• How do I come?
• How do I come to this retreat on Mary?

St. Mary Major History & Architecture

• light candle
• We come to this retreat time to prayerfully reflect on our tradition and on the life and words of Mary.
• Mary is the model for our lives and relationship with God.
• Her life shows us how to live in relationship with God,
  • how to be open to God’s Will,
  • and how to respond to God.
• In the magnificat, Mary, she sums up the hopes of generations of Prophets and Leaders and Healers.
  • She speaks prophetically about the Kingdom of God.
• This retreat will try and help us to understand how to make these prophetic words part of your daily life.

We sing the Magnificat in with Mary

• song: MagnificatMagnificat-dance
• What particularly do you want to reflect on in our time together?
• What particularly do you want to pray for in our time together?
• What particularly do ask of God during in our time together?

1. To explore the Catholic tradition on Mary
2. To assess challenges to Marian doctrine and pastoral praxis
3. To hear again the words of Mary in the scriptures
4. To discover Mary as truly, our sister, and as mystic and prophet

Historical Mary? - A first century Jewish woman living a hard-scrabble life in a land violently occupied by a foreign power.

• First-century
  • Fog of historical past
  • Archeology
  • World history
• Jewish woman
  • Gender in the the Middle-East
  • Gender in scripture
  • Gender in Judaism
• Living a hard-scrabble life
  • Much of life is about survival
  • Rough hewn life
  • Rough hewn language
  • Hunger and Thirst for Justice
  • Artisan - new poverty
• In a land violently occupied
  • Soldiers present
  • Oppression
  • Foreign justice
• By a foreign power
  • Romans brought order in their image
  • Jews were considered savages.

First Millenium

• Theotokos - Θεοτόκος
• Godbearer - one who bears God
• Christocentric Mariology
• Legends
• First Century Image of Christ

• Fifth Century Image of Christ

• Second Century Image of Mary

• Fifth Century Image of Mary

• Third Century Prayer: Sub Tuum - early prayer to Mary

• Sub Tuum

We fly to Thy protection,
O Holy Mother of God;
Do not despise our petitions
in our necessities,
but deliver us always
from all dangers,
O Glorious and Blessed Virgin. Amen.

Sub tuum praesidium confugimus,
Sancta Dei Genetrix.
Nostras deprecationes ne despicias
in necessitatibus nostris,
sed a periculis cunctis
libera nos semper,
Virgo gloriosa et benedicta

Second Millenium

• Expanded religious imagination
• Coronation of Christ
• Coronation of Mary
• Reading hierarchy into theology
  • Need for mediation
• Twelfth Century Image of Mary

• Fifteenth Century Image of Mary

• Sixteenth Century Image of Mary

• Seventeenth Century Image of Mary

• Baroque Period

• Affective faith in the ascendency over intellectual faith
  • Marian devotions
  • Marian apparitions
  • Reformers object and Catholics double-down on popular piety - distinctive marker of Catholic identity
  • Art, Music, Shrines, Rosary, Litanies, Processions, Hymns, May-crownings, Fraternities, Consecrations
  • Migration of the divine feminine to Mary

Lumen Gentium

• Mary occupies a place in the Church
• highest after Christ
• and yet very close to us. (LG 54)

The council treated Mary in Chapter 8 of Lumen Gentium - the document on the Church rather than a separate document because Mary belongs “within the Church” rather that outside of it.

1. The Mystery of the Church
2. The People of God
3. The Hierarchical Structure of the Church and In Particular on the Episcopate
4. The Laity
5. The Universal Call to Holiness in the Church
6. The Religious
7. The Eschatological Nature of the Pilgrim Church and Its Union with the Church in Heaven
8. The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the Mystery of Christ and the Church
   • Associate of Christ on earth
   • Heavenly mother to all Christians in the order of grace
   • A model which every member of the Church should aim to imitate.

