Some of the marian tiltes in the Litanies

[MarcoPG]

Hello,

As I was praying the Rosary, I noticed once again how some of the marian Title share almost to the identity those of Jesus’. Is that so to show their close relation? Or how would you explain these titles? If someone has an history on these, or informations on the theological implications and why the identity, I would really appreciate it.

Cause of our joy,
Gate of heaven,
Morning star

Thank you

 

[JM3]

Cause of our joy,
Gate of heaven,
Morning star

Cause of our joy

vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html

56…Embracing God’s salvific will with a full heart and impeded by no sin, she devoted herself totally as a handmaid of the Lord to the person and work of her Son, under Him and with Him, by the grace of almighty God, serving the mystery of redemption. Rightly therefore the holy Fathers see her as used by God not merely in a passive way, but as freely cooperating in the work of human salvation through faith and obedience. For, as St. Irenaeus says, she “being obedient, became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.”(6*)

(6) S. Irenaeus, Adv. Hacr. III, 22, 4

Gate of Heaven

cardinaljohnhenrynewman.com/mary-gate-of-heaven-cardinal-newman/

How, and when, did Mary take part, and the initial part, in the world’s restoration? It was when the Angel Gabriel came to her to announce to her the great dignity which was to be her portion. St. Paul bids us “present our bodies to God as a reasonable service.” We must not only pray with our lips, and fast, and do outward penance, and be chaste in our bodies; but we must be obedient, and pure in our minds. And so, as regards the Blessed Virgin, it was God’s will that she should undertake willingly and with full understanding to be the Mother of our Lord, and not to be a mere passive instrument whose maternity would have no merit and no reward. The higher our gifts, the heavier our duties. It was no light lot to be so intimately near to the Redeemer of men, as she experienced afterwards when she suffered with him. Therefore, weighing well the Angel’s words before giving her answer to them—first she asked whether so great an office would be a forfeiture of that Virginity which she had vowed. When the Angel told her no, then, with the full consent of a full heart, full of God’s love to her and her own lowliness, she said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word.” It was by this consent that she became the Gate of Heaven.

Morning Star

cardinaljohnhenrynewman.com/mary-the-morning-star-cardinal-newman/

As can be observed in these commentaries on the titles of the Litany of Loreto, Cardinal Newman had a deep and tender devotion to the Mother of God. For the close of the month of May he comments on the title Morning Star. He notes that Mary is called by two names that convey her beauty: Mystical Rose and Morning Star. But the later suits her best because a rose belongs to the earth and has a short life. A star, instead, is high in heaven and abides forever.

He writes, it is “Mary’s prerogative to be the Morning Star, which heralds in the sun. She does not shine for herself, or from herself, but she is the reflection of her and our Redeemer, and she glorifies Him.”

Holy Mary, Morning Star, you always lead us to your Son, the Father and the Holy Spirit. Be always close to us, guiding us to the Blessed Trinity.

newadvent.org/bible/sir024.htm

Sirach 24:24 It is I that give birth to all noble loving, all reverence, all true knowledge, and the holy gift of hope. 25 From me comes every grace of faithful observance, from me all promise of life and vigour.

 

[Peregrinans]

Hello,

As I was praying the Rosary, I noticed once again how some of the marian Title share almost to the identity those of Jesus’. Is that so to show their close relation? Or how would you explain these titles? If someone has an history on these, or informations on the theological implications and why the identity, I would really appreciate it.

Cause of our joy,
Gate of heaven,
Morning star

Thank you

History will be a little difficult to pin down, since most of the Marian titles, doctrines etc. evolved over a very long period of time. It was mostly in the 3rd century onward that the close relationship that Jesus had with Mary began to really become a part of the faith. And the titles are a way to drive home that point and to honor Mary. But here a a little info:

Cause of Our Joy
Is a somewhat ubiquitous title that can and has been applied to many entities. God, Jesus, Mary, Saints. The cause, imo, would be Jesus/God since He caused it to happen. But Mary, among others, could easily be identified this way.

