My non-catholic friend texted me and cited St. Luke 1:42, “Most blessed are you among women” and said that she is blessed only among the Hebrew women of the Bible because she was chosen to give birth to Jesus but that in the Bible she never is mentioned as being “blessed among men,” because if that was the case, Mary would go beyond “Authority of Men.”
Did your friend ever consider the fact that Elizabeth said Mary was called “blessed among women” because Mary
was a woman? How hard is that to figure out?
a·mong (preposition: amongst)
Code:
1. surrounded by; in the company of.
**2. being a member or members of (a larger set).** **(Mary is a member of the 'larger set', ***women***)**
synonyms: included in, **one/some of**, in the group/number of
When we say someone is “blessed”, it infers that we think they have been “blessed”
by God. It’s not people that are doing the “blessing”. So, what Elizabeth is really saying is that Mary is “blessed (BY GOD) among (ALL) women”. Elizabeth is inferring that Mary has been singled out (or set apart), from amongst
all women, and blessed by God in a special way. It doesn’t mean that only women would call her blessed by God, either. Men shouldn’t have any problem calling her “blessed (by God) among women”. Why would they?
It certainly has nothing to do with any kind of “authority” issues. I think your friend is trying to twist scripture in knots, to make it look like it means what he wants it to mean.
Authority of Men? Women are considered less than men? Is that what he means or if Mary was blessed among men, would she be greater than Jesus? Anyway, it does not say men, only “blessed among women.” What is the answer to this???
That whole mishmash of ideas is completely bogus, and has nothing to do with reality. He seems to be the one that’s somehow seeing “authority issues” being inferred here, so he’s trying to make this outrageous claim and turn this whole passage into something it’s not.
On Luke 1:48, “from now on will all ages call me blessed,” he said that she calls herself blessed and neither the Angel Gabriel nor anyone else calls her Blessed (except blessed among women).
"Luke 1: [46] And Mary said:
My soul doth magnify the Lord. [47] And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. [48] Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid;
for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. "
The Douay-Rheims uses the word “generations”, not “ages”, but this is clearly a prophecy where Mary is proclaiming that from that point forward, all people will call her “blessed”, because she was chosen from among all women that ever will have walked the earth, to give birth to the Incarnation, the Son of the Living God. If that doesn’t give us all a perfect reason to call her “blessed”, what else ever could? Who else, other than Jesus, had a more important role in our salvation? She is the most important woman that has ever lived, either in the past, the present, or the future.
It all boils down to the fact that Mary was not just “blessed (by God)” from among ALL women, but she was
very blessed by God. And, through her complete surrender and acceptance of God’s immense blessing (that was given to her, alone), all men, women, and children who ever live, will also be blessed by God, forever and ever. Everything she ever did was to glorify God, not herself. That’s why she begins by saying, “
My soul doth magnify the Lord”. That’s also why Jesus said, “Woman, behold thy son” and “son, behold thy Mother”. He was proclaiming her to be the Mother of us all, because she was a perfect Mother to Him.
Maybe you could tell him to buy a good dictionary, and take a course in English grammar? Just a thought.
