Transcript Slide 1

MARY
MOTHER OF JESUS,
MOTHER OF GOD
Part Ic: Who is Mary?
. . . the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called
Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house
of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. (Luke 1:26-27)
SEEKING MARY . . .
Next, in searching for understanding who Mary was, would be to
search what we know about her natural life.
The birth of Joseph
in Bethlehem,
a town of Judah,
the city of David
71 70
BC
69 68 67
66
65 64 63 62 61 60 59 58 57 56 55 54 53 52 51
TIMELINE OF THE LIVES OF MARY AND JOSEPH
At 40,
Joseph marries
Melcha or Escha
50
49 48 47
46
45 44 43 42 41 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31
Herod the Great becomes King of Judea
The Immaculate Conception
of Mary in the womb of her
mother Anne
Birth of Mary
to Anne and
Joachim
in Sepphoris
30
29 28 27
26
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
Mary is offered
in the Temple
Herod the Great
Mary remains in the temple for nine years.
The BIRTH of
Jesus in
Bethlehem of
Judea
Annunciation of the
Angel Gabriel to
Holy Family
Mary in Nazareth;
returns to
Jesus’ Conception;
Nazareth
Mary visits her
Joseph,
cousin Elizabeth
Mary
in Jerusalem
and Jesus
Engagement of
escape
Mary to Joseph
to Egypt
in Nazareth
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
(12)
Joseph takes
the pregnant Mary
Joseph
as his wife
widowed
Caesar Augustus, Emperor,
calls a census of the whole
world; Joseph and Mary
go to Bethlehem
Herod the Great
Birth of John
the Baptist
3
Paul is born
in Tarsus
Passover trip to
Jerusalem with Joseph,
Mary and 12-year old
Jesus
BC AD
2
1
2
King Herod calls
for the killing of all
male children, two
years old and younger
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Annas, High Priest. Jerusalem
Pontius Pilate, procurator
d. 4
Archelaus, ethnarch of Samaria and Judea
Antipas (Herod Antipas) tetrach of Galilee and Perea
Philipp, tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis
John the Baptist
begins his ministry
Jesus baptized
in the Jordan
by John
Death of
Joseph
90? 111?
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Annas, High Priest. Jerusalem
24 25 26
27 28 29 30
(38)Joseph Caiaphas, High Priest
Pilate becomes
Procurator of Judea
Pontius Pilate, procurator
Antipas (Herod Antipas) tetrach of Galilee and Perea
Philipp, tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis
Jesus baptized
in the Jordan
Jesus tempted
in the desert
by Satan
Jesus’ first
miracle
at Cana
26
Jesus talks
with the
Samaritan
woman
Peter, Andrew,
James and John
become Apostles
at Capernaum
Jesus cures
Peter’s mother-inlaw
Jesus begins
preaching
in Galilee
27
Jesus chooses
the final twelve
Jesus feeds 5000
Jesus walks of water
Jesus preaches the Peter confesses
Sermon on the
Jesus is Messiah
Mount
Jesus is transfigured
Jesus preaches the on Mt. Tabor in
Caesarea Philippi
parables of the
Kingdom
Jesus visits Mary and
Jesus calms the Sea Martha; raises
of Galilee
Lazarus
Jairus’ daughter
raised to life
28
J
John the Baptist
martyred
29
Triumphal entry
into Jerusalem
Jesus cleanses
the Temple
The Last Supper
Gethsemane
Crucifixion and
death
Resurrection
Apparitions
Ascension
Descent of the
Holy Spirit
30
(49)
Jesus gives
His Mother
to the Apostle John
at Calvary
31
The Council of
Jerusalem
The End of Mary’s Life;
Her Assumption into Heaven;
in Ephesus with John?
in Jerusalem?
John and Mary remain in Jerusalem
31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52
(50)
(60)
(66)
John goes to Ephesus;
takes Mary with him
John is at
the Council of Jerusalem
Persecution of the Church
by Herod Agrippa I begins
44
Herod Agrippa I dies
Jerusalem
Ephesus
First Gospel
written by
St. Mark
The Martyrdom of
Sts Peter and Paul
at Rome
The Destruction of
the Temple of Jerusalem
53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75
THE GOSPEL PORTRAIT OF JOSEPH
Marriage to Mary
Redemptoris Custos, John Paul II,
Apostolic Exhortation (August 15, 1989)
Matthew 1:20-21
Joseph, Son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that
which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son,
and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people
from their sins.
