Refuting attack on Mary

[anrmenchaca47]

I would like to know what I could reply when someone says that Jesus reprimanded those who said “Blessed is the womb that carried you.” I don’t know exactly what book it’s in but nonetheless this was used to refute that Mary has any significance or importance. Please advise.

 

[ephesians2]

I believe you are talking about Luke 11:27. When one continues to read through verse 28, it is said by Christ in response to the women, “Blessed rather, are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Christ does not deny that Mary is blessed, but what He is saying is that hearing/keeping the word of God is more important, otherwise the word “rather” would not be in the text. When you tie that in with the verses of Matthew 12:46-50, one could come to the concluson that Mary was certainly “blessed among women”, but not of first importance as a person deserving worship like Himself. In this passage Christ is not disclaiming His earthly family/mother and brothers, but was accentuating the eternal power of Spiritual relationships.

 

[Church_Militant]

Here’s one of the best sources I’ve found. **Refuting the Attack on Mary

 

[De_Montfort]

I would like to know what I could reply when someone says that Jesus reprimanded those who said “Blessed is the womb that carried you.” I don’t know exactly what book it’s in but nonetheless this was used to refute that Mary has any significance or importance. Please advise.

Christ does not “reprimand” anyone He simply points out what makes Mary blessed first and foremost which is that She heard the Word of God and believed and kept it. Read Luke where even Elizabeth says “Blessed is she who believed.” Christ doesnt say to the women who says blessed is the womb that bore “No” but says “Rather” he points to the higher fact of Her cause of Her blessedness, not that Her womb is not Blessed. Remember in Luke Elizabeth is inspired by the Holy Spirit when she says “How is it that the Mother of my Lord should come to me.” and calls Her and the fruit of Her womb blessed!

 

[Mintaka]

Mary’s obedience to God’s words and her pregnancy with God’s Word are fairly intimately linked, if we all remember the story of the Annunciation!

This is why sacred Christian writers have always contrasted Mary’s obedience and trust to Eve’s disobedience and distrust.

 

[adrift]

I would like to know what I could reply when someone says that Jesus reprimanded those who said “Blessed is the womb that carried you.” I don’t know exactly what book it’s in but nonetheless this was used to refute that Mary has any significance or importance. Please advise.

A son reprimand a mother

 

[TimothyH]

Christ does not “reprimand” anyone He simply points out what makes Mary blessed first and foremost which is that She heard the Word of God and believed and kept it. Read Luke where even Elizabeth says “Blessed is she who believed.” Christ doesnt say to the women who says blessed is the womb that bore “No” but says “Rather” he points to the higher fact of Her cause of Her blessedness, not that Her womb is not Blessed. Remember in Luke Elizabeth is inspired by the Holy Spirit when she says “How is it that the Mother of my Lord should come to me.” and calls Her and the fruit of Her womb blessed!

This is a good explanation.

Jesus is saying, “My mother is blessed not because she is my mother, but because she hears the word of God and obeys it, and you would do well to be more like her.”

-Tim-

 

[ephesians2]

Christ does not “reprimand” anyone He simply points out what makes Mary blessed first and foremost which is that She heard the Word of God and believed and kept it.

I have always wondered where Mary plays a role in Christ’s response in Luke 11:28 because when I cross reference this with passages like Luke 8:19-21 and Mark 3:31-35, I see Christ talking about people other than Mary as doing the will of God and being blessed for it. He did not specifically say His mother’s name, so it’s reading into it a little to say Christ is talking first and foremost about Mary’s obedience to God. While I do believe she was obiedient to God, Luke 11:28 to me would not stand out as a text exclusively about Mary.

*His mother and his brothers arrived. Standing outside they sent word to him and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers (and your sisters) are outside asking for you.”

