“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.”
38 ….Mary ALWAYS Virgin; this is one of her many privileges. From the very beginning, the Church, enlightened by the Holy Spirit (John 16, 13), whilst proclaiming and teaching the Holy Scripture, always taught and held this truth. The Early Church Fathers; like St. Irineus, St.Augustine, St Jerome and others are of one thought in declaring the perpetual Virginity of Mary.
How have the Early Christians express this belief? They expressed this belief by describing it as “aeiparthenos”, a Greek word which means “always virgin”. This word, term was used to describe the person of Mary, as a unique and effective way, and thus in one word they expressed the belief of the Church in the Perpetual Virginity of Mary.
In fact this word “aeiparthenos” was used by St. Epiphanius in the year 374, in relation to the Incarnation. The exposition of this Biblical Truth , will be explained in four parts, so as to be clear enough to understand well the privilege of the Blessed Mother of God.
Mary, Virgin before birth. The four Evangelists agree on the Virginal Conception of Jesus. This means that Mary gave birth to Jesus without losing her virginity.
Going back to Luke, 1,34, Mary said: “How can this be if I know no man?” With this statement Mary is declaring her plan, her thought and intention to remain a virgin. This is obvious from her answer, because she is at the same time declaring that she has consecrated her whole self to God.
On the contrary, had not Mary taken a vow of virginity, her behaviour would have been similar to other maidens’; she would have felt happy, contented that she was going to give birth, that she would soon become a mother and would certainly have fled to inform her spouse Joseph about the happy event.
A common objection is, why did Mary get espoused and married if she had the vow of virginity and had every intention of remaining thus? Yes, St. Luke is conscious about this objection, yet offers no explanation. In fact whilst the Evangelists insist on Mary’s intention, plan, of remaining a virgin, they present her as the bride of Joseph. This is a sign of ‘historical fact, truth’ of this information.
Gabriel put her mind at rest when he informed her that there was not going to be any human intervention, and everything was going to happen with the power of God, in the words: “The Holy Spirit will overshadow you.” In fact Gabriel explained the result of the overshadowing, which was that the child to be born is going to be holy, and more than that He will be called the Son of the Most high. (Luke 1,35)
A most wonderful and extraordinary proof was also given to Mary to confirm and strengthen her faith in this human and natural impossibility by informing her about her cousin’s divine intervention. Elizabeth, notwithstanding her old age and being baren, was about to give birth. She was now in her sixth month of pregnancy. We know that Mary believed what the angel told her…because she reacted right away. /39
Certain information,from “Signs and Symbols in the Bible” by kind permission of Mons. Lawrence Sciberras, Biblical Scholar, Gozo, Malta.
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