Opening Prayer Advent Prayer
Father, in the wilderness of the Jordan you sent a messenger to prepare people’s hearts for the coming of your Son.
Help me to hear his words and repent of my sins, so that I may clearly see the way to walk, the truth to speak,
and the life to live for Him, our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
And as you taught us to pray (together)…
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever and ever. Amen
Where did this last phrase come from?
The Lord’s Prayer is found in Matthew and Luke and neither has this phrase. It is from the “Didache,” a Catholic document that tradition states the Apostles wrote in the 1st century.
Upcoming major holy days: We are in Advent through Dec 24; Immaculate Conception of Mary Dec 9
Quote of the Week:
“It’s not happy people who are grateful. It is grateful people who are happy.” – Francis Bacon
Today’s Agenda
Gospel reading for 2nd Sunday in Advent, Luke 3:1-6
Readings for the Immaculate Conception of Mary
Mary Apologetics
Gospel reading for 2nd Sunday in Advent, Luke 3:1-6
Recall last week, the Advent readings started with a kind of scary passage about the end of time and Second Coming of Christ. This was to get our attention that Advent is as much about being prepared for our death as we are for celebrating the First Coming of Christ on Christmas.
The 2nd reading of Advent always then jumps to John the Baptist preaching in the desert, paving the way for the arrival of Christ. You will notice in this reading that Luke mentions all kinds of names and locations, as a historian would do. This is to give substance to Jesus’ arrival by connecting it to these people and these times. Heads up – all of these “leaders” Luke mentions have one thing in common – they are all bad people. These were very difficult times for Jews in which John comes bearing good news, and why his message of the coming Messiah was so welcome.
Luke 3:1-6
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.
Tiberius reigned from 14 AD to 37 AD and he ranked right up there with Caligula and Nero as the most notorious emperors. For example, he conducted grand, public sex events, and very public murders for those who didn’t go along. He was eventually smothered to death in his sleep.
Pilate was also a bad man. According to historian Philo of Alexandria, he was well-known for his corruption and cruelty towards everyone.
Ananias and Caiaphas – the High Priests of Israel. Both were corrupt and both were eventually deposed from their positions
Herod and Philip were sons of Herod the Great who was responsible for murdering the children in Bethlehem shortly after Jesus was born there. The sons were like the father. They were puppet rulers appointed by Tiberius.
Once again, these were the desperate times the Jews lived in. John suddenly appearing in the desert preaching repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah had been anticipated for some time and now was greeted with open arms.
John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.
Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
Why did John preach in the desert instead of Jerusalem?
Isaiah (and others) prophesied that the Messiah would usher in a “New Exodus.” The first Exodus was in the desert between Egypt and Israel and ended at the Jordan River. This is where John is, baptizing in the Jordan River where the ancient Israelites first crossed.
What is meant by the paths being made straight, the mountains being made low, and the valleys filled in?
The road to Heaven was impassable before the arrival of Christ. Our lives are still filled with roadblocks, but they are now removed to the extent we love our neighbor and give our worldly fears over to God. In Heaven, this path will be complete.
PROPHECY & Satan’s Enmity
Gen 3:14-15,20
(God says to the serpent) I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel."
The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living.
First Messianic prophecy
He (Jesus ) will strike the serpent’s head (evil/death is conquered on the cross; heaven reopened).
He (Satan) will strike his Jesus’ heel (Jesus’ death on the cross).
Enmity between the devil and the woman.
Eve is called woman before her fall, highly regarded/endearing. Eve after the fall.
Jesus calls Mary “woman” at Cana, Jesus conducts his first public miracle.
Jesus calls Mary “woman” at the Cross.
Mary is the new woman and the “New Eve” – first written by St. Justin Martyr (b.100 AD) and St. Irenaeus (b.130 AD), based on St. Paul calling Jesus the New Adam.
The Immaculate Conception of Mary
Gospel Reading, The Annunciation Luke 1-26-38
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you!”
But she was greatly troubled at the saying and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold your kinswoman, Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing is impossible.”
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.”
