What is the first thought that comes to mind when you hear the word epiphany? Does it make you think of someone having a earth-shaking, mind-blowing, the-planets-have-finally-aligned, and the universe-is-in-now-in-complete harmony, “A-ha!” moment?
Well, even if not so dramatic, one definition of epiphany is to have a dramatically mind-altering awareness — you suddenly see the perfect relationship among all parts of something, rather than narrowing in on any one part and possibly missing its greater connection along the way. Or better yet, like a jigsaw puzzle, all the pieces finally fit together to form a complete picture.
Such is the case with Mary as Mother of God. There are plenty of video and text blogs covering the immaculate conception of Mary, the virginal conception of Jesus, and Mary’s bodily assumption as individual subjects. These blogs often do a wonderful, detailed breakdown for both the Scripture based and Tradition based reasons to believe the individual doctrines about Mary.
This blog post, however, focuses on an epiphany rooted in a profound relationship to the Son of God, who is the ultimate epiphany. And please *note*: the word ‘epiphany’, in this sense, is not meant to be confused with the Feast of the Epiphany held on January 6th, and which celebrates Jesus being identified as the Son of God. Rather, Mary, as the Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven, and the perpetual example of salvation, represents its own kind of theological epiphany, where the Marion doctrines form a complete picture for why we Catholic Christians give Blessed Mother Mary the utmost reverence and ask her for intercessory prayers.
And it all begins with the Christmas season: It is a time to remember the first coming of Jesus Christ and how his glorious birth came to be. And Mary, the mother of Christ, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, is central to Jesus becoming the incarnate Son of God and the new covenant who brings eternal salvation to humankind.
Funny enough, though, if there is a quintessential example of certain Scripture passages that may look like they say little about a central figure in the Gospel, but they actually speak volumes, the passages about Mary reign supreme. The Canticle of Mary, or Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), albeit one of a small number of Scripture passages involving Mary (Daley 849), reveals a woman who has fully embraced carrying the Savior of humankind in her womb. She proclaims Jesus as her own Savior as well, acknowledging she has received the grace and sanctified means to be Christ’s mother. This sets the stage for why she is the supreme model of what humans can become, should they also choose to receive salvation and thus begin living in God’ grace.
Now, while the Gospels proclaim the Virgin Mary as ‘full of grace’ (Luke 1:28), blessed among all women (Luke 1:42), and the Mother of God (Luke 1:43), Church Fathers such as Irenaeus, who drew on Paul’s writings about Jesus as the new Adam (Rom. 5:12-21; 1 Cor. 15:22, 11:8; 1 Tim. 2:11-14), saw important parallels between Eve helping conceive the knots of sin and death, and Mary, as an immaculate human, untying the knots through the virginal conception of Jesus. By carrying Christ in her womb, she accepted God’s promise (Genesis 3:15) to redeem humankind (Daley 850). Mary is therefore the new ‘Eve’ who, from her womb, helps bring about victory over sin (Levering 84). From a theological standpoint, we can infer that Mary must have been the perfect representative of sinlessness in order to be the maternal carrier of the Messiah who defeated sin, once and for all.
Because of Mary’s “unique holiness and uniquely privileged role in the history of salvation” (Daley 850), she has also been the exemplar of living an entirely grace-filled life as a human being (Daley 856). In addition, as one who gave birth to Christ (Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 2:1:7), had an instrumental role in Jesus beginning his mission (John 2:1:12), and was present at her Son’s sacrifice on the Cross (John 19:25), Mary shows a loving, persistent loyalty that not only exemplifies a mother’s love for her child, but also radiates grace to all humankind. Drawing from the scholar Bulgakov, Daley summarizes Mary as the “symbol and embodiment of saved humanity” (862).
Karl Rahner, a twentieth-century theologian and contributor to Catholic theology, built on Bulgakov’s perspective by identifying Mary as “the perfectly redeemed person.” In her total obedience to God’s will, in accepting the role as “Mother of the Incarnate Word” (Daley 865) and the ‘ark’ of the New Covenant, Mary represents subjective redemption in her sanctified, immaculate life through God’s grace, while giving birth to God’s objective redemption of humankind (Daley 865). Further, through Mary’s bodily assumption after her death, and which Rahner helped defend as a necessary and theologically correct (Daley 863), Mary has a now glorified body that, eschatologically speaking, Christians too will experience when Christ returns (Daley 865, 866). Mary’s bodily assumption thereby reveals eschatological truth.
And an operative term here is just that: ‘eschatological truth.’ That is, when we read Scripture as a story of not only what happened, but what *will* happen, then Mary’s role as mother of God — and with a now glorified body up in heaven — paves the way for eschatological importance. Thankfully, we also have volumes upon volumes of works by Church Fathers and ecclesiastical writers, defending why Mary’s immaculate conception and bodily assumption are necessary to salvation history.
For example, by referring to Andrew of Crete’s works regarding Mary and Christian theology, Daley explains how Andrew draws a relationship between Mary’s persistent faith and trust — even until her death — and her bodily assumption being the premier example of eschatological fulfillment. As Mary is the model for living free from sin and exactly according to God’s will, people who fully live out their salvation, and who eventually will be fully in God’s grace, will also receive glorified bodies (Daley 854, 855).
After all, as ark of the new covenant who fulfills typological and parallel passages in both Old and New Testament Scriptures (Ex: Gen. 3:15; Rev. 12:1-5), Mary, by accepting the call to obey God’s will (Luke 1:38 ), while living out an immaculate existence because of God’s grace (Luke 1:28), is the perfect “embodiment of a new faith” (Levering 136, 137; Daley 849). Yet her mission as the new ark is not only critical to the incarnate Word becoming flesh (John 1:14); her bodily assumption, following her death, is the perfect embodiment of what eternally saved humans can expect when Jesus returns. Namely, by living as the immaculate ark of the new covenant, Mary was not capable of being corrupted. And because “her Son did not simply discard the flesh that gave him flesh,” she now enjoys a glorified bodily presence in heaven (Levering 136).
Bearing these points in mind, is it no surprise that Mary is also called the ‘Queen of heaven’? When we again look at typological and parallel passages, King Solomon’s life is one of the primary pointers to Mary’s royal significance: Just as Solomon showed great reverence for his mother, even having her sit on his right (1 Kings 2:19), Jesus also shows the utmost love for his mother by giving her all glorified gifts. Therefore, “it would be hardly fitting for Mary’s body to molder in the grave” (Levering 131).
Overall, the epiphany about Mary helps complete the story of salvation. John Henry Newman, an 19th century Cardinal and theologian, viewed this connection as he did between the natural world and the supernatural world — namely, given that the natural world represents an ordered whole, the supernatural world also represents its own ordered whole. Newman summed it up this way: “If the Creator comes on earth in the form of a servant and a creature, why may not His mother, on the other hand, rise to be the Queen of Heaven…?” (130).
Lastly, because Mary is the perfect “woman of faith, new Eve, and Mother of God” (Daley 866), she is therefore the perfect symbol of what it means to be a sacrament — which is a visible or communicable sign of God’s grace. She is the ultimate disciple of Jesus; she shows us how to connect with God’s saving power and love — just as the Church, too, is to be a sacrament in itself, an enduring example of sacrifice and love (Daley 867, 868).
Works Cited
Daley, Brian E. “Woman of Many Names’: Mary in Orthodox and Catholic Theology.” Theological Studies, vol. 71, no. 4, Dec. 2010, pp. 846–69.
Matthew Levering. Mary’s Bodily Assumption. University of Notre Dame Press, 2014.