No Apologies #2: Prefigurements of Mary in the Old Testament

What gives anyone the right to read an OT event and assign a ‘type’ to it? The NT never calls the ark of the covenant a ‘type’ of Mary. Since it contains the Bread of Life, couldn’t it rather be a ‘type’ of Christ’s tomb, or something else? This is where Protestants have problems with this typology. I am a ‘revert’ to the Catholic faith, but I still have problems with this. I was in the Plymouth Brethren for 16 years, and we had a well known ‘expert’ in typology in our fellowship that believed that everything in the OT was a type, and he wrote books on it. He was extremely anti-Catholic, and used ‘types’ to prove that the Anti-Christ was the Roman Church. This is very dangerous territory, and I cannot accept as fact any ‘type’ that is not supported by NT text.

I anxiously await the next
Thank You

I too, can see no reason for imposing Mary as the ark of the covenant (the one containing the tablet, jar of manna, and aaron’s budded rod)… Much more like the church than mary (the teaching , the bread of life, and apostolic authority).

can’t wait for the nxt episode..to.answer bobs question…God bless…

Wonderful! I can’t wait for the next episode and also recommend Scott Hahn’s beautiful book “Hail Holy Queen” which answers so many questions about Mary.

Dear Father Joseph Mary, I am an individual who has had a private vision encounter with Mary. I know that Mary is the Queen of Heaven because this is how she revealed herself to me. I also know that Mary is a Champion of the Faithful and has a very powerful mission for the Church and the entire World. I fear that your teachings may give some people a lesser idea of Mary’s true greatness, power, and urgency of mission than is actually the case. Perhaps, I am simply not understanding you. How does the Ark of Convenant reveal it’s great love for the Jewish people as Mary reveals her love for us?

Thank you, Fra Joseph for this wonderful series — truly apologetics with Love!

To some of the comments, a few points on the subject of types:
We know Jesus taught His Disciples to look for Him in Jewish Scripture. For example, Luke 24:27, “Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures.”

However, I believe Jesus also teaches us how to recognize when the Holy Spirit intended people, things or events in the Old Testament as a prefigurement or type of something in the future. When Jesus says in Matt 12:41 & 42, that “there is something greater than Jonah [or Solomon] here,” He is pointing out a key characteristic of a type, that is, the type is always lesser than what it prefigures.

For example, Jesus on the Cross has far greater power to heal than the bronze serpent Moses lifted up. Mary is far greater than the Arc made with human hands.

Regarding, Mary, there are at least 7 parallels in Scripture between the Blessed Mother and the Arc of the Covenant — too many to be mere wishful thinking on the part of Catholics.

If you are one who is trying to work through doubts about Mary, consider this: God never uses people and He certainly did not use Mary’s body as simply raw materials to fashion a gestation chamber for His Son. Otherwise, why would He send His angel to kneel before her (1st time a proud Archangel knelt before a human,) and Hail her, Mary, with an expression used for royalty? Or allow all Heaven and earth, to witness Him, the Alpha & the Omega, asking for Her consent? Did Moses ask the wood and gold for their consent before being hammered into the Arc?

It’s really quite amazing when you think about it. Ms JM McKee, OP

I’m not able to play this at this time (as this appears to be republished from and earlier time since the comments are from previous years). I was able to view the previous No Apologetics, but not this one.

Does anyone else have this issue?