Replies

Catholic ping!

Watch Fr. Geiger's video commentary at http://airmaria.com/vlog/stnd/stnd0001.asp (he has modeled his appeareance on St. Maximilian Kolbe, the paron of his Franciscan community).

The Church does not have an official teaching regarding exactly how Christ entered the world. It is certainly fair to say that Our Lady was not spared all pains of being a mother, she saw her only Son die in front of her. I'll take labor pains any day over that. She also, I believe, experienced pain if she stubbed her toe and such.

My concern is that such thoughts lead to the notion that childbearing is a punishment. I, for one, believe that Our Lady gave birth the same way most women do. Perhaps she had a heavenly c-section, but I don't think she did. Giving birth is such a powerful experience, it unites you with your child in such an intense way, I don't think God skipped that experience for her. I think her body worked with her Son's body to be born. It very well could have been painless, but to me, that's not the point.

Dignity is so much more than a physical state of being. I do believe that God did keep His Mother fully Virgin. But He was also like us in all things but sin and His mother was more than an incubator for nine months. If He wasn't born as us, then why the nine months? He could have been left on Mary's doorstep, still fully her child, since this is God we are talking about.
I have given birth twice, drug free I might add, and I just don't see the punishment of it. I don't think the words in Genesis referred to the actual giving birth pains, but rather the pains of worry, frustration and self-doubt that plague you as a parent. It's hard raising children to be the persons God created them and therein lies the suffering that was referred to in Genesis.

Some excellent scriptural exegesis regarding Mary's Perpetual Virginity can be found at the University Dayton's Website

http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/questions/yq/yq195.html

An excerpt from the article reads "But we do know dogmatically as Catholics that Mary would not have "bled" during her giving birth to Jesus. We know this from the dogma of Mary's Perpetual Virginity - before, after, and particularly during the birth of Jesus. It is an article of divine Catholic faith that Mary preserved her virginity - inviolate from any physical damage or destruction."

I saw the film at an early screening. I found nothing that was "unsuitable" for young children. Discussion of the issue of her pregnancy etc would go right over their heads. My 11 year old, on the other hand, would have some questions.

Overall, a good film. We will take the family again on Christmas Eve.

I agree with this whole heartedly.
Can't beleive I missed this thread!!!!!

you cannot count on Hollywood to be accurate with religious beliefs.