the Church of the Nativity is also a
good place for us to think about the
dogma of Mary's perpetual virginity the
Catholic Church teaches that Mary
conceived of Jesus by the power of the
Holy Spirit as a virgin and the church
also teaches that Mary remained a virgin
all throughout her life but there's one
verse in Luke's account of the Nativity
story that makes some people wonder
could that really be true did Mary
really remain a virgin throughout her
life Luke chapter 2 verse 7 says that
Mary gave birth to her firstborn son and
laid him in a manger now Jesus is
described as Mary's firstborn son some
people say that seems to imply that
Jesus had other brothers and sisters
that Mary had other children Jesus is
just the first of other kids and besides
the New Testament also has other
passages that talk about Jesus's
brothers and sisters Matthew chapter 13
verse 55 for example speaks of Jesus's
brethren and even gives them some some
names so how can Catholics believe that
Mary remained a virgin throughout her
life first of all that term firstborn
son that does not imply that Mary had
other children that is a term used to
describe the first child to come out of
the mother's womb
whether that mother had other children
or not it's a title highlighting that
important son who receives the blessing
and the family inheritance and so it's a
title but the other passages in the New
Testament that speak of Jesus's brethren
how do we make sense out of those well
the term used there in the New Testament
is a Greek word Adela Foy and what's
interesting to note is that in the
Hebrew language of the Jewish world
there was no word to describe cousins
and so if somebody wanted to talk about
cousins or other extended family they
used the word brothers often and you see
that reflected in the New Testament
Greek here in in the Gospels but also in
the Old Testament translation that was
put into Greek known as the Septuagint
there we find the Greek word at Delphi
used in on some occasions to describe
not physical brothers and sisters but
extended family for example sometimes
the term is used to describe cousins
other times like in John in Genesis
chapter 13 it's used to describe a
relationship between an uncle and a
nephew Abraham and lot sometimes the
word is even used to scribe people that
aren't related physically at all they're
just simply men bound together by
covenant so the term adolfo does not
necessarily imply that there were actual
physical brothers and sisters it is a
broader term used to describe extended
family but the one verse in the Bible
that perhaps helps support Mary's
perpetual virginity the most comes near
the end of Jesus's life in John's Gospel
chapter 19 in this scene it's right
before Jesus dies he does a wonderful
act of taking care of his mother he
entrusts his mother Mary into the care
of the Beloved Disciple his best friends
st. John now think about what that would
mean if Jesus had other brothers and
sisters of Mary had other children who
would Jesus entrust his mother to his
best friend if he had brothers and
sisters of course not
here we see in John 19 strong biblical
support for the Catholic traditional
understanding that Mary remained a
virgin all her life
you