THE BIBLE AND MARY; Revelation 12 - The Woman and the Dragon
I have written profusely about how the Early Church saw Mary as the new Eve, the new Mother of a new people Christ would create - Christians. The final and overwhelming proof comes in Revelations 12, the story of the Dragon and the woman giving birth.
"And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars, she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. And another portent appeared in heaven, behold a great red dragon; with seven heads and tens horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth. She brought forth a child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but the child was caught up to God and to His throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days"
Revelations 12 then goes into a description of how the dragon was defeated by St Michael and his angels (so not a Catholic myth) and how the dragon was defeated by the blood of the Lamb. but it returns to the woman;
"And when the Dragon saw that he had been thrown down to earth he pursued the woman who had borne the male child, but the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times and half a time, The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth, to sweep her away with the flood, But the earth came to the help off the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon was angry with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring, ON THOSE WHO KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, AND BEAR TESTIMONY TO JESUS. AND HE STOOD ON THE SAND OF THE SEA"
Now I am not a scripture scholar, I am just a Catholic in love with Jesus and Mary. But that Mary was made the Mother of all Christians backing up the witness of the Early Fathers seems perfectly cleat to me from this passage of Revelation. So when Vatican II proclaimed her Mother of the Church, they were following the teaching of the early Church. Who can honestly deny the place of Mary in our Catholic Faith. What we have also is an account of how the Birth of Jesus caused outrage among those St Paul calls 'Principalities and Powers' Being the Mother of Jesus was no easy matter and called for a woman who trusted her whole life to God.
"And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars, she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. And another portent appeared in heaven, behold a great red dragon; with seven heads and tens horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth. She brought forth a child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but the child was caught up to God and to His throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days"
Revelations 12 then goes into a description of how the dragon was defeated by St Michael and his angels (so not a Catholic myth) and how the dragon was defeated by the blood of the Lamb. but it returns to the woman;
"And when the Dragon saw that he had been thrown down to earth he pursued the woman who had borne the male child, but the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times and half a time, The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth, to sweep her away with the flood, But the earth came to the help off the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon was angry with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring, ON THOSE WHO KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, AND BEAR TESTIMONY TO JESUS. AND HE STOOD ON THE SAND OF THE SEA"
Now I am not a scripture scholar, I am just a Catholic in love with Jesus and Mary. But that Mary was made the Mother of all Christians backing up the witness of the Early Fathers seems perfectly cleat to me from this passage of Revelation. So when Vatican II proclaimed her Mother of the Church, they were following the teaching of the early Church. Who can honestly deny the place of Mary in our Catholic Faith. What we have also is an account of how the Birth of Jesus caused outrage among those St Paul calls 'Principalities and Powers' Being the Mother of Jesus was no easy matter and called for a woman who trusted her whole life to God.
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