The Person of Mary: Knowledge©

The charts below are direct quotes from Post-Vatican II Magisterial Documents concerning the theme, Mary's Knowledge. These teachings of the Catholic Church may prove useful to include in talks,in homilies or for research. For the full title and document data, click on the abbreviation code (for example, BYM leads you to the document, Behold Your Mother). This will also lead you to the complete document on this website, or assist you in locating it elsewhere.

For an index of the documents used in the study see: List of Magisterial Documents
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Documents	V. The Person of Mary / 5c. Humanness / Knowledge
Lumen Gentium, 1964	They [Mary and Joseph] did not understand the words of their Son. 57 pondered in her heart 57
Behold Your Mother (USA), 1973	Entrusted with this precious life of her Child, Mary loved it, and defended it against all dangers. She protected Jesus before and after He was born. 135
Gaudete in Domino, 1975	She grasped, better than all other creatures, that God accomplishes wonderful things: His name is holy, He shows his mercy, he raises up the humble, he is faithful to his promises. #
Catechesi Tradendae, 1979	She received from Him lessons that she kept in her heart. (cf. Lk 2:51) 73
Dives in Misericordia, 1980	Mary, then, is the one who has the deepest knowledge of the mystery of God's mercy. She knows its price; she knows how great it is. 9
Redemptoris Mater, 1987	Mary knows she has conceived and given birth to him "without having a husband," by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the power of the Most High who overshadowed her (cf. Lk. 1:35), just as at the time of Moses and the Patriarchs the cloud covered the presence of God (cf. Ex. 24:16; 40:34-35; 1 Kings 8:10-12). Therefore Mary knows that the Son to whom she gave birth in a virginal manner is precisely that "Holy One," the Son of God, of whom the angel spoke to her. 17 She does not know him as the Father does; and yet she is the first of those to whom the Father "has chosen to reveal him." (cf. Mt. 11:26-27; 1 Cor. 2:11) If though, from the moment of the Annunciation, the Son - whom only the Father knows completely, as the one who begets him in the eternal "today" (cf. Ps. 2:7) -was revealed to Mary, she, his Mother, is in contact with the truth about her Son only in faith and through faith! 17 [lived in same home, "knew" and yet] "And they (Joseph and Mary) did not understand the saying which he spoke to them." (Lk. 2:48-50) Jesus was aware that "no one knows the Son except the Father" (cf. Mt. 11:27); thus even his Mother, to whom had been revealed most completely the mystery of his divine sonship, lived in intimacy with this mystery only through faith! 17
Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 2002	Christ is the supreme Teacher, the revealer and the one revealed. It is not just a question of learning what he taught but of "learning him." In this regard could we have any better teacher than Mary? From the divine standpoint, the Spirit is the interior teacher who leads us to the full truth of Christ. (cf. Jn 14:26; 15:26; 16:13) But among creatures no one knows Christ better than Mary; no one can introduce us to a profound knowledge of his mystery better than his Mother. 14

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