There is Something Mysterious about Mary: Immaculate Conception, Assumption, and Coronation

There’s something about Mary! No, I am not talking about a 1998 comedy movie, featuring Cameron Diaz. I am talking about Mary, the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of Jesus, the Theotokos, because there is something theologically mysterious about her. Some sects of Christians, who are obsessed with the sola scripture doctrine, find it very difficult to acknowledge the Marian mysteries not explicitly written in the Canonical Scriptures.

Just as Trinity is not written anywhere in the Canonical scriptures, the Marian mysteries of Immaculate Conception, Assumption, and Coronation are not written explicitly in the Bible. In fact, some Protestant Christians even argue if Mary was really virgin, in regard to interpreting the Greek word parthenos (Matthew 1:23) and the Hebrew word almah (Isaiah 7:14).

Obsessive sola scripture and word game in interpreting biblical Greek and Hebrew words sure can make us blind to great mysteries that are not explicitly written in the Canonical Scriptures. In fact, this blindness becomes an obstacle in recognizing a revelation of the mysteries even when the Holy Spirit makes mysteries in apocrypha into apocalypse.

Certainly, the Catholic Church’s doctrine on Mary is not only rooted in the Scriptures but also aided by apocalypse of the Marian mysteries through the Holy Spirit. This particularly the case with the Catholic doctrines on the Marian mysteries of Immaculate Conception (Ineffabilis Deus, 1854), Assumption (Munificentissimus Deus, 1950), and Coronation (Ad Caeli Reginam, 1954).  Though none of these are written anywhere in the Bible, the Holy Spirit has revealed these truth in apocrypha to the Church in the fullness of time.

It is very important to understand that these Marian mysteries are ultimately about Jesus, the Son, to whom she gave the virgin birth, and with whom she suffered and sorrowed greatly. There would not be anything special about Mary, if she were not for Jesus. If Mary were not for Jesus, from her own conception, Immaculate Conception, she would not be the Theotokos and, therefore, would not suffer and grieve for him. Then, she would not be Assumed into heaven to be reunited with him and to be crowned as the Queen of Heaven and All Saints.

The last two glorious mysteries of the Holy Rosary, Assumption and Coronation of Mary, cannot be understood without Immaculate Conception. Not to mention, these three Marian mysteries are revealed truths out of apocrypha to the Catholic Church by the power of the Holy Spirit, as to reassure the truth in Jesus’ statement on the Holy Spirit in John 14:26. It must be God’s will for us to deepen our Christological appreciation in connection with Mariology.

Mary was conceived in the womb of Anna without any trace of Original Sin, though she was conceived through an intercourse of Anna and her husband, Joachim, as revealed into the doctrine of Immaculate Conception, based on Protoevangelium of James. In order to fulfill what is said in Genesis 3:15, God the Father had a special favor for Mary even before she was Immaculately conceived in Anna’s womb, so that His Son, can be made into theophany to us in the human flesh of Jesus to dwell among us, as written in John 1:1, 14. It is because God so loved us (John 3:16), though we have offended Him grievously. And, at Annunciation, Mary conceived the Son of God while she was virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). Though it was a total surprise to her, Mary obeyed this will of God for her to serve as the Theotokos and accepted her mission as the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:38).

The obedience of Mary to God’s will (Luke 1:38) led her to bear great suffering, as Simeon prophesized as a part of redemptive suffering (Luke 2:34-35). Mary had to see her dearly beloved Son die through excruciating agony on the Cross (John 19:25), and her sorry is well-depicted in the image of Pieta. However, Mary’s sorrows and grief gave their ways to joy as she was reunited with her risen Son (Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Fourth Week, First Contemplation; St. John Paul II, Address to General Audience, May 21, 1997). Upon this reunion, however, her Son, Jesus, returned to the Father in heaven through Ascension. Following this separation, Mary, together with the rest of the disciples of her Son, received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, and she became the Mother of the Church. As the Church has gone through persecution, she suffered as the Mother of the Church, while disciples shed their blood, following her Son’s Via Crusis. Because she was also made into the mother of the disciples by her Son on the Cross (John 19:27), Mary suffered as her sons and daughters suffered and gave their lives in following her Son’s way.

God the Father, as well as the Son, knows how obedient, and therefore, how much she suffered and how she endured all tribulations. So, as the consummation of her faithful life on earth, as the Theotokos and the Mother of the Church, she was Assumed into heaven, her body and soul, in order to be reunited with her beloved Son, Jesus Christ, the King, in glory forever, and to be installed as the Queen of Heaven and All Saints, thus becoming the object of our hyperdulia veneration.

Yes, there is, indeed, something about Mary, something mysterious about Mary the Blessed Virgin, gratia plena, Immaculata Conceptio, the Theotokos, Mater Dolorosa, Mater Ecclesiae, as she was made into Regina Caeli upon her Assumption, for her steadfast faithfulness to God’s will, through which God made His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, available to us for our salvation.  Mary is, in fact, inseparable from her beloved Son, Jesus the Christ. Now the Queen is with the King in glory, waiting for  the Church to become ready for her matrimonial union in heaven (Revelation 19:6-8, 21:9-21).