The Blessed Virgin Mary (-21? to +49?), also known as Our Lady, was the mother of Jesus Christ and wife of St Joseph. She has become one of the chief Christian saints. Catholic and Orthodox Christians believe she is in heaven where she can hear their prayers and put in a good word for them. Though not a goddess, she is almost like their mother in heaven.
So much has been written and argued about Mary that special terms have sprung up:
- Immaculate Conception: the doctrine that Mary was conceived without original sin. Believed by Catholics.
- Annunciation: the archangel Gabriel came to Mary and told her that she would give birth to the Christ. Reported in the Bible
- Virgin Birth: the doctrine that Mary gave birth to Jesus while still a virgin. Believed by Christians and Muslims. The Bible says the Holy Spirit was the father.
- perpetual virginity: the doctrine that Mary was a virgin for life. Believed by Catholic, Orthodox and Gnostic Christians. Doubted by present-day Protestants, even though such leading lights as Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and Wesley all said it was true. The Bible does mention brothers and sister of Jesus. Gnostics say these were his half brothers and sisters through Joseph.
- Mother of God: the doctrine that Mary is the mother of Jesus, as both God and man. The original Greek term is Theotokos, “God-bearer”. Jesus as the Son of God existed before Mary, but once he became flesh it became impossible to say where the human part of him left off and the divine part began, so Mary is the mother of both together. The arguments over this in the 400s were about the nature of Christ, not Mary. Believed by Catholic and Orthodox Christians, denied by Nestorians.
- Assumption: the doctrine that Mary was taken up body and soul into heaven. Believed by Catholics and many of the Orthodox, who call it Dormition.
- Mariolatry: Mary worshipped as a goddess. What Protestants think Catholics do. Catholics honour her as the Mother of God made flesh, not as God.
Sightings: Catholics say Mary has appeared several times:
- 1531: Guadalupe, Mexico (then New Spain)
- 1858: Lourdes, France
- 1917: Fatima, Portugal
- 1981: Medjugorje, Bosnia (then Yugoslavia)
The Catholic Church says the first three were real, but is not yet sure about Medjugorje. In addition to Medjugorje, there are many other sightings which the Church has not (yet) recognized as real.
Most sightings are reported by pious Catholic girls, but one was reported by a Calvinist.
In her appearances, Mary speaks. Most of what she says supports Catholic doctrine. But at times she says something uncomfortable. For example, in 1846 at La Salette in the French Alps she said, “Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the Antichrist.” The Church does not recognize that sighting.
That was not the only time she predicted the future. In 1917 at Fatima Mary said Russia will be in darkness for seven decades, which turned out to be true: atheist communists ruled Russia from 1917 to 1991.
See also:
This picture is buetiful.
I LOVE THE VIRGIN MARY.
She does alot of wonderful things for this world, so does JESUS.
I♥THEM SO
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Very beautiful picture of the Lady of Guadalupe.
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She got me through 3 tours in Iraq along through the Grace of God. I cant wait to meet her in Heaven one day!
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please make some images clear. by pearl
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i took mother Mary as my mum, she is besides me everyday where ever i go she is there.I love her with all my heart without her nothing else. Says by Eugenia.
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I will always pray to mother Mary because she listen and hear my voice out.
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virgin mary is so pretti
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mari we love you i give you my haret
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she is mother of God, so we pray to her cause he listen to his mother
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she helped me and my family in are time of need. she has made miracles for us.
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She was there from the very beginning, she was a part of a plan, She is equal to GOD. I always pray to her and found comfort.
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You should do a post on the black Madonnas which are quite popular in Europe so I’ve read. There are many interesting reasons posited as to why these Madonnas are depicted as black.
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i respect what the catholics believe but i dont believe in their religion
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In 1981, she spoke to three young women in the Rwandan genocide.
