I will put enmities between thee and the woman,
and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and
thou shalt lie in wait for her heel. (Genesis 3:15)
I wrote the following as a response to an amaetur 'sceptic' with whom I am in dialogue on Facebook. He has used, as the basis for his biblical scepticism, the author and priest, Fr Raymond E Brown. I find it sad that a Priest should leave his readers in so much doubt that people outside of the Church use his work as ammunition against the holy doctrines of the One True Church. If readers find any heresy or error within the following, please alert it to the author so that I may correct it.
The Fathers of the Church saw in Genesis a prophecy,
since it is evident that God promised to the serpent (who we understand to be
the Devil who tempted our first parents) that it would be a woman that would destroy his
designs.
Indeed, much of the Old
Testament points to a messianic future in which all of God’s promises will find
fulfilment. The New Testament is the fulfilment of these promises written down
by the Evangelists since the promises of the Old Testament point to Christ. This
is Catholic belief. What is this prophecy in Genesis? The prophecy is that the
‘seed’ of the woman will crush him and that the Devil ‘shall lie in wait for
her heel.’
This ending of this ‘waiting’, the Fathers considered,
arrived with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Lady is not referred to a greal deal
in the Gospels, hence why someone like
Fr Raymond E. Brown can say that, in his
critical examination of the Gospels he can find no reference to Mary’s
perpetual Virginity etc, but it is clear that Fr Brown has decided to examine
the Gospels in isolation and to set aside, if only for his own particular
purposes in writing, the patristic underpinnings of Catholic theology.
This is, essentially, how Protestants treat
the Bible – out of context of Catholic belief
down the ages. Sadly, it is most likely the way in which the Bible is treated by many Catholic institutions today.
When Our Lady was pregnant with Jesus, it is recorded in the
Gospel that she went to visit St Elizabeth, who was pregnant with St John the
Baptist.
The Gospel of St Luke tells us:
‘And Mary rising up in those days, went into the hill country with
haste into a city of Juda. And she entered into the house of Zachary, and
saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the
salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled
with the Holy Ghost: And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed
art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this
to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold as soon as
the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped
for joy. And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall
be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.’ (St Luke, 1:39-45)
What is Mary’s response as recorded in St Luke’s Gospel?
Mary’s response is the Magnificat, the hymn of praise to God who had fulfilled
His promises made throughout the Old Testament through the Prophets that God
sent to Israel.
My
soul doth magnify the Lord.
And
my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
Because
he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid;
for
behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
Because
he that is mighty,
hath
done great things to me;
and
holy is his name.
And
his mercy is from generation unto generations,
to
them that fear him.
He
hath shewed might in his arm:
he
hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He
hath put down the mighty from their seat,
and
hath exalted the humble.
He
hath filled the hungry with good things;
and
the rich he hath sent empty away.
He
hath received Israel his servant,
being
mindful of his mercy:
As
he spoke to our fathers,
to
Abraham and to his seed for ever.
So, though Mary is not recorded much in the Gospels, she
says little, but what she does say is of profound theological importance to us
Catholics and whenever she is mentioned there is deep theological meaning
imparted. Her Magnificat alone beautifully illustrates her total
belief that she is carrying within her sacred and virginal womb the messianic
Promise foretold by the Prophets. She
says that ‘all generations shall call me blessed’. Why would they do that
unless she is carrying the Messiah? In the Hail Mary, we repeat a combination
of the Angel Gabriel’s salutation before her conception of the Lord, ‘Hail,
Mary, full of grace…’ and Elizabeth’s salutation, as we say, ‘Blessed art thou
among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.’
For someone carrying your average baby, Our Lady sounds awfully
excited. No, this is no ordinary child and Our Lady is no ordinary lady. This is the long anticipated Messiah
she carries within her womb. She believes it, St Elizabeth believes it since
she says, ‘Who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?’ and even the
unborn St John the Baptist believes it, since the child leaps in the womb of
his mother because he supernaturally realises that he is physically close to
his Saviour. This is the unborn infant who will later cry out, ‘Behold, the
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the World!’ and who will be Christ’s
forerunner and herald, preparing the people to receive the Messiah.
