THE HOLY BIBLE

 “Merciful Father, as you have sent the Holy Spirit on Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, to write all that You wished and wanted, we pray You, send the same Holy Spirit on us, so that we may understand, appreciate Your Word, and make it our plan of life. This we ask for the merits of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.”

42 ….How can a virgin give birth?

It was Mary herself who asked  this question, directly, to the Angel Gabriel:

“How can this be if I know no man?” (Lk.1,34)

Gabriel gave an answer to Mary, and that answer was for all those who ask such a question:

“Everything will be fulfilled with the power of the Holy Spirit, because for God all things are possible.” (Lk.1,37)

This same, omnipotent God, who permitted His Son to be conceived with the power of the Holy Spirit, wanted and permitted another prodigy, that His Virgin Mother would bear a child without losing her Virginity.

“Because for God nothing is impossible” reminded her Gabriel, and we have to keep the angel’s words in mind whenever a doubt comes to mind. We have to remind ourselves; ‘Did not that same body, which was born of Mary, had in later years to walk on the Sea of Galilee, and to multiply the loaves and fishes, and to raise the dead?’ “For God nothing is impossible.”

Tradition makes use of ‘symbols’ to explain the Virginal Birth. The symbol used is wonderful. One day, HE wil come out of the tomb without breaking its seal (Mt.28,2). The Fathers of the Church; St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose and others suggest, propose another symbol: “as the rays of the sun penetrate throught the glass pane, without breaking the glass, the same did Jesus”.              “God from God”, “Light from Light’ was born without spoiling Mary’s Virginity, rather His Birth blessed Mary’s Virginity.

What is the message, rather what do we learn from this Virginal Birth?

The Virginal Birth of Jesus is a ‘sign’ an ‘indicator’:

·      It shows us that He who was born of Mary was not just a male child, a man, like so many others, BUT it was God in the form of a man. The reason behind this wonderful fact is the Divinity of Christ. The Conception and Virginal Birth, show, reveal that Jesus Christ is in reality, truly the “Son of the Living God” (Mt.16,16), begotten of the Father (Creed).

·       

The Virginal Birth of Jesus is also a ‘prophetic sign’, it reminds us that one day God will change our weak, miserable body into the glorious body of His Son (Phil 3,21), Christ Himself will one day be the author of the new creation, “….for the former things are passed away.” (Rev.21,4)

Mary, Virgin after birth.

It seems that THE Bible has nothing to declare about the Virginity of Mary after the Birth of Jesus. But this silence is only ‘apparent’. In fact it is the Divine Maternity of Mary….vouched for by the four Evangelists, which shows us indirectly, because after the Birth of  Jesus, Mary had no other children: thus she remained Virgin  throughout her life, even after Jesus’ Birth.

It is clearly stated, declared in the Gospel, that Jesus was the one and only child, the beloved Son of God. (Mt 3,17) This one and only son is Perfection itself, He is the Lord, eternal God (1John 5,20)  Thus Mary became the living Tabernacle of the Son of God. Certainly there is nothing more Mary could have wished for while she was on earth.  Through this Maternity Mary reached the peak of absolute Perfection.     /43

Certain Information taken, with kind permission, from the book “Who is Mary” by H.G.Mons. Sylvester Magro ofm, Bishop of Benghazi. A very dear friend.

THE HOLY BIBLE

 “Merciful Father, as you have sent the Holy Spirit on Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, to write all that You wished and wanted, we pray You, send the same Holy Spirit on us, so that we may understand, appreciate Your Word, and make it our plan of life. This we ask for the merits of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.”

41 …. In Matthew 1, 23, we find a reference to Isaiah’s prophecy, six hundred years before it did take place:

“Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son,  and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted means, ‘God with us’ “

In the original text, in Aramaic, the prophecy does not explicitly refer to the virginal birth of Ghimmanu-El. In fact the word used is “almah”  which means a young woman, and not necessarily a ‘virgin’.

So how did we get the idea of ‘virgin’?

IN the Greek translation, the Aramaic word ‘almah’ was translated as  ‘parthenos’ which means ‘virgin’. In this fact, translation, we should note the mysterious orientation of the Holy Spirit, using Isaiah’s word or meaning as an introduction to the fact of a virginal birth of the Messiah.

So, the next sensible and natural question would be, ‘Why was ‘almah’ translated to mean ‘virgin’ ?

Yes, this is explained in this way; Isaiah was preparing the way for an extraordinary announcement, Annunciation, in a most solemn way, because he wanted to present it as a ‘Divine sign’ (Is,7, 10-14), to create a sense of awareness and expectation in this extraordinary conception.

Now the fact that a young woman conceives is nothing extraordinary, YET, the prophecy makes no reference to any man. And it was THIS fact that influenced the Greek translators to interpret the word ‘almah’ as meaning ‘virgin’.

Now, the next step is to confirm the ‘validity’ of this translation.

The confirmation comes from Matthew himself in his version of the Gospel. When the Angel appeared to Joseph and told him not to fear from taking Mary as his wife, he also assured him that what was conceived in her was the work of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew gives a Christological and Marian meaning, interpretation, to the prophecy, in fact he concludes: “Now all this was done so that it might  be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying:

“Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son,  and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted means, ‘God with us’ “   (Mt.1, 22-23). When he quoted the prophecy translated in this way (virgin – young woman), the Gospel according to Matthew was  proclaiming  the perfect fulfillment of the Conception of Jesus, in the womb of the Virgin Mary.

From this we conclude that whilst the Old Testament only, simply hints at, indicates the Mystery of Mary’s maternity, the New Testament proclaims that with the Birth of Jesus, the prophecies were fulfilled.    /42

Certain Information taken, with kind permission, from the book “Who is Mary” by H.G.Mons. Sylvester Magro ofm, Bishop of Benghazi. A very dear friend.