But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and (my) brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” -Mark 3:31-35*

I still think Christ is emphasizing the fact that when you hear and do the will of the Father, you will be blessed, no matter who you are. Also, after reading the text and what was before it and after it, it seems as if Christ is focusing on the glory being given to God. Taking the focus off a single human and giving the blessing that God offers to all those who are his “brothers and sisters and mother”.

 

[De_Montfort]

“Is Jesus thereby distancing himself from his mother according to the flesh? Does he perhaps wish to leave her in the hidden obscurity which she herself has chosen? If this seems to be the case from the tone of those words, one must nevertheless note that the new and different motherhood which Jesus speaks of to his disciples refers precisely to Mary in a very special way. Is not Mary the first of “those who hear the word of God and do it”? And therefore does not the blessing uttered by Jesus in response to the woman in the crowd refer primarily to her? Without any doubt, Mary is worthy of blessing by the very fact that she became the mother of Jesus according to the flesh (“Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked”), but also and especially because already at the Annunciation she accepted the word of God, because she believed it, because she was obedient to God, and because she “kept” the word and “pondered it in her heart” (cf. Lk. 1:38, 45; 2:19, 51) and by means of her whole life accomplished it. Thus we can say that the blessing proclaimed by Jesus is not in opposition, despite appearances, to the blessing uttered by the unknown woman, but rather coincides with that blessing in the person of this Virgin Mother, who called herself only “the handmaid of the Lord” (Lk. 1:38). If it is true that “all generations will call her blessed” (cf. Lk. 1:48), then it can be said that the unnamed woman was the first to confirm unwittingly that prophetic phrase of Mary’s Magnificat and to begin the Magnificat of the ages”.
(Redemptoris Mater)

We have to remember God kept Mary for the knowledge of Himself when she was on earth “Mother hidden”. Mary was the first to hear the word of God and keep it. So much so Christ became flesh in Her. She was the first to follow Christ and be His disciple. When we hear the word of God and keep it do we not become like Mary who first followed Christ perfectly?!

Mary perfectly glorifies God. She was created only for God. Her mission is to unite us to God and show us and give a share of Her love for God since it was perfect. Her concerns were that of Christs. She wished to glorify the Father as much as Jesus did. She shared His feelings for everything. Jesus was Her life. Her last words recorded in the gospel are “Do whatever He tells you” She says that to each soul.

 

[De_Montfort]

I have always wondered where Mary plays a role in Christ’s response in Luke 11:28 because when I cross reference this with passages like Luke 8:19-21 and Mark 3:31-35, I see Christ talking about people other than Mary as doing the will of God and being blessed for it. He did not specifically say His mother’s name, so it’s reading into it a little to say Christ is talking first and foremost about Mary’s obedience to God. While I do believe she was obiedient to God, Luke 11:28 to me would not stand out as a text exclusively about Mary.

*His mother and his brothers arrived. Standing outside they sent word to him and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers (and your sisters) are outside asking for you.”

But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and (my) brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” -Mark 3:31-35*

I still think Christ is emphasizing the fact that when you hear and do the will of the Father, you will be blessed, no matter who you are. Also, after reading the text and what was before it and after it, it seems as if Christ is focusing on the glory being given to God. Taking the focus off a single human and giving the blessing that God offers to all those who are his “brothers and sisters and mother”.

He is speaking of a new motherhood. But it does not take away from the fact that Mary was the first one to fulfill this new motherhood and it is fulfilled under the Cross in union with Her Son when He gives Her to us as our Mother. This new Motherhood is fulfilled in Mary at the annuncation and pentecost. She gave birth to the Head which is Christ and birth to the Church at pentecost.

 

[AtourDOMAN]

Beloved

you could always retort:

“You have no Magestrium or tradition to set the Light of scripture in”

“You do not understand what you read”

“Since the Bible is itself a Catholic Book, we are the only ones who can interpret it”

“tell them the Story about Simon Stock in the 12th Century”, “the Mother of God stamps out heresy in the Church”

God be with you.
In Christ

Atour