The Archangel Gabriel says, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you!” What word seems to be missing?
“Mary” seems to be missing, but it isn’t. “Full of grace” is spoken by Gabriel as a title, as in “Hail, Caesar”, or “Hail, King of the Jews.” This is significant. Note: “Mary” was added later to the prayer Hail Mary just for clarity’s sake.
Why is Mary greatly troubled/perplexed at this greeting?
Wouldn’t you be? A high-level Archangel from God is addressing you, “Hail, Full of Grace”! Of course that would be unsettling, especially to someone of such low status as Mary.
What happens next?
Gabriel sees her anxiety and repeats (remember, repetition in Scripture is no accident, but intended emphasis): “Do not fear, Mary, for God had found favor with you.” Now he uses Mary’s name, but he repeats himself because “favor” and “grace” come from the same word – “chaire” in Greek and “gratia” in Latin; they both mean grace = “divine favor.”
Next, it is helpful to know that in the original language Gabriel uses the past perfect tense, which describes an action that has already occurred in the past. The grace Gabriel is talking about didn’t just happen when he arrived – it was already there. In other words, she was born with it. This makes perfect sense as well, since God knew for all eternity that Mary would say yes, and that it would be through her that He would be entering into His creation.
What grace did Mary receive? Recall the grace that Adam and Eve lost in the Fall…
Sanctifying Grace. The grace of relationship with God that is required to enter Heaven. When we say that Mary was born without Original Sin, what we mean is that she was born in a state of Sanctifying Grace.
So, how do we explain that Mary was without sin for her entire life? How is that possible?
The answer is related to this question: “If there is no sin in Heaven, do we still have free will?” Who can answer this?
In Heaven, our sanctifying grace is perfected and we don’t have the same tendency to sin (concupiscence) that we do now. Yet we still have free will. Think of it this way: if you have a someone you love very, very much in your arms – a child/spouse/whoever – what are the chances you will hit this baby or throw it off a balcony? Probably zero. But you still have free will, don’t you? With the fullness of Sanctifying grace, right and wrong will be that clear to us in heaven such that we wouldn’t consider doing anything wrong just because it is so immensely stupid.
THIS is the fullness of Mary’s state of grace in her life. As Gabriel said, “full of grace.” She was sanctified fully, as we will be too one day (hopefully!). Which only makes sense since her womb would carry the 2nd Person of the Holy Trinity.
Mary’s Perpetual Virginity
Some say staying a virgin is too hard for anyone. That’s understandable in today’s culture where self-gratification seems to be a right! However, in earlier days, the practice of virginity and chastity were considered exemplars of one’s faith and dedication to God.
Like most things, Protestants accuse the Church of making up Mary’s perpetual virginity in recent times, like the Assumption. Not true. All these extend back to the early Church fathers. One needs only to study the history of the Church during the first few centuries.
It is worth mentioning that the mention of brothers and sisters of Jesus in Scripture has contributed to this confusion. However, the Church has always taught that these terms refer to close relatives or kin, consistent with the cultural times. The Hebrew/Aramaic languages did not have a specific term for “cousin” and often used “brother” to describe familial ties.
Both early tradition and later visions of Mary by the saints state that Mary dedicated her virginity to the Lord from her youth. This is why she did not want to get married. God assured her she would be able to keep her promise when she agreed to marry Joseph (some traditions point out that Joseph was a very pious man and also had the same vow).
The early Church Fathers have confirmed this as well. Here is a quote from St. Augustine:
Mary remained a virgin in conceiving her Son, a virgin in giving birth to him, a virgin in carrying him, and virgin in nursing him at her breast, always a virgin.” – St. Augustine, CCC 499.
The Lateran Council of 649 formally defined Mary’s “ever-virginity,” affirming that she was a virgin before, during, and after the birth of Christ.
Eastern Art, The Perpetual Virginity of Mary
Mary, Mother of God
The title “Mother of God,” or “Theotokos” in Greek, has been a long tradition in the Church. It refers to Mary being the mother of Jesus, who was both human and divine. Since Jesus was God, it can be said that Mary is the mother of God. It has always referred to Jesus Christ alone, not the Trinitarian God.
