Hello and welcome to a master class in Mariology. This is Dr. Mark Miravalle. I'm joined with my colleague and friend, Dr. Robert Fastiggi, as we seek to take you through a graduate seminar on Mariology. And again, we've both heard from various places throughout the world that there's not a lot of Mariology with a full John Paul II emphasis, let us say. Mariology with a hermeneutics of continuity that the beauty of what happened before the Council and then the grace of the Second Vatican Council and then what has been expanded particularly but not exclusively through St. John Paul II. So it's really our joy to offer that which we would do in a graduate seminar on Mariology. And in this segment, we're going to talk about Our Lady in the New Testament. Now, because this is a massive topic, we're going to do this in three sessions so that we have a balance between going over the principal New Testament references to Our Lady with some exegetical and theological commentary. And yet at the same time, we could do several individual sessions just on the Annunciation. So that's the balance that we are striving for, and we pray that serves you. And Robert, thank you, as always, for being with us in this Mariological journey.
Oh, it's a privilege. It's an honor, especially to talk about our Mother, the Mother of all peoples.
Exactly, exactly. So let's start with the Gospel of Luke. So there's many ways we can approach this. We're going to take the approach of the Gospel of Luke, and then going to Matthew, especially emphasizing the infancy narratives of both of these, and then to John, and then to the principal references beyond the Gospels. Galatians 4:4, the event of Pentecost, Acts 1:14, and then Revelations 12. So let us start, as oftentimes Biblical commentaries on Our Lady in the infancy narratives do, and that is by going through, essentially, the joyful mysteries of the Rosary. So let's start, Robert, with the historic, phenomenal Annunciation, if you could lead us in that.
If you don't mind, I'll read it. This is from the RSV Catholic edition. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
He will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, How can this be since I have no husband? Or another translation, How can this be, since I know not man? And the angel said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, therefore the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God. And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren, for with God nothing will be impossible. And Mary said, Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her.
Robert, there's so much there, and I don't want to tire our viewers and listeners by constantly saying we could do a whole, we could do a whole, but this is true. I mean, when St. Thomas Aquinas says that Our Lady says yes on behalf of all humanity, when Jean-Pierre de Coussade says that Mary's response, “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum” captures all the spirituality of all Christian spiritualities united, and then it's the ultimate act of Our Lady as the Co-redemptrix, the human Co-redemptrix, in saying yes, and her yes brings the world its redeemer, a free, moral, feminine, yes, not just a mechanical physicalist process, but respecting her whole personhood. It is a massive, massive passage for human history and for Christian revelation.
Yes, exactly. And you know, the angel is sent by God and to a virgin, and then he greets her, you know, hail, full of grace. And this is really the beginning, the witness, along with Genesis 3:15, to the truth of Mary's Immaculate Conception. And I would just like to read for us a commentary on this greeting by Fr. Settimio Manelli, and this is in the book that you edited, Mariology, a Guide for Priests, Deacons, Seminarians, and Consecrated Persons, but all of us, you know, are consecrated to the Lord. I mean, you're a permanent deacon, I'm a layman, but we're all, you know, we're all included in this. And then, you know, he mentions here that, you know, when the angel greets her, chaire, kecharitomene, you know, ho kyrios meta sou, hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. The word “chaire” may signify rejoice, but the Vulgate translated “ave,” you know, I salute you. But then after this greeting, the angel addressed Mary, calling her kecharitomene. This word is a perfect passive participle translated as full of grace, or for loved, privileged, gratified. As perfect passive participle, the Greek word means to be enriched by grace in a stable, lasting way. In fact, the Greek perfect denotes an action completed in the past whose effects perdure. Hence, the angel greets Mary by announcing that she has been enriched by grace in the past, and that the effects of this grace remain. 
Without doubt, this is a singular form of address. No one else in the Bible was ever greeted thus. Only Mary has been so addressed in this, in the moment when she was about to accomplish the fullness of time to realize the prophecies of old, and when the Word of God stood ready to make of her our human nature.
That's so well done. And just to summarize that point, that kecharitomene, it's the only time that the verb to endow or to grace is used in the perfect passive participle in the New Testament. You've got the reference, you know, Stephen full of grace, but it's not this form. And as Father Settimio points out, and this is why this is not a haggling point, this is not a minor point, this is really a key theological and apologetic point, because the verb is an action completed in the past entirely. It's not imperfect. It doesn't start in the past and still have completed in the past, but with relevance to the present.
