Mary RCIA 2012

Mary

Opening Prayer

Memorare (USCCA 149)

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,

that never was it known that anyone
who fled to your protection,
implored your help, or sought your
intercession was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto you
O Virgin of virgins, my mother;
to you do we come, before you we kneel,
sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not our petitions,
but in your clemency hear and answer them.

Amen.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

references/sources

• Lk. 1-2
• Jn. 19:25-30
• Pius XII. Munificentissimus Deus Defining The Dogma of the Assumption. 1 November 1950.
• Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium. 21 November 1964. Ch. VIII.
• CCC 484-507; 963-972; 2673-2677
• Aligheri, Dante. The Divine Comedy – Paradiso, Canto 33.(plus music from Msgr. Frisina’s opera)
• Called to Communion Ratzinger, Joseph. (have them buy this for next time)
• Reasons to Believe, Hahn NY: Doubleday, 2007. pp. 158.
• How to pray the Rosary

Content

• Concept of Dogma – the dogmas define Mary’s identity within the Church and can be

traced through her titles.

• Veneration vs. Adoration (hyperdoulia vs. latria)
• The Immaculate Conception
  • History – widely held, definition (Pius IX, 1853), St. Bernadette
  • Frames Mary within the context of salvation history
    • LG VIII, 53 – She is “redeemed in a more exalted fashion, by reason of her son.”
    • LG VIII, 56 – focus on the New Eve (“Ave Eva”)
      

      6. The Father of mercies willed that the incarnation should be preceded by the acceptance of her who was predestined to be the mother of His Son, so that just as a woman contributed to death, so also a woman should contribute to life. That is true in outstanding fashion of the mother of Jesus, who gave to the world Him who is Life itself and who renews all things, and who was enriched by God with the gifts which befit such a role. It is no wonder therefore that the usage prevailed among the Fathers whereby they called the mother of God entirely holy and free from all stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature.(5*) Adorned from the first instant of her conception with the radiance of an entirely unique holiness, the Virgin of Nazareth is greeted, on God's command, by an angel messenger as "full of grace",(286) and to the heavenly messenger she replies: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word".(287) Thus Mary, a daughter of Adam, consenting to the divine Word, became the mother of Jesus, the one and only Mediator. … As St. Irenaeus says, she "being obedient, became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race."(6*) Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert in their preaching, "The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience; what the virgin Eve bound through her unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosened by her faith."(7*) Comparing Mary with Eve, they call her "the Mother of the living,"(8*) and still more often they say: "death through Eve, life through Mary."(9*)

    • Lk. 1:28 “Hail favored one” Past perfect… she has already been favored (i.e. Immaculate Conception)
    • Old Testament Prophecy
      • Protoevangelion ( Gen. 3:15)

        “Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” (Is. 7:14 – ref’d in Mt. 1:22-23)

        “(Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, And the rest of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel.) He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD, his God; And they shall remain, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth…” (Mic. 5:2-3)

      • The Queen Mother in the Davidic Court
      • I Kings 2:19
      • Jer 13:18
      • II Kings 24:15
    • Revelation 12:1-12 (the woman and the dragon)
  • Mary’s Life with Christ and with the Church
    • Always in deep communion with Christ (never apart from him)
      • LG VIII,57 – she appears at the most critical moments
      • We only honor Mary within the framework of Christ
      • Becomes a model of contemplation - Lk. 2:19
      • A function of her faith and obedience (LG VIII, 56)

        “…she devoted herself wholeheartedly to the person and work of her Son, under and with him, serving the mystery of redemption, by the grace of the Almighty.”
        

“Being obedient became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.” – St. Iranaeus

• • • Always a mother
      • And thus perpetually virgin She had to be in order to be the unstained mother of Christ But also to become wholly and truly the mother of the Church. Jn. 19:25-30 (this is your mother)
      • Image of womanhood
        • Mother’s of Children
        • Mother’s of the Church (consecrated sisters)
        • Cf. JPII, Mulieres Dignitatem
    • Mary as intercessor - Mediatrix of graces (Hahn 158, see above for Bible ref)
  • Mary Assumed, Crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth
    • Pius XII. Mun. Deus. Nov. 1, 1950
    • Mary Our Hope (spes nostra)

Terms

• Rosary

Homework

• Read and draw up questions on Mulieres Dignitatem, John Paul II, On the Dignity and vocation of women on the occasion of the Marian year
• Begin Reading Called to Communion