imageIn honor of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, I’d like to begin today’s piece with a portion of the Gospel of Luke (1:26-28):

In mense autem sexto missus est angelus Gabrihel a Deo in civitatem Galilaeae cui nomen Nazareth, ad virginem desponsatam viro cui nomen erat Ioseph de domo David et nomen virginis Maria.  Et ingressus angelus ad eam dixit have gratia plena Dominus tecum benedicta tu in mulieribus.

And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David: and the virgin’s name was Mary.  And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

Today is a feast day in the Catholic Church, which basically means that the day is treated as if it were a Sunday.  Mass attendance is required, two readings and a responsorial followed by the Gospel are integral parts of its structure.  Many larger dioceses have churches that hold a solemn Latin mass, which is gloriously unfolded with Gregorian chant, incense, and a certain respect that a day like today deserves.  Today’s feast is entirely about the Virgin Mary and the story of the conception of Jesus.  Although the entire story is overflowing with symbolism and embellishment, the simple story of the Virgin’s Immaculate Conception is a human story of feminism.  Yes, I said feminism.

As the New testament unfolds and the more I learn about it, most everything concerning Jesus and His works, His birth, and His death are fulfillments of prophecy as described in the Old Testament.  Of course, as Jesus used parable (with undeniable artistic and poetic license…) to teach lessons, the disciples who wrote the Gospels well after His death followed suit and did the same.  How could the Messiah have walked the earth and died for our sins if he didn’t fulfill prophecy, right?  No matter whether or not the Immaculate Conception actually happened (the angel appearing to the Virgin is described only in the Gospel of Luke), the description of the blessed event was required to answer a prophecy given in Genesis 3:15:

Inimicitias ponam inter te et mulierem et semen tuum et semen illius ipsa conteret caput tuum et tu insidiaberis calcaneo eius.

I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.

This made no sense to me until today, when Fr. Mark of St. Matthew’s parish, of which I am a member, explained it to all the children (yes, my daughter was one of them…) attending mass.  What happened prior to this verse was the betrayal of God in the Garden of Eden.  Blame was shifted by Adam to Eve and, in turn, shifted by Eve to the serpent.  Of course, the serpent represented temptation and indulgence (the Devil) and the entire scene is a well-acted scene worthy of Shakespeare.  As punishment, God says that woman and man will be enemies until one of Eve’s line crushes the head of the serpent.  Basically this sets up the ancient struggle of man vs. woman, which, of course, sets the stage for male domination and an unmistakable misogyny in Christian culture.  The serpent was always there and God knew it when Adam and Eve were told to not eat of the one tree in all of Eden that was forbidden.  The woman, embodied by Eve, was the one to fall for the serpents tongue and tempted the man, Adam, in response to her own shame.  So, the aftermath was the birth of inequality between the sexes.

So, how is the Immaculate Conception the birth of feminism?  This notion seems to escape many while being so plainly understandable.  In answer to this prophecy, a woman came and by giving birth to the Messiah, crushed the head of the serpent.  The Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, is often represented in statuary as stepping on a serpent as she was the vehicle for the entrance of the King of Kings, the defeater of sins (temptation and indulgence).  In doing this, the enmities of man and woman were ended as God had promised.  Equality was birthed in Jesus and was demonstrated by Christ himself during his recorded life.  Alas, the modern notion of feminism has some root in the birth of Christ (as well as other ancient prophecy at the hands of Mohammed, Buddha, etc.).

Many Protestant and non-denominational sects of Christianity have questioned the importance of the Virgin.  Perhaps it is the ingrained fear of the Mother?  Perhaps it is feminism inherent in the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy?  These questions I cannot answer, but the Virgin will always remain a point of contention in matters of relation.  By avoiding the obvious femininity of the Virgin Mary, Christians destroy the yin-yang of Catholicism and Christianity itself.  Jesus, as part of a trinity, represents only theological notions (The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit), and not the notion of the feminine intertwined with the masculine.  The inclusion of the Virgin Mary creates a relationship between mother and son – man and woman.

Another question, greater than the last statement, is: What of the prophecy?  What of its fulfillment?  Has the Catholic Church furthered this revelation?  No.  In fact, they have not resonated the fulfillment of this prophecy at all, seemingly.  It seems to be more of a fantastic tale being shoved aside to avoid a challenge to the male power structure of the Catholic Church.  The revelation is there.  The prophecy of the end of the war of the sexes was foretold and answered unto deaf ears.  Perhaps the early Christians knew of this and in their formation of the Church (which was very loose at the time) never doubted the equality of women and men as evidenced in their acceptance of female Christians such as Mary Magdalene.  Perhaps the misogyny came much later (hundreds of years later, in fact) when a more structured Church was being formed.  In fact, the divided Church at the time showed evidence of this as the Western Church (i.e. Rome) was less feminist in scope while the Eastern Church was more so.  History has shown us which of the two power structures has succeeded in spreading what was and is (still, sadly…) an institutional Christianity.

Painting, The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, by El Greco, 1608-1613.

Ave Maria

Ave Maria

Gratia plena

Maria, gratia plena

Maria, gratia plena

Ave, ave dominus

Dominus tecum

Benedicta tu in mulieribus

Et benedictus

Et benedictus fructus ventris

Ventris tuae, Jesus.

Ave Maria

Ave Maria

Mater Dei

Ora pro nobis peccatoribus

Ora pro nobis

Ora, ora pro nobis peccatoribus

Nunc et in hora mortis

Et in hora mortis nostrae

Et in hora mortis nostrae

Et in hora mortis nostrae

Ave Maria