Here is an article about Mary by the poet Luci Shaw entiled Yes to Shame and Glory, which is quite good. Here are some excerpts:
Mary will need the exhilaration of these days to balance the pain of the next 33 years and beyond. For God’s trust of her is deep enough not only to fill her with his heavy glory but also to draw her into the agony of Incarnation, to share with her the inevitable clash of spirit with flesh, of infinite with finite. There was as much pain as there was promise in that moment when Mary became a mother-to-be.
Mary’s calling was to carry the body of God, and to bear not only her own pain but her son’s, feeling his anguish as intensely as all mothers before or since have felt with their children.
I have been looking into Catholic beliefs about Mary recently. I learned that the Immaculate Conception refers to the conception of Mary. According to the doctrine, Mary is conceived in the normal way, but Original Sin is removed from her from at conception, so that she can be a pure and sinless vessel for Christ. A second doctrine concerns Mary’s perpetual virginity, meaning that she did not have any children after Christ. Catholics say that the references to Jesus’ brothers either refer to Joseph’s children from a previous marriage and that he was a widower when he married Mary or that these are his cousins. Finally, the Assumption of Mary, which I have not looked into as much, says that Mary was assumed, body and soul, into heaven a bit like Elijah or Christ for that matter.
I do not know what Calvin and Luther believed about the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary, but they both believed in the perpetual virginity of Mary. That was very interesting to me. The Orthodox Church does not officially believe in the Immaculate Conception but does believe in Mary’s perpetual virginity. Not sure what they think about her Assumption.
At any rate, I have no conclusions at this point other than a desire to look into these questions further at some point, particularly the one about Mary’s perpetual virginity. I do think that we protestants, generally, do not honor Mary as we should.
I would agree that Protestants, such as myself, don’t pay Mary much outward respect. However, it was the strong “veneration” of Mary that catalyzed my break with the Catholic Church. Basically, I don’t agree with the Catholic view that Mary was immaculately conceived. However, I am sympathetic to the Orthodox view in which Mary, although born with original sin, was cleansed from all sin while carrying Jesus. I know a lot of people refute this idea, however, I think I have a good argument (wouldn’t mind sharing in person). Finally in reference to the “perpetual virginity” issue, I’m not sure. To me, personally, it doesn’t matter if Mary maintained a state of virginity. Praise God if she did! Praise God if she didn’t! All in all, exploring questions about Mary has encouraged a lot of growthful dialogue in my life. Hum, come to think of it, she played a huge part in drawing me into the church when I became a Christian; the beautiful stained glass image of her holding Jesus was very alluring, safe. I’m thankful to have begun my faith getting to know the mother of my savior.
Thank you for your comments, Heidi. They are more gracious than many who have left the Catholic church and reflect back, and I appreciate that.
I am not exactly headed to the Catholic church, the questions of the veneration of Mary and papal infallibily and others are rather daunting still. However, I am drawn to some aspects, though. I am in a quandary about authority quite a bit. We say sola scriptura as reformed protestants, and yet the church had a huge role in helping form the canon of scripture. I know the protestant answer is that the authority of scripture is self-evident through the inspiration and power of the Holy Spirit, but I don’t know.
I also like the notion of apostolic succession, that authority has been passed down through the ages. We kind of honor this still, as protestants as elders lay hands on new elders who had hands laid on them by older elders and so on and so forth, the difference being that we vote on who gets to be elder, which is something that again I am not exactly keen on, though it has some scriptural precedent. I love the line from the movie “The Mission” where father Gabriel says “We are not the members of a democracy, Father. We are the members of an order.” Of course authority has been so badly abused in so many contexts. Still, that does not negate the concept of the goodness of authority itself.
Finally, the Catholic church is also far more friendly to the Arts, and though I am not completely an artsy sort of guy, I think this is very good.
Lots of interesting things to sort out. These do not really burn upon my heart but I would like to figure out some answers. Perhaps, I can figure them out at seminary. If they will have me, that is, after this wee confession.
Oh, I completely forgot what I orginally logged on to say. I too am not really convinced about the Immaculate Conception, because by that logic, really there would have to be a string of the same all the way back to Eve.
I would like to hear your thoughts on Mary being kept sinless sometime.
Regarding her perpetual virginity, I would not have a problem with this, though it does seem to cast a negative shadow on the goodness of sexuality, almost as if it was an unholy thing.
As far as the assumption goes, I don’t think it really matters. More interesting in all these again is the question of how the doctrines were formed and this has broader import for other questions as well.