Happy Mother’s Day!
Catholic, General May 14th, 2006First, I’d like to say Happy Mother’s day to my mom and grandma (even though they don’t read this blog!). Second, I’d like to recognize Holy Mother, the Church, and the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God and Mother of Christians. I’ve included Catholic theology from the Second Vatican Council on the topics.
Church as Mother (from Lumen Gentium):
The Church, further, "that Jerusalem which is above" is also
called "our mother". It is described as the spotless spouse of the
spotless Lamb, whom Christ "loved and for whom He delivered Himself up
that He might sanctify her", whom He unites to Himself by an
unbreakable covenant, and whom He unceasingly "nourishes and cherishes",
and whom, once purified, He willed to be cleansed and joined to Himself, subject
to Him in love and fidelity, and whom, finally, He filled with heavenly
gifts for all eternity, in order that we may know the love of God and of Christ
for us, a love which surpasses all knowledge. The Church, while on earth it
journeys in a foreign land away from the Lord, is life an exile. It seeks
and experiences those things which are above, where Christ is seated at the
right-hand of God, where the life of the Church is hidden with Christ in God
until it appears in glory with its Spouse.
Mary as Mother of Christians (also from Lumen Gentium):
The Virgin Mary, who at the message of the angel received the Word of
God in her heart and in her body and gave Life to the world, is acknowledged and
honored as being truly the Mother of God and Mother of the Redeemer. Redeemed by
reason of the merits of her Son and united to Him by a close and indissoluble
tie, she is endowed with the high office and dignity of being the Mother of the
Son of God, by which account she is also the beloved daughter of the Father and
the temple of the Holy Spirit. Because of this gift of sublime grace she far
surpasses all creatures, both in heaven and on earth. At the same time, however,
because she belongs to the offspring of Adam she is one with all those who are
to be saved. She is "the mother of the members of Christ . . . having
cooperated by charity that faithful might be born in the Church, who are members
of that Head."(3*) Wherefore she is hailed as a pre-eminent and singular
member of the Church, and as its type and excellent exemplar in faith and
charity. The Catholic Church, taught by the Holy Spirit, honors her with filial
affection and piety as a most beloved mother.
May 24th, 2006 at 9:46 pm
The zeal of the convert. I still remember when you were UMC you know. I never told you that I TAed at ST. Michael’s College at U of T (the Catholic faculty.) Things were all going fine and dandy until I actually read Vatican I and then for half the class I was just a mumbling Protestant….
May 25th, 2006 at 4:01 pm
Jodie,
You knew me when! Of course, I think it was fairly evident even at that point that David and I were at least moving in the Catholic direction. I seem to recall a few instances where we discussed it. Anyway, I hope everything is well for you and your family!
May 25th, 2006 at 5:32 pm
I was just playing the we go way back card and joshing you. You were quite Catholic already. In fact it was pretty much all you talked about. ‘Cept maybe finding a godly wife… Things are going well Johanna is 3 and a sage and Simeon is a year and a half and just finished a taxonomy of the Toronto zoo: Charlies (ie. cats–it is the name of our cat), dodgies, and burds. Who need linnaeus. We are living in intentional Christian Community here in Toronto: if you googled new monasticism and toronto star you might find and article about us….
The community has a blog: nationsrage.blogspot.com
But, it has devolved into Jodie harassing people into posting.. so not much to look at …. I think that the official church postition on the Da Vinci code should be… go see it. There will be about as much truth as in your bucket of popcorn. But enjoy. Especially the popcorn. What I hate most about being a budding religion specialist is getting asked questions about these things. The last big burst was the Gibson’s passion.. which I never did get around to seeing… That way I could just say haven’t seen it. Actually, my fave response was I read the book. Best,
Jodie
May 25th, 2006 at 5:33 pm
PS. I am all about Justin Martyr myself as of late…