catholicsphere

I keep reading from various commentators that speak of how wrong the movie The Nativity Story gets the birth of Jesus. But, I didn’t see it the way they did.

Going into the movie, I had heard reviews that mentioned that the film was in opposition to Catholic doctrine related to Mary giving birth to Jesus without pain. Afterwards, I came away feeling that the critics were mistaken in their criticism.

For a little background, there is Catholic teaching which states that Mary delivered Jesus without pain. The basis for this teaching is due to the fact that she was freed by God from being stained by original sin (that is, by an action of God, in order to prepare her to be the Mother of God, Mary was born with perfect sanctifying grace in her soul.) Pain in child-birth was one result of original sin, therefore, if Mary was born without original sin on her soul, child-birth should have been painless.

So, why did I feel these commentators and critics were mistaken in their assessment of the depiction in The Nativity Story? Because, when contrasted with the labor and delivery of St. John the Baptist by St. Elizabeth, the labor and delivery of Jesus was a piece of cake. I believe the commentators mistook the effort of labor, with the pain of labor. I did not feel that the depiction in the film was of Mary in anguish, but rather simply putting forth a bit of effort in order to deliver Jesus.

That said, there is some tradition in the Catholic Church that states that Jesus was miraculously born as well, which means that there was also no effort on Mary’s part; that Jesus passed through the walls of the womb without disturbing the birth canal. Of this, there is much more examination that must be done. Which I may comment on later.

However, if the belief is simply that Mary’s giving birth to Jesus was a painless, natural birth … then I feel the commentators should abandon their concerns, as the film depicts a painless, if not effortless, birth.

[tags]nativity story, jesus, birth, virgin, mary, catholic, faith, christmas, christ, christian, doctrine, apologetics[/tags]