Post 4 – 27 May 2019
God’s first Perfect Human
How did a person who embodies nothing but goodness get to be controversial?
Mother Mary is the longest running human character in the Spirit War trilogy. She first appears in Chapter 5 of Book 1, and goes all the way through to the very last chapter of Book 3.
The degree of Mary’s spiritual perfection is the first source of controversy about her. Original sin, the dark side of human nature that we are all born with, is a Christian doctrine. But Mother Mary, by Christian tradition, is an exception. Original sin never tainted her.
In scripture and in The Spirit War, God’s most outstanding pure spirit creature – the supreme angel Lucifer – went horribly wrong. His near perfection in intelligence and strength went to his head. Lucifer led a coup to debunk God as the Lord of creation, but was defeated and turned into the Devil. As Satan he nevertheless achieved a perverse goal. Since he would not serve in Heaven, he got to rule in Hell.
With Mary, God created a completely different type of unique special creature. And this time, she was a complete success. Mother Mary proved to be truly faultless. Feminine goodness, love and beauty replaced strength and power as a new standard of perfection. Mary’s unblemished holiness, worthy of bearing God’s son, made Jesus Christ, the God-man, possible.
When Mary accepted God’s request to bear His son, Christ was directly engendered within her virgin womb. That virginity is another source of controversy. The Catholic Church insists that Mary was ever virgin, never “tainted” by sexual intercourse. But this contradicts scripture. The gospel of Matthew specifically states that Joseph consummated his marriage to Mary after Jesus was born (Mat 1-25). Mark’s gospel names four brothers of Jesus, and states that He also had sisters (Mark 6-3). The Spirit War takes the Gospels at their word. In the trilogy, Jesus grows up in a big family headed by loving, wise parents. His four brothers and two sisters are all important parts of his normal human upbringing.
Catholic papal doctrine concerning the Mother of God is the cause of the religious wrangling about her.
The most controversial (some would say outrageous) Catholic doctrine, Papal Infallibility, has only been formally applied in relation to Mary. Her immaculate conception (no original sin), perpetual virginity, motherhood to God through Jesus, and assumption into heaven without dying, are all dogmas of Catholic faith. What a shame, that the elements of holiness of Jesus’s mother became the subject of power plays to impose papal authority – a stumbling block between Catholics and other Christian denominations to this day.
Jesus taught that in matters of faith, we should simplify. Those who would enter he Kingdom of Heaven should have the trusting faith of a child. What better application of childlike faith can there be, than towards the mother of us all through Jesus?
We can all venerate Mother Mary for helping to work what all Christians can agree was one of the greatest miracles of all time. It was she who brought the Messiah into this world, from her very body. Through her own humanity, Mary made the Son of God completely human, one of us. This alone makes her the most special woman who has ever lived, and worthy of our deepest gratitude, love and honor – quite apart from papal power pretensions.
Veneration or Worship? The degree to which Mother Mary is honored by Catholics is a scandal to Protestants.
To Catholics, the Blessed Mother is much more than a biblical character from 21 centuries ago. She is a modern phenomenon of Christian faith. Mother Mary is reported to have appeared in several Catholic countries in recent times (19th and 20th centuries). The visitations are always to ordinary, humble people. Along with her appearances, Mary is said to have worked healing miracles, or delivered prophetic messages. In Europe Lourdes (France), Fatima (Portugal) and Medjugorde (Herzegovina) are the most famous sites for Marian appearances. In Latin America, Mexico has its Virgin of Guadalupe. Here in Costa Rica, we have the Virgin of the Angels in Cartago.
Everything can have its dark side. Mother Mary paid a high price for the glory of being the Christ’s mother.
Mary’s blessing in becoming the Mother of God came easily, just by being who she was. But as a consequence of that gift, Mary had to watch her firstborn son die nailed to a cross, tortured to death. She earned her everlasting glory by enduring emotional agony that few people in this world have experienced.
So, with all this background, what was this author’s strategy for the Mother Mary character in The Spirit War?
First of all, the beauty of the person she is shines out both physically and spiritually. She captivates all who meet her, whether smart or simple, highborn or humble. Socially, Mary is Jewish middle class – a rabbi’s daughter, intelligent and sufficiently well educated to become Jesus’s first scripture teacher. Mother Mary starts the Messiah on his way to his intimidating command of the sacred writings, which would baffle his religious opponents.
In The Spirit War, The Blessed Mother is almost a co-redemptress with Jesus as regards His mission as Messiah. She not only accompanies her firstborn son to the cross, as the scriptures tell, but she also provides crucial help towards His resurrection.
Jesus’s mother ages from 17 to 82 years old in the course of The Spirit War. At the end, despite her age, she is literally a piece of heaven on earth. All that Mother Mary does to help Jesus along His way is one of the many surprising plot threads of The Spirit War.
