Mary standing on a serpent

[Jerurussia]

Name one woman in the Old Testament that didn’t slay the foe of God and His Chosen People with a head shot! The Miraculous Medal, so-called, was given as a vision approved by the Church, and surrounded by so many miracles that the nickname stuck of “Miraculous Medal.”

biblescripture.net/First.html

Here’s a blueprint on how the pronoun could be interpreted “S/HE” and “SEED” as generally singular with collective overtones, nicely describing the Body of Christ in Genesis 3:15.
The Miraculous Medal imagery fulfills Paul’s description of God crushing Lucifer’s head through “us” and that includes the Virgin Mary.

 

[Good_Fella]

I sometime struggle with take that verse as God telling all mankind thought the ages to “Kill all and every snake you find.”

Do you think that if it weren’t for this verse we wouldn’t have snake skin cowboy boots?

 

[KathleenGee]

Fasolith…

Thanks…for clarifying…shame on me…I studied…but when we were learning about St. Jerome…my comprehension then was not good.

I would also add…Mary is also symbolic as Church…and I go further…from devotion and de Montfort spirituality on Mary…that it is when we become closer to being a Christian as Mary was…I mean, in one sense who could be like her?..she had a different constitution than ours…so…when we are united with Mary…we are effective in crushing the serpent.

 

[glendab]

Can we get back to the statue please?

It is a horrid statue and I’ve disliked it since coming into the Church. It simply seemed wrong and the first time I asked about it, it wasn’t about Scripture, it was about seeing Satan touching the Blessed Virgin even if he was under her foo! It still said she wasn’t sinless and that is the immediate message that I got from it. THAT is how it was perceived by me and why it was so puzzling. I thought it was some sort of Protestant statue and was in our Church by mistake. I think that may actually be the real reason that statue was made the way it was. That is what the OP’s thread is about, how we perceive the statue, not the Scriptures. It is bad art to me and implies things that aren’t true about Mary. Now that I’m a Catholic for a while and have viewed much more Catholic artworks, I’ve found many that attempt to twist things or flat out show in pictorial form, heresies. I’ve learned that more than one famous artist was indeed a heretic and his art was censored. In recent times, I’ve found many different versions of the statue of our Lady of Guadalupe that have been changed/modified/corrupted/re-envisioned, however you want to say it, but they are horrible too. They changed what actually happened and added to them, some of them have our Lady with actual make up on! Yeah like I’m not joking. It really does convey a message, or as I’ve already said, a distorted message. This is the real problem and the OP and I have the same ideas about that bloody statue.

Glenda

 

[KathleenGee]

I don’t know about that…I mean…I don’t think we Catholics have a false understanding of Mary in this…she has great power over the devils and it becomes very evident for me when I have been doing hospice for those who are greatly tormented approaching their deaths.

Christ’s mission of salvation and redemption is also Mary’s mission of salvation and redemption.

There are other images of Mary you might like…Our Lady of Mt Carmel, Star of the Sea…very beautiful and full of peace.

I would just ignore the statues as they are not being moved out.

 

[Nelka]

I sometime struggle with take that verse as God telling all mankind thought the ages to “Kill all and every snake you find.”

Where is this?

 

[Nita]

Can we get back to the statue please?

It is a horrid statue and I’ve disliked it since coming into the Church. It simply seemed wrong and the first time I asked about it, it wasn’t about Scripture, it was about seeing Satan touching the Blessed Virgin even if he was under her foo! It still said she wasn’t sinless and that is the immediate message that I got from it. THAT is how it was perceived by me and why it was so puzzling. …Glenda

If there was a statue of Jesus crushing the serpent (to depict Gen 3:15 translated as “he shall crush…”) would that give you the message that the statue was showing that Jesus wasn’t sinless?

 

[glendab]

Hello Nita.

If there was a statue of Jesus crushing the serpent (to depict Gen 3:15 translated as “he shall crush…”) would that give you the message that the statue was showing that Jesus wasn’t sinless?

All I’m saying is what my initial impressions of the statue were the first time I saw it. I honestly thought it was a mistake. I once heard someone explain the Davinci painting of the Last Supper and that it depicts Jesus as a woman! Hello. Art can be intentionally distortive. It is meant to lead the eye and so lead the thoughts. I knew before I knew much of anything about being a Christian that Mary was sinless all her life from conception on and beyond and that the devil was a snake. The two touching each other was offensive to me on a gut level. It still is. That will never change for me, no matter how many different folks explain it differently. I don’t have to like any particular statue to be a good Catholic gal. And the art works I don’t like won’t be held against me at my particular judgment. But some artworks are offensive and being fond of them can offend God. What will happen is those who like that particular statue or believe that Genesis says a woman is the One foretold who will conquer Satan won’t like my oppositional view and will judge me according to their standards. Oh well. I’m not a crowd pleaser in a lot of ways. It doesn’t matter that much to me.

Glenda

 

[Randy_Carson]

Can we get back to the statue please?

It is a horrid statue and I’ve disliked it since coming into the Church. It simply seemed wrong and the first time I asked about it, it wasn’t about Scripture, it was about seeing Satan touching the Blessed Virgin even if he was under her foo! It still said she wasn’t sinless and that is the immediate message that I got from it. THAT is how it was perceived by me and why it was so puzzling. I thought it was some sort of Protestant statue and was in our Church by mistake. I think that may actually be the real reason that statue was made the way it was. That is what the OP’s thread is about, how we perceive the statue, not the Scriptures. It is bad art to me and implies things that aren’t true about Mary. Now that I’m a Catholic for a while and have viewed much more Catholic artworks, I’ve found many that attempt to twist things or flat out show in pictorial form, heresies. I’ve learned that more than one famous artist was indeed a heretic and his art was censored. In recent times, I’ve found many different versions of the statue of our Lady of Guadalupe that have been changed/modified/corrupted/re-envisioned, however you want to say it, but they are horrible too. They changed what actually happened and added to them, some of them have our Lady with actual make up on! Yeah like I’m not joking. It really does convey a message, or as I’ve already said, a distorted message. This is the real problem and the OP and I have the same ideas about that bloody statue.

Glenda

Glenda-

Be at peace. The statue does not represent Mary touching sin and becoming unclean herself, etc.

The statue represents Mary’s triumph! :extrahappy:

 

[Nita]

Hello Nita.

I don’t have to like any particular statue to be a good Catholic gal. And the art works I don’t like won’t be held against me at my particular judgment.

Agreed. I don’t think anyone here tried to imply differently.

But some artworks are offensive and being fond of them can offend God.

Agree again.
But I don’t think the statue of Mary crushing the serpent is one of them since it was/is meant to depict a Catholic translation of the passage that was accepted for over 1500 years – and was the Church’s official translation for the 400-500 years prior to the current official translation. (I don’t know if the Church designated one specific translation as the “official” one prior to the Council of Trent.)
I’m not sure of the date when the current Latin version was declared to be the official one (to be used in liturgy, etc.), but I’m pretty sure it’s been less than 50 years. The Douay is still acceptable, as are some other translations.

God watches over His Church, to protect it from error. He protected it in the past and He’s protecting it now. What that means is that the truth expressed in the passage encompasses all the pronouns used in translations accepted by the Church – “He”, “she”, and “it/Church”.

What will happen is those who like that particular statue or believe that Genesis says a woman is the One foretold who will conquer Satan won’t like my oppositional view and will judge me according to their standards. Oh well. I’m not a crowd pleaser in a lot of ways. It doesn’t matter that much to me.

Glenda

Nobody is judging you. Well, at least I’m not. In some ways it seems more as though you’re judging those of us who like and accept the statue.