And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth,
To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be.
And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.
Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus.
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever.
And of his kingdom there shall be no end.
And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man?
And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren:
Because no word shall be impossible with God.
And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:26-38
Reminder that today is the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
Make sure you go to mass.
Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis!
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I have to admit the Council of Chalcedon was correct to define the Blessed Virgin as Theotokos. Calling the Mother of God simply ‘Christokos’ is splitting a hair we cannot split. I grew up Baptist, so that’s saying a lot. The things one learns in seminary!
I also have to admit I find the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mother of God Scripturally plausible.
All in all, Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception, y’all, from your friendly neighborhood separated sibling!
Thank you, brother! God bless.
And also with you!
I meant “Christotokos,” by the way. That’s what I get for throwing Greek verbiage around while typing things up on my phone. Mea culpa.
Te absolvo.
This is one thing that never seems to occur to the people who insist that Mary had other children after Jesus: she asks ‘How can this be?’ – when she’s already engaged! It’s quite safe to assume she knew where babies came from.
How to resolve this conundrum?
Well, if she and Joseph had both vowed virginity (in a similar way to the Essenes), and were marrying simply for mutual support, it would make sense. The Torah even makes provision for it, in Numbers 30.
There’s at least one early Church document that was a strong contender for canonicity which asserted outright that Mary was a consecrated Nazirite. She told Gabriel “I do not know man” in the same sense people say, “I don’t smoke.”
Also, if everyone referred to in Scripture as “brethren” of the Lord using the Greek term adelphos were his biological siblings, Mary and Joseph would had to’ve produced something like 500 children.