That's why exegetes who think that Mary receives this greeting because the angel is coming to her and she's being full of grace at this moment, that absolutely cannot be. It must be a perfecting of grace in the past which has relevance to today. And so, as you mentioned, de la Potterie, extraordinary biblical scholar, we'll talk more about him in the New Testament here, especially with John 1:13, but he says probably the best translation is either you who have been perfected in grace or you who are perfect in grace, something that's happened in the past that continues. So this is why it's such a great doctrinal seed for the Immaculate Conception. Although Pius IX is fairly clear that Genesis 3:15 is the most foundational text, but this is such a perfect complement. You fully graced in the past. What else could that be but her Immaculate Conception? Exactly, and in the papal bull defining the Immaculate Conception, Blessed Pius IX refers not only to Genesis 3:15, that's so foundational, but also to the Annunciation. And if I may, I'll read to you what he says. When the fathers and writers of the Church meditated on the fact that the most blessed virgin was in the name and by the order of God himself proclaimed full of grace, Luke 1:28, by the angel Gabriel when he announced her most sublime dignity of mother of God, they thought that this singular and solemn salutation never heard before showed that the mother of God is the seat of all divine graces and is adorned with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. To them, Mary is an almost infinite treasury, an inexhaustible abyss of these gifts to such an extent that she was never subject to the curse and was, together with her Son, the only partaker of perpetual benediction. 
It's extraordinary because we're seeing Immaculate Conception, seat of grace, and that's going to lead us to the next obvious fruit manifestation of this, and that is her Co-redemption. Again, God wanted humanity to cooperate in the great work of redemption. We talked about Mary as the New Eve and how it was a man and woman who lost grace. God wanted a man and woman to restore us to grace. We've got the Old Testament tree and the New Testament tree of the cross, but Mary's yes is the      ultimate expression of humanity cooperating with divinity, and that's why even, again, a few Protestant scholars are saying, don't deny the Catholics titles like Co-redemptrix and mediatrix. Now, they won't pull that and be totally fair and honest with their position. They're not going to push that into an ongoing intercessory role after the Annunciation, but they say in virtue of the Annunciation alone, she is already legitimately called Co-redemptrix. That was Cardinal Schoenborn's strong point as well about how the Annunciation, Mary's yes, in itself justifies the title Co-redemptrix. 
Exactly, and what I would stress also, and this has been stressed by Leo XIII and really Vatican II as well, that God would not want to become man by forcing himself. He wanted the Blessed Virgin, predestined to be the Mother of God, to say yes freely, and as you pointed out, St. Thomas Aquinas says, she said yes, loco totius humanae naturae, in place of all human nature, and so she represents the whole human race. Now, there's also the the Davidic prophecy that she is the Mother of the Messiah. You know, his name shall be great, and God will give him the throne of his father David, and of his kingdom there will be no end.
So, I mean, this is the fulfillment of the Messianic Davidic prophecy, but his name will be Jesus, you know, that God saves. So, already she's going to be now the Mother of the Redeemer, the Mother of the Savior, but she cooperates according to God's plan by saying yes on behalf of all human nature. Think of this. How old was she? Some say 14, 15. Well, she represents Israel saying yes to receive the Messiah, but she represents the whole human race saying yes, the New Eve, the new woman, to say yes to now being the human means by which God becomes our brother. Right, and I'm glad you bring that up too, Robert, in terms of the Davidic fulfillment, because, of course, we now have a new King of Kings. I mean, the language of the Archangel Gabriel is certainly regal, royal language. The throne of your father David, your kingdom will have no end. Well, when we have a new King, as we talked about in our last segment about Our Lady in the Old Testament, you have a new Gebirah. You have a new Queen Mother, and she's queen over the entire kingdom that her Son is king over, and so that's why Our Lady's Queenship is without limit, because she is not only queen, but she has the power of being Queen in the Kingdom. And, you know, her yes, of course, John Paul will talk about this too, it's a lifetime yes. It's not like the angel comes back at Calvary and says, are you sure you want to go through with this? The mother's yes, like priestly yeses, and religious life yes, and married yeses. It's a lifetime yes. So the mother says yes to Calvary right here at the Annunciation. 
