Mary, Did you know?

[Lion]

However, the lyrics imply that it is post Annunciation because of the words “your baby boy.” This implies that she already had a baby boy because prior to the Annunciation she would not have known that she would have a baby boy or any child for that matter.

this is quoted from above by mosher…

Holy jump to conclusion batman. I’m not defending the song but how do the words “Your baby boy” ASSUME or imply that she already had a baby boy??? The song is in the past tense…“Mary DID You Know”… this suggests to me that the baby has been born and Mary figured out the correct sex of
the baby?!?!?!?

Mosher also said:
Second is that while a case can be made that prior to the Annunciation she would not have know about her role in the Divine Plan of Salvation this song is not addressed to a pre-Annunciation Mary

Being, in my opinion, a Protestant song I do not read anything in the lyrics that suggests anything having to do with Mary’s participation in the Divine Plan of Salvation

mosher wrote:
…the song itself never supplies an answer and thus falls into the objection in the first point concerning ambiguity and the necessity for precision since a true answer to the question is known.

good grief… i take the lyrics to be be heard as a medium to evoke thought about what it was like to be Mary, Mother of God or questions to Mary about her experience. It is not answering it’s own questions? Please… I don’t know what style of writing this would be called (if any) but it is suggestive about a human person giving birth to God. Granted everything Catholics believe about Mary may discount some of the questions (maybe all? I am not sure), it is a song

For the record, I’m not crazy about the lyrics but love the musical composition

 

[mosher]

Holy jump to conclusion batman. I’m not defending the song but how do the words “Your baby boy” ASSUME or imply that she already had a baby boy??? The song is in the past tense…“Mary DID You Know”… this suggests to me that the baby has been born and Mary figured out the correct sex of
the baby?!?!?!?

Exactly or at least more precisely post-Annunciation since she was told that she would conceive a son. Hence it is not a jumping to a conclusion but a direct result of the language.

Being, in my opinion, a Protestant song I do not read anything in the lyrics that suggests anything having to do with Mary’s participation in the Divine Plan of Salvation

The lyrics “this child that you just delivered will soon deliver you” is a direct reflection of the role of Mary in the Divine Plan.

good grief… i take the lyrics to be be heard as a medium to evoke thought about what it was like to be Mary, Mother of God or questions to Mary about her experience. It is not answering it’s own questions? Please… I don’t know what style of writing this would be called (if any) but it is suggestive about a human person giving birth to God. Granted everything Catholics believe about Mary may discount some of the questions (maybe all? I am not sure), it is a song

For the record, I’m not crazy about the lyrics but love the musical composition

You here provide another reason, that I had not thought about, that calls for its exclusion as liturgical music. Liturgical music (specifically Sacred Music) must be didactic and should never be a medium for speculation.

 

[Lion]

Exactly or at least more precisely post-Annunciation since she was told that she would conceive a son. Hence it is not a jumping to a conclusion but a direct result of the language.

???

The lyrics “this child that you just delivered will soon deliver you” is a direct reflection of the role of Mary in the Divine Plan.

how so… ?

You here provide another reason, that I had not thought about, that calls for its exclusion as liturgical music. Liturgical music (specifically Sacred Music) must be didactic and should never be a medium for speculation.

**I don’t recall me saying that it should be considered liturgical music… please do not ascibe to me things i have not said **

 

[Lion]

sorry… I’m bad at quoting others’ posts…

The

“???”
and

“how so… ?”

are mine in the above comment to mosher

 

[Writer]

By the way, as a former Protestant, I can state that this song is not in any way Protestant concerning Mary. The Protestants I know, at least, would be very uncomfortable/restless singing this. Mosher makes some interesting points, I suppose, but he’s investing more brain cells in “deciphering” this simple song than seem necessary…

 

[Lion]

By the way, as a former Protestant, I can state that this song is not in any way Protestant concerning Mary. The Protestants I know, at least, would be very uncomfortable/restless singing this. Mosher makes some interesting points, I suppose, but he’s investing more brain cells in “deciphering” this simple song than seem necessary…

Fair enough… why would Protestants (that you know of) be uncomfortable singing this. I’m not totally discounting mosher, I just have some comments about his comments. I do not mean to sound antogonistic, but i do have questions as to what he/she said and what the original thread was.

