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One of my favorite questions for Protestants is, \u201cYou couldn\u2019t have Jesus without Mary, so why do you want to have Jesus without Mary?\u201d<\/p>\n

Catholics have for ever insisted that there was a unique bond between Jesus and Mary. Galatians 4:4 says, \u201cIn the fullness of time God sent forth his Son born OF a woman.\u201d Not \u201cthrough\u201d a woman but \u201cof\u201d. Prepositions are important.<\/p>\n

We believe that the Blessed Virgin was not just a conduit or channel for the Son of God to come into the world. Instead he took his human flesh from his human mother. In other words Jesus would have looked like Mary, and Mary would have resembled Jesus. I guess if you want to see what Mary looked like you would have to imagine the man of the Shroud of Turin, but in female form and not so beat up.<\/p>\n

Catholics have always insisted that this close bond between Jesus and Mary means that she shares in his joys and sorrows\u2013indeed in his whole life in an intimate way. Indeed, in a far more intimate way than any other child and mother since he took his whole human flesh from her. So St Paul says in I Corinthians, \u201cMan cannot be without woman nor woman without man.\u201d First Adam and First Even and Second Adam and Second Eve. Man and Wife one flesh. Man and Mother. One flesh.<\/p>\n

Now there is this very cool research that has been done to show that the child\u2019s stem cells remain in the mother\u2019s body. Not only do some of them remain in the mother\u2019s body, but they remain active. They do stuff. It\u2019s kind of like they are alive in her. Mothers\u2013the bond with your child is more literal and real than you think. You can read the article here<\/a> that explains this beautiful reality.<\/p>\n

What are the implications for the incarnation? It means Jesus remained in Mary in a real and amazing way. \u201cA sword shall pierce your own heart also.\u201d Mary the sorrowful mother identified with her son\u2019s passion and with all his works because he remained in her and she in him.<\/p>\n

This is a physical sign of a greater truth we believe about the Mother of God\u2013that her union with her Son is a sign of the spiritual reality that we all experience through the life of grace: that Christ is in me, the hope of glory\u2013that he is the vine and I am the branches\u2013that for me to live is Christ\u2013that I am baptized into him\u2013that he is in me and I am in him.<\/p>\n

When I am born again what was a physical reality for the Blessed Mother becomes a spiritual and ontological reality in me.<\/p>\n

Yes. Christ is in me\u2026the hope of glory.<\/p>\n

Takes my breath away!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"