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Mary’s own birth to the aged Joachim and Ann would be deemed as improbable but possible, in line with a pattern seen again and again in Scripture with the parents of special children called forth by God. Her own cousin Elizabeth would be another example as the mother of John the Baptizer. Sarah gave birth to Isaac when she was in her 90’s; Manoah’s wife is another and she would deliver Samson; and the barren Hannah only became pregnant with the prophet Samuel after she desperately promised God that he would be dedicated to his service. These were all children “of promise” and they were singular in that there would be no others to pass through their mothers’ wombs. God stretched the rules of nature in these miraculous births. But, in Mary’s pregnancy with Jesus, the laws of nature were superseded. It was a miracle of an entirely different order. Isaac would become the father of a great nation, God’s people. Jesus ushered his kingdom, first through his own person and later through his mystical body, the Church. Samson was a mighty deliverer of his people from the bondage of the Philistines. Jesus lays down his life as the redeemer of mankind from the slavery of Satan and the afflictions of sin and death. Under Saul and David, the prophet Samuel brought God’s word to his people. Jesus is the revelation of the Father, showing us the face of God. He is the true mediator between heaven and earth. He testifies to the truth, the Good News of the kingdom.

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Joachim and Ann conceived Mary in the normal course of marital human interaction. Tradition claims they were elderly but as with Zachariah and Elizabeth, it only made such a pregnancy improbable, not impossible. The most sensational divine intervention was left unseen in the unblemished soul of Mary. This preservation from sin also spares her from the most serious consequences of the fall; she is conceived already as an inheritor of eternal life. This was only fitting because the Lord of life would make her into his Ark for entering this world.

Mary asks the question which would initially trouble Joseph. “How is this going to happen?” (see Luke 1:34). The angel lets her know that the impossible will be made possible by God. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you” (see Luke 1:35). God shall come down from heaven and reveal his face in Jesus Christ. The eternal Word and Second Person of the Blessed Trinity shall enter into the human family.

I recall reading in public junior high school a short story (probably banned now) about a Jewish boy upsetting his rabbi with questions on Jesus. (The title and author escapes me.) The rabbi’s response to the incarnation and miracles of Jesus was one word, “Impossible!” But the boy nagged him, “If God can do anything, why not this?”

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Any precedent for virginity or celibacy that is used to substantiate claims about Mary, also applies to the discipline of celibacy by religious and clergy. Those who would malign such a lifestyle as unnatural do an injustice to good people who embrace purity. St. Paul, himself, affirms that it is a noble choice and one for which he has a preference.

A chief foreshadowing in the Old Testament is the prophet, Jeremiah. God commanded him, “Do not take a wife, have no sons and no daughters in this place” (Jeremiah 16:1-4). Mary was the first disciple and prophet of the Good News. Priests are also prophets and living signs of contradiction to the world. Their celibacy is an eschatological sign pointing to the fact that we are only pilgrims in this world. The kingdom is breaking into the world and time is short. Like Jeremiah, their lives are consumed by their relationship with God and their mission among his people.

Although there are translation disputes about whether it is best to use “maiden” or “virgin” in the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14; “a virgin is with child,” is regarded as being satisfied in Matthew 1:23. This testifies to the truth about Mary.

Single and religious should maintain a virginal life and the married must never confuse lust with passion.

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The virginity of Mary is often spoken about in reference to the lives of consecrated religious. But along with the witness of St. Paul and that of our Lord, himself, it also finds a correlation with priestly celibacy. Mary is the virgin who conceives and gives birth to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. By giving life to Jesus she is making possible the life of the world. Similarly, the celibate priest is called, “Father,” because he is a spiritual parent. The priest consecrates and makes Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament by the power of the Holy Spirit. As one who is specially configured to Christ, he makes Jesus present as the bread of life and, again, the life of the world.

Never had God given such responsibility to human beings as he had to the Holy Family and later to his bishops and priests. It is for this reason that the Western Church has preferred that its clergy manifest a single-hearted love of God and a service undistracted by a spouse and personal family. In her later years, Mary too had to go on without her faithful protector, Joseph. Priests have the support of the believing community, but in a real sense they also embrace an aloneness for the kingdom.

Mary was never ordained a priest, but there is a sacerdotal element in her life that resonates with the priesthood.

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Mary seems to benefit from both poles of emphasis: she is a virgin and a mother. While she was a wife to Joseph, such was in terms of partnership and as a confidant, caring for the domestic needs of the home. Few couples embrace a Joseph-Mary celibate love all throughout their marriages; however, while rare, some do make and keep such pledges. I knew of a couple who tried to live such a life as a special sacrificial offering to God. They made this promise before a priest and the day came a year later that they returned to see the pastor at the rectory so that they might be released from their sacrificial vow. They came to discern that God willed that they now embrace the physical and life-giving joys of their bond. The priest sent them home with his blessing.

Mary and Joseph perpetually lived out their chaste and celibate love in honor of the Christ who was the center of their home. The many brethren and sisters, actually cousins, insured that Jesus had many playmates as a child. The extended family life in the time of Christ was very different from the nuclear families of today. Households often included aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc. The family meant everything and everyone worked and played together. Such would probably play a formative role in how Christ would relate to his apostles and disciples.

He was truly part of a human family.

