Posted by Phil St. Romain on May 09, 19101 at 11:52:43:
In Reply to: Re: Rev.12:1 posted by Gold Acacia on May 09, 19101 at 10:50:34:
OK, but WHO is the "bright woman shining through all the generations?"
You got my curiosity up on this one, so I looked it up in the Jerusalem bible footnotes, which states "The woman is essentially an image of Israel as the mother of the messianic savior . . . her pain is travail may recall the curse of Eve, whose offspinrg would ultimately wound the serpent, so that Israel is seen as representing all humanity. It does not seem probable that John had Mary in mind or intended any allusion to the physical birth of the Messiah in the incarnation."
Does not seem probable? I wonder why not? Sometimes these scripture scholars miss a step or two in their reasoning, it seems.
Whatever the case, the Church makes use of this passage in a number of Marian liturgies, which implies some kind of association with Mary, I would think.
Thanks for hanging in with this slow dialogue. I shall check these forums more faithfully from now on.
Shalom. Phil