Mary=first priest?!

[Jennifer_J]

How would you answer someone (a religious sister, no less) who claims that Mary was the first priest??? The “sister” wrote a letter to the editor of our local Catholic paper–(of course they printed it) and I’d like to respond correctly. Any thoughts??
Jennifer

 

[RyanL]

I have several thoughts about this, but unfortunately few are very charitable…

You might start by stating that this is a novel concept, unknown for the first 1950 years of Christianity. You may also say that the issue was formally decided by the Vatican in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, and that if anyone believes that the Pope is fallible when teaching the faithful in a binding matter of faith and morals…maybe they should go somewhere other than the Catholic Church. You may also reference Mulieris Dignitatem, which is a beautiful letter about the *proper *role of women in the Church, and how tremendously powerful women can be when acting as God intended.

Mary is the most wonderful creature a loving God ever gave humanity, but she was not a priest. She is the Queen of Heaven, but she is not a priest. She is the Ark of the New Covenant, but she was not a priest. She is the Mother of God, and the Mother of all Christians, but she was not a priest. A priest is married to the Church (which Scripture calls a ‘Her’) as an ‘Alter Christos’, and to say that Mary was in a lesbian wedding with the Bride of Christ is so far into heresy that it really deserves fairly little discussion.

I hope this is of some help, even if only for the links.

God Bless,
RyanL

 

[Jennifer_J]

Thank you, those were my thoughts, but I hadn’t looked up any documents yet.

It’s just so frustrating!

Jennifer

 

[Genesis315]

Jennifer J:

Thank you, those were my thoughts, but I hadn’t looked up any documents yet.

It’s just so frustrating!

Jennifer

Does the nun making this claim provide even a shred of evidence that Mary ever offered a Mass?

 

[JaneFrances]

Actually (and with much orthodoxy), we as Catholics do recognize that Mary was a priest. As a Jewish woman, the promise of God to the Israelites: “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6) would have been extended to her as well. This promise was to all the Israelites (Jews) and Mary was certainly one.

Mary was also the very first Christian. She was the first human being to accept Jesus. And St. Peter tells us: “You too are living stones, built as an edifice of spirit, into a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5). So, in a sense, she may very well be considered to be the first “priest” of the New Covenant who offered her own womb to God as a spiritual sacrifice through Jesus Christ.

God has made for himself a chosen race. . .a royal priesthood of believers which began with his promise to the Israelites in the desert and remains true today in the Christian community. We are all, in a sense, priests. We are all called to worship our Lord and God sacrificially through our lives in Jesus Christ.

SO, the Blessed Mother indeed WAS a priest, just as we are all. However, she was not an ordained priest of the Levitical priesthood (OT) nor was she an ordained priest of the New Covenant (NT). Neither of these ordained, ministerial priesthoods were open to women. These ordained ministries of the priesthood have never been appropriate functions of women.

I love our pastor’s explanation for why women can not be ordained priests. It includes such a wonderful understanding of the Blessed Mother. I’m paraphrasing here: Unlike the ordained priests in the Church, Mary is truly the only person in history who could actually look upon the body of Christ and say “this is my body, this is my blood.” And so, if any woman in the world could have said the words of concecration, it would have been her, yet even she was not called to the ordained priesthood.

We are all given roles in the priesthood of believers. Arguing about whether women should/could be priests is irrelevant, because we are! To demand “equality” in the ordained priesthood is to be ignorant of the beautiful and appropriate role God has prepared for women in this holy priesthood we have in the body of Christ, our great high priest!

 

[tuopaolo]

Jennifer J:

How would you answer someone (a religious sister, no less) who claims that Mary was the first priest??? The “sister” wrote a letter to the editor of our local Catholic paper–(of course they printed it) and I’d like to respond correctly. Any thoughts??
Jennifer

You can’t argue based on Mary that women in general can be priests because Mary is a special case. It would be like arguing that claiming to be sinless is OK since Mary could rightly claim to be sinless.

Mary is, with or as some people would stress “after” Christ, the chief offerer of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. (See below)

The role of Mary in the Mass is an area of theology, of Mariology that is under-developed. I know St Maximilian Kolbe wrote on it but I have not yet read his marvelous insights on it. I know he saw the Mass as totally imbued with the sanctity of the Immaculata.

Here are some beautiful teachings from Popes and other priestly theologians on the role of Mary in the Mass from the Homiletic and Pastoral Review.

catholic.net/RCC/Periodicals/Homiletic/07-97/mary.html

"Suffering with her Son as he died on the Cross, she cooperated in a totally singular way by her obedience, faith, hope, and ardent charity in restoring supernatural life to souls."21 And because the bond between Son and Mother is “intimate and indissoluble”, as the Council teaches, she remains with him-and because of him and after him-the chief offerer of that sacrifice that is made present in our earthly Eucharist. As it is the Lord who offers and is offered in every Eucharist, and who, in and with himself, offers the sacrifice of praise of his entire Body, so, in him and with him, Mary offers and is offered in each Eucharistic celebration in that utterly unique way that reflects her role in the redemption her Son achieved for her and for all of us.