So here, Robert, I'm almost fulfilling a self-fulfilled prophecy that we're never going to get past the Annunciation, because it's so very rich. So let's move on to the visitation, and if you could start with some comments on, so Luke, you know, 1:39 and following, what happens right after the mother says, be it done to me according to your word, which even that Greek word is doulē, Our Lady says doulē, which really means I am the slave girl.  That's right. Of the Lord. So people that like marrying consecration into Montfort, you got great foundations here, but if you could lead us into the visitation, please, Robert.
Yes, exactly. Well, of course, there's the angel gives reassurance to Mary that nothing is impossible without God, because Mary's concerned. She had made a resolve to be a virgin. Saint Augustine and Saint Gregory of Nyssa say it was a vow, and that's why she's deeply troubled. How can this be, since I know not man? But then the angel is telling her, no, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and nothing is impossible. Your kinswoman, your cousin Elizabeth, who was thought to be barren, has now conceived a son in her old age, for nothing is impossible with God. And then she goes, arose with haste. In Luke 1:39, in those days, Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud voice, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy, and blessed is she who believed that there would be fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. And then Mary goes into the great Magnificat. But there's so much here. Maybe you could talk a little bit about the significance of this visitation. 
Right. Well, you know, the fact, I mean, you know, Robert, if anybody had an excuse not to do an act of paternal charity, it would have been Our Lady. So she's 15-ish. She's now bearing the Redeemer of the world. If anybody had an excuse to say, well, yeah, I can't really help out Elizabeth because I've got to protect the Savior. Scripture says, in haste, which is how we should respond to the directions of our Lord and the promptings of the Spirit and service of Our Lady. We should do it in peace, but with haste. 
And I'm glad you brought up that Luke 1:34 before he passed over it, the vow of virginity. I know not. Man, it reminded me of our mutual friend of past, Father Laurentin, who in this case had a very good use of that. He said, it's like someone who comes up and says, would you like a cigarette? You say, well, no, thank you. I don't smoke.
So when you respond, I don't smoke, you don't just mean I don't want this cigarette, but as a permanent disposition, you don't smoke. And that's how Our Lady says, I know not man. Not just I haven't known man yet, but as a permanent disposition, I know not man. 
So that virgin, now with the Word made flesh in her womb, goes and visits Elizabeth. And really, this is a continuation of the whole arc of the covenant theology, where the arc goes, the glory cloud goes, the Shekinah goes. 
And now the New Arc of the Covenant, Mary has Jesus in her womb, of course, the Holy Spirit comes. And the Spirit does two acts of sanctification, mediated, not morally, but physically by Our Lady. Why? Because Mary brings the unborn Jesus to Ankarim, to Elizabeth. And two actions of the Spirit happen. Number one, Elizabeth prophesies. And number two, of course, John leaps in the womb. Robert, I always love Mother Teresa's take on this, where she says, the first person to respond to the Christ after Our Lady was an unborn child. That's a leaping. So you really have an inter-uterine transmission of grace from a divine unborn child to John. I mean, it's so incredibly rich. And even the expression, Mother of my Lord, who am I? Well, that's the Gebirah title from the Old Testament. You greeted the Gebirah with Mother of my Lord. So this is all under the Holy Spirit. Why? Because Mary's mediating the presence of the unborn Jesus. And where that happens, grace happens.
Exactly. You see in these two passages in Luke, the Annunciation and the Visitation, already the great dogmas of the faith are there. The Immaculate Conception, the perpetual virginity, the divine maternity, and also her Co-redemption is also there. The A ssumption will be is also implicit in the Immaculate Conception, but we'll talk about that later. But I'm glad you mentioned mediation because it's really the joining of the Old Covenant with the great, the last great prophet of the Old Covenant is John the Baptist. And now Mary is mediating the New Covenant. She's the living ark of the Covenant coming together. So these two pregnant women, cousins, are mediating, joining together the Old and the New Covenants. And this is just amazing. And then Elizabeth greets Mary, who am I that the mother of my Lord? She's not talking about Lord Caesar. She's talking about Kurios, the Lord God. Yeah, and where does she get that information? It's not like they had a phone call about it. This is all strict prophecy.
