if you ask me..

How can anyone ever consider the possibility that Mary had other children and that Jesus had other brothers and sisters? If we do a little reflection, I believe the answers become obvious.

Let’s look at it from a purely human viewpoint. Mary is the only creature on earth and through all of time worthy to be God’s human tabernacle. A purer human did not and will not exist. Mary gave consent and permitted the Holy Spirit to enter, therefore allowing God to truly become flesh.

It is unimaginable that she would be used further to simply reproduce. We are talking about the spouse of the Holy Spirit. After this greatest honor; does anyone actually believe that any mortal could measure up? Preposterous! Mary, the Mother of God, Our Lord, did not concern herself with pursuing personal satisfaction.

Another factor to consider is; Why would Jesus speak from the cross to Saint John and say, ‘behold your mother’, if he had any siblings? This was sort of his will or testament and the opportunity to declare the revised family hierarchy. The answer is this; Jesus is declaring Mary as Mother of all of us ‘brothers and sisters’.

This reverence can be traced back to the early church from the writings of the Church Fathers. Even more surprising; Today most Protestants are unaware of these early beliefs regarding Mary’s virginity and the proper interpretation of "the brethren of the Lord." And yet, the Protestant Reformers themselves—Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli—honored the perpetual virginity of Mary and recognized it as the teaching of the Bible, as have other, more modern Protestants.

I think that Pope Siricius I said it best; “You had good reason to be horrified at the thought that another birth might issue from the same virginal womb from which Christ was born according to the Flesh. For the Lord Jesus would never have chosen to be born of a virgin if he had ever judged that she would be so incontinent as to contaminate with the seed of human intercourse the birthplace of the Lord's body, chat court of the eternal King” (Letter to Bishop Anysius [A.D. 392]).

In this day and age we are reluctant to put people on pedestals; however we should not hesitate when it comes to Our Lady. And for those who say we should not honor Mary I leave you with words from Bishop Sheen, “When I am judged and the worst thing Our Lord tells me is that I loved his mother too much, I won’t be too concerned.”