Original scientific paper

The Virginal Mother – Disciple. The Discipleship as a Mariological Paradigm

Marija Pehar orcid.org/0000-0002-8083-1896 ; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

With its return to New Testament’s testimonies and sayings of the Church Fathers on Jesus’ mother and with its openness for contemporary theological reflection and search for appropriate responses to the demands of the contemporary human being, Conciliar mariology has certainly achieved unexpected results and opened up new possibilities not only for the area of dogmatic mariology and devotion towards Mary, but also for other areas; for instance, Christian anthropology and ecumenism. While holding fast to virginal motherhood as the fundamental principle of classical mariology, the Conciliar view is directed towards the contemporary human being and tries hard to show Mary not in terms of her uniqueness and privilege, but in terms of her closeness and as a reachable ideal. This direction is assumed by the Council as the fundamental attitude, while its further realisation is left with confidence to theological reflection. Fifty years after the Conciliar statements on Mary (VIIIth chapter of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church), this article tries to reflect, while taking into account the aforementioned Conciliar foundations and directions, on the discipleship as a possible mariological paradigm. The first part of the article defines the true discipleship as the acceptance of Jesus’ call on two levels: through inner confidence and surrender and through life devoted to living out Jesus’ call. The second part of the article analyses the most relevant NT’s testimonies on Jesus’ mother in the perspective of discipleship. These testimonies make it clear that Mary did not belong to the circle of the Twelve Disciples, which are generally considered to be Jesus’ disciples in the strictest sense of the word. However, a closer analysis and comparison of mariological places, especially Luke’s opus and the forth Gospel, confirms that, according to Jesus’ demands, Mary can not only be called a disciple, but she is rightly considered the prototype of discipleship. Mary does not build her relationship with the Son only on the basis of her biological motherhood, but instead raises it up to the level of true discipleship in faith. Her discipleship is for her the true way of faith and growth which aims for perfection, i.e. ideal discipleship. Through theological interpretation of virginity and motherhood, the third part of the article shows that the true discipleship manifests as thevirginal motherhood in Mary’s life and this is precisely where it reaches the level of perfection. In the end of the article the author specifies implications of her theological reflection for a more lively devotion to Mary. As a true disciple of her son, Mary is a teacher of discipleship. This should not be understood as a some sort of new Mary’s privilege. Among the members of the Church, Mary is a disciple among disciples, but her life testimony makes her a teacher of faith and discipleship for disciples of her Son. The article shows that Mary can and should be seen through the paradigm of discipleship or, even more, that discipleship can be considered one of the basic mariological paradigms. This paradigm does not want to contest nor replace the virginal motherhood as the fundamental mariological principle, but instead is based on and tries to express itself through the virginal motherhood and helps mariology to be more easily recognised, within its Christological-ecclesial foundations, as a concretisation of Christian anthropology. Apart from that, it also helps Marian devotion by giving it objectivity and ecumenical sensitivity.

Keywords

discipleship; Mary’s virginity; Mary’s motherhood; Conciliar mariology

Hrčak ID:

133990

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/133990

Publication date:

6.2.2015.

Article data in other languages: croatian

Visits: 2.124 *