Was Mary the greatest woman that ever lived?
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packermann
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Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to Mary "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus".
If Mary is blessed among all the women ever to have lived, then she is obviously the greatest of all.
If Mary is blessed among all the women ever to have lived, then she is obviously the greatest of all.
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Does it strike anyone else as being EXTREMELY unlikely that the disciples of Jesus would ever go around Jerusalem (or the areas near) and be saying 10 "Hail Mary's"???
I just don't picture the first century apostles saying anything close to "Hail Mary" ten times.
I believe their focus was on JESUS and not Mary.
Question everything.
I just don't picture the first century apostles saying anything close to "Hail Mary" ten times.
I believe their focus was on JESUS and not Mary.
Question everything.
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Since Mary was still living among them and not in heaven with her Son at the time, they could directly request her intercessory prayer. You want to propose they never asked her to pray for them and the success of their work? So why should we be any different?
If you ever figure out that this is not about Jesus OR Mary, and focusing on one does not diminish the focus on the other, and loving either one only increases the love for the other, you'll be closer to the truth than you are now.
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PaladinValer
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justinangel
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Elizabeth certainly regarded Mary as the greatest woman to have ever lived. It's evident by the deference she shows her younger cousin when she asks her in Luke 1,42: "How does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" We should note that Elizabeth doesn't call Mary's offspring by his given name, Jesus, but by his divine title Lord (Adonis / Kurio). She considers Mary to be more than a common mother. It's because of who Mary's child is that Elizabeth considers her cousin to be greater than any other woman. And unless there is another woman who bore the Son of God, I believe Mary is incomparably the greatest of them all.
The angel Gabriel must have had the same sentiment when he greeted Mary in Luke 1,28 with the words: "Hail, favored one!" In the original Greek text we have Chaire kecharitomene. The expression kecharitomene is the passive present perfect participle of the verb "to grace" (charis) or "to endow with grace" in the feminine vocative case. The Greek syntax denotes Mary had been completely graced before the Annunciation (1:30) and continued to be afterwards. Luke wrote his Gospel about twelve years after Mary's dormition, so we may assume that Mary remained in God's grace for the rest of her life as the mother of our Lord. Unless there is another woman who has been or will be graced as Mary had been, she is definitely the greatest woman to have ever lived.
Finally, the angel Gabriel continued speaking to Mary with these words in 1,35: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." The fact that Mary alone has conceived a child in union together with God surely makes her the greatest woman to have ever lived. Moreover, the expressions "to lay one's power over" a woman or to "overshadow" her in ancient semitic usage are ephemisms for entering a consummated marital relationship. In the Catholic tradition Mary is invoked as Spouse of the Holy Spirit in a marital relationship of a moral nature. Her marriage with Joseph was simply a legal one, and it remained lawful, in accord with the precepts of the Torah, as long as the couple abstained from having intercourse. That God should predestine Mary among all women to be the mother of our Lord, and to beget Jesus in union with the Holy Spirit, underscores the truth that there is no woman greater than Mary.
"Hail, Mary. You are the most precious creature in the whole world...For from you was born the Sun of Justice...through you every faithful soul achieves salvation."
St. Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 11 at the Council of Ephesus (A.D. 431)
"Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."
Luke 1, 45
Pax Christu
J.A.
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patricius79
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what do you mean by that. I think the early Church did see Mary as the highest of creatures and Mediatrix. Lk 1:28,37,38,42,43,44,45
Biblical Evidence for Catholicism: Mary as Mediatrix: The Patristic, Medieval, and Early Orthodox Evidence
but this "greatness" is not about superiority but about love
King James Bible
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
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I just found it..... revealing.... that the entire website linked here, "BIBLICAL Evidence for Catholicism: Mary" does not mention a single Bible verse. Ah. Point made (albeit probably unintentionally)
.
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Because it is a page of patristic evidence? I would imagine that the Church Fathers themselves refer to Scripture heavily, but then again, I've found that on CF people generally scream refusals when confronted with the fact that the Church Fathers source their views with Scripture so...
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Virgil the Roman
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I concur. I would add to this, my view.
To my view and that in general of Roman Catholic Christians' view:
That the Holy Mother of God is a "type" of the Eve and is the "New Eve;" likewise, Christ is a "type" of the old Adam, He is the "New Adam."
The Blessed Virgin was so honoured and blessed by God, that she alone amongst all the women ever made or created was chosen by God to bear His incarnate Son. And in her greatest humility, said "Yes," where Eve by her disobedience said "No" to God by her mortal sin of disobedience to our Blessed Lord. It is through the Holy Mother of God (the Blessed Virgin Mary) that Salvation was able to take root and to ultimately come to fulfillment through the death of Christ upon the Christ and later Christ's victory over Death, Sin, the Devil, and the World; saving Man from the Empire of the Prince of Darkness and Perpetual enslavement to sin, our vices, the Devil, and the World.
Christ is Victor!
Christus Vincit . . . Christus Regnat . . . Christus Imperat!
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Glory Forever!
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It is the Mariology section!
How is seeing how people view Mary with respect to other women somehow "vain?" (especially in the Mariology section). Are you saying that it is a vain question to ask "is Solomon still the wisest?" or "is John the Baptist the greatest prophet?" (because he baptized Jesus)
Where is the shame, specifically?
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