Gen 3:15-16

[Augustus24]

If Gen 3:15 is a “protoevangelium” and a prefiguring of the Virgin Mary, then why does Gen 3:16 say she will have labor pains, and bring forth more children?

 

[bmullins]

If Gen 3:15 is a “protoevangelium” and a prefiguring of the Virgin Mary, then why does Gen 3:16 say she will have labor pains, and bring forth more children?

The key to this is in revelations 12. The woman clothed in the sun with the 12 stars is both Mary and the church. Mary gave birth physically to the Messiah, but also spiritually to all of us. That’s why we call her our Mother. In a very special way, she gives birth to us as well. We are the ‘more children’ in the New Covenant.

 

[Augustus24]

The key to this is in revelations 12. The woman clothed in the sun with the 12 stars is both Mary and the church. Mary gave birth physically to the Messiah, but also spiritually to all of us. That’s why we call her our Mother. In a very special way, she gives birth to us as well. We are the ‘more children’ in the New Covenant.

So are these birth pains spoken of is when the “sword pierced” her? As in in the birth pains of the Church?

 

[bmullins]

So are these birth pains spoken of is when the “sword pierced” her? As in in the birth pains of the Church?

Yes, and more. If we study Genesis 3 and compare it to Revelations 12 we find that it portrays Mary as the New Eve. So yes, the birth pains spoken of are the pains of birthing the church, each and every member. (How violent and difficult has the birth of the church been for all of it’s members?)

We see that Eve was the mother of all physical people, but all of them are headed for death. Mary, being the New Eve, also is the mother of all people, but all of them are headed to life.

 

[bmullins]

The pains of childbirth of the “woman” seem to constitute a particular problem, if they are referred to the virginal childbirth of Mary at Bethlehem. If instead, they are referred to the childbirth of Mary on Calvary, where she is constituted “truly the mother of the members of Christ”, as St. Augustine affirms (quoted by Lumen Gentuium, no. 53), then we too can understand with other exegetes, among them D. Squillaci, that to our Lady “is to be ascribed a double childbirth: one natural and virginal, by which without pain or injury of any kind, she begot the Son of God the physical Christ: the other spiritual, by means of which on Calvary, uniting her sufferings to those of the Redeemer, she begot the Mystical Body of Christ.

According to R. Laurentin, the difficulty over the pains of childbirth on the part of the “woman” of Revelation can be eliminated by a comparison:

In Apoc (Rev. ) 5:6 Christ appears in heaven in the form of an immolated lamb (cf. Jn 19:36). The sufferings of the woman who also appears in heaven in Apoc 12:2, stands in relation to the immolation of the celestial Lamb. Thus, in the 12th chapter of Apocalypse, the reference is not to the childbirth at Bethlehem, but to the words of Christ on the cross: “Son, behold your Mother” (Jn 19:26). It is a question of the spiritual motherhood of Mary and of the compassion with which the Mother of Jesus shares in the sufferings of the immolated Lamb. Jn 12:9 and Apoc 12 are therefore, in strict relation to one another. In each passage Mary’s motherhood in relation to the disciples entails a context of suffering (Jn. 19:25; Apoc 12:2). [17]) (D Suillaci, “Maria nella Donna dell’ Apocalisse”, Mile Immaculatae 5 (1969): 151)
Thus, here John is speaking about a different type of suffering. Thus, for example, in Gal 4:19, Paul was in birth pains until Christ was formed within his readers. Also, Rom. 8:22 shows ‘All creation has been groaning in travail together until now.’ When speaking about Lot who was the only righteous one in Sodom and Gomorra, it says that ‘he was vexed by his righteous soul day after day with their lawless deeds). Thus, the suffering can be spiritual. So how does this relate to Mary? Mary gives birth to Christ, and his sufferings on Calvary. Well, there was a a prophecy given by Simeon, in Luke 2:34-35 that speaks to this very issue, as brought up in Rev. 12:2:
34 and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.”
So Mary underwent the spiritual suffering at Calvary. Her soul was pierced when she saw her Son die on the cross. There is a richness in Luke 2:34-35, which shows how Mary suffered. But not only on the cross. John McHugh notes that the traditional classical interpretation in Catholic thought is that the sword signifies the suffering felt by Mary as she stood by the cross, watching the death-agony of her son

A very well reasoned article here, it takes some time to get through but is very worth it.

Is Mary my Mother?