All Else Confusion

Last night in my CCD class, one of the girls asked me if Mary suffered labor pains. She often asks these great speculative questions, and I don't want to discourage her. It was a great opportunity to encourage my students to apply what they've learned to a theological question. Of course, they were annoyed that I didn't just give them an answer! But I've been trying to teach them to think through their answers. I don't want them to just be able to parrot a catechism.

The argument went like this:

One girl: "God created woman to have pains in labor so if Mary didn't have pain that wouldn't be REASONABLE" (I've been emphasizing that God is reasonable and doesn't contradict himself.)

Second girl: "But, Mary's child was special so it would make sense if she had a special labor."

Me: "Mary is the Immaculate Conception. Conception means beginning - for people it means the moment when they begin. Immaculate means spotless, pure. That means Mary's beginning was spotless, not stained by sin."

One boy: "The effects of Original Sin are suffering and death."

Second girl: "So, if Mary didn't have Original Sin, she also didn't have the effects and didn't suffer."

We never got to a decision about whether or not Mary suffered labor pains, but I'm excited about the conversation. They were really thinking!

The discussion turned out to be very timely with the recent screening of The Nativity Story. Check out this review by American Papist and this discussion at Fr. John Zuhlsdorf's blog.

Labels: CCD, Mary