A. Answer each sentence with the suitable word: God, Saint John, Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Birth, Visitation, Annunciation, nine, ten, eleven, Nazareth, Bethlem, Jerusalem, cross, meadow, house.

1. Mary is the true Mother of God

    Everyone has a mother, and she gave us life and bore us. Mary gave birth to the body of Jesus, in which God aroused a soul. At the same time, the Second Member of the Holy Trinity- the Verb- joined the body and soul. In that way, the Son of God became man without leave his divinity.

    Mary carried Jesus- body, soul and divinity- in her womb for nine months, after which He was born in Bethlem. For that reason, she is the true Mother of Jesus Christ, true God and true man. She is the Mother of God.

2. Main dogmas and Marian privileges.

    The greatest gift God gave to Blessed Mary was the gift of becoming her mother. For these, He gave her grace and extraordinary privileges. We want to better know the Virgin, and, for these, we must understand what God has make in her:

    a) The Immaculate Conception. This prerogative means that the Virgin had not original sin; from the first moment of the conception and due to the nature of his Son Jesus Christ, God maintained her immune (free) from original sin. But, at the same time, that means a new kind of sanctity given by God, as the archangel Gabriel said when he appears during the Annunciation: 'Rejoice, you who enjoy God's favour! The Lord is with you.' (Luke 1,28).

    b) She is always a virgin. It is a dogma of the Catholic Faith that Mary is always virginal: before the birth of Christ, during birth and after it. This is why we called Mary 'the Virgin'.

    c) The Assumption. Mary is in Heaven in body and soul. Another Mary's privilege is that, after finished her life, she was carried to Heaven in body and soul.

    d) Other privileges of the Virgin. Mary is also co-redeemer, because she was linked by Christ to the redemption of humanity. She is Queen and Lady of the whole creation, as we say in the 5º mistery of the Holy Rosary. She is Mother of God and Intermediary of all graces. And, after all, she is our Mother.

  B. There are 7 true and 3 false sentences. Choose the right ones.

3. Mary is our Mother

    It is a great joy to know that God adorned his Mother with so many graces, wishing that She also becomes our Mother. These are the reasons of her motherhood with us:

    a) Because Jesus Christ is our brother. Saint Paul writes that Jesus Christ should be 'the eldest of many brothers' (Romans 8,29). So, if Mary is the mother of Jesus, our brother, we logically could call her 'Our mother'. Her motherhood with Christ is physical and natural, and with us her motherhood is something spiritual.

    b) Because Jesus give her to us like Mother. Saint John, at the bottom of the cross, exemplified the whole humanity when Jesus gave Mary to him as a mother. To him, and to us with him, Jesus said: 'This is your mother'.(John 19,27). Since that moment, all Christians receive Mary in our homes and hearts, and we must love her as our mother.

    c) Because she intercede for us. Christians of all times, and us, asked the Virgin for many things. She is in body and soul in Heaven, but she listens us and helps and loves us. Each one has many things which has been given by God thanks to Mary mediation. A bunch of others are given to us without our consciousness. She love us as sons and asks God for what is better to each one.

4. We must act as good sons of Virgin Mary

    We don't have enough only knowing our mother and knowing she loves us and takes care of us; a good son is the one who responds to that love and showing it with his deeds: has with her details of affection, obbeys her, makes the things she prefers and avoids those which she disagrees, etc.

    With our mother in Heaven is pretty much the same. After knowing her well, we must love her with our deeds. By our deeds, we demonstrate that we love the Virgin when we act as she wanted for us and live a Marian devotion. In the last issue of this section we could find the main Marian devotions.

Curso de Catequesis. Don Jaime Pujol Balcells and Don Jesús Sancho Bielsa. EUNSA. Navarra. 1982. Reproduced with the permission of the authors.

  C. There are 4 true sentences and 2 false ones. Choose the numbers of the right ones.

1. How did the Incarnation of the Son of God happen?  The Incarnation of the Son of God happened when the Holy Spirit formed a perfect body inside the womb of Virgin Mary. He also created a noble soul for that body. In the same instant, the Son of God joined the union. Thus, the one who was only God became also a man without giving up his divinity.

2. Who is the Blessed Virgin?  The Blessed Virgin Mary is our Lady full of grace, conceived without original sin, chosen by God to be the Mother of his son and spiritual mother of humanity.

3. Why we believe that Virgin Mary is the Mother of God?  We believe that Virgin Mary is the Mother of God because from her, Jesus- the true God and a full man-, was born.

4. Why is Mary the spiritual mother of humanity?  Mary is spiritual mother of humanity because she is the mother of Jesus Christ, spiritual head of the humanity.

  Intentions for a Christian life

- Check if we live a Marian devotion. If not, we could start greeting the Virgin at mornings and before go to bed.

- Memorise the Hail Mary and the Salve Regina (you find them in "Oraciones y prácticas de vida cristiana").

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