Matthew 1:18
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his
mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came
together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit.
Luke 1:26-27
The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named
Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph,
of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
Luke 1:30-32
Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And
behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you
shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the
Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the
throne of his father David.
The nature of this “marriage” is explained indirectly when Mary, after
hearing what the messenger says about the birth of the child, asks,
Luke 1:34
How can this be, since I do not know man?
The angel responds
Luke 1:35
The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
Although Mary is already “wedded” to Joseph, she will remain a virgin,
because the child conceived in her at the Annunciation was conceived
by the power of the Holy Spirit.
At this point Luke's text coincides with Matthew 1:18 and serves to
explain what we read there. If, after her marriage to Joseph, Mary is
found to be with child of the Holy Spirit, this fact corresponds to all
that the Annunciation means, in particular to Mary's final words
Luke 1:38
Let it be to me according to your word.
In these circumstances,
Matthew 1:19
. . . her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her
to shame, resolved to send her away quietly.
He did not know how to deal with Mary's “astonishing” motherhood.
He certainly sought an answer to this unsettling question, but above all
he sought a way out of what was for him a difficult situation.
Matthew 1:20-21
But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared
to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not
fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived
in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you
shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from
their sins.”
Joseph is visited by the messenger as “Mary's spouse,” as the one who in
due time must give this name to the Son to be born of the Virgin of
Nazareth who is married to him. It is to Joseph, then, that the messenger
turns, entrusting to him the responsibilities of an earthly father with
regard to Mary's Son.
Matthew 1:24
When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord
commanded him and took Mary as his wife.
He took her in all the mystery of her motherhood. He took her together
with the Son who had come into the world by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In this way he showed a readiness of will like Mary’s with regard to what
God asked of him through the angel.
Matthew 2:13-19
When they (the three Magi) had departed, behold, the angel
of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take
the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose
and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had
said through the prophet might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called
my son.” When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord
appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Rise, take the
child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who
sought the child's life are dead.” He rose, took the child and his
mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that
Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he
was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in
a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee. He went and dwelt
in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through
the prophets might be fulfilled, “He shall be called a Nazorean.”
1. Rafah
2. Al-Arish
3. Farma
4. Tal Basta
5. Mostorod
6. Belbeis
7. Meniet Samanoud
8. Sakha
9. Wadi El-Natroun
10. Ain Shams
11. Matareya
12. Zeitoun
13. Zeweila Alley
14. El-Ezbaweya
15. The area of Old Cairo
16. Babylon
17. Maady
18. Ashnein: El-Nasara & El-Garnous Monastery
19. Bahnassa
20. Samalout
21. Gabal al Tair
22. Hermapolis: Al-Ashmounein Town - Mallawy
23. Daurout Um Makhla
24. Beer El-Sahaba
25. Kom Maria
26. Tal El-Amarna
27. Daurout
28. Qoussia
29. Meir
30. Monastery Of Moharraq
While clearly affirming that Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy
Spirit, and that virginity remained intact in the marriage (cf. Mt
1:18-25; Lk 1:26-38), the evangelists refer to Joseph as Mary's husband
and to Mary as his wife (cf. Mt 1:16, 18-20, 24; Lk 1:27; 2:5).
And while it is important for the Church to profess the virginal
conception of Jesus, it is no less important to uphold Mary's marriage to
Joseph, because juridically Joseph's fatherhood depends on it. Thus one
understands why the generations are listed according to the genealogy of
Joseph.
Matthew 1:1, 16
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David,
the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac, . . .
. . . Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her
was born Jesus who is called the Messiah.
Luke 3:23, 28
When Jesus began his ministry he was about thirty years of age.
He was the son, as was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli, . . .
. . . the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son
of God.
MARY AND JOSEPH
In Apocryphal Writings
The Protoevangelium of James
“And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by [St. Anne], saying, ‘Anne! Anne!
The Lord has heard your prayer, and you shall conceive and shall bring forth,
and your seed shall be spoken of in all the world.’ And Anne said, ‘As the
Lord my God lives, if I beget either male or female, I will bring it as a gift
to the Lord my God, and it shall minister to him in the holy things all the days
of its life.’ . . . And [from the time she was three] Mary was in the temple
of the Lord as if she were a dove that dwelt there” (Protoevangelium of
James 4, 7 [A.D. 120]).
