Did You Know?
December 24, 2008
“Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you’ve delivered, will soon deliver you.
Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.
The blind will see, the deaf will hear and the dead will live again.
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb.
Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you’re holding is the great I am.”
Before you go and call me a Grinch for criticizing this song, let me wish you all a very Merry Christmas! 
Ok, now onto topic. The song Mary, did you know? by Mark Lowry. Not necessarily the worst song ever written, but definitely not for Christian Circle nor Catholic singers. Why? It is in direct contradiction to Holy Scripture and the Catholic Faith! Take for example several of the lines:
“This child that you’ve delivered, will soon deliver you.”
-This line is in direct contradiction with the Church’s Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Meaning, Our Blessed Mother was born free from attachment to sin. She did not need deliverance, like the rest of us. For, how could she bring Christ into the world, if she herself was tainted by sin?
“And when you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God. , This sleeping child you’re holding is the great I am.”
-These particularly aggravate me. Of course Mary knew that her Child was God! I mean, the Angel Gabriel appeared to her at the Annunciation, didn’t he? She consented to God’s will, that “The Holy Spirit shall descend upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you. You shall conceive and bear a Son, and he shall called Emmanuel. (God is with us.)” How could someone possibly write a song so confusing? And what is especially frightening is that many Church’s actually play this song! It downplays the Divine Relationship between Mother and Child! Have we lost all sense of what we believe in? Have we wandered that far from the teachings of Holy Mother Church about the Mother of God’s Immaculate Conception?
Heresy!
Case Closed! 
Master Paul Xavier
Illustrious marceg
Miss Angela Rose
Lady Kerin
mjlovesballet
December 24, 2008 at 7:02 PM
Uhoh…I like that song. Yes there may be some doctrinal errors but last thing I checked this wasn’t being packaged as truth. I think it’s a beautiful idea even if there are some errors.
December 24, 2008 at 8:21 PM
It might not have been, but still…Catholics shouldn’t be endorsing something in a religious sense which isn’t truth.
December 24, 2008 at 8:34 PM
Ha..i guess we should really listen to the words of the songs we are listening to.
December 24, 2008 at 10:17 PM
Well put, Paul. It’s rather unfortunate that the song made its way so far around, when it’s so far off. I’m reminded of my CYO leader, he’s gone on a number of diatribes about this song.
MJ, it’s not just the “some errors” in there. It’s the entire premise of the song. It implies that Mary was utterly ignorant of her child’s entire destiny, etc., et al. I suspect Gabriel filled Mary in on quite a lot. And it is being “packaged as truth”, as it’s a song, which is one method of communication, and because it’s quite obviously not satire.
December 25, 2008 at 12:24 AM
My family and I have never been a big fan of that song, exactly for those reasons. “Breath of Heaven” is also on my list of “heretical Christmas Songs”.
December 25, 2008 at 12:25 AM
Oh, merry Christmas!!!
December 25, 2008 at 12:29 PM
Mary, as the Immaculate Conception, was free of sin, yes. But that was because God had already redeemed her before she could sin so that she could give birth to Jesus She is divine (as the Queen of Heaven), but she is still human.
Also, she wasn’t all knowing. I would assume that after the Annunciation she knew SOMETHING big was going to happen through her son (him being the Savior and all) but did she really KNOW everything? I don’t think so. I mean, like I said before, she was human.
Another thing: I don’t think the song is saying, “Hey, did you even have a clue about this stuff?” I think it’s more of an attitude of awe like, “Wow, that’s so amazing that you bore the Son of God! Did you know how great He is? When you gave birth to Him, were you able to understand the depth of His divinity?” The way I read the lyrics, it’s not supposed to be demeaning of disrespectful, but more of a child asking Mary in his innocence, “Wow, did you know all that?”
But I didn’t write the song, so I wouldn’t know. I do think it is beautiful, though, when it’s thought of as a reverent awe.
December 26, 2008 at 10:03 PM
Everyone here so far has offered well-made points. My sentiments are similar to Rosa’s: while our Lady certainly knew that her baby was the Son of God and the Messiah, the entirety of His work not necessarily clear to her. Gabriel had told her this child would “save His people from their sins”, but she may not have known how. She probably could not foresee his walking on water, or healing a blind man (though I don’t think His miracles surprised her). In this song we are, in a sense, sharing in Mary’s experience of the humbling awe that any young mother might feel while gazing at her infant child. She knows he is a gift of God, placed here – through her – for a purpose. Though the clear details of that purpose are not known to her, she can rejoice and wonder at what God may do through the life of her child. In this song, we can be wondering and praising with this Blessed Mother that she is able to “kiss the face of God”!
As far as singing about Mary’s deliverance, that one could be taken a few ways. Her Immaculate Conception does not mean that she did not need deliverance, but that the Lord chose to redeem her “in advance”, from the first moment of existence. The language of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception clearly explains that her sinlessness was not by her own merits, but through the saving merits of our Lord. The Church Fathers compare her salvation and ours to a person falling into a hidden pit in the ground. There are two ways to be saved from the pit: by being pulled out after falling, or by being guided around the pit so as to not fall in the first place. Mary’s sanctification was by the latter: she was saved from the “pit” of original sin without falling into it. Thus, referring to her deliverance is not the problem, but the speaking of it as not having happened yet, or as coming in the future (“This child that you’ve delivered will soon deliver you”). While Christ’s saving work is coming, it has already delivered her; the merits of Christ’s sacrifice have reached outside of time.
