The Virgin Birth is an essential teaching of the Catholic Church, professed in the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed when declaring that God became man for the sake of man’s salvation.
Existing as God before time began, Jesus would enter the world as a new creation to undo the damage of the Original Sin of Adam and Eve. Now, as both God and Man, Jesus is referred to as the “New Adam”.
Jesus is Emmanuel, the child prophesized in the Old Testament who would be born of a Virgin and whose name means “God is with us”. This prophecy was fulfilled when the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus.
The only natural Son of the Father, Jesus was conceived not by a human father but by the power of the Holy Spirit. When Catholics are baptized, a new birth through the same Holy Spirit, they become adopted children of God the Father.
Mary’s virginity is fundamental to who she is. She conceived Jesus while still a virgin, stayed a virgin during his birth, and remains a virgin for eternity.
Married to Joseph but not having consummated the marriage, Mary revealed her intention to remain a virgin when the Angel announced that she had been chosen to give birth to God’s son. Jesus was conceived when she gave her consent.
Immune to the effects of Original Sin because of her immaculate Conception, Mary may not have experienced any pain during childbirth and her anatomical, biological, and spiritual virginity remained intact.
The Virgin Birth of Jesus defies the laws of science. It is a miraculous sign where God reveals himself in a way that cannot be explained by human knowledge.
The Virgin Mary and child Jesus point to something special:
Belief in the Virgin Birth is significant:
A prophecy fulfilled in the Virgin Birth:
Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.
Matthew 1: 18-24
Mary is both mother and virgin at the same time:
By his virginal conception, Jesus, the New Adam, ushers in the new birth of children adopted in the Holy Spirit through faith. “How can this be?” Participation in the divine life arises “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God”. The acceptance of this life is virginal because it is entirely the Spirit’s gift to man. The spousal character of the human vocation in relation to God is fulfilled perfectly in Mary’s virginal motherhood.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 505
Mary experienced childbirth in a unique way:
Mary remained a virgin even while delivering Jesus:
The Sacred Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testament, as well as ancient Tradition show the role of the Mother of the Saviour in the economy of salvation in an ever clearer light and draw attention to it. The books of the Old Testament describe the history of salvation, by which the coming of Christ into the world was slowly prepared. These earliest documents, as they are read in the Church and are understood in the light of a further and full revelation, bring the figure of the woman, Mother of the Redeemer, into a gradually clearer light. When it is looked at in this way, she is already prophetically foreshadowed in the promise of victory over the serpent which was given to our first parents after their fall into sin. Likewise she is the Virgin who shall conceive and bear a son, whose name will be called Emmanuel.
Pope Paul VI, Lumen Gentium, 21 November 1964
The virgin Birth is an essential teaching of the Church:
Symbolically the Son of David but really the Son of God:
Miracles go beyond the natural order:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
Seeing Scripture through a Catholic lens:
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