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My mind races back to the days when as a young seminarian I studied theology at Catholic University. There were several ladies also taking classes and studying for degrees. When we studied the story of Jephthah’s daughter, my friend Theresa became agitated. She found the story in Judges 1:37-40 to be deeply disturbing. She wondered aloud if there might be some Scriptures that cannot be salvaged for Christian believers, today. In thanksgiving for his victory in battle, the Hebrew general pledges that the first who steps out the door of his home, he will sacrifice. He immediately laments his pledge because out steps his young daughter. She requests a short time to mourn her virginity and then we are told he did as he promised. Unlike the story of Abraham and Isaac, God does not stay his hand. It is a remnant story that betrays the fact that human sacrifice, while later regarded as offensive, had at one time been practiced by the Chosen People. As with a few other passages from the Bible, there was a debate during the formulation of the Lectionary for Mass that this story should be skipped. Nevertheless, while the Scriptures are edited and censored for polite sensibilities in the Lectionary, this reading was still included. It is terribly hard to preach upon. The young girl had courage and her father kept his promise to God; but as Christians, we are aware that some promises should not be made. The child mourns that she will never know the joys of being a wife and mother. It is a poignant and terrible story. Mary was probably not much older. Tradition has it that she had embraced celibacy and/or virginity as a servant of the Temple. This fuels the assumption by some authorities that Joseph was a much older man, betrothed to protect Mary in a male-oriented society. A friend of mine uses the story of the slaughtered girl to talk about the low premium placed on virginity in Jewish society in ancient days. We also see how virginity is embraced to honor God, either in a death to self (as with Mary) or in a physical death (as with Jephthah’s daughter). But I am of the mind that the story is too emotionally evocative for a level-headed analysis. It makes us very angry. How can the murder of the innocent ever please God?

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Virginity was associated with holiness and purity going back to Old Testament days. However, while it was insisted that this gift should be brought to the marriage bed undefiled, the main emphasis among the Jews was fruitfulness and progeny. The promiscuous woman was understood as damaged goods and unclean. The barren woman was viewed as cursed. We see this latter sentiment with Abraham and Sarah and in the New Testament among Zachariah and Elizabeth. Sacred tradition indicates a similar situation with Joachim and Ann, the parents of Mary. These women rejoiced because God gave them a child and took away their shame.

“Sons are a birthright from Yahweh, children are a reward from him” (Psalm 127:3).

“Your wife will be a fruitful vine within your house: your children will be like olive shoots around your table…may you see your children’s children” (Psalm 128: 3,6).

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While Mary knew a preservative redemption and we are granted a normal chronological redemption (in the normal course of events), the agent is the same, Jesus Christ and his Cross. While the majority of Catholics are aware that the Immaculate Conception is in reference to Mary in the womb and not Christ, there are a few which confuse the title and doctrine. Similarly, many have a hard time distinguishing the Assumption of Mary from the Ascension of Christ.

Ignorance is even more widespread regarding the perpetual virginity of Mary. Some Catholics subscribe to the false Protestant assumption that the brethren in the Gospels were children of Joseph and Mary. The Lateran Synod of 649 AD defined the unique virginity of Mary. The definition is somewhat challenging to us today for many reasons. We tend to associate virginity with an absence of sexual activity. While this is certainly an essential component of the definition, it also places great store in Mary being physically intact. At the risk of being blunt, many women rupture or lose the virginal membrane due to physical exercise or medical intervention. However, we would still regard such “good girls” as virgins. The definition apparently insists that Mary was physically and morally a virgin.

Mary’s virginity is measured three ways: before the birth of Christ, during the birthing, and post-birth.

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Many of us recall from our children’s catechism that the fall of Adam and Eve brought sin and death into the world. The story of Genesis was a crossroads in the history of humanity. Suddenly upon the scene there arose creatures that were both intensely self-aware and, having been made in God’s image, could know and love God in return. They opted to turn back in upon themselves. It was as if a creature suddenly stood on two feet to look up in wonder only to quickly drop back on all fours like the beasts, denying his nature and dignity. A pattern was broken and a new one established. There would be no preternatural gifts, no direct vision or immediate friendship with God, no harmony in either men or the creation around him, no life without death, and no awareness without suffering and pain. What would remain would be the struggle to embrace virtue against the increasing current of selfishness and temptation. Generations to come would be born in pain and concupiscence. This tragic story begins to be rewritten in Mary for whom the promised redemption first takes place. The Second Vatican Council reaffirms this Marian doctrine:

“Enriched from the first instant of her conception with the splendor of an entirely unique holiness, the virgin of Nazareth is hailed by the heralding angel, by divine command as “full of grace” (Lumen Gentium, no. 56).

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While the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was defined late in the Church’s history, its roots go back to the earliest days. The early Church fathers spoke about Mary as the new Eve because they viewed her as possessing the same original grace and justice. Sentiments about Mary’s purity and sinlessness are found in Tertullian, St. Justin, St. Irenaeus, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine.

Although the belief was generally accepted, the Church often spoke about the Immaculate Conception in an indirect or reverse manner. This was because there was a serious debate about how it could be true since Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life. He alone is the Savior. None are saved except through him and his Cross. Given the lack of precision, the Church just refused to talk about Mary in the context of sin. Even the Council of Trent insisted that while we could speak of original sin as infecting all mankind, the council fathers did not intend to include the “immaculate” Virgin Mary in this discussion.

The great theologian John Dun Scotus (1265-1308 AD) would set the groundwork for a later definition by speaking about how the redemptive work of Christ reached back into human history and preserved Mary from sin in honor of her place in salvation history as the Mother of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Lord.

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