In fact, I think I may have once heard a recording of this song by a Catholic, in which they altered the lyrics to something like “This child that you’ve delivered has too delivered you”. I remember noticing and appreciating their truer meaning!
God bless, and a blessed Christmas to all.
December 27, 2008 at 6:56 AM
P.S. Rosa, I just re-read your comment again and wanted to clarify that Mary was not divine. She was purified, yes, but God exclusively is divine. She is indeed the Queen of Heaven, and Immaculate, but that is different from divine.
I agree with the rest of your comment.
December 27, 2008 at 12:06 PM
Paul, I understand what you are saying and yet I don’t. How can this song be an act of heresy since Mark Lowry isn’t Catholic? His lyrics might not convey the teachings of Holy Mother Church but then again he isn’t a follower of those teachings.
December 27, 2008 at 12:25 PM
Miss Rose,
Here is a bit of an explaination. It is an act of heresy, because it contradicts our Catholic belief. Its a perversion of the truth. That truth being that God became Man and dwelt among us, and He was brought into this world by the Blessed Mother. It contradicts scripture, it contradicts truth.
So it is heresy. Just as the Protestants have the title of heretics even though they are not Catholic. Because they share some beliefs yet reject others. Same with the song. It rejects Our Lady’s knowledge of her conception.
December 27, 2008 at 2:01 PM
Mary was conceived without sin because the future merits of our redemption was applied to her at her conception…redemption came because of Christ’s death..she WAS delivered. This song is not a theology lesson..there is artistic license in it. Just as in the “Passion of the Christ” had some theological errors but it is not heresy because it wasn’t intended to be a doctrinal lesson..“And when you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God, This sleeping child youre holding is the great I am.”I do not understand your aggravation in this line..it just exemplifies the awesomeness of Mary’s motherhood to the SON OF GOD. Her son would be the man who would live to die for US. And yes, he also died for HER.
December 27, 2008 at 10:58 PM
Claire,
I see what you’re saying. Let me correct myself: I’m not saying Mary is some kind of Goddess, but as God’s Mother, she’s pretty high up there. That’s what I meant by “divine.” But I suppose “purified” or “immaculate” might have been a better word choice.
December 27, 2008 at 11:04 PM
Our Lady is not a Goddess. But she IS free from all stain of sin. This is clearly explained by the Church, and these lyrics go against that declaration, because Christ came to free Man from sin, yet, how can he deliver someone who doesn’t need delivering? (Mary, free from sin.)
December 28, 2008 at 2:13 PM
Ave Maria,
Master Paul,
May Jesus bless you for defending our Mother.
December 30, 2008 at 8:26 PM
It is so sad. We want Our Lady known, and Loved, and honored throughout the world. In fact to know Jesus is through Mary. And becuase of songs like this one. The message about Our Lady is all wrong. Our Lady had no sin Our Lady is perfect. Our Lady is the Mother of God.
Our Lady, help us spread your true name!
January 2, 2009 at 12:11 PM
Paul,
I have HUGE devotion to the Blessed Mother. Please don’t think I’m belittling her by posting this. I can understand why these lyrics irk you. But Christ’s death was necessary for Mary’s existence as the God-bearer. She was free from original sin only because Jesus was going to die on the cross. Because she was human, she did need delivering at some point, even if that point was before her conception. She was never touched with sin because God sent Jesus to save, and that salvation transcended time.
It would have made sense to say something other than “will soon deliver you” because, after she gave birth to him, when the song is supposed to take place, it was irrelevant to say something like that since Mary was conceived, born and had lived several years already, all free from sin. So yes, she did not need delivering at this point, but she needed deivering at some point in time, before her natural life.
Amen to Regina, Our Lady should be seen and loved and honored as the Queen of HEaven and Our Mother. It truly upsets me when people dismiss her as “just a vessel” to bear God, instead of realizing her critical role in, say salvation, or anything good on Earth for that matter, since Christ came through her.
Anyway, Happy New Years People (and a Blessed Feast of the Solemnity of Mary)
January 16, 2009 at 10:15 PM
I confess to not having read all of the comments, so forgive me if I repeat something already mentioned. Firstly, as an Eastern Orthodox Christian, I reject the Roman doctrine of the Immaculate Conception as an innovation and erroneous addition to the Apostolic faith. Secondly, even from the perspective of Roman Catholicism you are a bit off here. Mary was indeed redeemed and delivered by God and by the incarnation of the Eternal Word. No one is redeemed or delivered apart from His divine condescension, His passion and crucifixion and His glorious resurrection — no one, not even the Blessed Virgin.
May the prayers of the Most Holy Mother of God deliver us from evil and into the hands of the Savior.
January 17, 2009 at 1:36 PM
Ave Maria!
Good to hear from one of our Christian Brethren. I have to say, that the one thing which seperates us is that the Easter Church does not recognize the authoirty of the Pontiff of Rome, so if that is denied, none of this post can make sense, since it is based on a proclamation of the Pope, Ex Cathedra. (From the Chair.) The Pope’s Infallibility is what backs me up in making this comment in regards to Our Lady. Since he is speaking in matters of Faith and Morals, he cannot Err. This being said, the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception rings with the Truth of God, as it came forth from His Vicar on earth.