Catholicism - Now I Get It!
Study
Guide to Chapter 14:
HOW CAN YOU GET IT?
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
Explain the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
What connection does the this doctrine have to Mary's apparitions to St. Bernadette in Lourdes, France?
Why is there no tombstone or grave for Mary?
Explain the Assumption of Mary into heaven.
What did the pregnant Elizabeth say to the pregnant Mary when Mary arrived for her visit?
Why is Mary known as the Second Eve? Who is the Second Adam?
What is Mary's connection to Ephesus, Turkey?
When Jesus was hanging on the Cross, who did Jesus appoint to care for Mary?
How did Mary share in the sufferings of her Son?
What is considered the very first intercession of Mary, i.e., the first time Mary requested and secured Jesus' help for others)? (Hint: It's in the Bible, and it involves a wedding)
Which events in Jesus' life was Mary present for? Which events was she present for after His Resurrection?
Television viewers spotted an "M" on the coffin of Pope John Paul 11 in 2005. What was the "M" for?
What did the Early Church Christians say about Mary?
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Suggestions for further reading:Beginning Apologetics 6: How to Explain and Defend Marian Doctrines (a booklet by Fr. Frank Chacon and Jim Burnham
Hail Holy Queen by Scott Hahn
Mary the Second Eve by John Henry Newman
The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary (based on the visions of Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich, a late nun and mystic)
Refuting the Attack on Mary by Fr. Mateo
The Secret of the Rosary by St. Louis De Montfort
Theotokos by Michael O'Carroll
Mary and the Fathers of the Church by L. Gambero
Madonna: Mary in the Catholic Tradition by Frederick Jelly, O.P.
The Truth About Mary by R. Payesko
Mary, Archetype of the Church by Otto Semmelroth
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Helpful entries from the online Catholic Encyclopedia.
www.newadvent.org/cathen/15464b.htm (The Blessed Virgin Mary)
www.newadvent.org/cathen/13184b.htm (The Rosary)
www.newadvent.org/cathen/07674d.htm (Immaculate Conception)
www.newadvent.org/cathen/15480a.htm (The Visitation - Mary visit cousin Elizabeth, pregnant with John the Baptist)
www.newadvent.org/cathen/01541c.htm (The Annunciation - the angel Gabriel appears to Mary)
www.newadvent.org/cathen/09534a.htm (Magnificat)
www.newadvent.org/cathen/01538a.htm (St. Anne, mother of Mary)
www.newadvent.org/cathen/08406b.htm (St. Joachim, father of Mary)
www.newadvent.org/cathen/09389b.htm (Lourdes, France: Mary's apparitions to St. Bernadette)
www.fatima.org/ (The Assumption of Mary into Heaven)
www.newadvent.org/cathen/10115a.htm (Miraculous Medal)
www.cammonline.org/pages/freeMedal.html (Get a free Miraculous Medal, which was designed by Mary herself)
www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP960904.HTM (Pope John Paul II on Mary)
www.newadvent.org/cathen/15448a.htm (The Virgin Birth of Jesus)
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HELPFUL WEB SITES
www.osv.com/rosary/ (Pray the Rosary)
www.sancta.org (Detailed account of the apparitions to St. Juan Diego in Mexico. Includes a timeline)
http://www.lourdes-france.org/index.php?goto_centre=ru&contexte=en&id=838 (Official site of Mary's apparitions in Lourdes)
/www.fatima.org/ (Our Lady of Fatima Online: Info on Mary's apparitions in Portugal)
www.catholic.com/library/mary_saints.asp (Catholic Answers tracts on Mary)
www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/novena/immaculate.htm (Novena Prayer to the Immaculate Conception)
catholicism.about.com/od/novenastomary/ (More Novenas for special requests to Mary)
www.amm.org/medal.htm (The Miraculous Medal)
www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/mirmedal.htm (How the Miraculous Medal changed a priest's life)
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HELPFUL MEDIA
Video/DVD: Mary the Mother of God (author Stephen Ray)
Video: FATIMA, hosted by Ricardo Montalban (EWTN Global Catholic Network)
Video: FATIMA: Altar of the World (shot on location in Europe - the whole story of Fatima apparitions)
Video: Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of Hope! (see and hear from Guadalupe experts and the pope)
Video: Bernadette: Introducing the saint of Lourdes and Nevers, France (documentary)
Video: Mary's House: All are invited (The house where Mary lived in Ephesus may be the only place in the world where both Christians and Muslims pray)
Audiotapes: All Generations Shall Call Me Blessed (St. Joseph Communications)
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Lk
1:28-37 And he came to her and said, "Hail, O favored one, 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. And 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 call his name Jesus. He will
be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will
give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of
Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end." And Mary said to
the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?"
