Spiderman
Veteran Member
None of this is my work, I just felt like sharing it.
[Taken from The Communion of Saints: Sanctity Through the Centuries]
"A girl, or as we may call her, a woman, is in herself the most wonderful creature that God has ever made. The first man was made from the slime of the earth. But the first woman was made from the living body of a man. The structure of a girl, in her being, transcends in wonder and grace and beauty everything God has devised.
We often say of a man that he is handsome or goodlooking. But, it is only a girl we call beautiful. Every girl we see, every woman we behold, is somewhat of an image, somewhat of a reflection of the girl of all girls that God made: Mary the Mother of God. That is why, our courtesy, our respect, for a woman or a girl should be clearly evident in everything we do.
Angels are greater than men by nature. But one girl is superior to all angels by grace. She is the Queen of Angels. It is for her that all the angels were created, so that they could be her subjects, and she their Queen.
In the whole history of humanity there never was a son who looked so like his mother as Jesus looked like Mary. She was His virginal Mother. He had no human father, and so the color of His eyes, the tone of His voice, the fabric of His skin, the whole structure of His face was the image of the beautiful virginal Mother from whom He took His flesh and blood.
In looks, in manners, in tone of voice, in grace of utterance, God resembled His Mother. It was the most beautiful mother and son resemblance in the history of the world.
The promises of the Old Testament about Mary are most abundant.
We learn from the Book of Genesis that Mary is to be the second Eve. She is also to be “Mother of all the living” and the “Woman who will crush the serpent’s head.” “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” (Gen. 3:15) And she is foretyped by Rachel, the mother of Joseph, the son of Jacob in the Old Testament.
The Book of Exodus calls Our Lady a “burning bush.” Because Our Lady was to sing the Magnificat, Miriam, the sister of Moses, said, “Let us sing to the Lord, for He is gloriously magnified.” (Ex. 15:21)
The Book of Numbers refers to her as the “ark of the covenant,” “star of Jacob” and the “blooming of Aaron’s rod.”
The Book of Judges calls Mary “Gedeon’s fleece,” and foretypes her in Debbora, the prophetess, in Jahel and in the daughter of Jephte.
In the Book of Ruth, Ruth the Moabitess is Mary’s foretype.
In the Books of Kings, Mary is prefigured in Anna, the mother of Samuel, and in the way she sings. She is also prefigured in the ivory throne of Solomon and in a vessel of gold.
The Book of Judith calls Mary who is to come “the glory of Jerusalem.” “And she was greatly renowned among all, because she feared the Lord very much, neither was there anyone that spoke an ill word of her.” (Judith 8:8) “The Lord has blessed thee by His power, because by thee He has brought our enemies to nought.” (Judith 13:22) And the canticle that Judith sings in the book named for her is a preamble to Mary’s Magnificat.
Esther, in the Book of Esther, is a beautiful foretype of Mary.
The Book of Psalms says, “Thou art beautiful above the sons of men.” (Ps. 44:3) King David says in Psalm 44:10, “The queen stood on thy right hand, in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety.” The beauty of Mary’s soul is told in Psalm 44:14. “All of the glory of the king’s daughter is within.” “Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy; and grant us Thy salvation.” (Ps. 84-8.) “The foundations, thereof, are in the holy mountains: The Lord loveth the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob.” (Ps. 86:1,2.) “Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God.” (Ps. 86:3) “The just…shall give glory to Thy name.” (Ps. 139:14)
The Book of Proverbs refers to Mary as “set up from eternity.” It calls her “a valiant woman” and says that she surpasses all the daughters of men. “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways, before He made anything from the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived, neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out.” (Prov. 8:22-24) “He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.” (Prov. 8:35) “Who shall find a valiant woman? Far and from the uttermost coasts is the price of her.” (Prov. 31:10)
The beautiful Canticle of Canticles is almost a continual song about Mary and her symbols and figures. It speaks abundantly of her as the “flower of the field,” “the lily of the valleys,” “the lily among thorns,” “a fountain sealed up,” “the garden enclosed,” “the well of living waters,” “the sun,” the “vineyard,” “a bundle of myrrh,” the “dove in the clefts of the rock,” the “doves’ eyes,” “the tower of David,” “the dropping honeycomb,” “pillars of marble,” “the moon,” “the sun,” the “wine,” the “oil poured out,” “the odor of thy ointments,” the “tents of Cedar,” “the curtains of Solomon.” “Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one and come.” (Cant. 2: 10) “Show me thy face, let thy voice sound in my ears: for thy voice is sweet, and thy face comely.” (Cant. 2:14) “Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee.” (Cant. 4:7) “My beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands.” (Cant. 5:10)
The Book of Wisdom refers to Mary-to-come as “the unspotted mirror,” and goes on to say, “She teacheth temperance, and prudence, and justice, and fortitude, which are such things as men can have nothing more profitable in life.” (Wisd. 8:7)
Ecclesiasticus pays her the tribute of being “the first-born before all creatures,” the light that never faileth,” “a cypress tree on Mount Sion,” “a palm tree in Cades,” “a fair olive tree,” “a plane tree by the water in the streets,” and “as the morning star in the midst of a cloud.” “I came out of the mouth of the Most High, the first-born before all creatures.”(Eccus. 24:5) “Then the Creator of all things…made me and rested in my tabernacle.”(Eccus. 24:12) “From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before Him…and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.”(Eccus. 24:14,16) “I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree on Mount Sion.”(Eccus. 24:17) “I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue.”(Eccus. 24:24,25) “They that shall explain me shall have life everlasting.”(Eccus. 24:31)
Isaias the prophet says that Mary is foretold by the prophets, and speaks of the fact that she is the earth that budded forth a Savior. “Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel.”(Is. 7:14) “And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise out of his root.” (Is. 11:1)
In Jeremias her divine motherhood is referred to as “a woman shall compass a man.”