Mary had not in any way revealed to Elizabeth the fruit of her womb. This is all of the Holy Spirit. And as I think you mentioned in our previous segment, as David dances in front of the ark, now the unborn John leaps in front of the new ark who carries Jesus. So such a richness of Old Testament fulfillment in this. But still, St. John Damascene said that Mary is the seal between the Old Testament and the New Testament. And we see that both in the actions and in this vivid portrayal of her as the Gebirah, as the new queen mother, and the responses that take place with Elizabeth. And Mary is mediating graces here. Now you wouldn't say, I think it would be going too far to say that Our Lady had the personal intention to have graces flow from the unborn Jesus to the unborn John. At least that's not evident in the text. But does she ontologically fulfill the role of a mediatrix at the visitation?
Absolutely she does, because when she brings Christ, Christ has gracing, miracles, purification, sanctification. And so she is a mediatrix at the visitation, even if it's not willed like we'll see at Cana. That's right. And you know, even the dogma of the assumption is implicit in this, because Mary's the ark, the ark of the covenant, bringing Christ, the covenant, the new covenant, to the old covenant there in John the Baptist. But you see, as we will see in Revelation, the ark of the covenant is up in heaven. That's Mary, as we will see. So all of these great dogmas of the faith are there, revealed in Scripture, but sometimes we don't realize it.
Very true. And you know, Mary's great statement in Luke 1:48, all generations will call me blessed. What does that mean, Robert? That means that every single Bible-believing Christian should call Mary blessed, because that's the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Mary doesn't come up with this on her own. It's a statement, a prophetic statement of the future. And so it really is a universal motherhood statement, that she's the mother of all peoples, and she should be recognized as such, and certainly by our brothers and sisters who are not Catholic. And I know there's a great battle, but we do not do Reformation exegesis. We do Catholic exegesis in the fullest of that sense. And this is clearly in the text, all generations will call me blessed. And that's a clarion biblical call for every Bible-believing Christian.
Exactly, exactly. And of course, with John leaping in the womb, there's a tradition that John the Baptist was then cleansed of original sin at that time. And a number of theologians and saints believe also Joseph was cleansed of original sin in his mother's womb, though the Church allows these to be believed, but they're not proclaimed dogmas. But Pius XII made it clear that the Immaculate Conception was unique to Mary. No one else could claim that, because this is singular, but that we see how Mary just exalts after the visitation in the Great Magnificat.
And what's important is she says, my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.
You know, my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. We have to remember, like St. Louis de Montfort says, Mary is the masterpiece of God.
She's great because God chose her and sanctified her from the first instant. You know, she was all holy from the first instant. She was preserved from original sin, but God has done great things. It's God who chose her. So in other words, some people say, well, if you give too much attention to Mary, you take away from the dignity of Jesus or of God. Maybe you could talk about that. 
Yeah, yeah, Robert, that's such a, this competition mentality is not of God. Whenever one makes a reference about, you know, Jesus and Mary, I was thinking as you're speaking, what St. Bernard of Clairvaux says, she's the moon. She's not the sun. She's not the source of the graces. And again, I appreciate that St. Maximilian seemed to show a frustration when anytime you said anything about Our Lady, you had to say, but of course, Jesus is God. We know that. We're in the family. 
Could you imagine going home Thanksgiving, Robert, and saying, you know, hello, Mr. Fastiggi, you know, I'm your son, and you go to your mom, and you introduce yourself. Hello, I'm Robert. I'm your son also. They'd say you're out of your mind. We're all in the family. Of course we know that. But there's also a sense where that's true in the Catholic family.
Of course we know it all comes from Jesus, but it is good to articulate this and underscore it in the Magnificat, which is seen as the hymn of Mary. But Our Lady just reflects it all back to what God has done with her. At the same time, she doesn't deny what God has done to her, because that would be against truth. And so sometimes when you hear, well, Mary doesn't need more titles, and in fact, even, you know, she doesn't like more titles. Well, we have to be careful there, because if it's a truth about who the mother is, she does like it, because that's bespeaking the truth of what the Father has ordained her to and what she has cooperated with. 
That's right. That's right. I mean, from, for behold, henceforth all generation shall call me blessed. So, I mean, even our separated brethren can't deny calling; they say, blessed Mary, blessed Mary, but then they undermine sometimes innocently all that God has done to make her blessed. And blessed is she among all women, and I would say among all human beings, men and women. She's both.
