The teaching of the Virgin Birth is primarily a statement about who Jesus is. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke both tell that Jesus was born of a virgin. While Matthew’s story focuses on the character of Joseph, Luke’s focus is on Mary. Both narratives and the Creed reflect upon the human and divine origins of Christ.
Matthew describes how an angel appears to Joseph in a dream reminding him of Isaiah’s prophecy: “A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and he shall be called Immanuel.” This prophecy from six centuries before Christ’s birth was originally understood to refer to a new king in David’s line. Matthew asserts that God’s prophecies have an importance that extends beyond the concerns of the present. In Luke’s story of the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel appears to Mary, who freely gives her consent to God’s plan: “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; may it be done unto me according to thy word.” The Second Vatican Council insisted that Mary was “not a passive instrument (Lumen Gentium §56).” The miraculous conception of Christ was not something that was done to her, rather, she actively cooperated with Grace. While the two narratives are very different, both Matthew and Luke sought to connect Christ to the Davidic dynasty, and key to both narratives was the Spirit’s role in his conception. Jesus was one with God from the beginning. He did not become God as time went on, nor was he merely an adopted Son. Both stories make clear that God works in unexpected ways to advance the course of salvation history.
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In our tradition regarding prophecy refers to mediation and interpretation of the divine mind and will. The tradition of Prophecy is seen as going back to Moses. He was referred to in Hebrew as נָבִיא or a “nabi.” This term began to be used around the 5th century BC and meant one who is sent or one who is made to speak. This Hebrew word was translated into Greek as προφήτης pronounced “prophetes” which refers to one who speaks for another or is an interpreter. This was the public role of Moses, Isiah Jerimiah and others down to John the Baptist the last of the prophets.
In the Old Testament tradition God communicated to those people through dreams and visions. These people were given a mission of education and conversion of heart. The prophets summoned the people to conversion while they were seeking the face of God. Likewise the prophets spoke to the people for God and also interceded to God on the people’s behalf. The public role of the prophet in relationship with the community was different than simply somebody’s private visions. A private revelation about the future was not what was considered prophecy. A person who foretold the future was referred to as a seer, or in Greek, μάντις which was pronounced “mantis.” This was a different concept expressed by an entirely different word. In the Catholic tradition prophecy is a charism, or gift from the Holy Spirit. Since Christ began a new age in human history individual believers do not function like the ancient prophets but we all share in Christ’s identity as priest, prophet, and king through our baptism into his life. The community of the faithful shares in Christ’s prophetic office. Prophecy continues in the Church. The Holy Spirit is in the community of the faithful teaching and guiding them toward all truth. The Church has never applied the term officially to anyone besides those in the scriptures. However, great saints such as Francis of Assisi, Catherine of Siena and Bridget of Sweden have had similar experiences to those of the Old Testament prophets. In 1476 Pope Sixtus IV approved the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary celebrated each year on the 8th of December. Pope Pius IX issued a document, Ineffabilis Deus, in 1854 defining the dogma stating that Mary was free from sin from the moment of her conception. This teaching has a long and complicated history. The key idea is that Mary experienced a unique call to be the Mother of God. From the very beginning of her life she had an intimate relationship with God. Her role is special because of her connection with Christ. The moon does not create its own light and only reflects the light of the Sun. Likewise she reflects the light of her son and is normally shown standing on the moon, like she is in the painting above by Peter Paul Ruebens. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception means that Mary was special in a very unique way. She was blessed with a greater and deeper relationship with God. Another way of saying this is that God was more present to her than to anyone else because she was the God-bearer the very Mother of God himself. This dogma reminds us that God is gracious to us not based on our own merits but based on his mercy and love.
The teachings of the Church about the last things are teachings about humanity. The point is that people are created for a future with God but they are absolutely free to decide if they will participate in that future. The future has not yet been experience but it is being realized now. We do not pretend to know everything about it nor do we need to. What our tradition has done is make certain conclusions based on our experience of the present. Primarily, we believe that the person is not abolished by death but rather transposed into another mode of living.
There are many poetic images that we use to communicate something about this. We recognize that we do not have eyewitness from the future that is why images such as angels and their trumpets, or Christ dividing the sheep from the goats are used. Poetic images are one thing and the content or meaning of them is another. We need to reflect on the meaning behind the images. Our tradition teaches us that there will be an individual judgement at the moment of death and some kind of communal judgement when Christ comes in glory at the end of history. The Council of Florence (1439) taught that after the individual judgement at death, unless in need of purification, people “see clearly…as God is, though some more perfectly than others, according to the diversity of merits” emphasizing that human differences matter and our decisions matter in an ultimate way. The idea of judgement presents the possibility of Hell. This is a troubling recognition that we cannot avoid the ambiguity of our own lives simply by flippantly saying everyone is saved. The great theologian Karl Rahner wrote that we should not try to say too much about it either, “we neither can nor must say anything about the end of an individual who suffers final loss except that a person who is still living in history and is just now exercising his freedom must reckon with this possibility…” What we do know is that God grants people freedom to respond to his love or live a totally isolated existence. Purgatory is the “process by which we are purged of our residual selfishness so that we can really become one with the God who is totally self-giving.” The Church recognizes the possibility of maturation and growth after death. We do not see this as punishment but rather a surrendering our self-centered idea of who we are so that our God-centered existence may begin. During Advent many of the readings touch on these themes. We recognize that Christ experienced death and even preached the Gospel to the dead. His redemptive work extends to people of all times and places. As the Provincial Council of Quiercy stated in 853, “there is not, has never been, and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer.” |
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