Why Don’t We Know Mary’s IQ ?

Not only do we not know the Blessed Virgin Mary’s IQ, but we also don’t know how tall she is, the color of her hair, how fast she could run, or whether or not she liked figs with honey and wine. We know very little about Mary.

Consider what we know about various so-called “celebrities.”  We know how they look, how they looked at birth, how they looked in high school, what they did yesterday, how many hundreds of thousands of dollars they spent on their most recent wedding, what they did well last week, and for many of them all about many of their actions that appear to be sins. And that is of course how they want it because if we know about them, and if we want to know about them, then they can have more and more of the indicators by which this world gauges success and goodness. Their me-me-me lives are focused on satisfying worldly success criteria described biblically as the “lusts of the world.”

John the Apostle makes this clear: “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” (1 John 2:16).  The way to modern celebrity for many today is to have the pursuit of these three lusts as the goal for one’s actions and to have as many persons as possible know all about their gratification of these lusts. But who will know about these “legends in their own time”? in 10 years, a hundred years? Who was the number one box office star in 1934? The most powerful politician in America in 1899? The number one entertainer in the world in 1900? Which living celebrities have publicly celebrated their sins in the last few years whose names will even be known by anyone thirty years from now?

Mary – Minimal Information in Holy Scripture

What we do know about Mary from Holy Scripture is precious  – pun intended –  little, and we know even less of the actual words she spoke on this earth. Her biblical presence includes the annunciation, the visitation, the birth of the baby Jesus, the flight into Egypt, the return to Israel, the loss of the boy Jesus, her coming to where Jesus is preaching, the wedding at Cana, the crucifixion, and Pentecost. The Book of the Apocalypse probably refers to Mary. It is tradition, not the Bible, that tells us that Jesus appeared first to Mary after His rising from the dead.

Old Testament prophecies probably describe her or allude to her, but she is not named in them.

Other than the Magnificat, Mary’s prayer hymn recounted only in the Gospel of St. Luke, we know very few words which she actually spoke.

She is- Deo Gratias! – Not of This World

Mary is beyond the celebrity of this world. She is not a star in the sense of the “rich and famous”  here and now.  But she is the human being with the least sin, i.e., none.  She is unlike each and every other human being who has been conceived with the stain of original sin. She is truly the mother of God.  She is truly in heaven now,  body and soul, with her Son.  The Bible, the best selling book of all time with an estimated 5 billion copies published,  tells us about her – not about popular actresses in the amphitheater at Caeserea, not about the winners at the recent Olympic games of 30 A.D., and not about any speech by any of the Caesars, the most powerful men on earth when they were alive.

Protestants and Mary

This article assumes that the Church’s teachings, dogmas, and doctrines directed to and about Mary are true. This article is an effort to discuss why we know so little about Mary. It is NOT a discussion of the truths we do know. Many protestants agree with these truths.  No matter how many protestant thinkers, theologians, scholars, and writers, there are who disagree with the Church’s teaching, and no matter how many protestant denominations there are (whether about 200, at least 22,000,  30,000 or over 47,000 depending on which authoritative protestant source you consult)  which officially disagree with the teachings about Mary, there are many who agree with the Church.

Martin Luther, a quintessential protestant, who knew the Bible backward and forwards, who said “Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong,” had a deep devotion to Mary and accepted the Church’s primary doctrines about her that are now rejected by certain protestant denominations and sects.  He saw Mary as the Theotokos, the  Mother of God, and as immaculately conceived. He never denied Mary’s Assumption. In accord with the founders of other protestant denominations, (e.g., Calvin, Zwingli, Cranmer), Luther believed in the perpetual virginity of Mary (she birthed no siblings of Jesus, and had no other child).

Need To Know Basis

Since God inspired Holy Scripture, we have to assume that He decided to have it include all we need to know about Mary. This “need” is not defined in terms of the needs of this world, but what do we need to know, and do, to be happy in Our Father’s kingdom beyond this world forever.

From the information made available by God, we know Mary was humble, obedient, serene, solicitous, faithful, kind, and “full of grace.” We know she knew her Son as only a mother can. Why was more information not provided?  Since God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and God’s ways are not our ways, these types of “God, why?” questions get no direct answer. The situation is like Thomas Aquinas’s response to the “Why, God, if you are infinite and omnipotent and you love me, why is there pain and evil?”

To paraphrase Thomas’s thinking here: God wants us happy with Him for all eternity, and He has given us some, what appears to be minimal, information about Mary. We have faith, and, therefore, believe there is a good divine reason for His not filling in all the blanks about the Mother of God.  We do not know and cannot fathom His divine reasons, and just the knowledge of this should be enough for us- and enough to help us on our way back to Him.

So we go on, and we say again and again that prayer which, by some estimates, is one of the most recited prayers  in all of human history, “Hail, Mary, full of grace . . . “