Is Revelation 12 speaking of Israel or Mary or both?

[ntalarico]

I heard a message on Revelation 12 from a non-denominational pastor who, 99% of the time, is so spot on I’d love to drag him into our parish, set him in front of the congregation, and tell him, “PLEASE open the Word to these folks!” Just yesterday, though, while speaking about Revelation 12, he said, to paraphrase, that “seeing the woman of Revelation 12 as Mary, started in the Catholic Church roughly around the year 500 A.D., and is a product of human imagination. The symbol of the woman used in this chapter clearly refers directly to Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37:9, ‘Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’ So the symbol of the woman is a symbol of Israel bringing forth its Savior.” He did say, again paraphrasing, “of course Mary is the Savior’s mother, but to read more into it is just human imagining.” How would you answer that?

 

[Leonie_Ambrose]

ntalarico,

The following link should assist you in better understanding the Catholic Church’s teaching on the woman “with a crown of twelve stars on her head” in Revelation 12. If you have any further questions or concerns that are not answered by these links, please [contact Catholic Answers (http://www.catholic.com/home/contact.asp) directly.

Recommended Reading:

• [What do the stars in Mary’s crown represent? (http://forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=343592)