 

[kage_ar]

I have no advice for you, but can feel some symapthy for you. When I hear this one, I want the Blessed Mother to yell from Heaven, “Well, DUH!” at the lyrics. Of course, she is the Blessed Mother, and patient with her all her children, even me, and the authors of this song (hardly a hymn).

Add to this, I want to whack the singers upside the head with a Rosary. This is far and wide my LEAST favorite Christmas song. Now I have to go pray one of those Rosaries for the composer of those lyrics…

 

[juno24]

Add to this, I want to whack the singers upside the head with a Rosary. This is far and wide my LEAST favorite Christmas song. Now I have to go pray one of those Rosaries for the composer of those lyrics…

Regardless of the answer to the questions (which I believe would be “well of course”), I think the writer was looking at it from the perspective of someone who did NOT know the answers. In fact, in an article in Christianity Today, Mark Lowry states that they are questions that he would have liked to ask, had he been able to talk to Mary personally.

 

[Lion]

Shall we bring up every Christmas song and point out the inacurricies (sp?) ??? I heard the “First Noel” sung in a Church… cold and wintry night ??? Is Schubert’s “Ave Maria” 100% correct? I do not know as I do not speak Latin, but i love it. I figure as long as we are discerning and educated about the Catholic Faith, we are strong and can filter out the nonsense

 

[Victorious]

Is Schubert’s “Ave Maria” 100% correct?

Well, it is the Hail Mary, in Latin.

 

[netmilsmom]

Shall we bring up every Christmas song and point out the inacurricies (sp?) ??? I heard the “First Noel” sung in a Church… cold and wintry night ??? Is Schubert’s “Ave Maria” 100% correct? I do not know as I do not speak Latin, but i love it. I figure as long as we are discerning and educated about the Catholic Faith, we are strong and can filter out the nonsense

The irony of this post is amazing.
There is so much difference between actual catechism and poetic licence. No, when it comes to dogma, we need to get picky.

 

[Lion]

Well, it is the Hail Mary, in Latin.

Thank you… i was being a little facetious… but to be honest i dont speak latin so really do not know for sure.
I like a couple renditions of christmas songs by Vanessa Williams (especially "Do You Hear What I Hear) …she doesn’t have the best reputation… does that mean i shouldn’t listen to it even though it makes me think of Christ’s birth? Oh and then there is Faith Hills’ song from the Grinch… and what about Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas”?
I mean where does it stop… I’m not talking about Liturgical apprpriate music… obviously some are inappropriate and others are not.
BTW, why is the Ave Maria only heard at Christmas and Funerals? I love Schubert’s version and could listen to it every day (which i do to some extent)?

 

[Lion]

The irony of this post is amazing.
There is so much difference between actual catechism and poetic licence. No, when it comes to dogma, we need to get picky.

Yes, but the original post was regarding how " Mary Did You know" as not being appropriate for a Liturgical Mass and I agreed… then the conversation went into a discussion of the song itself… btw, how was i being ironic??? You did not mention… if you felt i was being stupid (or uniformed), okay I can take that, but i don’t see “irony”… at any rate I’m sure you were trying to be charitable God Bless netmil(name removed by moderator)!

 

[Writer]

Fair enough… why would Protestants (that you know of) be uncomfortable singing this. I’m not totally discounting mosher, I just have some comments about his comments. I do not mean to sound antogonistic, but i do have questions as to what he/she said and what the original thread was.

What I have gathered in the past is that Protestants just aren’t too comfortable singing about Mary. That one line about “kissing the face of God” would probably send them into convulsions, since it reminds them that Mary is the mother of God, since Jesus is God.