Allow me to quote also the words of our beloved Pope John Paul II:
John Paul II:

Born of the Virgin to be a pure, holy and immaculate oblation, Christ offered on the Cross the one perfect Sacrifice which every Mass, in an unbloody manner, renews and makes present. In that one Sacrifice, Mary, the first redeemed, the Mother of the Church, had an active part. She stood near the Crucified, suffering deeply with her Firstborn; with a motherly heart she associated herself with his Sacrifice; with love she consented to his immolation (cf. Lumen Gentium, 58; Marialis Cultus, 20): she offered him and she offered herself to the Father. Every Eucharist is a memorial of that Sacrifice and that Passover that restored life to the world; every Mass puts us in intimate communion with her, the Mother, whose sacrifice “becomes present” just as the Sacrifice of her Son “becomes present” at the words of consecration of the bread and wine pronounced by the priest

This is undoubtedly a great mystery which will probably take another Ecumenical Council to, for the whole Church, make more known, appreciated and understood. The Father likes to wrap His gifts for His children. The role and presence of Mary in the Mass is one of those precious gifts which the saints have probably always known and some have written on throughout the ages but which for the rest of us takes time to better or more fully understand.

 

[Jennifer_J]

JaneFrances:

Actually (and with much orthodoxy), we as Catholics do recognize that Mary was a priest. As a Jewish woman, the promise of God to the Israelites: “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6) would have been extended to her as well. This promise was to all the Israelites (Jews) and Mary was certainly one.

Mary was also the very first Christian. She was the first human being to accept Jesus. And St. Peter tells us: “You too are living stones, built as an edifice of spirit, into a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5). So, in a sense, she may very well be considered to be the first “priest” of the New Covenant who offered her own womb to God as a spiritual sacrifice through Jesus Christ.

God has made for himself a chosen race. . .a royal priesthood of believers which began with his promise to the Israelites in the desert and remains true today in the Christian community. We are all, in a sense, priests. We are all called to worship our Lord and God sacrificially through our lives in Jesus Christ.

SO, the Blessed Mother indeed WAS a priest, just as we are all. However, she was not an ordained priest of the Levitical priesthood (OT) nor was she an ordained priest of the New Covenant (NT). Neither of these ordained, ministerial priesthoods were open to women. These ordained ministries of the priesthood have never been appropriate functions of women.

I love our pastor’s explanation for why women can not be ordained priests. It includes such a wonderful understanding of the Blessed Mother. I’m paraphrasing here: Unlike the ordained priests in the Church, Mary is truly the only person in history who could actually look upon the body of Christ and say “this is my body, this is my blood.” And so, if any woman in the world could have said the words of concecration, it would have been her, yet even she was not called to the ordained priesthood.

We are all given roles in the priesthood of believers. Arguing about whether women should/could be priests is irrelevant, because we are! To demand “equality” in the ordained priesthood is to be ignorant of the beautiful and appropriate role God has prepared for women in this holy priesthood we have in the body of Christ, our great high priest!

Maybe you should write my letter! Is it okay for me to “borrow” some of this from you?

Jennifer

 

[Jennifer_J]

Genesis315:

Does the nun making this claim provide even a shred of evidence that Mary ever offered a Mass?

ha, you’re funny! Of course not.

Her claim is Mary made the first consecration when she gave her Fiat and that her body and blood became the body and blood of Christ. She also says Mary’s womb was the first Tabernacle (which is true enough) and then goes off on a tangent about women being priests because of all that Mary did.

Jennifer

 

[Mickey]

Jennifer J:

How would you answer someone (a religious sister, no less) who claims that Mary was the first priest??? The “sister” wrote a letter to the editor of our local Catholic paper–(of course they printed it) and I’d like to respond correctly. Any thoughts??
Jennifer

This probably comes from the unfortunate and continuing ugliness of radical feminism.

 

[JaneFrances]

Hi Jennifer!

“Borrow” anything you like. . .Most anything true I have ever said has been “borrowed”–any truth I’ve spoken is certainly not original!

 

[LSK]

JaneFrances:

Actually (and with much orthodoxy), we as Catholics do recognize that Mary was a priest. As a Jewish woman, the promise of God to the Israelites: “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6) would have been extended to her as well. This promise was to all the Israelites (Jews) and Mary was certainly one.

Mary was also the very first Christian. She was the first human being to accept Jesus. And St. Peter tells us: “You too are living stones, built as an edifice of spirit, into a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5). So, in a sense, she may very well be considered to be the first “priest” of the New Covenant who offered her own womb to God as a spiritual sacrifice through Jesus Christ.

God has made for himself a chosen race. . .a royal priesthood of believers which began with his promise to the Israelites in the desert and remains true today in the Christian community. We are all, in a sense, priests. We are all called to worship our Lord and God sacrificially through our lives in Jesus Christ.

SO, the Blessed Mother indeed WAS a priest, just as we are all. However, she was not an ordained priest of the Levitical priesthood (OT) nor was she an ordained priest of the New Covenant (NT). Neither of these ordained, ministerial priesthoods were open to women. These ordained ministries of the priesthood have never been appropriate functions of women.

I love our pastor’s explanation for why women can not be ordained priests. It includes such a wonderful understanding of the Blessed Mother. I’m paraphrasing here: Unlike the ordained priests in the Church, Mary is truly the only person in history who could actually look upon the body of Christ and say “this is my body, this is my blood.” And so, if any woman in the world could have said the words of concecration, it would have been her, yet even she was not called to the ordained priesthood.

We are all given roles in the priesthood of believers. Arguing about whether women should/could be priests is irrelevant, because we are! To demand “equality” in the ordained priesthood is to be ignorant of the beautiful and appropriate role God has prepared for women in this holy priesthood we have in the body of Christ, our great high priest!

What a wonderfully COMPLETE explanation of the role of Mary in the Catholic world. Thank you!