Did Jesus Appear to His Mom after He Rose from the Dead? The Gospels never mention it.

IT MAKES SENSE TO ME

TheResurrection  wikipediacommon.org

By Larry Peterson

Easter was less than two weeks ago, and on that glorious morning we heard from the gospel of John 20:1-9 how ---“Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning , while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciples He loved and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb and we do not know where they have put Him.”

The gospel read at the Easter Vigil is from  Mark 16: 1-7. In this gospel, Mary Magdalene and Salome have gone to the tomb to anoint Him. This is when the angel appears to them, and tells them He has risen and to go and tell His  disciples.

The following week, on the Second Sunday of Easter ( Divine Mercy Sunday), the gospel is once again from John, this time 20: 19-31. This is when, with the doors locked,  Jesus appears to all of them (except “doubting”  Thomas). Interestingly,  someone is never mentioned in these gospel readings.  That someone is Jesus’s, Mom, The Blessed Virgin Mary.

So where was she when Jesus rose from the dead?  She was His mother. She was nearby throughout the passion and watched Him carry His cross. She watched as they drove the nails through His hands and his feet.  She stood agonizingly and helplessly by as He was raised on the cross. For three hours she stood there watching every drop of blood leave her boy's body. She was at the foot of the cross when He died.

No Mom should ever have to witness such cruelty heaped upon their own child. Who could have loved him more than she? Doesn’t it seem absolutely unquestionable that the first person who Jesus appeared to after He rose was His Mother? Yet there is not a single mention of the Blessed Virgin in the Resurrection narratives.

In 1931, Pope Pius XI, rooted in findings from the Council of Ephesus in 431,  instituted the Feast of the Divine Maternity. Although this particular dogmatic teaching is tied tightly to the dogma of Mary’s “Perpetual Virginity,” it is profound. The Divine Maternity explains to us all that the greatness and majesty that was bestowed on Our Lady was wrapped into a bundle of pure Love from God. For He was the Father of her child. She was the Mom. Every drop of Jesus’s DNA comes from His Mom. The Father in Him is Him. Jesus Christ is truly Human and Divine---.

From the Catechism 496: Mary's Virginity:

From the first formulations of her faith, the Church has confessed that Jesus was conceived solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, affirming also the corporeal aspect of this event: Jesus was conceived "by the Holy Spirit without human seed". The Fathers see in the virginal conception the sign that it truly was the Son of God who came in a humanity like our own...

So, back to the Resurrection. As a simple man of faith,  I have to believe that Jesus immediately went to see His Mom upon leaving the tomb where he was, moments earlier, dead. I shall end this with the following: 

VATICAN CITY, MAY 21, 1997 (VIS) –The Holy Father focused the catechesis of today's general audience in St. Peter's Square. Pope John Paul II said, "The unique and special nature of the presence of the Virgin at Calvary," added the Pope, "and her perfect union with the Son in his suffering on the Cross, seem to postulate a very particular participation on her part in the mystery of the Resurrection."

The Blessed Virgin, who was present at Calvary and at the Cenacle, "was probably also a privileged witness to the Resurrection of Christ, in this way completing her participation in all the essential moments of the paschal mystery. Embracing the risen Jesus, Mary is, in addition, a sign and anticipation of humanity, which hopes to reach its fulfillment in the resurrection of the dead."

If Pope St. John Paul II says it must be so, that is good enough for me.

                                   copyright©Larry Peterson 2018 All Rights Reserved 

The Magnificent Dogma of the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary- ---

IT MAKES SENSE TO ME

By Larry Peterson

Divine Maternity (Russian)    catholocism.org

The Third Ecumenical Council held by the Catholic Church took place in Ephesus in 431. The Council was called to refute the teaching being put forth by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius. He held that the Virgin Mary may only be called the Christotokos (Birth Giver of Christ) and not Theotokos (Mother of God).

This teaching was condemned and the Council confirmed that indeed, since it was God who was the Father, Mary was truly the Mother of God. This settled for all time the central mystery of the Catholic faith which is the Incarnation; Jesus Christ is one person with two natures; one divine and one human. This is a mystery we embrace and believe but will never fully understand.  

Pope Pius XI, who had a profound devotion to the Blessed Virgin, honored her by creating a new feast day in her honor. In 1931, 1500 years after the Council of Ephesus had proclaimed that Our Blessed Lady was truly the Mother of God, Pope Pius XI instituted the Feast Day of the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This action not only reaffirmed the Council's dogmatic proclamation that Mary is Theotokos, it also set October 11 into the Roman calendar as the day the feast was to be celebrated.

Since Vatican II's changes were put in place the Feast Day of Divine Maternity has become somewhat overshadowed by the dogma of Mary's "Perpetual Virginity". But make no mistake, these two dogmatic pronouncements are eternally joined together and they are inseparable. October 11 is still an active feast in the 1962 Roman Missal which is used during the extraordinary celebration of the Mass.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church 495: Mary's Divine Motherhood;

Called in the Gospels, 'the mother of Jesus,' Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, "as the mother of my Lord." In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly the 'Mother of God' (Theotokos).

From the Catechism 496: Mary's Virginity:

From the first formulations of her faith, the Church has confessed that Jesus was conceived solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, affirming also the corporeal aspect of this event: Jesus was conceived "by the Holy Spirit without human seed". The Fathers see in the virginal conception the sign that it truly was the Son of God who came in a humanity like our own...

Our Blessed Mother was a young, innocent woman of about 14 years of age when the Angel Gabriel came to her and announced to her what God wanted from her. What could have gone through her young mind as this was asked of her? She must have been so afraid. How could she have had any possible idea that she would be the New Eve who would give birth to the New Adam who, in turn, would save us all?

This mystery of faith is so profound. This young woman, in effect, was chosen by God Himself to be his spouse. Their child would be both God and Man. He would change the world forever. 

 Mary's virginal motherhood sealed in perpetuity the truth of the Incarnation. She gave Christ the body He possessed. She gave Him the humanity that was part of Him. And all the time he was  God...and she was His Mom. WOW!

copyright©Larry Peterson 2017