Grace is not holiness, and can not be equated with a complete lack of sin.
Grace is the favor of God, and His bestowment on men is the one thing that is higher than anything else on earth… to know Him, and therefore to know yourself.
For someone to have grace is to experience the movement of God in one’s heart. And anyone who has experienced that will understand that when God moves, He does so in a way that makes you feel like you are an important, or highly favored person by God.
Of course Mary would be blessed among women, God moved in her and revealed Himself to her. The same as any other woman in history to whom God has revealed Himself. And any other woman to whom grace has been given will also be considered blessed among women.
BA
BA,
Your definition of grace is very shallow. You need to read Aquinas. For one thing, one cannot have grace and sin at the same time in the same place. To be full of grace is to be empty of sin. Grace is also the power to obey. I’m making a butchery of this, but His favor is more than a smile, more like a tidal wave, less of a pat on the hand and more of a lightning bolt. Power to change. Forgiveness and cleansing of sin.
I am surprised, perhaps I should not be, that you emphasize an experience of grace, one based on sensation rather than truth. Experience does not bring us to understanding as much as the Holy Spirit does. Something seems to be seriously wrong with the way you approach how you gain knowledge: first you abandon Scripture as a basis for theology and now you are advocating some subjective experiential basis. God sometimes makes me feel like a bug on a windshield, and I thank HIm, and at other times, like his beloved child, and I thank HIm, and sometimes He is silent, and I thank Him, but always He speaks, as He has always spoken, through the creation that declares the glory of God, through His Word,and through His people. What is, is, whether I feel it or not.
You severely underestimate the power of grace that God can bestow on someone. Only one person in history gave birth to Christ, raised Him, and was with Him at the cross and in the upper room. You cannot say that every woman has equally been so faithful to Him or so blessed. God rewards faithfulness, yes? Are you saying that what Mary went through is the same as anyone else goes through? To whom much is given, much will be required. Much was given to Mary in the gift of her Son. God also rewards faithfulness. Do you say what she should be rewarded should be little?
I don’t know, John. I am only considering Catholicism. I have not yet joined the Catholic Church. But reading posts like yours only tend to drive me closer to Catholicism, to realize that what it is saying is richer and fuller and more meaningful, more significant and truer and more beautiful than the poverty of what passes for much Protestant theology. It’s like some come peddling stale bread crumbs to people who are enjoying a great feast.
It is really strange, John. You seem to be vehemently denying the fact that a number of people who have posted on this thread claim to know Mary, to have met her. You have not challenged that at all. Catholics are testifying as to how they know her. Are they all liars or lunatics or do they perhaps tell the truth, John? If Jesus has this idea (the one the Catholics are so keen on) about what His Mother is allowed to do and how she should be honored, and He is Lord, should you object and not honor her the way He desires you to?