In her womb Mary is carrying the Promise made by God to the
serpent of his destruction, made to Abraham and made to Israel through the
Prophets. To write of all the incidences in which the promises made by God to
Israel of the Christ would take an entire book. I write these things only to
make a small illustration of how Catholics read the Bible in the light of Holy
Tradition. At the beginning of His Ministry – the first ‘showing’ or
manifestation of His Divinity, we have the Wedding at Cana.
Mary is there, Jesus is there, His disciples are there, the
party has run out of wine and we see in her interaction with her Son, the
maternal intercession that we cherish whenever we pray to Our Lady:
And the third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the
mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to
the marriage. And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have
no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman,
what is that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come. His mother
saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye. (St John
2:1-5)
Notice what Our Lord says to Mary. He does not call her
‘Mother’. No, instead, he gives her a rather different title and says to her
‘Woman’. Why? The Fathers of the Church go back to Genesis and see in Our Lord’s
description of Mary as ‘Woman’ the promise of the ‘Woman’ whose heel will crush
the serpent (the Devil) and who will bring to humanity the hope of Salvation.
Note that Paradise was lost to the human race through the disobedience to God of one woman and one man. It is her seed, Eve’s
seed (Luke’s genealogy traces Jesus right back to Adam) that will destroy the
power of the Evil one. Mary is the ‘new Eve’ and Jesus is therefore the ‘new
Adam’. By their obedience to the
Eternal Father, these two will restore mankind not only to new life, but
something better than the earthly Paradise – the sanctity and holiness of the
sons and daughters of God – called to be co-sharers in God’s very life by
virtue of their Baptism.
Remember, Jesus takes His divinity from Heaven from whence
He came when He descended at the moment that Our Lady said to the Angel
Gabriel, ‘Let it be done to me according to thy word.’ However, Jesus takes His
flesh from Mary. He is truly God and yet He is truly Man. Jesus takes His flesh
from the seed planted in Mary’s womb and she is descended directly not just
from Abraham, but from the woman, Eve. Within Eve was the seed that would
eventually result in Mary and in Mary is the seed, the womb, that will bring
forth the Saviour of the World.
Where else do we see Mary? At the Cross:
Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother’s
sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen. When Jesus therefore had seen his
mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. After that, he saith to
the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to
his own. (St John 19:26-27)
At this moment, the Fathers of the Church teach us, Jesus
entrusted ‘the beloved disciple’ to Mary.
We believe that the beloved disciple is John, but it need not
necessarily be. The beloved disciple stands there as representing the
Church.
Mary stands there, beneath the
Cross, as the Mother of Jesus but Jesus gives to the Church Mary as Mother. Jesus
entrusts to the ‘Woman’ motherhood of the Christian disciple who we take to
mean the Church. He tells the Church, quite explicitly, that Mary is its
Mother, when He says, ‘Son, behold thy Mother.’ He says this at the moment
before He entrusts Himself to His Father when He says, ‘It is finished’.
If Eve is ‘mother of all the living’ as
referred to in Genesis,
then Mary is the
Mother of those who will be alive in Christ.
Again, at this moment, Our Lord calls Mary, his Mother, ‘
Woman’.
The Cross, the fulfilment of Jesus’s earthly ministry is the moment at
which the powers of evil are vanquished. By his obedience to the Eternal Father, Jesus
sheds His Blood for mankind, the ‘new wine’, the ‘new and everlasting covenant’
that will bring spiritual health and holiness to those who were under the power
of evil.
Notice that at the Wedding at Cana, Jesus told his mother,
‘My hour has not yet come’. What is His hour? His hour is the Cross. This is the moment of His wedding, the hour
at which He unites Himself entirely to His Bride, the Church , in pouring out
His blood! Consumatus est!
I could go on and on and on, but I write these things to
make the assertion that reading the Catholic Bible without the Catholic Faith
and outside of the Catholic tradition is a fruitless endeavour. In Catholic reading of the Bible, we see in
Ecclesiastes even, a reference to Mary when the writer speaks of Holy Wisdom.
‘I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of
holy hope.’ (Ecclesiastes 24.)
Once more in Latin:
‘Ego mater pulchrae dilectionis, et timoris, et agnitionist, et sanctae
spei.’
Especially Bishops!
After all, St John was a Bishop!
