Importance of Mary's perpetual virginity

  • Thread starter Thread starter Aslan10
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Sarcelle said:
I think being a nun or a priest is a calling. You have to be called to be a nun or priest. Failing to get married does not automatically mean a call to be a nun or priest.
Click to expand...
I totally agree. I was told she always wanted to be a nun, 🤷 She claimed that she had asthma and they would not take her because of that. I am not buying that.🤷 But who knows.

Like I said I personally believe as much as she appeared to be very religious, and I am not judging her, I am only judgeing on what she was like, and how she was very very selfish.🤷

She truly believed on people helping her, doing for her, but I never ever saw her ever do for anyone else. I don’t see that as a qualification on being a nun.🤷

But to the point of my even taking about her, she was never condemned for not marrying. Ever!
 
=Aslan10;9981991]Hey guys, I realize this is a topic that comes up a lot on here but i haven’t seen anything yet concerning the question that im asking. I am currently a protestant attending an anglican church and could see myself becoming catholic one day. Currently im having a convo with my roomate on Mary’s perpetual virginity and whether or not the doctrine is true. But at the moment we aren’t concerned about whether or not its true. So my question is why is important that she remained a virgin? Is sex seen as something impure within catholicism (i realize it is outside of marriage)? Why is celibacy seen as something so much better than a husband and wife coming together in love within marriage? Or is this doctrine only important b/c it is a dogmatic teaching of the church and if it isn’t true than the church is in error and therefore the Catholic Church isn’t the one true church?
Click to expand...
Peace be with you.
Click to expand...
Here dear friend is the Concise-Precise and ONLY reason it absolutly MUST BE TRUE.

2 Timothy 3:17 “That the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work.”

Matthew 5:48 “ Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect“.

Ephesians 6:13 “Therefore take unto you the armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect.”

FACT #1 God is and absolutely MUST remain “Perfect” in order to Be God

FACT #2. Therefore Mary HAD TO BE [absolutely] “perfrect” in every way in order to be the Mother of God

FACT #3. God COULD NOT be born from an “(name removed by moderator)erfect” human mother without passing os at least part of the (name removed by moderator)erfection to Her Son.

FACT #4. Therefore God INSURED that Mary was, is and would ALWAYS be Perfected as 1. A condition of the Incarnation and 2. As the JUST reward for Mary’s FREEWIIL lifes choices that permitted Her Salvation through Jesus her Son. [Even B4 Christ was born].😃

TIME DOES NOT WEXIST FOR GOD; EVERYTHING IS “IN THE PRESENT TIME.”

MARY HAD TO BE PERFECT [ED] IN ORDER TO BE THE MOTHER OF A NECESSARILY PERFECT GOD.

It’s no more complicated than that:thumbsup:

God’s continued Blessing on both of you.

Pat/PJM
 
I do not think that sex is seen as impure in the catholic church otherwise it would not have been a means for creation. I do think, that as a sacred act it is not given the sanctity that was intended. Mary’s virginity is not about sex it is about the choice to choose devotion and union with God, that sort of union (ever seen the ecstasy of St. Therese of Availa) is not human sexual union but union with God. We were given a gift as humans we can have a sacred union with other humans or we can choose the path of a cloistered life…priests, nuns, monks…etc. Union with God is very estatic and sensual as well… in a different way…and also the hardest because in order to achieve it there is a choice, and a price. The virgin Mary was willing to pay the ultimate price (watch her child die) and give up the union with another human in order to have God as her spouse. Her choice is the ultimate example of how to become one with Christ…that is why she plays such an important role in our salvation.
 
Since this is in the non-Catholic Religions subforum, I hope you don’t mind getting a non-Catholic perspective on this question, as it is something that is important beyond the individual church we’re talking about (i.e., all traditional churches maintain that the Theotokos St. Mary was ever-virgin).

In the Old Testament, we see many prophecies that have traditionally been taken to be about Christ, and hence many types of Christ, and also many types of St. Mary. It is an ancient practice to read the Bible in such a way, as we do believe that Christ is to be found throughout, as there is was never a time when He was not. And so, when we sing hymns like “The Burning Bush”, we equate explicitly the burning bush seen by the prophet Moses with the birth of Christ to St. Mary – the fire representing His divinity which “burned” (again, metaphorically!) within the womb of St. Mary without consuming or damaging she who carried Him. Similarly, in other songs and hymns, such as “O Mary”, the explicit connection is made between St. Mary’s perpetual virginity and the forever-sealed door/gate through which the Lord entered, as prophesied by Ezekiel the prophet in Ezekiel 44:2.

