Pat Arensberg: Mary's Virginal Intent

“How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”  -Luke 1:34

I believe, although this is certainly not taught authoritatively by the Church, that Mary was planning to remain a virgin even though she was betrothed to Joseph.  We may take up the issue of why she would be married if intending to remain a virgin, but for now let us simply say that there were no convents and people could not survive alone.  There was no Winn Dixie to run to for groceries.

I am struck by the tense of the verbs in the discussion between Mary and Gabriel.  He comes to a woman who is engaged to be married and tells her that she will get pregnant (in the future).  Her answer is, in essence, “Wait a minute.  How can that happen (in the future) since I am a virgin?”  She clearly gets the connection between sex and pregnancy.  She clearly does not understand how she is going to get pregnant in the future.  

Look if the angel told her, “Mary, behold you are with child” her question would make sense.  She was a virgin at that point.  But the angel points to a future time when a pregnancy would occur.  If a girl who was engaged to be married was visited by an angel and told that she would bear a son and that son would become the president, she would have many questions.  But, I would be willing to bet that she would not ask how she was supposed to get pregnant.  The assumption would be that she would get pregnant with her husband.  Mary’s question, I would argue, points to an intention to remain a virgin even after her wedding to St. Joseph.  

In a certain respect the issue is a moot point.  As soon as Mary became pregnant by the power of the Most High she belonged to him in a spousal way, and was therefore off limits to Joseph.  We know that Mary remained perpetually a virgin, and this truth is because of transcendence of the Incarnate Word.  

About Pat Arensberg Patrick Arensberg is the Director of Religious Education for the Archdiocese of Mobile. Previously, he taught for 17 years at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, where he served as Chairman of the Theology Department. He attended the Gregorian University in Rome and holds an M.A. in Theology from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. He is married to Connie and they live in Mobile with their 5 children.