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 with her who was
called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible."
Lk. 1:38-49 And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechari'ah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
Mt 1:23-25 "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel" (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.
JESUS APPOINTS THE APOSTLE JOHN TO BE MARY'S NEW SON
Jn.
19:26 When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near,
he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!"
27: Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And
from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
Jn 2:1-11 On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast." So they took it. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now." This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
For many additional verses, see www.scripturecatholic.com/blessed_virgin_mary.html
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WHAT DID THE CHURCH FATHERS SAY ABOUT THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY?
St. Ambrose of Milan: "Imitate her [Mary], holy mothers, who in her only dearly beloved Son set forth so great an example of material virtue; for neither have you sweeter children [than Jesus], nor did the Virgin seek the consolation of being able to bear another son" (Letters 63:111 [388 A.D.]).
St. Cyril of Alexandria: The "Word himself, coming into the Blessed Virgin herself, assumed for himself his own temple from the substance of the Virgin and came forth from her a man in all that could be externally discerned, while interiorly he was true God. Therefore he kept his Mother a virgin even after her childbearing" (Against Those Who Do Not Wish to Confess That the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God 4 [430 A.D.]).
St. Pope Leo I: "His [Christ’s] origin is different, but his [human] nature is the same. Human usage and custom were lacking, but by divine power a Virgin conceived, a Virgin bore, and Virgin she remained" (Sermons 22:2 [A.D. 450]).
St. Justin Martyr: "[Jesus] became man by the Virgin so that the course which was taken by disobedience in the beginning through the agency of the serpent might be also the very course by which it would be put down. Eve, a virgin and undefiled, conceived the word of the serpent and bore disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy when the angel Gabriel announced to her the glad tidings that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her, for which reason the Holy One being born of her is the Son of God. And she replied ‘Be it done unto me according to your word’ [Luke 1:38]" (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 100 [A.D. 155]).
St. Irenaeus: "Consequently, then, Mary the Virgin
is found to be obedient, saying, ‘Behold, O Lord, your handmaid; be it done to
me according to your word.’ Eve, however, was disobedient, and, when yet a
virgin, she did not obey. Just as she, who was then still a virgin although she
had Adam for a husband—for in paradise they were both naked but were not
ashamed; for, having been created only a short time, they had no understanding
of the procreation of children, and it was necessary that they first come to
maturity before beginning to multiply—having become disobedient, was made the
cause of death for herself and for the whole human race; so also Mary, betrothed
to a man but nevertheless still a virgin, being obedient, was made the cause of
salvation for herself and for the whole human race. . . . Thus, the knot of
Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve
had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith" (Against
Heresies 3:22:24 [189 A.D.]).
For more Early Church writings on the Virgin Mary, see: www.catholic.com/library/Mary_Ever_Virgin.asp, www.catholic.com/library/Mary_Full_of_Grace.asp, www.catholic.com/library/Mary_Ever_Virgin.asp, www.catholic.com/library/Mary_Mother_of_God.asp, www.catholic.com/library/Intercession_of_the_Saints.asp, www.scripturecatholic.com/blessed_virgin_mary.html .
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FURTHER HELPS:
Mary, the Queen of Heaven, is always leading people right to her Son, Jesus. God bestowed on her an overabundance of grace, which she stands ready to distribute to any one of us. All we have to do is ask. Jesus smiles whenever we honor His Mother; for Jesus honored her, too. For the commandments tell us, "Honor your father and your mother." Mary will be the mother of all in heaven. Pope John Paul II, for one, entrusted his life to Mary's care.
When Mary appeared to the children in Fatima, Portugal, she called herself "The Lady of the Rosary."
She promised the children a miracle so that all would believe. A crowd of 70,000 showed up to see the Miracle of the Sun. But the point is, the rosary is one of the strong prayers we have.
A rosary is no farther than the nearest Catholic shop, online shop, or rectory.
For 15 promises made to St. Dominic for those who say the rosary, click HERE.
Or see below:
2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the rosary.
3. The rosary shall be a powerful armour against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the rosary shall not perish.
6. Whoever shall recite the rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.
7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
8. Those who are faithful to recite the rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.
9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the rosary.
10. The faithful children of the rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in heaven.
11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the rosary.
12. All those who propagate the holy rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death.
14. All who recite the rosary are my sons, and brothers of my only son Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion of my rosary is a great sign of predestination.
(Given to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan) Imprimatur: +Patrick J. Hayes, D.D., Archbishop of New York
Hail Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of they womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
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