My wife and I were talking about this today, and we got to discussing the use of figurative language in songs in order to make larger points or convey messages. I just think the scrutiny we’re placing on this single song is probably unwarranted. I bet all of us could find much worse stuff being played during Mass, and I am not sure anyone here was necessarily supporting its use in Mass anyway. I guess this thread has got a little off course–in looking at the last post.

 

[rr1213]

What I have gathered in the past is that Protestants just aren’t too comfortable singing about Mary. That one line about “kissing the face of God” would probably send them into convulsions, since it reminds them that Mary is the mother of God, since Jesus is God.

I’d put a different twist on this…It is not that Protestants are uncomfortable about singing about Mary, we are uncomfortable with what we perceive to be excessive Marian devotion by Catholics. Protestants generally think about Mary only during Christmas time. Of course, this is not always the case. One of my favorite hymns when I was an Episcopalian was based on the Magnificat, surely one of the greatest affirmations of praise and obedience to God that has been written.

 

[havemercy]

Sometimes people think too hard, and I think this is such a case. The song is just…Annoying to a Catholic who knows Catholic dogma and has any devotion what so ever to the Mother of Our Lord.

One page too many.

 

[im_wildrose]

I just have to throw my two cents in here because some of the criticism I’ve read reminds me of literature classes in college where they took these stories and poems we read and just picked the heck out of them, discussing what the author might have meant by this and that statement and what every other word symbolized. It made me crazy because I just wanted to enjoy the work for what it was.

I don’t think that this song would be the best choice for Mass, but I agree with what someone said about there being plenty of others out there that are far worse. That said, I love this song. Whenever I hear it, I think about Mary, a very young woman, little more than a girl, sitting on the floor of a cave (or stable, however you want to picture it), and gazing at her newborn Son the way only a new mother can gaze at her child - awed by what God has done, and totally and completely in love. Top it off with the knowledge that this Child that she is cradling, loving, and bending to kiss, is God Incarnate - how beautiful is that? Perhaps it holds a special meaning for me because, when picturing the Nativity, I’ve always seen Mary in that way - a new mother cradling her Infant and gazing at Him with love while checking His little fingers and toes as all mothers do.

Anyway, for me it’s just a beautiful song that, as several have pointed out, really does make some strong theological points (Jesus is God, the great “I AM”, etc.). So it’s not perfect. I still like it and it will still make me cry darn near every time!! lol

God bless, Jen

 

[im_wildrose]

Sometimes people think too hard, and I think this is such a case. The song is just…Annoying to a Catholic who knows Catholic dogma and has any devotion what so ever to the Mother of Our Lord.

One page too many.

I say, that does seem a bit harsh.

God bless, Jen

 

[havemercy]

I say, that does seem a bit harsh.

God bless, Jen

I don’t know. I’d feel like an idiot singing this, not just in mass mind you. I’m not particularly mad or disgruntled. Just really perplexed at how this is being sung in a Catholic Church (or in any Church at all). I can just see Jesus and Mary slapping their own faces in a very animated fashion over the questions being asked in these lyrics!

“Did you know that [insert something Mary knows already]?”
“No way bro, I had no idea.”



Or maybe I’m just in one of my rebellious moods. haha
God bless you too, Jen.
lovetony

 

[daeve]

Well, I love this song, and I love to hear Mark Lowry or Buddy Green sing it. Mark Lowry wrote the words; they’re questions he’s thought about and would like to ask Mary. From hearing him speak about the song, I’ve thought they may be sort of rhetorical…basically asking her if she knew what was coming by being the mother of Jesus.

As for a Mass selection, nope. There are a lot of pieces we sing that sound like they belong in “Mass, the Musical”. They may be pretty, but I don’t think they fit the liturgical setting. They’d be nice in a concert or at some kind of rally – lots of places aren’t Mass!

The Gaither Homecoming TV shows are lovely, and the live concerts are a wonder. I hear the love of God and the joy of faith when they sing. I sing right along to those old time Gospel songs.