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When I saw this drawing of Mary, I realized that I have the same picture framed. I bought it in Mexico about 20 years ago, it is printed on some type of metal. Can anyone share with me what the history of this picture is?
davidkasprzak1@hotmail.com
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I think there are many beautiful rituals in the Catholic faith, i have heard people say that they knew the Virgin Mary was in their mist by the smell of roses. I think there are many mysteries to this faith, I like to watch the Catholic channel and learn about all the saints. I love the story of how the Virgin Mary appeared before the Mexican farmer in a vision, the other story i like is when she appeared to the poor peasant children. The Catholic faith is one of beauty and mystery.
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Mariolatry: Mary worshipped as a goddess, what Protestants think. It’s my personal and humbel opinion that this could be a fallacy among Protestant believers in the Body of Christ, there is bigotry for lack of a better word. I have heard it said for this reason that Catholics are not Christians. I think this is wrong. I am a non denominational Christian. I admire many rituals in the worship. I like the different stories about the saints and the miracles.
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*humble*
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There was a Marian sighting, which I find interesting, that took place during, IIRC, the late 1960s in Zeitun, Egypt. Glowing figures in the form of Mary and doves in flight were seen atop a Coptic Christian church by crowds of people over a period of years.
These apparitions were photographed as well, and can be viewed through a search on Google Images.
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Knock, Ireland also is the site of a Marian apparition during the late 1800s. Others religious figures were seen there as well along with Mary.
The sighting at Fatima, Portugal by 3 young children, 2 girls and a boy, is especially interesting as they were said to be given several messages by Mary. The last of which Pope John Paul II supposedly divulged during the late 90’s, as I recall. Nothing earth-shattering — something about an important world figure assassinated by being shot through with arrows, of all things. I’m sure it can be found online somewhere.
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Virgin Mary = Isis
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King, you are on the right track. Very similar story.
The historical Mary was propably decendant from the davidian family and was, according many stories, pregnated by a legionnaire named Pantera. Now, this was a fairly common name at that time so nothing special there. What is special is that Jesus himself travelled to Tyros and other lebanese places and a grave stone has been found in Germany which was raised for a legionnaire who was a( a jew b) from Sidon and c) is for a man named Pantera who lived at the right time.
Also, the term virgin: at that time the latin term Virgo did not imply a physical virgin but a young un-married woman. Virgo Intacta, the Untouched Virgin meant what the word Virgin means today. So when the latin called her Virgo they díd not mean she was a virgin but a young un-married woman. Also the earliest term for her Almah in the aramean language means also a young un-wed woman. Not a physical virgin. The insistance of the physical virginity was only much later invention.
This lead into serious problems because Jesus had brothers and sisters. The stock explanation: they were brought into the family by Joseph, is somewhat lame since Jesus was the first born in that marriage. So in order to be halfbrothers they had to be conceived outside the marriage and then brought into the family by Joseph later on. Which according to the judaic laws at that time was impossible and would have been extremely scandalous. No, they were actually real brothers and sisters of Jesus. In the biblical stories it becomes very clear that James is a son of Mary, since Jesus ask him to take care of his mother. A task only given to the sons of a mother.
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Pics of the Zeitoun apparitions can be found in the following link to Google Images:
https://www.google.com/search?q=marian+apparitions+zeitoun&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=uDFCU5vHDeeK0AGZ74CYBw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAw&biw=1642&bih=770#q=zeitoun+apparition&tbm=isch&imgdii=_
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The story of Bernadette Soubirous (Sister Marie-Bernard AKA Saint Bernadette) is a favorite of mine. She was a peasant girl living in Lourdes, France when she saw, in a grotto (which was basically a dump) an apparition who she at first referred to in her dialect as “that”, and of which she later referred to, again in her own dialect, as a “young small girl” or “lady”.
When at some point this apparition directed Bernadette to dig into the dirt near the grotto so as to uncover a spring of water hidden beneath, Bernadette did so, and sure enough, water began to pool under her fingers
Of course Bernadette ran into quite a bit of trouble when she told these stories to the townsfolk, and especially when she told of how the apparition referred to itself as “the Immaculate Conception” — not the “fruit” or result of it, but the immaculate conception itself. After enduring the disbelief and ignorant persecution (and I myself am an atheist) of the townsfolk, Bernadette’s story was deemed worthy of belief.
