virgin Mary roles in the Church
Catholics have a special place in their hearts for virgin Mary, the mother of God, and they have given her an exclusive role in the catholic saints’ pantheon. Through many years, more paintings, statutes, sermons, hymns, icons, and treatises have been made to honor her than any other woman in human history. To understand how Catholics are more attached to Mary, one needs to look at the relationship between a child and her mother. The devotion comes from affection she had with her child Jesus. There is a doctrine called Mariology that supports this, explaining her role in the Church. Mary was also one of the people who were appeared in heaven bodily assumed, and many saints have seen her in their visions.
Some of her roles in the Church include:
- Mother of God. She gave birth to Jesus; although she was human and was not able to create God, she gave birth to the Son of God. Jesus is identified as God and hence the reason Mary was named the mother of God.
- Mother of the Holy Church. This context can only be understood in the form of a metaphor. Christians inherit this Mary’s title in this form. All Christians are known as sisters and brothers and also as God’s Children. It is at this point Christians take Mary as the mother of Christ and therefore identifies her as the mother of the Holy Church.
- As explained earlier, Mary is identified as the mother of the holy Church because she is Christ’s mother, the Church, in another context, is the mystical body of Jesus Christ. The meaning of the mystical body is that the Church is more of an institution or an organization, but a union of Christians joined together to form one shape.
Today, Mary has a more prominent role not only just in Church but also in people’s lives, especially mothers. During the celebration of mother’s day, Christians view it in a spiritual dimension. The reason is that Mary is regarded as the greatest among all mothers. Motherhood all times has been considered to be noble and sacred, but Mary raised to a higher level by becoming the mother of Jesus. In the Bible, she is reflected as “blessed among women” (Luke 1:42). These make her a role model of how women should be as Christians. As wise Christians, mothers should take this character to receive more blessings.
Mary, while alive, God lived within her, and it was then she was known to be full of grace. This character developed since she was young. Her mother, St. Ann was her mother and taught her the way of living caring, obedient, and loving other people; besides, she had a strong Christian foundation. She also had a holy spirit who guided him in all her ways and was also being visited by the angel. Before getting a child, Gabriel, an archangel, came to her and told her, “You will bear a son.” These are what most Christian pray to get, and they can be attained by following the footsteps of Mary.
It is Mary’s attributes that make her influence the orthodox Christians. The grace of God followed Mary, and this made all her decisions to be obeyed and be looked up to by other people. She also remains a virgin and protects it until she got Joseph as her Husband. This is an attribute that is to be copied by Christian women in the Church who are willing to be a good role model to others.