Some Protestants will claim that the title implies the whole Trinity (it doesn’t), and that the Church is overstating Mary’s title anyway, which isn’t scriptural. Is this true?
1. Elizabeth says to Mary at her Visitation, “How has this happened that the mother of my LORD should come to me?” The word used here for “Lord” (Κυρίου) is the word for God. So Elizabeth is already using this title before Jesus was born.
2. We still have a papyrus dated to the year 250 AD that says (translated to English):
We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen
Remember, when written documents like this are found, it does not mean that it was the first use of the ideas on them. Almost 100% of the time, these words have long been in use. This is just the earliest extant version we have.
3. One of the most important Councils in the history of the Church, the Council of Ephesus (431 AD) famously confirms the title of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Theotokos, that is, the God-bearer, the Mother of God.
Praying to Mary
Do Catholics pray to Mary like she is divine?
Of course not. She intercedes for us, just as Mary interceded for the marriage couple at the wedding at Cana. And just as we intercede for our loved ones when we pray for them.
Even the “Hail Mary” prayer says asks Mary to “pray for us sinners.”
Some Protestants have a problem when Catholics go to Jesus through Mary, claiming we should go to Him directly. “Why go through Mary when we can go directly to Jesus?”
We don’t disagree with this and we often do go to Jesus. However, they seem to forget that God wants everyone praying and interceding for everyone else, because he is trying to teach us how to love and praying for them is one of the highest acts of love. That is the meaning behind the “Body of Christ.” We are all in this together and we help and pray for each other.
Regarding praying to the one who is closest to Jesus – Mary – who is most likely to help you with your requests?
A parting note – they should also realize that God didn’t come directly to us. He also chose to come to us through Mary. One could say that His ways are better than our ways :).
Is the “Hail Mary” prayer Biblical?
Yep.
Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant
Mary is seen by the Church as the fulfillment of the Ark of the (Old) Covenant. Why? What did the Ark contain?
The Ark of the Old Covenant contained:
1. The Ten Commandments (“Word of God")
2. The Manna (also called the "bread of the presence")
3. The staff of Aaron (Moses' brother) who represented the priestly authority of God, overseeing the sacrifices to God for their sins.
Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant contained:
1. Jesus, the Word of God made flesh
2. Jesus, the Bread of his presence and eternal life (Jn 6:51)
3. The true priestly authority of God, who gave himself as a sacrifice to God for the sins of mankind.
Now, let's compare David bringing the Ark into Jerusalem and pregnant Mary bringing Jesus to Jerusalem to visit Elizabeth:
King David and the Ark (2 Samuel 6:5-15)
"King David was leaping and dancing before the LORD."
King David said, "How can the Ark of the LORD come to me?"
The Ark remained in the house of Obededom for three months.
Mary visiting Elizabeth pregnant (Luke 1:41-56)
"When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb."
Elizabeth: "How is it the Mother of the Lord should come to me?"
And Mary remained with Elizabeth for about 3 months.
Mary’s bodily Assumption – celebrated Aug 15
Covered this recently, go to https://www.catholiccatacombs.org/recaps. See The Assumption of Mary 8.13.24.
Queenship and Satan’s enmity
Satan’s hatred of Mary is legendary. It wasn’t enough that Mary was the new Eve who reversed the choice of the first Eve who Satan defeated, and that through her Jesus would crush Satan. It was also that God used a human and a woman – a lowly handmaiden – to bring about his humiliation.
But also likely weighing on Satan’s mind is the high place that Mary would hold in Heaven. Recall that Lucifer was originally God’s finest angel. He was more beautiful and powerful than all the other creatures that God had made. He was so mighty that he really thought he could be better than God. The defining marks of Satan that caused his fall from Heaven are his pride and envy of the Almighty. And now this lowly handmaiden had taken his place!
