How often do you say that? I’m learning I need to say it
more and more. Through the days of stress and disappointment, through the times
of joy and hope, it doesn’t matter. I just need to say it. It’s been a
stressful summer and I’ve not blogged at all. But now that I’m back, I’m
posting an intense concept. Thanks for hanging with me.
Wednesday of last week was a feast day in the Catholic
church for the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. Today is the day that they
celebrate the Queenship of the Mary as queen of Heaven. Those are both pretty
heavy details, aren’t they? Why do Catholics believe such things? What evidence
is there?
I typically don’t like to use Church evidence as it comes
down to a belief that not everyone shares. However, I do like to use science to
explain things that seem odd.
Revelation 11:19 says, “Then God’s temple in heaven was
opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came
flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe
hailstorm.” (NIV)
The Ark of the Covenant was considered by the Israelites to
be where God’s presence lived, where He existed among them, the Holiest of Holies.
It was a movable sanctuary that represented who God was to the Jews and his covenantal
promise.
Verse 19 is the last verse of chapter 11 and Revelation 12:1-2
continues with, “A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was
pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.”
Seems odd, doesn’t it?
First we need to remember in Corinthians 6:19 that, “Do you
not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit…”
So human beings contain a temple in which the Holy Spirit
can exist if we let Him.
So where does the science come in?
Some time ago I shared with you the research done by Dr. Mancuso
concerning how mother’s inherit traits from their children (read my blog post). To sum it up, I
explained that throughout a pregnancy the child in the womb sends messages to
the mother in the form of lymphocytes (the baby’s DNA) that attach to the
mother’s nervous system telling the mother’s body that the baby is not a
foreign object but another human to be nurtured. Those lymphocytes can be found
even thirty years later, still in the mother’s nervous system. So while the
mother also cleans the blood of her unborn child and that DNA is mingled
between the two separate beings, the lymphocytes also represent a piece of the
child that never leaves the mother. The mother is forever changed, altered,
connected.
If Mary was mother to a son that Christians believe was wholly
divine wholly human, then his being, his DNA would reflect this (I also posit
that Jesus’ DNA, his human side, came from his human mother and can imagine
that they looked very similar because of it – except for the XY chromosome of
course!) So Mary’s body still contained lymphocytes from her Divine Son after
he was born and she continued to carry those through her earthly life. So what
happened to those lymphocytes when she died?
Catholic tradition holds that Mary had to experience death
because she was human, but then her body was taken to Heaven.
But why? Why would her body be taken to Heaven? She was just Jesus’ mother after all.
I think science fills in the blanks. If Mary’s body
contained Jesus’ DNA after her pregnancy, then she contained a taste of that
perfect DNA from her son. I believe God took Mary’s physical body to Heaven
because she still contained that piece of her son. And why not? If He didn’t
stay physically, why would he leave other physical pieces of himself? Jesus was
clear that unless he left physically and went to Heaven, the Holy Spirit could
not come. I think God was just cleaning up loose ends. And I think the book of
Revelation backs that up properly.
The Ark of the Covenant was the physical representation of
the house of God, where he existed. Why does the author of Revelation then go
right into the discussion of the woman clothed with the sun, giving birth to a
son after he talks of the ark of the covenant? Mary’s body also became the ark
of the covenant when she carried the Jesus in her womb. If we believe that he
is part of the Trinity, he is God, then, logic takes us to this conclusion. Her
body was a temple for the Lord in a unique, physical way.
Since I don’t believe God neglects any details of anything (especially
in His love for us,) I don’t believe He would neglect the temple that held His
Son either. Her soul proclaimed the greatness of the Lord…
(I always find it interesting that in all of our
archeological pursuits, we’re never interested in finding Mary’s tomb. Perhaps
there’s a reason for it. I can’t believe that her tomb wouldn’t be a huge
Christian memorial such as even we Americans have memorials for important
people. Perhaps this is the reason?)
Yes, it was a hard summer for me, and I didn’t post at all,
but I learned to say, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord…”
And I’m glad to be back.
