1. Sacrament of Salvation
The Church
Sacrament of Salvation

2. The Church
Chapter 8

3. Mary, Mother of the Church and our Mother
Chapter 8
Mary, Mother of the Church and our Mother

4. Chapter Objectives The student will be able to understand:
Mary’s singularity
Mary, the Mother of God
The Immaculate Conception
The Assumption
The Perpetual Virginity of Mary
Mother of the Church
Help of Christians
Queen of Heaven

5. Keys to Chapter 8
Through God’s grace and her own free consent, Mary is the greatest example of Christianity and the model for all Christians.
Mary’s Immaculate Conception, her Divine Maternity, her close association with her Son’s redemption, her Perpetual Virginity, her Assumption, her spiritual maternity of the Children of God, the help she gives Christians, and her Queenship all flow from the Blessed Trinity’s choice of her to be the “Woman” of salvation history.

6. For Discussion: What is the role of Mary in the Church?
What is the Immaculate Conception?
How can Mary be the Mother of God?
In what ways is Mary the Mother of the Church?
What is the Assumption?
What is the role of Mary in the spiritual life of Christians?

7. Mary, the Mother of God Lesson Objectives
The Blessed Virgin Mary’s singularity
The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

8. Mary, the Mother of God Basic Questions
Why is the Blessed Virgin Mary unique?
She has a singular place in salvation history because of the unique graces given to her as Mother of God.

9. Mary, the Mother of God Basic Questions
What does it mean to say that Mary is the Mother of God?
Due to her free consent to God’s will, Mary is truly Mother of God because her Son is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.

10. Focus Question
When did God choose the woman, Mary, to be the Mother of his Son?
He chose her from all eternity.

11. Focus Question When did God’s plan of salvation begin to unfold?
It began to unfold immediately after Adam and Eve’s Original Sin.

12. Focus Question
When do we get our first glimpse of Mary in the Scriptures?
In the Protoevangelium, when God says to the serpent that he will, “put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed” (Gn 3:15). The woman and her seed refer to Mary and her Son, Jesus.

13. Focus Question How does the story of salvation end the way it began?
Just as the story of salvation history began with three characters—Adam, Eve, and the serpent—it ends with Christ (the New Adam), Mary (the New Eve), and Satan, who is defeated by the Cross.

14. Graphic Organizer
Complete the following table to understand Mary as the “woman” of salvation history.
Scripture
Quote
Meaning
Genesis 3:15
John 2:4
John 19:26-27
Revelation 12:1-6

15. Guided Exercise
Identify what Mary’s divine Motherhood means based on the paragraph beginning, “We can call Mary…” (p. 272).

16. Focus Question What is a dogma?
It is a solemn doctrinal definition of a doctrine.
Extension:
“Solemn” in this context means formal, or in due legal form.

17. Focus Question What is the basis of the Church’s dogmas about Mary?
They are the result of the Church’s continued reflections on the Deposit of Faith in regard to the person of Mary and the privileges given to her by Christ, her Son.

18. Focus Question What are the four Marian dogmas?
Mary’s Divine Motherhood, her Perpetual Virginity, her Immaculate Conception, and her bodily Assumption into Heaven.

19. Focus Question What title does Mary have in the Gospels?
She is called the Mother of Jesus.

20. Focus Question
Where did the custom of calling Mary the “Mother of God” begin?
It began in the Eastern Churches.

21. Focus Question What does the ancient title Theotokos mean?
It means “Bearer of God.”

22. Focus Question
How does Mary show her consent to becoming the Mother of Christ?
She said, “Let it be [done] to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38).

23. Focus Question
How is Mary’s Motherhood different from any other mother’s?
Mary conceived her Son not by a physical, marital act but by the consent that she gave to God.

24. Focus Question
Why did God give Mary the unique grace of being preserved from Original Sin?
He gave her this grace so that she could respond faithfully to what he was asking of her, to be the Mother of his Son.

25. Focus Question
How does St. Elizabeth’s greeting recorded in St. Luke’s Gospel imply that Mary is the Mother of God?
St. Elizabeth refers to her cousin as “the mother of my Lord.”

26. Focus Question
How does Christ correct a woman who praises his Mother’s biological Motherhood?
Rather than praising Mary’s biological Motherhood, he praises her obedience to the will of God, saying, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk 11:28).