Gate of Heaven
Well the teaching of the Two Ways was part of Jesus’ ministry. (In fact early Christians were identified as people who followed, The Way) The idea of a gate to salvation can be seen in the old testament, in Psalm 118:19, Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord. 20*This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter.I will give you thanks, for you answered me;you have become my salvation.”

Jesus said,in John 14:6 "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. He reinforces this metaphor of Him being the only access to the Father. Salvation and or Heaven, by referring to Himself as the door/gate of heaven.
He further illustrates it by saying He is the Good Shepard , John 10: 9"I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. “ Some translations use “gate,”which actually makes more sense since sheep enter through gates not doors. Obviously calling to mind in the 1st century Jews the gate to salvation.

This means that The Lamb of God’s complete and perfect sacrifice, in atonement for all sins, brought forth a new and eternal covenant with God. That man has been saved through only His suffering and healed through only His wounds. He is our Savior and Our Salvation. This created the way, and through believing in Jesus, and obeying the commandments, and joining together with Him through communion we can enter through Him into life everlasting.

The broader sense that Mary could also be called the gate of heaven comes much, much later when people began to also refer to her as the gate of heaven since Jesus, because of her obedient consent, came through her physically via the Incarnation. And then even later some Marian teachings promoted the idea that an effective way to reach Jesus was to go through Mary.

Morning Star . Jesus refers to Himself as the morning star in this passage, Revelation 22:16-17 “"I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. "

He is basically telling the churches that he is the light of the world. To come to the light come to the glory, come to Him and He will save you from the darkness and evil of the world.

I am not sure when Mary began to be referred to as the morning star, but it would have been quite a long time after the 1st century. I suppose because she can guide people to Jesus, so in that sense I it could apply.

Hope that helped a little.

 

[MaryT777]

 

[nuntym]

+JMJ+

University of Dayton has a very interesting page on the history and meaning of the Litany of Loreto, including baroque illustrations by Josef Sebastian Klauber (ca. 1700-1768).

udayton.edu/imri/mary/l/litany-of-loreto-in-context.php

 

[MarcoPG]

Exactly as Peregrinans said, for example for Morning Star, some of the title are of Jesus’ too, and primarily his.
So I don’t think it is enough to show that since Jesus was the morning Star, Mary is a kind of Morning Star. I hope I am clear enough.
Because Then we might say, since Jesus is The Redeemer, Mary is Co-redemptrix, ok, but not redeemer as well.
I think this matter of degrees, if you like, is what I don’t get. At times there is a parallel between Jesus and Mary, whereas sometimes the same titles are used.

 

[nuntym]

+JMJ+

Exactly as Peregrinans said, for example for Morning Star, some of the title are of Jesus’ too, and primarily his.
So I don’t think it is enough to show that since Jesus was the morning Star, Mary is a kind of Morning Star. I hope I am clear enough.
Because Then we might say, since Jesus is The Redeemer, Mary is Co-redemptrix, ok, but not redeemer as well.
I think this matter of degrees, if you like, is what I don’t get. At times there is a parallel between Jesus and Mary, whereas sometimes the same titles are used.

I would think it is a mistake to make too narrow interpretations of Scripture and terms used in Scripture.

For example, the Morning Star. Yes, Revelation does point to Jesus as the Morning Star, but what about the morning star in Isaiah. the classical description of Satan’s fall from grace?

How you have fallen from heaven, morning star (Lucifer), son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!

You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.

Isaiah 14:12-15

Or how about the peculiar verse from the Book of Job: “[Where were you] when the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?” (Job 38:7).

Anyways, the Virgin Mary as the Morning Star comes from this passage from the Song of Solomon:

One is my dove, my perfect one is but one, she is the only one of her mother, the chosen of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and declared her most blessed: the queens and concubines, and they praised her.

Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?

Song 6:9-10

As the Pulpit Commentary says: “The idea seems to be that of a rising luminary, looking forth from the background, breaking through the shades of the garden, like the morning star appearing above the horizon.”

Let us talk about the Morning Star itself for a second. It is the brightest star (actually planet, Venus) in the sky in the times it is visible. It rises minutes before the sun, and being the brightest it is the last visible star before and even during sunrise. Therefore it is said to herald the arrival of the sun.