Ezechiel says that Mary is the gate passed through by the prince alone, and Daniel refers to Mary as “the stone cut out of a mountain without hands.”
She is also prefigured in the Second Book of the Machabees by the mother of the Machabees.
Mary is the ladder that God made, by means of which He descended from Heaven and by which we must ascend to it.
Mary combines the beauty of Sara, the charity of Rebecca, the prayerfulness of Anna, the humility of Ruth, the chastity of Susanna, the courage of Judith, the obedience of Esther and the holiness of the mother of the Machabees.
The New Testament goes on to call Mary “a woman clothed with the sun” and a “tabernacle of God with men.”
When the angel said, “Blessed art thou among women,” he placed her for our admiration before all women there ever were – Sara, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Debbora, Judith, even Esther, whose beauty won the king’s heart.
The New Testament in its twenty-seven books rejoices in declaring that there had come what the Old Testament in its forty-five books had always been promising the world. This promise was that one day would be born the girl of all girls, the Mother of God.
What we had just said about Mary comes from all the prophecies of the Old Testament during hundreds and hundreds of years when the true believers were waiting for her to come. There never was a saint who with some utterance or other did not declare the majesty, the dignity and the supremacy of the Blessed Virgin Mary."
The Age of Mary
(I can't prove that the Saints were correct in claiming all those were prefigurements of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but it sounds good to me anyhow
)
Why can woman rightly be called “God’s masterpiece?” Building on the Pope’s revolutionary Theology of the Body, woman’s true (but not only) greatness lies in her ability to bring new life into the world. In this light, the Blessed Virgin Mary can be seen as the central icon for femininity and what the Pope refers to as "feminine genius".
[Taken from The Communion of Saints: Sanctity Through the Centuries]
"A girl, or as we may call her, a woman, is in herself the most wonderful creature that God has ever made. The first man was made from the slime of the earth. But the first woman was made from the living body of a man. The structure of a girl, in her being, transcends in wonder and grace and beauty everything God has devised.
We often say of a man that he is handsome or goodlooking. But, it is only a girl we call beautiful. Every girl we see, every woman we behold, is somewhat of an image, somewhat of a reflection of the girl of all girls that God made: Mary the Mother of God. That is why, our courtesy, our respect, for a woman or a girl should be clearly evident in everything we do.
Angels are greater than men by nature. But one girl is superior to all angels by grace. She is the Queen of Angels. It is for her that all the angels were created, so that they could be her subjects, and she their Queen.
In the whole history of humanity there never was a son who looked so like his mother as Jesus looked like Mary. She was His virginal Mother. He had no human father, and so the color of His eyes, the tone of His voice, the fabric of His skin, the whole structure of His face was the image of the beautiful virginal Mother from whom He took His flesh and blood.
In looks, in manners, in tone of voice, in grace of utterance, God resembled His Mother. It was the most beautiful mother and son resemblance in the history of the world.
The promises of the Old Testament about Mary are most abundant.
We learn from the Book of Genesis that Mary is to be the second Eve. She is also to be “Mother of all the living” and the “Woman who will crush the serpent’s head.” “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” (Gen. 3:15) And she is foretyped by Rachel, the mother of Joseph, the son of Jacob in the Old Testament.
The Book of Exodus calls Our Lady a “burning bush.” Because Our Lady was to sing the Magnificat, Miriam, the sister of Moses, said, “Let us sing to the Lord, for He is gloriously magnified.” (Ex. 15:21)
The Book of Numbers refers to her as the “ark of the covenant,” “star of Jacob” and the “blooming of Aaron’s rod.”
The Book of Judges calls Mary “Gedeon’s fleece,” and foretypes her in Debbora, the prophetess, in Jahel and in the daughter of Jephte.
In the Book of Ruth, Ruth the Moabitess is Mary’s foretype.
In the Books of Kings, Mary is prefigured in Anna, the mother of Samuel, and in the way she sings. She is also prefigured in the ivory throne of Solomon and in a vessel of gold.
