December 14, 2003. ר Mary's Lack of Merit.

In church today, the choir sang a song with old words set to music by Morton Lauridsen (Tomas Luis de Victoria and Francis Poulenc also seem to have set this to music).

O magnum mysterium et admirabile sacramentum
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum
jacentem in praesepio.
Beata virgo cujus viscera
meruent partare Dominum Christum.
Alleluia.

 

O great mystery and admirable [wonderful] sacrament
That animals see the Lord born
Lying in a manger.
Blessed virgin whose viscera [womb]
Were [was] worthy to bear Lord Christ. p> Allelujah.

The music was fine; the problem is in what the words say, which, I realize may be a problem with Mariolatry generally. They say, "Beata virgo cujus viscera meruent partare Dominum Christum"-- Blessed virgin whose innards merit giving birth to Lord Christ. Mary was no doubt a fine girl, but a central point of the New Testament is that nobody merits salvation. To believe otherwise is Pelagianism. It is not quite the same to say that nobody has merited giving birth to God, but that is an equally strong statement, or perhaps stronger (I can imagine someone good enough to share eternity with God but not good enough to give Him birth.) Rather, Mary was an ordinary person, and sinful. In fact, she may have been more sinful than average-- we don't have much information on her, though she was willing enough to accept the honor God gave her.

If you believe that Mary must have had enough merit to deserve to be the mother of Jesus, then you will probably believe she had enough merit to deserve salvation, even without the help of God. And then you probably believe that it is possible for other people to achieve their own salvation, and that God is merely a ratifier.

Orthodox doctrine, on the other hand, is that nobody deserves his salvation, which is a gift from God, bestowed for reasons of His that we can't understand. Jesus was born to Mary not because Mary was especially good, but because God chose to arrange things that way, and to bless Mary with this special honor even though she didn't deserve it. Just as Mary didn't deserve this blessing, but God gave it to her anyway, so I don't deserve salvation but God (I hope) will give it to me anyway. It is not that Mary and I are better than others; we are merely the beneficiaries of grace.

Most of the evidence on Mary is from Luke 1, which contains the story of Gabriel's visit and the Magnificat.

26Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28And he came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord [is] with thee. 29But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this might be. 30And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. 31 And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

...

41And it came to pass, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit; 42and she lifted up her voice with a loud cry, and said, Blessed thou among women, and blessed the fruit of thy womb. 43And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come unto me? 44For behold, when the voice of thy salutation came into mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45And blessed she that believed; for there shall be a fulfilment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord.

46And Mary said,
My soul doth magnify the Lord,
47And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
48For he hath looked upon the low estate of his handmaid:
For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
49For he that is mighty hath done to me great things;
And holy is his name.
50And his mercy is unto generations and generations
On them that fear him.
51He hath showed strength with his arm;
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their heart.
52He hath put down princes from [their] thrones,
And hath exalted them of low degree. 53The hungry he hath filled with good things;
And the rich he hath sent empty away.
54He hath given help to Israel his servant,
That he might remember mercy
55(As he spake unto our fathers)
Toward Abraham and his seed for ever.

As you can see, Mary was blessed, but she did not claim this as her right by merit-- she was of "low estate" and "low degree". She "found favor with God", indeed, but not by reason necessarily of merit.

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