Why Mary Matters

Peak anti-feminism

Catholics are often mischaracterised as worshipping Mary. But the Church teaches it would be mortal sin for any Catholic to do so. As Aquinas said, since Mary is "purely a creature" and not God, adoration cannot be given to her. (Summa Theologica, Part 3, Q. 25, Art. 5.)

But justice demands that we honour her as God has honoured her. And as the honour we show her is because of Christ, the more we honour Mary, the more we honour Christ. When Christ was dying on the cross, He directed the attention of St. John the disciple — representative of all of us — to Mary: “Behold thy mother.” (Jn. 19:27.)

This more than justifies our filial attitude towards Mary. If we neglect her, we deprive ourselves of great assistance towards our salvation. According to St. James, Christians should pray for one another, and the Saints in heaven pray for us while we work out our salvation on earth. All prayers to Mary, the greatest of the Saints, are prayers to God through her intercession.

In Genesis 3:15, God said to Satan, "I will put enmities between thee and the woman ... thou shalt lie in wait for her heel." That enmity between Satan and Mary means they are enemies. So God didn’t permit Mary — the second Eve and the Mother of Christ — to be under Satan’s dominion.

But had she ever contracted original sin, she would have been. So in Luke 1:28, we read how the Angel sent by God saluted Mary with the words, "Hail, full of grace." Since grace excludes sin, this means there was no sin in her at all. In her conception, Mary’s soul was preserved immaculate: she did not inherit original sin. She was still redeemed by Christ but by *prevention* rather than (as is the case for everyone else) by subsequent purification.

Since Christ was one Divine Person existing in two natures (one divine and one human), Mary necessarily gave birth to a being with one Divine Personality. That’s why she’s called the Mother of God. The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity was truly born of her in His *human* nature.

When Pope Pius IX defined the Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, he didn’t add a new truth to Christian teaching. He only defined that this doctrine had always been part of Christian teaching from the very beginning. In the 4th century, St. Augustine wrote, "When it is a matter of sin we must except the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I will have no question raised, owing to the honor due to Our Lord.”

The Immaculate Conception must be believed as part of Christian revelation. Even the Anglican Dr. E. L. Mascall declared his belief in the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. If Mary was to be a worthy dwelling-place for the Divine Word, he said, she would have to be pure in every respect. That means freedom from original sin by a special intervention of the grace of God.

Christ was not only conceived miraculously without the intervention of any human father but also born miraculously — Mary's virginity being preserved throughout. Thus Isaiah the prophet predicted a supernatural and extraordinary birth of the Messiah: “The Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son; and his name shall be called Emmanuel." (7:14) And St. Luke says, "The angel Gabriel was sent from God ... to a virgin . . . and the virgin's name was Mary."

Mary’s virginity is perpetual. The Jewish expression "brothers and sisters of the Lord" in Scripture refers merely to relationship in the same tribe or stock and often covers cousins. In the Apostles' Creed, Christians have for centuries professed their faith that Jesus Christ was "conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary."

She is "our life, our sweetness, and our hope.” By giving us Christ, she gave us life. By being without even venial sin, she modelled perfect virtue and is the glory of all women especially. And as Eve was our despair, Mary is our hope.

Being infinitely wise, God did not choose Mary haphazardly. She was chosen for her holiness and fitness above all others for the immense dignity to be bestowed upon her As sexes co-operated in our downfall, both sexes co-operated in our redemption: Mary is the second Eve as Christ is the second Adam.

Both repaired the evil of our first parents, Christ principally and Mary secondarily and subordinately to Christ. She gave all the glory to God: “He that is mighty hath done great things to me.” Christ wrought His first miracle by changing water into wine during the wedding feast at Cana, in Galilee, through Mary’s intercession (Jn., 2:3).

She still intercedes for us now in heaven with no less interest and no less charity. And although St. Peter's body is deeply reverenced at Rome, no city has *ever* claimed to possess the remains of our Blessed Lady. That’s because of her assumption, body and soul, into heaven. Having taken His flesh and blood from her body, Christ did not allow it to suffer the corruption of death and the deferment of glory until the last day but glorified it as soon as her earthly life was ended.

As the perfect woman, Mary is also the model of perfect submission and the key to defeating feminism: “Do whatever He tells you.”