Absolutely. Yeah, of course. Okay, well, let's go to Luke 2:7, the Nativity.
Yes. And the fact that, again, the fruit of the Annunciation nine months later makes itself known as a transcendental historic moment where the God-man is given birth. So, let's introduce that as well, Robert. We'll talk about that in Matthew a little bit as well, but let's speak to it. 
Yes, well, they're there in Bethlehem because of the census of Caesar Augustus, and they go to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he, Joseph, was of the house and lineage of David to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, or really his betrothed wife at this time, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered, and she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. And then it talks about how the shepherds came, and they gave glory to God, you know, adoring the child. So, there's so much here, but, I mean, this fulfills the prophecy that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem, and Joseph is of the house and lineage of David, but it's also believed that Mary had to also have been of the house of David. Maybe you could comment on that. Yeah, well, and the fact that it's happening in Bethlehem, remember we talked about Micah 5:2 and 3, that she who was to give birth gave birth, and that's the fulfillment. Bethlehem means the house of bread. And we're talking about royalty here, Robert. We're talking about Davidic royalty, and all that splendor. In fact, even, you know, a secondary liturgical tradition, and it certainly is true in some of the mystical writings, that Mary was the virgin of the temple par excellence, and only men from the house of David were invited to seek her hand in marriage. And we'll talk about marriage in just a few minutes, because betrothal really is marriage part one, but we'll save that. So, it was only those in the line of David that could mix with the blood of Mary in the line of David, at least under the appearance that that would take place. And so, there's very good evidence that, indeed, with the two lineages and the two genealogies, Our Lady also is of that royal line.
Exactly, and there's a type of prophecy of this in Isaiah 11. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. And, you know, this is a prophecy of the coming of Jesus the Messiah, but if we look at this biologically, we have organic language. A shoot shall come forth from the stump of Jesse. Who is Jesse? He's the father of David, but Jesus' link biologically to David and Jesse is only through Mary. Right, yeah, that's right.
And, you know, let's just say a quick word about the biology. This is almost like a John Paul II, and I should always say saint, but, you know, it's interesting, Robert, we've lived during the time of these saints with Mother Teresa and John Paul II, and so you get casual with these, you know, great saints, but this concept of Mary being immaculately conceived, which we know, she says yes, but then, Robert, she has the unborn Jesus in her for nine months, 24 hours.
Now, think of if we had the Eucharist in us for 24 hours, and we're in the state of grace, that would be ontological sanctification, just an existential grace happening, but when you start full of grace, and then you have nine months, it's as if Our Lady had our Eucharistic Jesus, but she has, she gives Jesus his flesh, and so for nine months, he's in her sanctifying her, because that's what Jesus does unless he's repelled, and there'd be no repelling from the entirely transparent mother. So, I mean, and there's this interesting phenomenon, too, in biology called myochimerism, and that is that when a mother gives birth, there's some exchange of the blood between mother and child through the umbilical cord, and so that even adult children in their 40s can sometimes have blood or DNA traced that is still from the mother, which is remarkable in itself, but what does that have to, but what does that say to us between Mary and Jesus? That means that there was some exchange of the precious blood through the umbilical cord into Our Lady, and vice versa, and so we're not talking about the real presence of Mary in the Eucharist, no extremes there, but we're talking about a new creation. We're talking about a level of sanctity, which we should have an awe about, not doubt. Not only does she give birth to Jesus after nine months of having Jesus in her, sanctifying her, after she's already the Immaculate Conception. I mean, really, that's why Mariologists have had to say, okay, Mary's initial fullness is grace, and then her later development of grace. By the time of her Assumption, Robert, she's got so much grace, it's almost like ripping at the anthropological seams with grace. I mean, that's who we're talking about. So that's manifest at the Nativity, but we must always see the union of the bodies which bespeak the union of the hearts. One biologist said, even the blood that made up the fleshy heart of Jesus was pumped to her womb through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
So even there, the biology is bespeaking something beyond biology, which is the indescribable union between Mother and Son, between the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which is now manifest to the world at the Nativity.
