The Virgin got up and said: "These witnesses to the time of my Son's Resurrection are enough for me..." Then she looked out the window and saw that the dawn was beginning to break. Her joy was great: "My son will soon resuscitate," she said. Then, kneeling down, she prayed: "Awake, stand in front of me and look, and you, Lord God Sabaoth, awake." Immediately, Christ sent the angel Gabriel to her saying, "You once announced to my mother the Incarnation of the Word, announce to her now His resurrection." Then the Angel flew to Mary and said to her, "Queen of Heaven, rejoice, because the One you deserved to carry in your womb is risen as He said." And Christ greeted His mother, saying: "Peace be with you"... And Mary said to her Son: "Before, my Son, I worshipped on Saturday, in honor of the holy rest after the creation of the world. Now I will worship on Sunday in memory of your Resurrection, and your rest and glory." And Christ approved (Saint Vincent Ferrer, Spanish Dominican, d. 1419).
Part of the introduction to the Mass states:
"The Fathers of the Church...frequently teach us that the mysteries of Christ, which the Church, our virgin mother, celebrates in the sacraments of Christian initiation, were accomplished in Mary, the Virgin Mother (Pref): the Spirit who sanctifies the womb of the Church--that is, the font of baptism--to bring forth children of God, sanctified Mary's womb so that she might bring forth the firstborn of many brothers and sisters (see Hebrews 2:11-15) ..."
The texts of the Mass celebrate Our Lady as:
--the Virgin Mother, (OP, see Pref) who, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit (Com Ant), became the mother of Christ, the bread of life (see John 6:35), by whom the faithful are nourished in the Church.
--the mother of light (Ent Ant), because she brought forth Christ, the light of the world (see John 12:46; Gos A, John 12:44-50). --the model of the Church (Ent Ant) because the Church is itself a virgin and brings to birth in the chaste waters of baptism a people of faith (Ent Ant), and in imitation of the mother of Christ makes its eucharistic offering (POG); and because those things accomplished in sign through the sacraments of the Church' were accomplished already in the Blessed Virgin. (Preface)
--the sanctuary of the mysteries of God (Com Ant), because she carried in her virginal womb' Christ, the sacrament of the Father: in Christ are hidden all the treasures of salvation and grace, and through him the face of the Father is revealed to us (see Luke 10:22; John 14:9).
From a homily by St Lawrence of Brindisi (1559-1619), a Capuchin-Franciscan priest:
Mary rejoiced in the conception of Christ, she thrilled with joy at His birth, and when she heard "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace of men of good will" (Luke 2:13-14), the hymn echoed throughout the countryside by a chorus of angels. Mary was enraptured when the Magi came in adoration, and when she found Jesus in the temple; and she was even more joyous when she heard of and saw the great number and variety of miracles which He was working. Her joy grew more profound as she saw Him ascend into heaven, His seat of glory, accompanied by the angels. But on this day, she was filled with a happiness greater than all of these, greater than can ever be told. Just like the man who found the great treasure in his field, in a unimaginable manner Mary found an infinite glorious treasure in the Resurrection of her son, Jesus Christ.
Comments
“People have realized that the complete removal of the feminine element from the Christian message is a shortcoming from an anthropological viewpoint. It is theologically and anthropologically important for woman to be at the center of Christianity."
This is just another of the unintended consequences of the cultural acceptance of contraception and abortion! Men's sexuality has been robbed of its creative essence. It is now viewed as something that imposes a burden on women (when conception happens to occur), something used to control women or something that is purely recreational. Why would men bother?? In taking away their responsibility, we've also robbed them of their significance! In the big picture of humanity, men have been made into nothing more than a nuisance women have to figure out how to control in order to bring about the next generation. Men don't see it as their task to protect the vulnerable because they see themselves as the vulnerable ones. A few well preserved vials of sperm would make men entirely obsolete in the world's ethos today!!
That is astounding Robin, and good for you for standing up. At the heart of that matter, I think, is even worse than a gender mixing message. There is an increased sharper and sharper focus on the "self." Solid Catholic teaching returns our focus away from ourselves to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The original sin, Eve denied her womanhood when she desired to be like "gods." Since the only god she knew was the Father. Where was Adam? He stood impotent... in other words, they were divorced. There's a young girl at Robin's son's high school who was just told that she is the center of the universe and it's a tragic disservice to her.
Ditto what Mary said! A lot of high schools have very poor math and science depts, for boys and girls. I also am educated as a chemical engineer, but chose to teach the two years before we had children because its hours were more suited to spending time with children. (I was looking ahead). When it came time and I was pregnant with our first, I realized that I did not want to leave him with someone else, and was able to stay home full time. I am not sure it would have been that easy if we were used to another engineering income and not just a private school teacher income. Also some of my first job offers were out on oil rigs - I had no interest in that at all even though I enjoyed my engineering classes and did well in them. No one discouraged me from an engineering job, on the contrary I got a lot of flack for my decision not to pursue an engineering career.
I've been lurking, but this is one that irritates me. Beats the heck out of me what these "barriers" are. I was educated as a chemical engineer, where 1/3 of our class was women. However, in electrical engineering, only 1 or 2 out of 30 were women. Is it possible that women are Just Not Interested in some areas? Nah, it must be The Man keeping us down so we must legislate (and, I agree -- when they say "legistlate", I hear "quota"). And actually, I have a friend that was also a chemical engineer. When she lost her job, she decided not to go back into engineering and started working from home so she could spend more time with her 3 kids. Also, if nothing else, there are all kinds of incentives for women to enter science and engineering -- scholarships not available to men, guaranteed housing on campuses that do not guarantee housing to the general population, etc. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that schools in general are not preparing students for the hard sciences. It is truly a sad state of affairs, the lack of science education these days.