It is in fulfillment of these prophecies and others that the perpetual virginity of the Theotokos is understood on a spiritual level, which is not to say that the answers you have thus far been given about her consecration to virginity and other points are wrong (they’re not; as far back as Origen it is written that tradition has been received that St. Mary worshiped in the temple of the virgins after giving birth to Christ; see Origen’s Homilies on Leviticus), but rather that there is more to it than that. The ever-virginity of the Theotokos confirms to us what God Himself told us through the prophets, centuries before her, that this is how Emmanuel would come to us. So it is with all types, not just the sealed gate, but also with the censer, the rod of Aaron, the vine, etc. These are all types of or references to the Theotokos in different contexts, and our fathers read them as such, thereby confirming the prophecies about the coming of Christ our God.
 
40.png
rinnie:
Quote:

Originally Posted by Aslan10

Hey guys, I realize this is a topic that comes up a lot on here but i haven’t seen anything yet concerning the question that im asking. I am currently a protestant attending an anglican church and could see myself becoming catholic one day. Currently im having a convo with my roomate on Mary’s perpetual virginity and whether or not the doctrine is true. But at the moment we aren’t concerned about whether or not its true. So my question is why is important that she remained a virgin? Is sex seen as something impure within catholicism (i realize it is outside of marriage)? Why is celibacy seen as something so much better than a husband and wife coming together in love within marriage? Or is this doctrine only important b/c it is a dogmatic teaching of the church and if it isn’t true than the church is in error and therefore the Catholic Church isn’t the one true church?

Peace be with you.

Not at all. Sex is considered to be sacred and a great and wonderful gift to us from God between a woman and a man.

Here is why it is so important about the Virgin Mary. Simply because it is true.

It has always been a teaching of the RCC.

It is St Paul who said it is better to be celibrate because then you are not divided in mind. But that is if God calls you to the Priesthood, and the order is the Roman Rite.

Tell me something, think about this. Do you think if a Man or Woman become a Priest or Nun they have more time to do the work of God in his Church, or do you feel a married Man or Woman can have just as much time?

Do you see what St. Paul is saying? A married Man wants to not only please GOD but also his wife. But a Priest only lives to please GOD. Do you see the divided in mind St Paul is talking about?
Click to expand...
Posted from Catholic.com App for Android
 
Quick question. Where does it say “perpetual virgin” when it talks about Mary?
Thanks!!
 
For me the truth of Mary’s Perpetual Virginity was a major issue to my coming into the Church. Having studied to be a pastor, I knew the Protestant arguments against it. At that point I had equal evidence for both positions. I figured I had three choices:
  1. I could stop RCIA and remain Protestant. For me, that would have been disobedience to God. Not good.
  2. I could wait until I got to heaven and ask Mary herself. Soooo not going to happen!😊
  3. I could accept that I didn’t know and trust I would find the answer eventually.
My problem, in short was that the Church professed to possess the Truth. But if this wasn’t true, then the Church didn’t possess any more truth than any other church.

Finally, I cried out (actually whined 😉 to God: “But how do I know it’s true?!”
And the next thing that went into my mind (I call it God) said, very gently, “How do you know it’s not?” Good point. I couldn’t dis-prove it. Like I said, I saw equal evidence for both positions. Since then, of course, I have come to know it’s true. I just didn’t see it then.
Kris
 
Aslan10 said:
… Currently im having a convo with my roomate on Mary’s perpetual virginity and whether or not the doctrine is true. But at the moment we aren’t concerned about whether or not its true. So my question is why is important that she remained a virgin? Is sex seen as something impure within catholicism (i realize it is outside of marriage)? Why is celibacy seen as something so much better than a husband and wife coming together in love within marriage? …
Click to expand...
Revelation 14:4
“…the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been ransomed from the earth. These are they who were not defiled with women; they are virgins and these are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes…”

Sex looks to be impure in itself…
 
That doesn’t seem too likely, given the clear statement in Hebrews 13:4, “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled”.
 
Ion said:
Revelation 14:4
“…the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been ransomed from the earth. These are they who were not defiled with women; they are virgins and these are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes…”

Sex looks to be impure in itself…
Click to expand...
It is because one who had sex can’t dedicate himself to Christ 100%, anymore.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top