As we see in Revelation 12, we see the immense Dragon trying to take out the Queen of Heaven (Mary) and eat her first born son. He fails. Remember, John wrote this book, and he cared for Mary the rest of her life. This reference to Mary wasn’t accidental.
Mary fell from Protestant’s good graces in the 16th century, but not right away. The father of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther, was still Catholic in many ways. Luther’s views on Mary were more traditional than even many modern Lutherans might expect. For example, Luther believed in:
Perpetual virginity: Luther believed that Mary was a virgin throughout her life, including after giving birth to Jesus.
Immaculate Conception: Luther believed that Mary was preserved from original sin from the moment of her conception. However, his views on this changed over time, and he eventually claimed that God removed original sin from Mary at a different time, shortly before or at the time of Christ's conception. This is known as his "Immaculate Purification" position.
Theotokos: Luther believed that Mary was the Mother of God, or Theotokos.
Spiritual mother: Luther believed that Mary was the spiritual mother of all Christians.
Devotion: Luther continued to be devoted to Mary until his death. He praised her in many of his writings.
Luther's views on Mary were closer to those of the Catholic Church than to modern Lutheranism. What was different was that Luther denied Mary's power of intercession, and he opposed the Catholic Church's veneration of Mary.
Apologetics
I received an inquiry recently questioning the Church’s beliefs about Mary. The inquiry was seeking to answer the comments stated in the snip below. Let’s review them and what our responses should be.
All of them are based on ignorance about what the Church teaches, which is a common theme. As to the first one, the fact that Mary was sinless was proclaimed by the Church in 1854 (along with the Immaculate Conception) does not mean that is when the Church started teaching it. The Church had convened formal councils the past 2,000 years, and the reason was because clarity over some matters or heresies was needed. The Church felt the need to make Mary’s Immaculate Conception and sinlessness perfectly clear – precisely because of challenges like this – so it issued the 1854 proclamation.
Jesus absolutely was her savior. Nobody enters heaven except through Christ. Mary was given this sanctifying grace (her salvation) at her birth, so she could provide an untainted womb for the Son of God.
In the cultural and historical context of the times, calling her “woman” was a term of endearment, same as when he used it on the cross when he told John to take care of her (“Woman, behold your son.” – John 19:26). The same was true for Eve before the Fall – she was “woman,” which is one reason Jesus uses that term. Mary is the new Eve. Moreover, Jesus obeyed Mary immediately in John 2:4 (Wedding at Cana).
Using Jesus as an argument against Mary’s grace, seriously? Jesus is God. He IS grace. As for Stephen, we discussed in class recently that there are many kinds of grace. God provides “actual” grace to humans in times when wisdom and courage are needed, which exactly fits Stephen situation as he was preaching boldly and then stoned to death. Mary’s grace – part of her title and foundation – was a permanent state that she was born with. Remember, Mary wasn’t the first one to be born without Original Sin. Adam and Eve were born with Sanctifying Grace, too. Again, Mary is the new Eve who gets it right.
The Assumption not being in the Bible is a favorite Protestant argument based on their belief in “Sola Scriptura” – “only Scripture,” which was created to get rid of “tradition,” But tradition is honored in Scripture and Sola Scriptura is not. For that matter, neither is the Trinity, the Bible, or the words Christmas and Easter in the Bible. They are apostolic tradition.
Conclusion
Lest we forget, Mary is the one whose perfect submission to the will of God helps undo the sin of Eve (see Lk 1:38), the one is filled with grace (see Lk 1:28), the one who is overshadowed by the Holy Spirit (see Lk 1:34), the one who is most blessed among women (see Lk 1:42), the one whom all generations will call blessed (see Lk 1:48), the one whose maternal heart moves Jesus to begin His ministry (see Jn 2:5), the one whom Jesus assigns as a mother to His most cherished disciple (see Jn 19:27), and the one who is portrayed as a spiritual mother to all believers (see Rev 12:17).
Who recalls Mary’s last words in Scripture?
“Do whatever he (Jesus) tells you.” – The wedding at Cana.
Closing Prayer
Hail, holy Queen,
Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.
To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us,
And after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Amen.
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