27. Focus Question
How is Christ’s statement actually the highest compliment he could give her?
Of all people, it is Christ’s Mother who hears the Word of God and keeps it most perfectly, as when she said, “Let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38).

28. Focus Question How can a person share in Mary’s title of Theotokos?
All who hear the Word of God and keep it become themselves bearers of God the Word.

29. Focus Question
According to the Catechism, no. 969, why is Mary invoked under the titles such as Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix?
Just as Mary brought grace into the world by saying yes to God, a consent she sustained even at the foot of the Cross, she continues to bring grace to the world through her intercession in Heaven.

30. Guided Exercise
Conduct a think/pair/share using the following question:
How is receiving the Eucharist like the Annunciation?

31. Focus Question
What is the promise God makes through Ezekiel about the Messianic era?
God will give people hearts that will obey him. Their hearts will not be hardened against God but “natural.” Therefore he will be able to be their God and they his people.

32. Focus Question How is this promise realized with Mary?
At the Annunciation, Mary is able to respond with the obedience of faith to God’s eternal plan for human salvation through the Incarnation of the Word. She says “yes” to God.

33. Mary’s Immaculate Conception, Assumption, and Perpetual Virginity
Lesson Objectives
The Immaculate Conception
The Assumption
The Perpetual Virginity of Mary

34. Mary’s Immaculate Conception, Assumption, and Perpetual Virginity
Basic Questions
What is the Immaculate Conception?
The Immaculate Conception is the defined doctrine that from the moment of her conception, Mary—by a singular grace of God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ—was preserved from all stain of Original Sin.

35. Mary’s Immaculate Conception, Assumption, and Perpetual Virginity
Basic Questions
What is the Assumption?
The Assumption is the dogma that recognizes the Blessed Virgin Mary’s singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection by which she was taken up body and soul into Heaven when the course of her earthly life was finished.

36. Mary’s Immaculate Conception, Assumption, and Perpetual Virginity
Basic Questions
What is the Perpetual Virginity of Mary?
The Perpetual Virginity is the dogma that recognizes Mary’s virginity before, during, and after the conception and Birth of Jesus Christ.

37. Focus Question
How has the Church always understood the angel’s greeting, “full of grace”?
The Church has always understood it as an insight into Mary’s nature, namely, that Christ preserved her from the effects of Original Sin from the first instant of her human existence. This is why she is “full of grace.”

38. Focus Question What does Immaculate Conception mean?
It means Mary was preserved from Original Sin from the moment of her conception.

39. Focus Question
How is the grace that Mary received at her Immaculate Conception different from the grace we receive at Baptism?
Our Baptism makes us children of God and gives us grace; however, it does not remove the effects of Original Sin. Mary was preserved from these weaknesses and instead given the fullness of salvation that Christ offers to the world.

40. Focus Question
Why was Mary able to remain sinless throughout her entire life and to give her consent to God’s will at all times?
She was able to accomplish this because she was “wholly borne of grace.”

41. Focus Question
What is the parallel between Adam and Eve and Christ and Mary?
Sin entered the world through the disobedience of a man and a woman, so too would sin be destroyed by the obedience of a man and woman; Christ and his Blessed Mother. Thus, Mary is the New Eve and Christ the New Adam.

42. Focus Question What happened to Mary at the end of her life?
Her body was not subject to physical decay, but she was assumed, both body and soul, into Heaven.

43. Focus Question
How does Mary’s Assumption relate to Christ’s Resurrection and the anticipated resurrection of other Christians?
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection. She received in advance what we await―a resurrected, glorified body.

44. Focus Question What do Eastern Christians call the Assumption?
They call it her Dormition, or “falling asleep.”

45. Focus Question
How does the Feast of the Assumption of our Lady relate to the idea that we are pilgrims and she is a pioneer?
We are pilgrims because we are on a journey to Heaven and await a bodily resurrection. Mary is a pioneer because, like Christ, she has already gone ahead to Heaven with a resurrected body.

