Since we in bodily form pray for others here on
earth or this realm, what is there to say that the next realm can not also pray for another?
Luke 16:19-30, while a parable, does contain a story of a departed man interceeding for his living brothers on earth. So, at least the idea is alluded to in Scripture.
"Finally, we believe that when Mary died, she was assumed, body and soul, into heaven."
...most interesting as well. I do know that a couple of prophets have been done this way. So yes, it
could be possible. Although I do not have a scripture to back this up with. Do you?
The closest we could come to would be Revelation 12:1, the Woman with a Crown of 12 Stars. The Church has always interpreted the woman as being Mary, which merely reinforces the knowledge that Mary went to Heaven. (The woman in Revelation is, after all in Heaven.
) Tradition also records the doctrine of the Assumption, with Gregory of Tours mentioning it in his
Libri miraculorum in the sixth century.
"we believe that she remained a virgin her entire life"
...First of all, she was a married woman and subject to the laws of Moses
to give herself to her husband. But we do know that Joseph did not know her bodily as wife till after
Jesus was born. It would have been unthinkable for her to have
remained in marriage and withheld herself from her husband contrary to the law after our Lord was born.
A couple of things here, all of them according to the Catholic interpretation; you are, of course, not required to accept this interpretation.
We feel that Mary was always a virgin, and that Jesus was the only child she ever bore. Ancient traditions in the Church have seen Joseph as much older than Mary, probably a widower with grown children from a previous marriage. He may have been as much as 15 to 20 years older than she; and thus, this was more of a caretaker role for him, as a provider and protector, rather than as a husband in the usual sense of the word. In the days when women died like flies during childbirth, it must be borne in mind that it was not at all unusual for a man to marry a much younger woman.
Ancient extra-biblical writings also back up the Church's take on this; the
Protoevangelion of St. James, written around 150 A.D., contains a passage where Joseph protests to the elders in Mary's village, "I am an old man, with grown sons; why do you bring this maiden to me?" Of course, these writings are not inspired Scripture, but they do reflect the belief of the early Christians in some areas, this one included.
Ergo, the passages you quoted which mention Jesus' siblings could very well have been older step-brothers and -sisters from a previous marriage of Joseph's. The Greek word in question in these passages
(adelphos), can mean step-brothers; they can also mean cousins or nephews, as well as blood brothers or sisters. The Church, insisting on the Mary's perpetual virginity, has always taken the interpretation of these passages as meaning other than blood siblings. It is interesting to note that Martin Luther, Huldrich Zwingli, and Joahn Calvin as well,
also all insisted on Mary's perpetual virginity---it was their followers a couple hundred years later that threw the idea out.
Finally, the oft-quoted passage from Matthew 1:25, "He (Joseph) had no relations with her (Mary)
until she bore a son" doesn't prove that he had relations with her
afterwards, either; 2 Samuel 6:23 states that "Michal, the daughter of Saul had no children
until the day of her death"---and it's a pretty sure bet that she didn't have children
after her death. Deuteronomy 34:6 says that Moses was buried and nobody knew the loaction of his grave
"until this present day"; but nobody knows were it since Deuteronomy was written, either.
Again, this is another one of those cases where Protestants interpret the Bible by the Bible, usually literally, and Catholics interpret the Bible by the Bible and Tradition.
I think that I will purchase or look up on the net a catholic bible to read in depth these books that
you have mentioned. Most interesting.
You can find the entire text of the Catholic Bible, both the old Douay-Rheims version, and the modern English New American version, at
www.newadvent.org. In addition to the Bible, there are links to the Catholic Encyclopedia and the Summa Theologia of Thomas Aquinas.
I find the 'rosary' a beautiful ...um...I don't know what to call it. Please exbound on the details in
the usage of the rosary. I have my aunt's in my jewlery box and it's old and worn. It has much
meaning to me, not because I use it, but becasue she did. Is it strictly to help one focus when
praying?
We call it a "devotion".
The Rosary is a very old, and very beautiful, devotion, but explaining it takes time and space, so I'll answer your question in another post, to prevent this one from taking up too much space.
In the meantime, I hope this helps. Again, I am explaining how Catholics interpret these issues; you don't have to
agree with where we're coming from, but I hope you can at least
understand where we're coming from.
Blessings,
---Wols.