That's right. There's the old expression, caro Christi, caro Mariae. The flesh of Christ is the flesh of Mary. So that flesh, that blood that was offered for our redemption on the cross was ex Maria Virginae. It was taken from the Virgin Mary. It became His own blood, yes, but it had its origin in the Mother, and that's why the Mother is there under the cross. Well, we'll talk more about this, but there's the union of the hearts. As you know, St. John Eudes said, the union between the hearts of Jesus and Mary is the most intimate union short of the hypostatic union of the two natures in the person of the Word of God. So this is how united they are.
Yeah, which is why he says, while you distinguish them intellectually, it's best to think of them as one heart, one unified heart, the heart of Jesus and Mary. Now that's not to say they're not two separate persons. We all get that, but let's look at what he's trying to draw us into.
The Immaculate Heart is always entirely one in pulse, in will, in action, in grace with the Sacred Heart. It's a complete unity of life and love, and that's why St. John Paul II had a series of the Alliance of the Two Hearts talks in, I think it was in the 80s or early 90s, a series of talks because he had a couple beautiful homilies, Wednesday audiences, on the Alliance of the Two Hearts. But again, it's a theology of the body. The body is expressing the person, the unity of the hearts, even the biological elements is bespeaking the untold, the unparalleled union between our Lord and our Mother. Exactly, and as St. John Eudes says, the deepest heart of Mary is Jesus living in her, and so that's, and he's to live in all of us, but who more so than his mother? And maybe this would be a good time to go from the visitation to the presentation. Let's do that.
Let's do the presentation, and this is a, I think it's a favored passage for both of us in a special way, and I think it's arguably the most underrated passage of Marian text in the New Testament. So, yeah, if you could begin by the text, Robert, with and then leading through Luke 2:35. 
Yes, and we'll get back next time to Matthew's understanding of the... 
We will certainly do this. This is, these are biblical gems that merit our appreciation, I think. 
Yes, exactly, exactly, so that, and when the time came for their purification, they brought him up, according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. So, he opened the womb of Mary, of course, without damaging her virginity, as we know, and to offer sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two pigeons, so sacrifice is already here.
Now, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout and looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him, and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
And inspired by the Spirit, he came into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, now, he blessed God and said, Lord, now let us thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou has prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory for thy people Israel.
And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him, and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is spoken against or a sign of contradiction, and a sword will pierce through your own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
Now, again, it's just a staggering. I would set it into the narrative in this sense, Robert.
What we have is a mother who offers her Son to the Father in a place of sacrifice.
Exactly. And that's why it is absolutely a prophecy of Calvary. This mother is cooperating with the plan of the Father in a way that will be historically unparalleled at Calvary. And even as you're talking through these different elements, so for Jesus to summarize the words of Simeon, you will be a light of the world and you'll be the sign of contradiction. 
But then Simeon, of course, turns to his mother and says, and a sword shall pierce through your own heart or soul, too, so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare. Now, that as Father Settimio Manelli actually did his whole doctoral dissertation on this, that sword, Robert, before I get to the sword, this is, of course, this should be a kind of no-brainer that if Jesus is going to be the sign of contradiction, then, of course, his mother will suffer because of the union between mother and son. I always remember this guy calling on television, I'm sorry, on radio saying, you know, my daughter's having, she had a major surgery, a life-threatening surgery. I would have rather been on the operating table than in the waiting room. What parent doesn't get that you really prefer to suffer in the place of your kid? It's harder not to do so. And so this is why the logic, the co-naturality, along with the revelation that, of course, Mary will co-suffer with Jesus. And that's what this is. This is an explicit biblical reference of Mary's co-suffering with Jesus. 
Exactly. You know, St. John Paul II called the second Annunciation, that the first Annunciation, she's going to be the mother of the Word Incarnate. And then the second Annunciation is that she's going to be the Mother of the Church as giving birth in suffering, united with her Son. But, you know, this is liturgically affirmed. People think, well, this might be just two theologians reading into this text. But no, the Church affirms this understanding of the presentation. This is from the preface of the presentation of the Lord. And this is, she is the virgin, the handmaid of your plan of salvation, who presents to you the spotless lamb to be sacrificed on the altar of the cross for our salvation. This is for the presentation. She is the virgin mother who rejoices in this child of blessing, is saddened by the prophecy of Simeon, but who exalts that your people go out to meet their Savior. Lord, we see your providence as Son and Mother are united in the one undivided love, in the one shared suffering, in the single will to do what pleases you.
