Nicole Melhado
Canção Nova News

Translated from Portuguese

Among monotheistic religions, Catholicism is the only that offers reverence to a woman having a fundamental role. “The great

Throughout the history of Christianity, women have always had active and fundamental roles, stresses Professor Lino Rampazzo Th.D.

Christian faith, is summarized in this formula: Jesus Christ was born and resurrected for our salvation, but He came into the world through a woman: Mary”. This is what Professor Lino Rampazzo anthropologist and theologian explained.

According to the theologian, The Virgin Mary has a role determined in the Bible. “In the New Testament and in the Acts of the Apostles,” explained the professor, “She appears a few times, but in fundamental moments: the annunciation, birth of Christ, first miracle in the wedding of Cana, at the feet of the cross and in the birth of the Church, in Pentecost. ”

The scholar also pointed out that Mary is the woman who complements the words of the Old Testament, through examples of faith and obedience. She prays the Psalms, fulfills the religious precepts, bringing the child Jesus to the Temple, and at the same time it is she that acts and reserves the words of Christ in her heart.

Through the four dogmas—virginity, immaculate conception, divine maternity and assumption to Heaven—The Catholic Church presents this extraordinary woman that is Mary, emphasizes the theologian, and all these dogmas bring Christ. “At the same time, God it is who gives Salvation, He asks human colaboration, asking Mary her colaboration, and she shows herself willing and believes. It is all this that comes to us through the hands of a woman” he affirms.

And saying that Mary is the mother of God, for the professor, is an easier way of understanding Jesus is true God and true man: Virgin mother daughter of her Son”

The vision of Mary ascended to Heaven shows Christians that the goal of all is not in this present life, as the professor points out, upon affirming also that it is she that participates primarily in the Salvation of Christ through her assumption.

We cannot say that speaking of Mary leads us away from Christ because all that is great in Mary has its foundation in Christ”, details Lino Rampazzo.

The Women of the Bible

The doctor in theology stresses also the strong feminine presence in the Bible, remembering the women that accompanied Jesus and his Apostles. “In the moment most difficult when Jesus gave his supreme testimony on the cross there was only one man present and all others were women. And on the day of resurrection it was the women that went to the tomb of Jesus,” the professor elucidated.

St. Ambrose, for example defines the importance of Mary Magdalene called the “apostle of the apostles”, justly because it is she that announced the resurrection to the disciples.

The Great Women of the Church

Already in the Book of Genesis, when the creation of humanity is explained, God shows the role of man and of woman. “Saying that woman came from the side of man, means to show that she is not above or below, but at the side, the woman is the companion of the man, she completes him. The man cannot translate all the gifts of humanity if he has not put the woman at his side.” emphasized the theologian.

For Lino Rampazza, the woman is the heart of society and her major gifts is affectivity; without her the society would be cold and would not perceive all the aspects of reality.

“If we look at the figures of the great men, we see at their side a figure of a woman. Many times it is a mother, spouse, a daughter, a figure of a woman that understands and acts better in society” he stresses.

Over the centuries, women play roles of great importance and prominence in the Church and society. Among them, there are the doctors of the Church – St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Lisieux and St. Teresa of Avila – the great saints such as St. Clare of Assisi, Saints Perpetua and Felicity, the martyrs Saint Agatha and Saint Lucy And the great twentieth-century Catholic women like Mother Teresa and Chiara Lubich.

photo credit: file photo