Msg Base:  AREA 5  - ASK FATHER            CIN ECHO   AMDG
  Msg No: 175.  Sat 11-02-91 23:05  (NO KILL)  (MAILED)
    From: Father Mateo
      To: Laurence Stanley
 Subject: Our Blessed Mother

³ Hello, Father -
³    I also was raised Catholic, attended Catholic schools and was an altar
³ boy, but drifted away form the Church during college days, and then had a
³ conversion experience at about 28 years of age (I'm 46 now).
³    The one doctrine of the Church I've had a very hard time with is the
³ position the Church dogma seems to ascribe to Mary.  While she lived a
³ very honorable life, as is befitting the Mother of Jesus, did not Jesus
³ say to a messenger who brought a message that his mother wished to see him,
³ ...Who is my mother?  And who are my brethern? (Mt.12:48-50)
³    I would appreciate your comments on this.
³ Regards,
³ laurence
³  
³                         If men were Homo sapiens there would be no war.
 
Dear Laurence,
 
Well you please download the message I wrote to Michael Gendron this
morning (October 27)?  The readings I suggest there would also be
interesting to you, especially the papal encyclical.
 
You ask a pointed question about Matthew 12:48-50, which I shall try to
answer.  But before I try, may I please notice your expressions: "one
doctrine of the Church I've had a very hard time with"; and "Church
dogma seems to ascribe"?  These turns of speech seem to distance the
speaker from the Church.  I would not be surprised at, and I could live
with, such language from a non-Catholic.
 
But we Catholics ARE our Church.  WE teach what we teach, and WE
believe what we believe.  Our affirmation of full adherence comes
first.  Then may fruitfully come study, questioning, debate, even
squabbles (in charity and in Christ, of course).  Scripture and Divine
Tradition teach us that we are the Body of Christ, His Church.  We are
the Pillar and Ground of truth.  Anyone who listens to our Magisterium
is hearing the voice of Christ.  Anyone who rejects it, rejects the
Father.  The Holy Spirit is with us, leading us into all truth and
reminding us of all that Jesus said.  Jesus is with us all days until
the end of the world.
 
You may be interested to read this comment on Matthew 12:48-50 by John
de Satge', a Protestant theologian: "On occasions (Jesus) could draw a
contrast between his natural family . . . and followers whose obedience
to the will of his heavenly Father' made them into his family in some
deeper sense.  Yet . . . John's account of Jesus' concern for his
mother as she stood by him at his execution suggested a special link
and throws interesting light on the enigmatic relation between mother
and son in the same writer's account of the wedding feast at Cana
(John 19:25-27; 2:1-11).
 
Another Protestant voice affirming Mary is the Adult Catechism of the
German Evangelical Church: "Mary is not only Catholic, but she is also
Evangelical . . . Mary clearly is the Mother of Jesus and closer to him
than the closest disciples . . . A woman from the crowd says to Jesus:
'Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!'
Jesus replies: "Blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it'
(Luke 11:27-28).  But does that not apply precisely to Mary?  She is
depicted as exemplary hearer of God's word, as the handmaid of the Lord
who says 'Yes' to the will of God, as the blessed one who is nothing of
herself but gains everything through God's goodness.  MARY IS THE
PATTERN FOR MEN WHO LET THEMSELVES BE OPENED AND GIFTED BY GOD, of the
community of believers, of the Church (emphasis mine; see Luke 1:38,
41-45, 46-55).  This Catechism citation is given by A.J. Nevins in
"Answering a Fundamentalist", pp 97-98.
 
The conclusion is justified from authentically Protestant sources:
Matthew 12:48-50, and especially 50, vigorously establishes Mary's
true importance as first of the Lord's disciples and the holiest of
all, because the most obedient, the most humble, and the readiest to
believe.
 
This is not a complete answer to the questions implicit in your
message.  That is why I suggested your reading my message to Michael
Gendron.
 
                        Sincerely in Christ,
 
                        Father Mateo