That's really beautiful and so important that they're doing it together. They're not doing it on equal levels. Everybody should get that. One's a Godman, the other's a human being, but they're doing it together. Bernard of Clairvaux was the first to talk about Mary's offering Jesus to the Father, but the context was the presentation. And, you know, that word for sword, you know, there's two words. There's a dagger, but there's also rhomphaia. Rhomphaia is an execution sword. It's a monstrous sword. And again, Father Settimio Manelli goes through, this was his dissertation, and saying it's an image to cause fear or shock, that basically an execution sword, a machete, is going to pierce through your own soul or heart, too. And remember, Robert, when we get to Calvary, which we will do in our next session, when they pierce Jesus, he's already dead. And so whose heart is being pierced?
It's the Mother's heart, because she's seeing her dead Son being pierced by the sword. And then even what follows that passage, which is one of the least discussed verses in the New Testament, so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare. What does that mean? Well, whenever that references the secret thoughts in the Old Testament, it always has a negative connotation. So it's a kind of an illumination moment that those who oppose the Christ are going to be seen for their position. So, you know, the veil is torn from the top down, and it means God's going to reveal things. The sides are going to be clear. You're either for Christ or you're against Christ.
But this is Jesus and the mother, New Adam, New Eve, mother offering this Son for salvation at a place of sacrifice. This is completely Calvary, and that's why at Calvary, that's when people know the sides. You're either with Jesus or you're against Jesus, and even the earth trembles at this revelation. But that's all contained in this presentation verse. 
Exactly, and it's an active offering on the part of Mary at the presentation. And so at Calvary, she actively participates or shares in his suffering and in the offering. You know, as Benedict XV put it so beautifully, she laid aside her maternal rights and offered her Son, or Lumen Gentium 58, you know, that she stood there grieving exceedingly, you know, and then really sharing in the offering of the one, the immolation of the one. She joined herself to that immolation. So it's her offering, but also her offering of her Son. 
Right, and that's why it's together, whether it's John Geometres, or Saint Bernard, or Bernard's remarkable disciple, Arnold of Chartres, or John Teller, they did it together. It was one single sacrifice offered together.
Once again, of course, the offering of our Lord Jesus has an infinite value. But God, this is not just a measuring game. It's not a quantity issue. God wanted a woman involved, and they did it together. One single offering, New Adam, New Eve, for redemption. And that's why what Lumen Gentium 58 says is phenomenal, that Mary consented to the immolation of the victim, which was born of her. And that only because of this, does Lumen Gentium 61 talk about, she therefore becomes a mother to us in the order of grace. But that's because she actively participated. There's so many references of Saint John Paul II that emphasize actively participated in the sacrifice at Calvary. And even Paul VI, again Saint Paul VI, confirms that there should not be any doubt that as active as Mary is at the presentation, that's just as active as she will be at Calvary. 
Yes, and popes have referred to her as the model of reparation for all of us. That she does reparation as the mother, but all of us then really, as John Paul II said, if we offer our sufferings and our sacrifices in union with the cross, we become co-redeemers of humanity. So if we could become co-redeemers of humanity, you know, how much more the mother who gave birth to the Savior and who co-suffered with him under the cross, she was there. I mean, we're there at every Mass, you know, that we participate in, but she was there and the blood that was sacrificed for our salvation had a direct biological link to her. Yeah, remarkable.
Robert, let's deal with the last joyful mystery, if you will, and this kind of will summarize Luke's infancy narratives, and that's probably what we will end with in this segment. This is the present, the finding of Jesus in the temple, and we're talking about, you know, Luke 2, and again the extension, and we're going to highlight some elements like the response Jesus gives to Mary, and about being about the Father's business, but also this mysterious reference that Luke does twice that Mary kept these things, pondering them in her heart.
Can you give us that text, please? Yes, yes. Well, you know, when they had performed everything according to, you know, verse 41, now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover, and when he was 12 years old, they went up according to custom, and when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.
His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the company, they went a day's journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem seeking him. After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions, and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers, and when they saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously, and he said to them, How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house? And they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them, and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them, and his mother kept all these things in her heart. 
