting at the entrance to my home. Those who finds me find life, and the Lord will be pleased with them. Those who do not find me hurt themselves; anyone who hates me loves Death."
AND then in Proverb 8:11-14 she says "I am wisdom, i am better than Jewels; nothing you want can compare with me. I am wisdom, and I have insight; I have knowledge and sound judgement. To honour the Lord is to hate evil, I hate pride and arrogance, evil ways and false words. I make plans and carry them out I have understanding and I am strong"
Proverb 9:12 says " You are the one who will profit if you have wisdom, and if you reject it, you are the one who will suffer."
Mary is called the Lady of Mount Carmel, that is why Song of Songs 7:5 have to say to her "Your head is held high like Mount Carmel"
It is not today your blasphemis started that was why Song of Songs 4:8 says "Come with me from lebanon Mountains, my bride, come down from lebanon. come down from the top of mount Amana, from Mount Senir and Mount Hermon, where the lions and leopards live".
Paul said in his teaching in 1 Corinthians 1:27 "God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise, and he chose what the world considers weak to shame the powerful"
Why Mary is Honored above All Women
Why is Mary the only woman mentioned by name in the Quran?
Why did Allah choose her and prefer her above all the women of creation (Qs
3:42)? No other prophet’s mother was given such an honor. What made this woman
so special to Allah and the world?
God
Chose Mary to Bring the Messiah into the World
God gave Mary great honor because of
the glorious task he assigned to her. He chose her to bring the Messiah into
the world. It was the most unusual and important mission ever given to a woman.
She would be the mother of the Savior of the world. God's angel said to her, "O Mary! Allah gives you glad tidings of a Word from
Him: his name is Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and
the Hereafter and of those nearest to Allah" (Qs 3:45). Mary was given a great honor. But to
her son belongs the greater honor. Mary was special, but she died and her body
is still in the grave. Her son, Isa Al-Masih, is in heaven and lives forever.
Christians
Do Not Worship Mary
Christians do not worship Mary. We
honor her just as God honored her. Mary did not die for the sins of the world.
Mary cannot offer forgiveness for sin. Only Jesus, who came forth from her
womb, can do these things. Only Jesus is worthy of worship.
Only
Jesus Can Offer Salvation
It is said about Jesus, "He will save his people from their sins"
(Injil, Matthew 1:21). He was called "Immanuel" which
means "God with us" (Injil,
Matthew 1:23). When the prophet
John
saw Christ Jesus coming toward him, he said, "Look,
the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (Injil,
John 1:29). Only Jesus, Allah's "Word"
sent from heaven, and born to Mary without sin is called "a holy son" (Qs 19:19).
Isa
Al-Masih Waits for You to Come to Him
Isas died to bear the sin and guilt
of every person who ever lived. He paid the price for your sins in His sacrifice. He died and rose again. And now He
sits in Heaven and waits for you. Isa loves you and wants to hear you call out
to Him. Pray now and ask Him to forgive your sins. Trust in Him as your Sacrifice and you will be saved. Isa
said, "I am the way and the truth and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Injil, John
14:6).
[We invite you to visit us at http://www.isaandislam.com/way-of-salvation
to learn more about God’s gift of Salvation. God loves you and waits to hear
from you. Jesus clearly said, “I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”
(Injil, John 14:6). For a deeper understanding of Jesus we suggest you subscribe
to "Isa, Islam, and Al-Fatiha" at this link.]
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the following questions:
1. Why is Mary honored
above all women?
2. Why don't Christians worship Mary?
3. Why is Isa Al-Masih the only one to give Salvation to the world?
2. Why don't Christians worship Mary?
3. Why is Isa Al-Masih the only one to give Salvation to the world?
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