46. Chaste Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Graphic Organizer
Complete the following table to explain the important roles of St. Joseph in the Church.
Role
Explanation
Descendant of David
Chaste Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Father to Jesus
Model of Holiness

47. Focus Question What status does St. Joseph have in the Church?
He is honored as one of the greatest of all saints.

48. Focus Question
Why was St. Joseph entrusted with the care of Jesus and Mary?
He demonstrated complete obedience to the will of God.

49. Focus Question
How does Joseph’s protection extend beyond that of the Holy Family?
St. Joseph is honored as the patron of the universal Church, protector of the entire Family of God. He watches over and protects Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church.

50. Guided Exercise
Come up with a bullet-point list of reasons why it is fitting that Mary should remain a virgin throughout her life.

51. Focus Question What is the Virgin Birth?
It refers to the doctrine that Christ was conceived and born of a virgin, the Virgin Mary.

52. Focus Question
What is the doctrine of the Perpetual Virginity of Mary?
It means that Mary remained a virgin for the rest of her life.

53. Mary, the Mother, Helper, and Queen of Christians
Lesson Objectives
Mother of the Church
Help of Christians
Queen of Heaven

54. Mary, the Mother, Helper, and Queen of Christians
Basic Questions
How is Mary the Mother of the Church?
Mary is the Mother of the Church because she is the Mother of Christ whose body is the Church and because Christ made all his disciples children of Mary when he gave her and St. John to each other at the foot of the Cross.

55. Mary, the Mother, Helper, and Queen of Christians
Basic Questions
Why is Mary the Help of Christians?
As a good Mother, Mary is always concerned for her children and intercedes for them.

56. Mary, the Mother, Helper, and Queen of Christians
Basic Questions
Why is Mary called Queen of Heaven?
As the Mother of the King, Mary is Queen of Heaven, an archetype of the Church perfected.

57. Guided Exercise
Based on the passage from St. John Chrysostom (p. 281), write about how the Church was formed by Christ in an analogous way to how Eve was formed from Adam.

58. Focus Question How was the Church’s existence dependent on Mary?
It was through Mary’s “yes” to the Father that the Church came into being.

59. Focus Question
Why is Mary the Mother of the Church as the Body of Christ?
Mary is the Mother of Christ. Christ’s Mystical Body is the Church. Therefore, Mary is the Mother of the Church.

60. Focus Question What is Mary’s new form of Motherhood?
Mary’s is a supernatural, virginal Motherhood that is accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is true both of her Motherhood of Christ and of the members of his Church.

61. Focus Question How is Mary our Mother in the order of grace?
As the generous associate and humble handmaid of the Lord, Mary conceived, gave birth to, and nourished Christ, presented him to the Father in the Temple, and was united with him by compassion as he died on the Cross. Thus, she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the work of the Savior in giving back supernatural life to souls.

62. Focus Question
How does the Church understand Christ’s words to Mary and John at the Cross?
Jesus indicated that Mary was to be the Mother of St. John and the Mother of all who would be united in his Mystical Body, the Church.

63. Focus Question How is the Church herself a Mother?
The Church gives supernatural life to her children through the Sacraments.

64. Focus Question Why is Mary always concerned for all Christians?
Because we are members of the Church and she is the Mother of the Church, we are her children. And because Mary is perfect, she will never lose patience with her children or reject us, no matter what.

65. Focus Question How can we foster a close relationship with Mary?
We can do this through prayer, for example, by praying the Memorare, the Hail Holy Queen, or the Rosary.

66. Focus Question Why should Christians pray through Mary’s intercession?
Mary is always in Christ’s presence, seeing God face-to-face.

67. Focus Question
How does the Book of Revelation describe Mary as Queen of Heaven and earth?
Mary is depicted as “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” whose son “is to rule all the nations” (Rev 12:1, 5).
Extension:
The mother of the king is the queen mother.

68. Focus Question Why is Mary not a type but an archetype of the Church?
A type is a foreshadowing of something whereas an archetype is a perfect model. Mary does not foreshadow what the entire Church will become; rather, she is already an example of the Church in the fullness of her glory.

69. Focus Question How are the Church and Mary alike?
Both are Mothers who unite their children as one Family of God.

70. Conduct a think/pair/share using the following question:
Guided Exercise
Conduct a think/pair/share using the following question:
Based on the Conclusion (p. 285), what are two ways we can imitate Mary?