Mariamu

Mama wa Mungu

Catholics believe that Mary is the sinless Mother of God; that she was sinless since conception; remained sinless throughout her life; na, matokeo yake, was assumed into heaven when she died.

The notion of her sinlessness is often a subject of discussion and dispute; hata hivyo, it has a very strong scriptural basis.

Mary’s fiat, found in Luka, Sura 1:28, is held as one of the primary scriptural verses as to why Catholic and Orthodox Christians revere her. (Kumbuka, there is a huge difference between reverence and worship; worship is reserved for God, peke yake. Mary was a person, but very different from you or us.)

Much of the dispute about Mary involves the Angel Gabriel’s annunciation to her, in particular the dispute involves the translation of a wordkecharitomenefound in early Greek bibles.

Catholics believe thatkecharitomeneis correctly translated asFull of Grace,” whereas others translate it asHail highly favored one,” and say nothing about grace, which has a precise meaning, i.e., sinless or extremely holy.

Given the Catholic interpretation, the question becomeslini did Mary became free from sin?

The angel’s words to Mary did not say you will be full of Grace but you nifull of Grace.This means, hiyo, already, at the time of Gabriel’s appearance to her, she was full of grace, or absent from sin. Through deductive reasoning, we can conclude that she was sinless from conception, ergo herDhana Imaculate.

Mary as the New Eve

The Church also reveres Mary as the New Eve, msaidizi mwaminifu wa Adamu Mpya (tazama Mtakatifu Paulo Barua ya Kwanza kwa Wakorintho 15:21-22, 45). Just as Eve’s infidelity brought about our fall from grace, Mary’s faithfulness at the Annunciation–, i.e., let it be done to me–(Luka 1:38) brought about our restoration.

She was the only person to directly participate with Her Son in the Redemption. As the Prophet Jeremiah wrote, “Rudi, O virgin Israel, return to these your cities. How long will you waver, O faithless daughter? For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth: a woman protects a man” (Yeremia 31:21-22).1

Mary as the Ark (of the New Covenant)

Katika Agano la Kale, God ordered that a special Ark made of pure, incorruptible materials be constructed to transport the Ten Commandments (tazama Book of Exodus, 25:10). These tablets were holy because they had been touched by God Himself. It would not have been appropriate, kwa hiyo, for them to be carried in an ordinary container made of imperfect materials. Far less appropriate would it have been for Jesus, Mwana wa Mungu, to be formed and carried in the womb of a sinner (tazama Book of Wisdom 1:4 na Letter of the Hebrews 7:26).

A direct parallel between the Ark of the Covenant and the Mary is found in the account of David transporting the Ark to Jerusalem and her visit with Elizabeth. Both accounts involve the land of Judah: ona, for example the Kitabu cha Pili cha Samweli 6:2 na Luka 1:39.

Katika 6:14 in the former account, David leaps for joy as the Ark enters the city, and in the latter, the babe in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy at the Virgin’s approach (Luka 1:41). In chapter six, verse nine, David asks, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?”

In the early stages of her own pregnancy, Mary went to the hill country of Judah to assist her cousin Saint Elizabeth, who is also with child.

The sound of Mary’s greeting causes Elizabeth and her unborn baby to be filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaims, “Umebarikiwa wewe miongoni mwa wanawake, na mzao wa tumbo lako amebarikiwa!” (Luka 1:41-42). That Saint John the Baptist is “filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (Luka 1:15) proves the possibility, if not the likelihood, of the Immaculate Conception. Baada ya yote, if it was fitting for John, who would prepare the Lord’s way, to be sanctified in his mother’s womb, should not Mary, who would bear, care for, and raise Him, receive the same or even a greater blessing?

Analogously, Elizabeth asks, “Why is this granted me, ili mama wa Bwana wangu aje kwangu?” (Luka 1:43). Per the Kitabu cha Pili cha Samweli (6:11), the Ark remains in the house of O’bed-e’dom for three months, and in Luka 1:56, the Virgin remains with Elizabeth for three months.

Kwa bahati mbaya, a vision of the Mother of the Redeemer immediately follows Saint John’s vision of the Ark of the Covenant in Revelation (ona 11:19-12:1).

  1. “Mary alone co-operat(ed) with the pre-arranged plan,” remarked Saint Irenaeus of Lyons in about 185 in hisDhidi ya Uzushi (3:21:7). The New-Eve tradition was taught throughout the ancient world from a very early date—in Rome and Asia Minor by Saint Justin the Martyr, in Gaul by Saint Irenaeus, in Northern Africa by Tertullian, and in Alexandria by Origen—proving it had been propagated by the Apostles themselves.

    Implicit in the New Eve teaching is the understanding that Mary possessed the purity of Eve before the Fall, that she had been spared Eve’s fault, au dhambi ya asili. “Mariamu, is on the one hand, a replica of Eve in her purity and integrity before the Fall,” Ludwig Ott observed, “on the other hand, the antitype of Eve, in so far as Eve is the cause of corruption, and Mary the cause of salvation” (Misingi ya Mafundisho ya Kikatoliki, TAN Books and Publishers, 1960, uk. 201).

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