Dogmas:

• Mother of God - Jan 1
• Assumption of Mary - Aug 15
• Immaculate Conception of Mary - Dec 9
• Perpetual virginity of Mary

• Earliest understanding of Mary
  • Mary is Mother of Jesus Χριστοτόκος
  • Jesus is Divine and Human
  • Mary is mother of the one person of Jesus in both of natures: Θεοτόκος
• Council of Ephesus 431
• Θεοτόκος - Μήτηρ Θεοῦ

• Mary as our mother
  • Ancient cultural meaning of intercession forms theology
  • Perpetually available to do children's bidding -
  • Virgin and Mother - defined by feminine passivity.

Jan 1 -

• O God, who through the fruitful virginity of Blessed Mary
• bestowed on the human race
• the grace of eternal salvation
• grant, we pray,
• that we may experience the intercession of her,
• to receive the author of life,
• our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son.
• Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit
• one God, for ever and ever.

• Ancient tradition
• Dormition - 5th Century
• Death? (punishment for original sin v Immaculate Conception)
• Assumption Defined officially in 1950
  • The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.

Aug 15 - Assumption

• O God, who, looking on the lowliness of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
• raised her to this grace,
• that your Only Betonnen Son was born of her according to the flesh
• and that she was crowned this day with surpassing glory,
• grant through her prayers,
• that, saved by the mystery of your redemption,
• we may merit to be exalted by you on high.
• Through our Lord Jesus Christ, you Son,
• who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit
• one God, for ever and ever.

• Defined in 1854 - four years before the apparitions at Lourdes
  • Original Sin:
    • Original Blessing / Created in the image of God
    • Deeply compromised, conflicted, weakened
  • Gen 1:27 God created humanity in God's own image, in the image of God-self God created them; male and female God created them.
  • Gen 2:25: Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
  • Gen 3
    • Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.
    • He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
    • The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
    • “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
    • ….they ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
    • Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
    • He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
  • Rom 5:12: Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned. (1 Cor 15:22)
  • For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing.
  • Catholic Sinfulness, weakness before temptation; East: fallen; Protestant: corruption, depravity; Judaism and Islam don't hold this.
• Mary is free from original sin
• Mary was redeemed by Christ
• In view of the merits of Jesus Christ
• So that Christ could be born of a sinless person.
• Widely held since late antiquity
• With some significant dissenters: Aquinas, Bonaventure, Bernard
• Eastern Christians see this as an over elaboration. Makes Mary admirable but not truly our sister.
• Reform Churches see this as without scriptural basis, negating the saving power of Christ and flying in the face of modern scientific understanding.

December 8

• Oh God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin
• prepared a worthy dwelling for your Son,
• grant, we pray,
• that, as you preserved her from every stain
• by virtue of the Death of your son, which you foresaw
• so, through her intercession,
• we, too, may be cleansed and admitted to your presence.
• Through our Lord Jesus Christ, you Son,
• who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit
• one God, for ever and ever.

• From the early ecumenical councils
• Strong liturgical evidence “Blessed Ever-Virgin Mary”
• Mary was virgin before, during and after the birth of Jesus
• Early Christian writers posit a vow of virginity
• Not supported by Mary's Jewish roots (Hanah, Rebeccah, Sarah) - Be fertile and multiply.
• She had no relations until the child was born.
• Jesus brothers, cousins, half-brothers…. and the extended family unit
• “Behold thy son.”

• Marialis cultus, Paul VI 1974 - part II
  • Biblical
  • Liturgical
  • Ecumenical
  • Anthropological

• 4 words of Mary
• 44 references to Mary
• Faithful disciple
• Mystic and prophet
• Theotokos - Θεοτόκος