The birth, education, and marriage of the Blessed Virgin are described in
the first eleven chapters and these are the source of various traditions
current among the faithful. They are of value in indicating the veneration
paid to Mary at a very early age.
“And when she was twelve years old there was held a council of priests,
saying, ‘Behold, Mary has reached the age of twelve years in the temple
of the Lord. What then shall we do with her, lest perchance she defile
the sanctuary of the Lord?’ And they said to the high priest, ‘You stand
by the altar of the Lord; go in and pray concerning her, and whatever
the Lord shall manifest to you, that also will we do.’ . . . [A]nd he prayed
concerning her, and behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him saying,
‘Zechariah! Zechariah! Go out and assemble the widowers of the people
and let them bring each his rod, and to whomsoever the Lord shall show
a sign, his wife shall she be. . . . And Joseph [was chosen]. . . . And
the priest said to Joseph, ‘You have been chosen by lot to take into your
keeping the Virgin of the Lord.’ But Joseph refused, saying, ‘I have
children, and I am an old man, and she is a young girl’” (8–9).
It is the “Protoevangelium” which first tells that Mary was the miraculous
offspring of Joachim and Anna, previously childless; that when three years
old the child was taken to the Temple and dedicated to its service, in
fulfillment of her parents’ vow.
When Mary was twelve Joseph was chosen by the high-priest as her spouse
in obedience to a miraculous sign--a dove coming out of his rod and resting
on his head.
While our first knowledge of Joseph comes from the Bible, it is not difficult
to see that the Scriptures make no mention or implication of Joseph's
advanced age, or other similar details. Such particulars are imaginatively
supplied by certain apocryphal writings.
Though non-canonical and never considered historical by the Church,
such writings have had a great influence on popular devotion. Their content
has entered into preaching, art, liturgy, and even patristic writings, though
the latter have by and large employed a quite critical approach to them.
“And Annas the scribe came to him [Joseph] . . . and saw that Mary was
with child. And he ran away to the priest and said to him, ‘Joseph, whom
you did vouch for, has committed a grievous crime.’ And the priest said,
‘How so?’ And he said, ‘He has defiled the virgin whom he received out
of the temple of the Lord and has married her by stealth’” (15).
“And the priest said, ‘Mary, why have you done this? And why have you
Brought your soul low and forgotten the Lord your God?’ . . . And she wept
bitterly saying, ‘As the Lord my God lives, I am pure before him, and know
not man’” (15).
Origen (248 AD) (185-254)
“The Book [the Protoevangelium] of James [records] that
the brethren of Jesus were sons of Joseph by a former
wife, whom he married before Mary. Now those who say
so wish to preserve the honor of Mary in virginity
to the end, so that body of hers which was appointed to
minister to the Word . . . might not know intercourse with a man after the
Holy Spirit came into her and the power from on high overshadowed her.”
(Commentary on Matthew 2:17).
Other apocryphal works draw freely on the Story of James, adding
their own embellishments.
Among these are The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew which includes legends
of the stay in Egypt, The Syriac-Arabic Infancy Gospel, The Armenian
Infancy Gospel, and the Liber de Infantia Salvatoris. The Infancy Story
of Thomas recounts numerous bizarre miracles worked by the child Jesus.
The resulting composite story has Joseph as a carpenter who makes
plows, yokes, other wooden tools for cultivation, and also wooden beds.
At the age of 40 he marries Melcha or Escha, and during their 49 years
of marriage he has four sons and two daughters, whose names are given.
It is after he has been widowed for a year that the episode occurs with his
staff blossoming and the dove flying out of it, thus indicating that he is
divinely chosen for the twelve year old Mary.
The annunciation takes place two years later. At Bethlehem, Joseph is out
searching for a midwife when the baby is born miraculously without Mary
losing her virginity.
A final apocryphal work to be mentioned is The Story of Joseph the
Carpenter, which treats of Joseph's last days. Strong and alert until the
age of 111, he confesses his sinfulness on his deathbed and is consoled
by Jesus and Mary.
Jesus beckons the archangels Michael and Gabriel to come take his soul,
And his body is buried in the family grave. Recent studies indicate that this
work dates from the beginning of the second century, and was used
liturgically by Judeo-Christians at his tomb at Nazareth for the anniversary
of his death, until the Jews were expelled from Nazareth and took it with
them into Egypt.
The End of
Mary the Series, Who Is Mary?, Part Ic
Go to
Mary the Series, Her Motherhood, Part IIa