Pope JPII on Mary the mother of the Redeemer.

For a little "nobody", the Gospel has the Virgin Mary saying more than anyone else about God Himself.

The Virgin Mary in the Gospel of Luke:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed;
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.”

Luke 1:46


I'm sure glad God found such favor with Mary before the Incarnation, and chose her to be the mother of Jesus Christ, and that she said, "Be it done unto me according to your word." And as Simeon prophecied in the gospel, a sword would pierce her own heart too. The Gospel is so powerful!!

 

To think that a humble sinner could be given such an honor! It is amazing indeed the grace that God bestowed upon Mary such that she would be the mother of the Messiah.

In Christ,

Bob

 

Of course then - there is always Stephen!

quote:
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Acts 6:8
And Stephen, full of grace AND power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.
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Seems God was her Savior long before she became the mother of the Lord. God doesn't find favor in a sinful person. Nothing in the Gospel about her repenting of anything.

 

St.Stephen was a wonderful saint of the early church. The first of many many martyrs. He didn't say as much as the Virgin Mary in Holy Scripture, but gave his life for Christ.

 

Still - he gets all the "glitter" that comes along with the title "Full of Grace" And ADDS TO IT -- all the authority and power for having "FULL of Grace AND POWER" assigned to him.

If one is thinking that such references make the person "sinless" and "queen of heaven" and "redeemer like Christ" then ... Stephen is king of that hill.

In Christ,

Bob

 

No one is "redeemer like Christ". He alone is God and our Savior.

 

"Still - he gets all the "glitter" that comes along with the title "Full of Grace" And ADDS TO IT -- all the authority and power for having "FULL of Grace AND POWER" assigned to him."


We are all called to be saints like Stephen, we are also called to be like Mary, and even like Christ Himself, when we are Christian. Be Holy as the Heavenly Father is Holy.

 

Can somebody help me here... In catholic theology, can someone be full of grace right after baptistm (regenerative) or right after confession?

Please, I need the catholic position and not all the multiple of scripture.

Thx.\,

Armando.

 

Judges 5:24 Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be

 

Ge 6:8
¶ But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

This is the FIRST one mentioned in the Bible who found grace in God's eyes.

Why aren't there any statues of him around?

If anybody deserves one it would be him since he singlehandedly saved the human race by the grace of God.



In HIS service;
Jim

 

You are right about one thing - I see NO substantive difference between the Grace that is assigned to Mary vs Stephen in the Greek. NOR is there a case for EITHER incident where Grace is THERE assigned -- rather in BOTH cases it is the already the attribute of the individual -- (neither case is that of someone being "granted" or "given" the grace at the time.)

Futhermore the ADDITION of "POWER" in the case of Stephen makes the statement even more striking and emphatic than in the case of Mary - purely from a Greek symantics POV.

The translators and linguists are therefore "correct"! (As shocking as that may be from an RC POV).

"FULL of GRACE AND POWER" is correct for the sentence in Acts.

And merely "FULL of GRACE" is accurate and correct for Mary in the Gospel account.

The point remains.

In Christ,

Bob

 

The RC position so far has been that the "FULL of GRACE" statement makes Mary sinless from birth -- you know... like CHRIST was sinless from Birth.

So using that rule - then we must now add Stephen as a kind of "super-Mary" version of sinless since HE is "FULL of not only GRACE but ALSO POWER"!!

In Christ,

Bob

 

Bob, you say:

Unlike the Virgin Mary, Stephen was full of grace after becoming a Christian. He was a man of faith in Jesus Christ. We are all called to live full of grace in our Christian life. We are called to be holy as our heavenly Father is holy.

1 Peter 1
15. but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;
16. because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."

 

I agree with your argument that the RC position "has to be" that Mary was "full of grace from birth" -- but that is not what we find in scripture. The Angel makes no such statement about her birth NOR is the angel appearing at her birth. There is no referance AT ALL in all of scripture to Mary's birth - and that is where the RC argument falls apart.

They "need" something special for Mary's birth IN scripture - but there is NO MENTION of it AT ALL in scripture.

So they are stuck - with Mary as the MOTHER of the Messiah and ONLY THEN is the Angel speaking to her.

As far as we know - stephen was "as good a Jew" at the age of 12 as was Mary at the age of 12. There is nothing said in scripture about EITHER of them at that point.

And so ... the problem remains.

If one is going to try to milk the phrase "full of Grace" to get you all the way back to "sinless" -- then Stephen is a "super" form of Mary in terms of that sinless and "full of Grace" attribute for it is COMBINED and ADDED to in the case of Stephen - with "POWER".

In Christ,

Bob

 

But the council said.

 

The Bible nowhere says that Mary collaborated in salvation. The Bible nowhere says that Mary is the New Eve. To the contrary, the Bible says that the Lord Jesus Christ is the sole mediator between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5) and that He "BY HIMSELF purged our sins" (Heb. 1:3). Christ had absolutely no help in obtaining our salvation.

Mary was a sinner and was saved in the same way that all sinners are saved -- by placing her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. She is not the Mother of God or the Queen of Heaven. The Apostles did not exalt Mary nor did they teach us to pray to her. She cannot answer prayer nor assist anyone in their needs, neither spiritually or physically

This blasphemous dogma [Mary's sinlessness] detracts from the sinlessness of Christ, who ALONE was born of a virgin and immaculate. The Bible nowhere says Mary was sinless. It says 'all have sinned and come short of the glory of God' (Rom. 3:23). The only exception is the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone is 'holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens' (Heb. 7:26). Mary knew her own sin and acknowledged her need of a Saviour (Luke 1:47).

None of the Lord's Apostles exalted Mary; none of them applied to her such titles as sinless, immaculate, ever-virgin, Mother of God, Blessed Virgin, Holy Queen, Queen of Heaven, Our Lady, Co-Redemptress, Immaculate Virgin, etc.

The Apostles taught us that Jesus Christ ALONE is the Mediator between God and men (1 Tim. 2:5). The Roman Catholic Church's doctrine of Mary is blasphemous error. Mary cannot answer prayer. She cannot aid in man's salvation. She cannot intercede with Christ in behalf of God's people. She is not Queen of Heaven. The only Queen of Heaven mentioned in Scripture is an Old Testament idol (Jer. 44:18-19). Every prayer addressed to Mary is idolatry.


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Claudia Thompson
http://www.christiangraphics.org
http://www.countrymanordesigns.com
http://www.religiouscounterfeits.org