tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post3041177050543781424..comments2024-03-28T17:53:43.541-04:00Comments on DarwinCatholic: Mary, Did You Know?Darwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08572976822786862149noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-83940083440004618842011-12-18T17:04:34.861-05:002011-12-18T17:04:34.861-05:00By the way the source of the line-by-line analysis...By the way the source of the line-by-line analysis is by Mark M of "A Dei in A life" - as stated in the post you linked to.Jeff Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-4176065268161105892011-12-18T14:29:19.395-05:002011-12-18T14:29:19.395-05:00Now I'm nervous about telling you all what I t...<i>Now I'm nervous about telling you all what I thought when I heard the song "I'll Be Spending Christmas With Jesus Christ This Year" on the radio the other day.</i><br /><br />Is that the one where a poor little boy dies in a photo-Santa's arms?Foxfierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10161683096247890834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-20167576224897976322011-12-17T00:41:49.011-05:002011-12-17T00:41:49.011-05:00Melanie, I've heard it as pre-midnight Mass mu...Melanie, I've heard it as pre-midnight Mass music several years in a row at our old parish, and Jake Tawney (who lives a few blocks from me) tells me that it's also a standard here. Humph. I first heard it at least fifteen years ago, before it was covered by everyone - that's why I picked a video with Mark Lowry singing it, because it's his song. <br /><br />Is this song really a proof of a newfound Protestant interest in things Marian? If anyone can find evidence of "Mary, Did You Know" leading a non-Catholic to true devotion to Mary, I'll not only retract most of my quibbles with the song, I'll record it myself and post it for all to hear. Mind you, it has to be convincing evidence.MrsDarwinhttp://darwincatholic.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-13539156616281685152011-12-16T19:27:38.867-05:002011-12-16T19:27:38.867-05:00"I was surprised to find something so very Ma..."I was surprised to find something so very Marian coming from non-Catholics."<br /><br />Well, it's "the Christmas season," when it's suddenly okay to have a statue of Mary on your mantel. As long as those three wise men are there to keep her in line.bearinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07953735060133330755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-62450564956891542872011-12-16T15:50:11.061-05:002011-12-16T15:50:11.061-05:00Mrs D, I would definitely have a different reactio...Mrs D, I would definitely have a different reaction to this song had I first heard it at Mass or even, as a commenter at Roma Locuta Est claimed, as part of a ceremony of carols before midnight Mass. Definitely not ok for liturgical use. I liked it well enough as a pop song when I heard it on a cd of blatantly protestant music inspired by the Passion of the Christ. Though I'll be the first to admit it's a matter of taste, I suspect context and first impressions has a lot to do with that taste. I was surprised to find something so very Marian coming from non-Catholics.<br /><br />I can be pretty snarky about bad music at Mass, though.Melanie Bettinellihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12557248434888642114noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-29653744537695414682011-12-16T14:05:08.212-05:002011-12-16T14:05:08.212-05:00Oof, you all have very thoughtful answers to an es...Oof, you all have very thoughtful answers to an essentially snarky post. Now I'm nervous about telling you all what I thought when I heard the song "I'll Be Spending Christmas With Jesus Christ This Year" on the radio the other day.MrsDarwinhttp://darwincatholic.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-1614461886069924632011-12-16T13:03:15.254-05:002011-12-16T13:03:15.254-05:00I'm pretty much in agreement with Melanie here...I'm pretty much in agreement with Melanie here. I would go even farther and deny that the line "the child you've delivered would soon deliver you" is particularly bad theology; it admits of a reading that is perfectly orthodox, as Melanie sort-of gestures at, and the problem is merely that it also admits of an unorthodox reading. It's ambiguous phrasing, not bad theology; and if we're going to throw out songs that have lines that can also be read in unorthodox ways, we are going to be getting rid of a lot. Even the Church Fathers, doing their very best to be precise, found it difficult to say things that couldn't be taken in a heterodox way.<br /><br />The increasing Protestant interest in Mary has become quite notable; there was a time when this song, or Amy Grant's "Breath of Heaven," would have been considered way too Romish to be sung at all.Brandonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00475433359202518234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-22630900839203468502011-12-16T10:24:25.791-05:002011-12-16T10:24:25.791-05:00grr...I think I killed my comment.
This song does...grr...I think I killed my comment.<br /><br />This song doesn't give an answer to the questions, but instead gives the opportunity to meditate on Mary's contemplation of her Son. Perhaps she did know all the answers, but perhaps she didn't (she isn't God after all). But either way, to meditate on Mary's understanding of her Son is exactly what we are called to do in the Rosary.<br /><br />I find it amusing that when most protestants would never touch a rosary due to misunderstand, yet they will still enter into that contemplation through this song. It's like Mary is giving her children who, through no fault of their own, would avoid a devotion to her a way back to her (and through her to her Son).Christinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07592851515207841008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-87673655020739351302011-12-16T10:11:38.233-05:002011-12-16T10:11:38.233-05:00I think the whole "did Mary know?" or &q...I think the whole "did Mary know?" or "did Jesus know?" speculation only seems twee.<br /><br />The question of how much did either of them know is a very interesting theological question which has been grappled with by many great minds. God is omnipotent and omniscient; man is by nature limited in power and knowledge; so how is it that Jesus is both fully God and fully man? It is a mystery so there is no wonder that people "wonder" about it.<br /><br />I think what is giving you trouble is that people are not using this apparent paradox as a jumping off point to dive into the theological depths of reasoning, or even to investigate further by asking "what have scholars said about this?", but merely to toss off a badly-thought-out statement or two in song form without pausing to think through the implications of their solution. It's been done before.bearinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07953735060133330755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-19698599463594661252011-12-16T10:04:15.385-05:002011-12-16T10:04:15.385-05:00For the record, it's worth noting that while w...For the record, it's worth noting that while we often presume that Mary knew that her son was God Himself, that needn't be the case: the virginal conception does not conceptually require that it was God Himself who would come to be in Mary's womb. Mary's son *could* have simply been the great-but-only-human Messiah that the Jewish people were waiting for. Even the words which Gabriel spoke to Mary could've been understood by her that way: the titles he used had been applied to OT kings.<br /><br />Certainly at some point Mary came to recognize the divinity of her Son, but it wasn't necessarily immediately at the Annunciation.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09091653573582292028noreply@blogger.com