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Gracie2004
Guest
It’s not a leap of logic, as St. Paul made the assessment. And after him, many Fathers. Its’ a leap of faith, not one of logic.
Not a leap of logic…we KNOW Mary was without sin, from the salutation given her from God Himself, through Gabriel. “Hail, Full of Grace.”
There is no if in this statement above. Look at it this way. There IS a tradition of Holiness, given to us from one of the Apostles. St. Luke. If you doubt the Scripture, then you doubt the Scripture, and nothing I, nor anyone else can say can show it to you, but only the Holy Spirit.
Again, it is not a leap of logic. St. Paul made the connection. St. Luke made the connection. Why do you doubt them? By the way, many, many theologians, as well as our Beloved Pope John Paul II wrote extensively on Faith and Reason and how they go hand in hand, and are not at odds. There is Biblical foundation, you just aren’t seeing it. I know how you feel, as a Baptist (40 years), I was scared of Mary also. St. Justin, 100 A.D., is not what we use as Biblical foundations, by the way, but only as a resource to show that the doctrine was already being taught by 100 AD, which means it was being universally taught. Now…since we KNOW that St. John lived to a very old age and probably lived to within at least 10 years of that time, don’t you think that if this doctrine were in error, he would have corrected the error? He would have at LEAST written a letter to someone, somewhere telling them it was in error? And if he wrote such a letter, wouldn’t it have been preserved? After all, he lived with Mary. Woudllnt’ he have known her better than any other Apostle? St. Ireneaus, who was taught by St. Polycarp, who learned from St. John Himself, makes the connection. Who do you suppose St. Polycarp learned it from? Since St. John WAS his teacher?
There is writing about Mary in the Fathers, if you look for it. And it upholds the teachings of the Church.
I hear this so often…“well, why isn’t it in the Bible?”
My answer. Is the Bible about Mary? No, it’s not. Did Christ instruct his Apostles to WRITE? No, he did not. The Bible is about the Good News. There was no reason for the Apostles to write much about Mary, as there was no error being taught about Mary. We do however, see St. Paul castigating, and correcting error, as well as St. John, and St. Peter. But they don’t ever say “Do NOT teach that Mary was a Virgin. Do NOT teach that Mary was sinless.” And since we KNOW from the writings of the early Fathers, that they WERE taught such things, then we can only deduce from reason, which reinforces our faith, that Mary was indeed sinless, ever virgin, immaculate, the New Eve.
Hope this helps out.
Gracie
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