Question on the Virgin Mary

[Guest Guest]

I think Ive read how the Church teaches that Mary remained free from bodily stain all through her life, ie: her Perpetual Virginity. Does such as expression- "free from bodily stain"- imply anything else about the unique priviliges God gave her..., ie:(excuse me I don't want to sound irreverent or anything like that...) was monthly menstruation applicable to her?

[Laudate_Dominum]

The phrase that I'm familiar with (from the papal definition of the Immaculate Conception) describes Our Lady as preserved from all stain of sin. I'm not sure about the bodily stain thing and the connection with her virginity because the concept of this question seems to imply that the body is evil and corrupt and that sexuality is unclean in some way. (forgive me if I'm wrong)
The meaning of Our Lady's virginity makes sense primarily in its positive dimension; namely that her heart, her soul, her entire being belongs totally to God. She was the handmaid of the Lord and the spouse of the Holy Spirit.
Consider her virginity in the context of religious sisters (whose vocations call them to be little icons of Our Lady); the meaning of their vocation and consecrated virginity is not defined by their renunciation of things bodily and sexual but in their absolute and total gift of self to God alone. This sort of thing is essential to the meaning of Our Lady's virginity, integrity, Divine maternity, etc.

The language of "the stain of sin" is common to much of western theology and it has a particular meaning in the context of the western theological tradition. Honestly I think it is a somewhat ambiguous phrase and I'd say it's a bit too metaphorical for my taste.
I admit that it does have a certain poetic value but many people seem to derive what I consider to be a somewhat inaccurate picture of the nature of original sin from the connotations of this phrase.

Here are the words of Pope Pius IX:
[i]The Blessed Virgin was, through grace, entirely free from every stain of sin, and from all corruption of body, soul and mind; that she was always united with God and joined to him by an eternal covenant; that she was never in darkness but always in light; and that, therefore, she was entirely a fit habitation for Christ, not because of the state of her body, but because of her original grace.[/i]
The point I'm trying to draw out is the primacy of the soul in this discussion. The issue of whether or not Our Lady experienced a menstrual cycle is not something that has a definitive answer that I am aware of. I suppose it is something of a distasteful subject of speculation; but my opinion would be that she did. Menstruation is a natural process and there is nothing unclean about it. The Jewish ceremonial laws prescribed ritual cleansing and things of this sort connected with the idea that menstruation was unclean, but the same Jesus Christ who broke all the rules when it came to unclean food and all of that would likely have shattered the menstruation taboo in his birth (at least I would think so). And perhaps the fact that Mary went through the ritual washing stuff (as the Bible mentions) indicates that she experienced her period.

Anyway, there is no definitive answer that I am aware of but in my opinion I see no real reason to assume that Mary did not experience normal femininity in that regard. Perhaps she was spared from the cramps and everything else, not sure.