Jesus is the Morning Star because He heralded the morning of the Kingdom of God. He is also the brightest since He is the Source of all Light (John 1:4).

But Mary is also the Morning Star, because she heralded the arrival of the Sun, her Son Jesus Christ. She is also the brightest, the best of all creation as the Immaculate Conception.

As the Gate of Heaven, she is often said to have opened the Gate of Heaven for us with her fiat.

Because the Blessed Virgin was immune from these punishments, she is “blessed among women.” Moreover, she alone escaped the curse of sin, brought forth the Source of blessing, and opened the gate of heaven.

St. Thomas Aquinas, The Angelic Salutation

Mary as Gate of Heaven is also meant as her womb as Ever-Virgin:

This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall pass through it: because the Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by it, and it shall be shut for the prince. The prince himself shall sit in it, to eat bread before the Lord: he shall enter in by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.

Ezekiel 44:2-3

As for Mary being the Cause of Our Joy, I believe the Morning Prayer of the Divine Office, the official prayer of the Church, for September 8, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, will suffice.

Your birth, O Virgin Mother of God, proclaims joy to the whole world, for from you arose the glorious Sun of Justice, Christ Our God; he freed us from the age-old curse and filled us with holiness; he destroyed death and gave us eternal life.

divineoffice.org/0908-mp/?title=Sep+08%2C+Morning+Prayer+for+Birth+of+Mary%2C+BVM&date=20150908#sthash.8jWfDwd8.dpuf

 

[MarcoPG]

+JMJ+

I would think it is a mistake to make too narrow interpretations of Scripture and terms used in Scripture.

For example, the Morning Star. Yes, Revelation does point to Jesus as the Morning Star, but what about the morning star in Isaiah. the classical description of Satan’s fall from grace?

How you have fallen from heaven, morning star (Lucifer), son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!

You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.

Isaiah 14:12-15

Or how about the peculiar verse from the Book of Job: “[Where were you] when the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?” (Job 38:7).

Anyways, the Virgin Mary as the Morning Star comes from this passage from the Song of Solomon:

One is my dove, my perfect one is but one, she is the only one of her mother, the chosen of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and declared her most blessed: the queens and concubines, and they praised her.

Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?

Song 6:9-10

As the Pulpit Commentary says: “The idea seems to be that of a rising luminary, looking forth from the background, breaking through the shades of the garden, like the morning star appearing above the horizon.”

Let us talk about the Morning Star itself for a second. It is the brightest star (actually planet, Venus) in the sky in the times it is visible. It rises minutes before the sun, and being the brightest it is the last visible star before and even during sunrise. Therefore it is said to herald the arrival of the sun.

Jesus is the Morning Star because He heralded the morning of the Kingdom of God. He is also the brightest since He is the Source of all Light (John 1:4).

But Mary is also the Morning Star, because she heralded the arrival of the Sun, her Son Jesus Christ. She is also the brightest, the best of all creation as the Immaculate Conception.

As the Gate of Heaven, she is often said to have opened the Gate of Heaven for us with her fiat.

Because the Blessed Virgin was immune from these punishments, she is “blessed among women.” Moreover, she alone escaped the curse of sin, brought forth the Source of blessing, and opened the gate of heaven.

St. Thomas Aquinas, The Angelic Salutation

Mary as Gate of Heaven is also meant as her womb as Ever-Virgin:

This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall pass through it: because the Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by it, and it shall be shut for the prince. The prince himself shall sit in it, to eat bread before the Lord: he shall enter in by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.

Ezekiel 44:2-3

As for Mary being the Cause of Our Joy, I believe the Morning Prayer of the Divine Office, the official prayer of the Church, for September 8, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, will suffice.