The Book of Judith calls Mary who is to come “the glory of Jerusalem.” “And she was greatly renowned among all, because she feared the Lord very much, neither was there anyone that spoke an ill word of her.” (Judith 8:8) “The Lord has blessed thee by His power, because by thee He has brought our enemies to nought.” (Judith 13:22) And the canticle that Judith sings in the book named for her is a preamble to Mary’s Magnificat.
Esther, in the Book of Esther, is a beautiful foretype of Mary.
The Book of Psalms says, “Thou art beautiful above the sons of men.” (Ps. 44:3) King David says in Psalm 44:10, “The queen stood on thy right hand, in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety.” The beauty of Mary’s soul is told in Psalm 44:14. “All of the glory of the king’s daughter is within.” “Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy; and grant us Thy salvation.” (Ps. 84-8.) “The foundations, thereof, are in the holy mountains: The Lord loveth the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob.” (Ps. 86:1,2.) “Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God.” (Ps. 86:3) “The just…shall give glory to Thy name.” (Ps. 139:14)
The Book of Proverbs refers to Mary as “set up from eternity.” It calls her “a valiant woman” and says that she surpasses all the daughters of men. “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways, before He made anything from the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived, neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out.” (Prov. 8:22-24) “He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.” (Prov. 8:35) “Who shall find a valiant woman? Far and from the uttermost coasts is the price of her.” (Prov. 31:10)
The beautiful Canticle of Canticles is almost a continual song about Mary and her symbols and figures. It speaks abundantly of her as the “flower of the field,” “the lily of the valleys,” “the lily among thorns,” “a fountain sealed up,” “the garden enclosed,” “the well of living waters,” “the sun,” the “vineyard,” “a bundle of myrrh,” the “dove in the clefts of the rock,” the “doves’ eyes,” “the tower of David,” “the dropping honeycomb,” “pillars of marble,” “the moon,” “the sun,” the “wine,” the “oil poured out,” “the odor of thy ointments,” the “tents of Cedar,” “the curtains of Solomon.” “Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one and come.” (Cant. 2: 10) “Show me thy face, let thy voice sound in my ears: for thy voice is sweet, and thy face comely.” (Cant. 2:14) “Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee.” (Cant. 4:7) “My beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands.” (Cant. 5:10)
The Book of Wisdom refers to Mary-to-come as “the unspotted mirror,” and goes on to say, “She teacheth temperance, and prudence, and justice, and fortitude, which are such things as men can have nothing more profitable in life.” (Wisd. 8:7)
Ecclesiasticus pays her the tribute of being “the first-born before all creatures,” the light that never faileth,” “a cypress tree on Mount Sion,” “a palm tree in Cades,” “a fair olive tree,” “a plane tree by the water in the streets,” and “as the morning star in the midst of a cloud.” “I came out of the mouth of the Most High, the first-born before all creatures.”(Eccus. 24:5) “Then the Creator of all things…made me and rested in my tabernacle.”(Eccus. 24:12) “From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before Him…and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.”(Eccus. 24:14,16) “I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree on Mount Sion.”(Eccus. 24:17) “I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue.”(Eccus. 24:24,25) “They that shall explain me shall have life everlasting.”(Eccus. 24:31)
Isaias the prophet says that Mary is foretold by the prophets, and speaks of the fact that she is the earth that budded forth a Savior. “Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel.”(Is. 7:14) “And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise out of his root.” (Is. 11:1)
In Jeremias her divine motherhood is referred to as “a woman shall compass a man.”
Ezechiel says that Mary is the gate passed through by the prince alone, and Daniel refers to Mary as “the stone cut out of a mountain without hands.”
She is also prefigured in the Second Book of the Machabees by the mother of the Machabees.
Mary is the ladder that God made, by means of which He descended from Heaven and by which we must ascend to it.
Mary combines the beauty of Sara, the charity of Rebecca, the prayerfulness of Anna, the humility of Ruth, the chastity of Susanna, the courage of Judith, the obedience of Esther and the holiness of the mother of the Machabees.
The New Testament goes on to call Mary “a woman clothed with the sun” and a “tabernacle of God with men.”
When the angel said, “Blessed art thou among women,” he placed her for our admiration before all women there ever were – Sara, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Debbora, Judith, even Esther, whose beauty won the king’s heart.
The New Testament in its twenty-seven books rejoices in declaring that there had come what the Old Testament in its forty-five books had always been promising the world. This promise was that one day would be born the girl of all girls, the Mother of God.
What we had just said about Mary comes from all the prophecies of the Old Testament during hundreds and hundreds of years when the true believers were waiting for her to come. There never was a saint who with some utterance or other did not declare the majesty, the dignity and the supremacy of the Blessed Virgin Mary."
The Age of Mary
(I can't prove that the Saints were correct in claiming all those were prefigurements of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but it sounds good to me anyhow
)Why can woman rightly be called “God’s masterpiece?” Building on the Pope’s revolutionary Theology of the Body, woman’s true (but not only) greatness lies in her ability to bring new life into the world. In this light, the Blessed Virgin Mary can be seen as the central icon for femininity and what the Pope refers to as "feminine genius".