Thank you, Robert, and again, so much there, but essentially it is true that Jesus is about the Father's business, and in that sense, he begins the process not of severing respect for his mother, but of another dimension of doing the Father's will, which she will join in this, but that reference at the end, why Luke brings that up, it's interesting. No one else gets a cardiac readout in the New Testament like Luke gives to Mary. Mary kept these things, pondering them in her heart. Saint John Paul II will say, Mary's the memory of the Church, that these things come to us, and I have to say, Gibson's The Passion of the Christ does a great job of manifesting this, when Jesus and Mary are the only ones who really know what's happening. Mary says, it has begun. John doesn't know, Magdalene doesn't know, they don't have the same awareness, well, because they don't have the same role, they don't have the same grace. Neither one of them is going to be, it's not a new John and a new Magdalene, like it's a new Adam and New Eve. That's unique to Jesus and the mother, so she ponders these things, but this is also, Robert, a reference to the fruits of her Immaculate Conception, because she does not lose her preternatural gifts of integrity and immortality of the body and infused knowledge. That doesn't mean that Mary knew who's going to win the Super Bowl, it means that Our Lady saw the supernatural significance of things on a heightened level.
What others would let pass by, Mary saw that this is important for salvation, this will be conveyed to the early Church, and she was, as John Paul says again, she's the mother and teacher of the early Church. All that's contained in that reference. Mary kept these things, pondering them in her heart. 
That's right, and there's so much going on here. First of all, the contrast, Joseph has a paternal role, but he's not the biological father, so he is the foster father, but the real father of Jesus is the Father, my Father. Did you not know I had to be about my Father's business? 
But also there's a kind of prophecy here of the three days our Lord is in the tomb, and he resurrects. It's interesting that the visitation, I mean the finding of the child Jesus does double duty as both a sorrowful mystery and a joyful mystery. I mean, you know, one of the joys of Mary and also the sorrows of Mary, yeah, about the seven sorrows and the seven joys. Sorrow because she loses him, joy because she regains him, so it's a kind of prophecy of his death and his resurrection. 
As you say, it's three days of separation. It's the first three days of separation since Mary said yes at the annunciation, and they have three days which, of course, bespeaks the time from Good Friday to the resurrection to Easter Sunday, and that wonderful tradition which John Paul II made reference to, that the first person Jesus appears to in his resurrected form is Our Lady, and he says it's not biblical, but there's a tradition and there's a logic to it. Yeah, of course, who first would the new Adam come to to share the victory that they both shared in, they both suffered for, they were both predestined for, they did that together. So there's a theo-logic in the fact that on that Easter Sunday morning, first Jesus would appear to Our Lady, to the human Co-redemptrix with him.
Exactly, and the reference of pondering these things in her heart, you know, this is Pope Francis in giving an address to the International Theological Commission referred to Mary as the teacher of authentic theology because she pondered things in her heart. We have to do theology on our knees. It's not just learning data and speculating, it's penetrating the mystery. So she's the teacher of authentic theology, and then Cardinal Fernandes, we published his homily from 2020 in Ecce Mater Tua when he was Archbishop of La Plata, he gave this beautiful homily where he says, what is the most complete gospel? It's the gospel of Mary's heart. Yeah, that is the present prefect for the Dicastery of the Doctrine of Faith, so everyone's clear. It's a stunning consecration prayer that he does where in every couple lines he just stops and says, Mother, I love you.
Then he goes on, Mother, I love you. But that's right, the gospel of Our Lady is the most complete. Well, and we should complete this session on that note. Thank you, Robert, as always, invaluable insights and blessings in trying in some humbly imperfect way to speak the truth of Our Lady in the New Testament. Well, thank you, Mark, and I feel we just want to give, you know, our souls proclaim the greatness of the Lord who came to us through the Blessed Virgin Mary. So we join with Mary in giving praise to Almighty God. God who is mighty has done great things for her and for us, and holy is his name, and all generations shall call Mary blessed. 
Amen. And so stay tuned for our next edition of a master class with in Mariology. We will go then to Matthew and also bring in some elements of John. Again, so very rich, and comprehension is almost, I mean, completeness of these almost impossible, but our prayer is that it will help further appreciate the truth about the Mother in the New Testament and therefore greater love of who she is. So thanks for being with us, and we look forward to seeing you during our next version of a Master Class in Mariology, Our Lady in the New Testament. God bless you all.