Your birth, O Virgin Mother of God, proclaims joy to the whole world, for from you arose the glorious Sun of Justice, Christ Our God; he freed us from the age-old curse and filled us with holiness; he destroyed death and gave us eternal life.

divineoffice.org/0908-mp/?title=Sep+08%2C+Morning+Prayer+for+Birth+of+Mary%2C+BVM&date=20150908#sthash.8jWfDwd8.dpuf

I don’t intend to interpret in a narrow way; in Isaiah, it is clear that the morning star is the fallen angel, and Jesus is the Morning Star. But if you then take this, and look at the litanies, how is Mary the morning star, in a different way than Jesus?
I would see it as Jesus being the full light or something like this as an analogy.

the danger I see for a non-catholic is that we see title attibuted to Jesus on earth and in Heaven, then some of the same to Mary, since Jesus is God, and Mary is the most perfect human being after Jesus in the Flesh.
How would you best show that the gate of Heaven in the litanies is not the intended exactly the same as Jesus being the gate? It looks like: Jesus is the gate, Mary is the gate of the gate…
These are the problems which I would like to avoid.

 

[nuntym]

+JMJ+

I don’t intend to interpret in a narrow way; in Isaiah, it is clear that the morning star is the fallen angel, and Jesus is the Morning Star. But if you then take this, and look at the litanies, how is Mary the morning star, in a different way than Jesus?
I would see it as Jesus being the full light or something like this as an analogy.

the danger I see for a non-catholic is that we see title attibuted to Jesus on earth and in Heaven, then some of the same to Mary, since Jesus is God, and Mary is the most perfect human being after Jesus in the Flesh.
How would you best show that the gate of Heaven in the litanies is not the intended exactly the same as Jesus being the gate? It looks like: Jesus is the gate, Mary is the gate of the gate…
These are the problems which I would like to avoid.

One way, in my opinion, is to show how permissive the Church is in interpreting Scripture.

The classical example of this is the woman clothed with the sun (Revelation chapter 12).

What is the correct way of interpreting who this woman is? Is she Mary, or is she Israel, or is she the Church?

The answer is: all of them.

Another way is to introduce to them the concept of divinization, or theosis. It is “the understanding that human beings can have real union with God, and so become like God to such a degree that we participate in the divine nature” (source).

When we were baptized we were given Jesus’ offices of kingship, prophecy, and priesthood. As we grow in holiness, we can practice these offices better, and even the characteristics of God that has become the Marian titles we discussed would start to apply to us. If we proclaim Jesus to our neighbors we become the Cause of their Joy, their Morning Star, and their Gate of Heaven! If we can do that, then why not Mary?

 

[JM3]

How would you best show that the gate of Heaven in the litanies is not the intended exactly the same as Jesus being the gate? It looks like: Jesus is the gate, Mary is the gate of the gate…
These are the problems which I would like to avoid.

Is there only one gate?

Ezekiel 44:1 Then he brought me back to the eastern gate of the outer precincts, that was fast shut. 2 Shut this gate must ever be, the Lord told me, nor open its doors to give man entrance again, since the Lord, the God of Israel, entered by it. Access to it is none, 3 even for the prince himself; sit there he may, to eat his share of the welcome-offering, but it is through the hall at the other end of the gateway he comes and goes.

Jesus is the gate by which we enter heaven. The Blessed Virgin is the gate by which Jesus came from heaven to us and is shut.

 

[MarcoPG]

Is there only one gate?

Ezekiel 44:1 Then he brought me back to the eastern gate of the outer precincts, that was fast shut. 2 Shut this gate must ever be, the Lord told me, nor open its doors to give man entrance again, since the Lord, the God of Israel, entered by it. Access to it is none, 3 even for the prince himself; sit there he may, to eat his share of the welcome-offering, but it is through the hall at the other end of the gateway he comes and goes.

Jesus is the gate by which we enter heaven. The Blessed Virgin is the gate by which Jesus came from heaven to us and is shut.

You agree that there is one gate like there is one mediator, and one way. Still, there is mediators in Christ by Christ, so there can be gates, etc. BUT do you see the differece between saying there are other gates in Christ, and saying Mary is the gate of the gate? it goes backwards and opens the door to an infinite regression. As I said, if you are able to qualify the gates, it becomes clear. But Morning star is something which is less clear.

So it would be nice to show how Mary is also a gate made by Christ and in Christ, as the other saints, even if in the most eminent way, and not backwards, in the same way She is the MOther of God because of God and not because she is a mother goddess.
I think the analogy wiith her motherhood is a good way to show that, that is how these titles are ordered.