Nothing New Here
It's what The Church has taught for centuries
A few months ago, I posted a story concerning the possible addition of a 5th Marian Dogma, specifically stating that she is "the Spiritual Mother of All Humanity, the co-redemptrix with Jesus the redeemer, mediatrix of all graces with Jesus the one mediator, and advocate with Jesus Christ on behalf of the human race."
It turns out that one of the signers of the petition to The Holy Father lobbying for said dogma, is retired Luis Cardinal Aponte Martínez of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Below is an excellent interview with His Eminence. Check it out if you have the chance.
But I'd like to post some points to ponder for us Catholics as we get the usual set of questions from our non-Catholic friends (and sometimes not so friendly) and acquaintances. My very own MaryFAQ, if you will.
1. We often hear about "the brothers and sisters" of Jesus. All through the New Testament, references are made to them.
a. First off, besides the fact that "brethren" translates to "cousins" or even "close friends", keep in mind there's only one individual in all of The New Testament who's specifically identified as a child of Mary. That's right.... Jesus. No one else.
b. And even in the Protestant versions of The Holy Bible, there are direct references to "the brothers" of Jesus, such as Acts of The Apostles 1:14; All these were persevering with one mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. But the fatal flaw for the Prots is that they won't scratch the surface. The very next verse states that the "brothers" of Jesus number at one hundred and twenty. That's a lotta brothers.
2. We also hear that when Christ was dying on the cross, He made sure that His "brother", John, took care of their mother, Mary. Time for a common sense check. Jesus is up there on the cross DYING! If Mary really was the mother of them both, why in the world would Christ stop everything He was going through just to point out the obvious? "John... grass is green, the sky is blue, Mary is our mother". Doesn't it make sense that Christ would have something more profound to tell us that? But He did... Mary is the Spiritual Mother of all mankind.
And those are just two points that come to mind right off the bat. Can anyone else think of any others?
If our Lord had actual brothers (i.e., siblings) he would not have had to see to the care of his Holy Mother after His death. Jewish law supplied for this potentiality. Were a woman to lose both her husband and her eldest son, it was obligatory that her care and protection was transferred to the next son in chronological birth-order after him. Even the specious argument that, "...well, all Jesus' brothers had abandoned Him and so He was only left with St. John in whose hands to entrust His Mother..." is ridiculous. Come on. For the sake of argumentation, even if St. James the Less had been the child of the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph (as is most commonly held by the ignorant and/or heretical), Christ, in the omniscience of His Divine Nature would have known that St. James would return along with all the other Apostles soon enough in order to shelter His Mother.
ReplyDeleteOr would the same people who claim that our Lord had siblings not also claim that He was all-knowing??? Hmmm..... Without doubt, a non-believer would have no problem with such a claim, but no "devout" Protestant I know would.
If Mary had other children, they're missing in at least three places:
ReplyDeleteFirst, in Luke's Gospel, the story of when Jesus, aged about 12, turned up missing as the family returned from a trip to Jerusalem, and was after a lengthy search found in the temple impressing the Rabbis, if Mary had had other children, I would expect them to be mentioned in this story.
Second, as has already been mentioned, at the Crucifixion. Mary was there, but if Jesus had brothers, why weren't they there? And if Mary had other children, then why did Our Lord commend his mother to care of his disciple John?
And third, in the writings of the early Christians. If Jesus had brothers, we'd expect them to be prominent in the leadership of the early church. But by the second century, St. Irenaeus was already writing about Mary's perpetual virginity. How could Jesus' siblings, if they existed, have been so quickly forgotten?
I find these simple facts compelling.
Joseph, Son of David, however David was long dead...
ReplyDeleteProtestants Use Mark 6:3 to 'prove' Mary had other children. For brevity I'll deal with James:
ReplyDeleteMark 6:3 calls James the brother of the Lord. protestants then exclaim, "SEE?! Jesus had other siblings!"
Gal 1:19 "But other of the apostles I saw none, saving James the brother of the Lord."
So we see here that James, the brother of the Lord is an apostle.
Mat 10:2-4"And the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the publican, and James the son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him."
Here is a list of the twelve. There are two apostles named James, neither of which are the son of Joseph.
As to a proof about calling cousins/nephews, etc. brothers:
Gen 14:14 "Which when Abram had heard, to wit, that his brother Lot was taken, he numbered of the servants born in his house, three hundred and eighteen well appointed: and pursued them to Dan."
Here Lot is described as Abram's brother.
Gen 11:27 "And these are the generations of Thare: Thare begot Abram, Nachor, and Aran. And Aran begot Lot."
Here we see that Lot is not Abram's brother, but his nephew.
You can do this same thing with everyone else mentioned in Mark 6:3 as Jesus' alleged siblings.
Some people need to have the truth pointed out to them repeatedly before they catch on. They're kind of like the slow kid on the bus who has to be told that the door on the bus is closed at least 8 times before he stops walking. Just chalk it up to a permanent brain fart, feel sorry for them, and move on. It's about all you can do.
ReplyDeleteSorry for my ignorance but help me with the four present dogmas. I know Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. The third might be the perpetual virginity of Mary. Help those of us less informed. Thanks
ReplyDeleteRJW,
ReplyDeleteAssumption & Queenship, Immaculate Conception, Perpetual Virginity, and Mother of God.
Thanks. The most obvious are the easiest to overlook.
ReplyDelete