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Q&A: Our Knowledge of Our Lady Is From The Holy Spirit?
Montfort says the reasons which moved the Holy Spirit to hide Mary during her life and to reveal her but very little no longer subsist. Please explain.
Fr. James McMillan, SMM
Submitted by SM., Brooklyn, NY.
Our Knowledge of Our Lady Is From The Holy Spirit?
In the passage you refer to (T.D. no. 49), Montfort is alluding to the fact that our knowledge of the Blessed Virgin and of her role in the Redemption developed, like other truths of the faith, over the course of the centuries. While it is true that revelation was complete with the death of the apostle St. John, the Church nevertheless continued — and still continues — to explore and deepen its understanding of the various truths of the Faith.
It was necessary, in the early days of the Church, to develop and explain first of all the truths about Christ the Messiah and Redeemer: He is true God and true man, of the same divine nature as the Father and the Holy Spirit, His death was a true and genuine sacrifice. He truly rose from the dead. He is the source of salvation for all mankind, etc.
With the deeper understanding of the nature, the person and the mission of Christ, there came a consequent and concomitant development in knowledge of Our Blessed Lady. In defining the great truths about Christ, the Church learned more about the role of the Blessed Virgin in our redemption, since she is, after all, the associate of Christ in the salvation of mankind.
And since the Holy Spirit guides the Church in these matters, Montfort appropriately attributes this growth of knowledge of Our Lady to the work of the Holy Spirit.
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