The grotto area where the spring was uncovered became a shrine at some point, along with its spring, which were said to have miraculous healing powers after one of the women of the town, desperate to heal her young (lame, as I recall) son, bathed him there in the muddy waters dug up by Bernadette.
Bernadette, sometime thereafter, became a nun and joined a convent. By age 35 she contracted tuberculosis of the bone in one knee, and died of the ailment.
Years later Bernadette’s body was inspected by the Church and found incorrupt. As I recall reading, the baby who had been healed at the spring, and was by this point a man, was in attendance of the viewing.
With the passage of time and after several more inspections for incorruptibility (slight corruption of the body was detected by the third inspection), Bernadette was canonized a saint by the Catholic Church.
“The Song of Bernadette” is the title of a novel, as well as a movie based on this same novel, which tells the story of Saint Bernadette.
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I always wondered what the heart with the sword was. Then i learned it meant that Mary’s heart was pierced with many sorrows.
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I think that the name Pandira arose through misunderstanding as coruption of the word “Parthenos”(virgin), a Greek word probably bowrrowed by Hebrew and Aramaic as well. So if Jesus was called Yeshua ben Parthenos (Jesus the son of the Virgin), it could be easily corrupted into Yeshua ben Pandira. And the word “pandira” interpreted as the name of an “earthly” father of Jesus, especiaslly by those who disbelieved in the virgin birth.
If one reads Bible, one has the impression that Jesus had rather tense relations with his mother and brothers during his earthly mission,
Matthew 12
46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Luke 11
27 As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.”
28 He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
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Qur’an has rather different account of Mary (and Jesus)
-She is called daughter of Imran and Hannah; probably of priestly rather than Davidian family
-Thinking that she will have a male child, Hannah the mother of Mary take a vow to devout the future child to the service of the temple; even if a girl was born the vow has to be fulfilled
-she was raised in the Temple; there was a dispute among the priest who shall be her guardian. They cast lots and the lots fell on Zakariya
-when Mary were alone in her cell in the Temple angels used to carry her food and Zakariyah when he entered saw that Mary has food
-Qur’an says (3.42) – wa qaala malaa’ikatu yaa maryama inna allaha istafaaka wa Tahharaka wa isTafaaka 3ala nisaa al3aalamiin – and said angels o Maryam truly Allah elected you and purified you you and elected over the women of the worlds
– No mention is made concerning Joseph or the marriage of Mary at all
– Apparance of the Angel is more or less like in the Gospel of Luke
– Qur’an says that Jesus was miraculously shaped in Mary’s womb and that no man touched her
– Jesus is called in Qur’an “Jesus, son of Mary, a Messenger of God, Word of God that He(Allah) have thrown into [the womb of] Mary and Spirit from Him”.
– the Word that was thrown into Mary is usually conceived by Muslim scholars as the existentializing word of God “kun” (be!). Many Muslim philosopher think that since Jesus was creted directly by God’s word without any relation to earthly father as intermediary cause, God acts in him as the First Cause – that’s the reason he can perform miracles and revive the dead.
– According to Ibn Arabi(13 century mystic and philosopher) Jesus had not two but three natures – human(Messenger of God), divine(Word of God – immagined as being the mirror reflection of Divinity rather the sharing the same Self with God) and angelic(the Spirit of God)
– When pangs of childbirth came upon Mary she gave birth beneath a palm and the voice spoke – Grieve not! for thy Lord hath provided a rivulet beneath thee; “And shake towards thyself the trunk of the palm-tree: It will let fall fresh ripe dates upon thee
-after Jesus was born all Jews(excluding Zakariyah) accused her of adultery, but Jesus spoke from creadle silencing them
-in a hadith narrated by Abu Hurayra Jesus and Mary are said be the only people never touched by Shaytan at their birth.
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