our lady and virginity

[billcu1]

I have heard that when the holy spirit overshadowed Mary that her virginity was left intact and Jesus sanctified her virginity. Now I kind of forget my anatomy but when one is born would that leave a woman not a virgin? Young pubescent girls have lost their virginity by riding horses too.

 

[DebChris]

Breaking the hymen does not mean a woman loses her virginity.

 

[MarcoPolo]

Young pubescent girls have lost their virginity by riding horses too.

I would contend virginity is not associated with the physical properties, but more a spiritual state. A woman who is raped is not morally robbed of her virginity. Even a woman who has physically lost virginity by way of sin, in a sense, has that virginity restored when she receives the healing sacrament of confession.

Anyway, the Catechism says the following about Christ’s birth:
*CCC#499 The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary’s real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made man. In fact, Christ’s birth “did not diminish his mother’s virginal integrity but sanctified it.” And so the liturgy of the Church celebrates Mary as Aeiparthenos, the “Ever-virgin”.*There is discussion on whether or not Mary’s physical virginity “during” the Virgin Birth is an infallible teaching. Fr. Most at EWTN article says yes. Fr. Saunders at EWTN says the Church has not infallibly declared it. The evidence, at a minimum is very strong in favor of it, if not infallible.

 

[billcu1]

I would contend virginity is not associated with the physical properties, but more a spiritual state. A woman who is raped is not morally robbed of her virginity. Even a woman who has physically lost virginity by way of sin, in a sense, has that virginity restored when she receives the healing sacrament of confession.

Anyway, the Catechism says the following about Christ’s birth:
CCC#499 The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary’s real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made man. In fact, Christ’s birth “did not diminish his mother’s virginal integrity but sanctified it.” And so the liturgy of the Church celebrates Mary as Aeiparthenos, the “Ever-virgin”.There is discussion on whether or not Mary’s physical virginity “during” the Virgin Birth is an infallible teaching. Fr. Most at EWTN article says yes. Fr. Saunders at EWTN says the Church has not infallibly declared it. The evidence, at a minimum is very strong in favor of it, if not infallible.

This raises to me another question. The Bible speaks of Jesus having brothers and sisters. Was this a figure of speech or did Mary have other children after him.

 

[vbc777]

The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception teaches that Mary remained a virgin even after she gave birth to our Lord. This is precisely because she conceived not by man but by the Holy Spirit.

 

[po18guy]

This raises to me another question. The Bible speaks of Jesus having brothers and sisters. Was this a figure of speech or did Mary have other children after him.

Mary declared herself to be the “handmaid” or “bond slave” of the Lord. How could she have other children? Her Son, to Whom she was a bond slave, taught that you cannot serve two masters. As to the common modern attack on Christ’s chosen mother, read a correct and not-easily twisted version of Matthew 1:25 from the Knox bible:

Matthew 1:25
Knox Bible (KNOX)
25 and he had not known her when she bore a son, her first-born, to whom he gave the name Jesus.

The purpose of this verse is to bear witness to the fact that Christ’s birth is the fulfillment of what was prophesied by Isaiah:

Isaias 7:14
Knox Bible (KNOX)
14 Sign you ask none, but sign the Lord will give you. Maid (virgin) shall be with child, and shall bear a son,[a] that shall be called Emmanuel.

Aramaic had no word for cousin or some other levels of blood relative. Those from the same town, or the same province were considered to be brothers and sisters. It is that way to this day in many parts of Africa and Asia.

If that is not enough, let us ponder the prophecy of Zacharias regarding the Messiah:

Zacharias 12:10
Knox Bible (KNOX)
10 On David’s clan, on all the citizens of Jerusalem, I will pour out a gracious spirit of prayer; towards me they shall look, me whom they have pierced through.[a] Lament for him they must, and grieve bitterly; never was such lament for an only son, grief so bitter over first-born dead.

Bill, you can REALLY benefit from a copy of Catholicism for Dummies. I highly recommend it.

 

[Jon_S_1]

This raises to me another question. The Bible speaks of Jesus having brothers and sisters. Was this a figure of speech or did Mary have other children after him.

There is no word in Aramaic for cousins. The word used for brothers and cousins and other close family was the same. When translated into Greek it held its simplest form of brothers.

It is similar to how Indian 's call all adult friends of their father’s “uncle” even though they are unrelated. In Hindi there is just one word to describe uncles and adult male friends and that tradition carried into English.

 

[Randy_Carson]

This raises to me another question. The Bible speaks of Jesus having brothers and sisters. Was this a figure of speech or did Mary have other children after him.

Mary did not have other children.

There are two possible explanations of the passage you refer to:

1. The brothers and sisters referred to in scripture were technically cousins because the Aramaic language does not contain a word for cousins. Consequently, cousins were called “brothers and sisters”.
2. Joseph was older than Mary - possibly a widower. The brothers and sisters of Jesus were actually Joseph’s children from his first marriage.

 

[Michael_Francis]

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