Eastern Christianity

• Christo-centric Mariology
• Theotokos - God-bearer - https://orthodoxwiki.org/Theotokos
• Doxological - praise
• Liturgical - integrated
• Symbolic - of the mystic and prophetic call.
  • Akathist
  • Rejoice, O you through whom joy will shine forth;
  • Rejoice, O you through whom the curse will disappear!
  • Rejoice, O Restoration of the Fallen Adam;
  • Rejoice, O Redemption of the Tears of Eve!
  • Rejoice, O Peak above the reach of human thought;
  • Rejoice, O Depth even beyond the sight of angels!
  • Rejoice, O you who have become a kingly Throne;
  • Rejoice, O you who carries One Who carries all!
  • Rejoice, O Star who manifests the Sun;
  • Rejoice, O Womb of the Divine Incarnation!
  • Rejoice, O you through whom creation is renewed;
  • Rejoice, O you through whom the Creator becomes a Babe!
  • Rejoice, O Bride and Maiden ever-pure!
  • Rejoice, O Space of the spaceless God;
  • Rejoice, O Gate of the Sublime Mystery!
  • Rejoice, O Message unsure to those without faith;
  • Rejoice, O Glory most certain to those who believe!
  • Rejoice, O Sacred Chariot of the One Above the Cherubim;
  • Rejoice, Perfect Dwelling of the One Above the Seraphim!
  • Rejoice, O you who reconciled opposites;
  • Rejoice, O you who combined maidenhood and motherhood!
  • Rejoice, O you through whom transgression was erased;
  • Rejoice, O you through whom paradise was opened!
  • Rejoice, O Key to the Kingdom of Christ;
  • Rejoice; O Hope for the Ages of Bliss!
  • Rejoice, O Bride and Maiden ever-pure!
  • Rejoice, O Beam of the Mystical Sun;
  • Rejoice, O Radiance of the Light Without Setting!
  • Rejoice, Lightning-Flash that brightens the souls;
  • Rejoice, Thunder-Clap that strikes down the foes!
  • Rejoice, for you have raised the many-lighted Star;
  • Rejoice, for you have opened the many-coursed Stream!
  • Rejoice, O you who traced the Living Model of the Pool;
  • Rejoice, O you who erased the stain of sin!
  • Rejoice, Flowing Water that cleanses the conscience;
  • Rejoice, Holy Vessel overflowing with joy!
  • Rejoice, O Fragrance of the Sweetness of Christ;
  • Rejoice, O Life of the Mystical Banquet!
  • Rejoice, O Bride and Maiden ever-pure!
  • Rejoice, O Tabernacle of God the Word;
  • Rejoice, Holy One, more holy that the Saints!
  • Rejoice, O Ark that the Spirit has gilded;
  • Rejoice, Inexhaustible Treasure of Life!
  • Rejoice, Precious Crown of Rightful Authorities;
  • Rejoice, Sacred Glory of Reverent Priests!
  • Rejoice, Unshakable Tower of the Church;
  • Rejoice, Unbreachable Wall of the Kingdom!
  • Rejoice, O you through whom the trophies are raised;
  • Rejoice, O you through whom the enemies are routed!
  • Rejoice, O Healing of My Body;
  • Rejoice, O Salvation of My Soul!
  • Rejoice, O Bride and Maiden ever-pure!
• Theotokos - Incarnational
• Walking with Mary

Reform Christianity

• Most reformers hold to Ecumenical Councils
• Theotokos
• Christological Mariology

• Feminism
  • Critical examination of historical evidence
  • Critique of Essentialism / Dualism
  • Most societies are patriarchal, where males are normative, dominant, oppressive.
    • Woman's lives, voices and accomplishments are largely invisible / silent
    • Scripture written in this milieux,
    • Marian theology developed in this milieux
• What to make of a Mariology developed by patriarchy
  • Hesitance to ascribe the feminine to God
    • Made in the image of God (male and female)
    • Ascribing feminine aspects of God to Mary
    • Migrate feminine back to God
    • Queen of Heaven
    • Woman clothed with the Sun = Church
  • Integrate the Fiat with the Magnificat
    • Interpret Fiat as divine/human rather than male/female
    • Full humanity of women:
  • Justice
  • Sustainable Human Development
  • Women's rights are Human Rights
  • We as a church are in process, evolution
  • Full dignity of women
  • There is no Jew or Greek, Slave or Free, Male or Female
• Call to responsible discipleship for all
• Evolutionary world - responsible co-evolution
• Scientific world-view
• Deconstruct hierarchies
• Social responsibilities