warning about 'Mary did you know' song

Further to my last post, the Holy Spirit and no doubt Mary herself, guided Father Joe to my site and he very kindly pointed out to me the heresy in that "Mary Did You Know' song.
I will let him explain it in his own words (see his comments below), but I just want to say thank you so much to him for posting it.
Funnily, last night I was actually thinking about that exact phrase 'The child that you delivered, will soon deliver you' and realised that there was something wrong with it as it didn't fit with Church teaching (as Mary was free sin from before her birth).
However to have Father Joe confirm it is really such a blessing and I am so thankful to him!

So to all Catholics...pretty tune or not, it's not a good song to listen to because it denies the truth as proclaimed by the Church.

Oh beautiful Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Thank you again Father Joe! What a gift God has given us to have spiritual fathers who look out for their children like you!

~~~~~~

Given that you define yourself as a 100% Catholic girl, I feel compelled to say something about the song, MARY DID YOU KNOW?

"Did you know" that the composer Mark Lowry deliberately inserted the following verses to repudiate the Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception? "This child that you delivered, will soon deliver you."

Mary was already delivered, as you well know, by the redemptive action of the cross reaching backwards into human history and touching Mary at the very first moment of conception and life in the womb of Saint Ann, so that the one who is the Holy of Holies could pass through a pure vessel untouched by sin.

Lowry had remarks against the Catholic dogma on a webpage some years ago, but I have noticed that he took it offline. No doubt he is counting on the general ignorance of "papists" and the sentiment of the Christmas season to circulate the song-- and even Catholics have money to buy CDs. What is worse is that Catholic churches and schools frequently have their choirs singing the song. Permission to requests for public recital and to recopy lyrics, is granted with the provision that the lyrics cannot be altered.

It is a pretty song, but it is also heresy.

One collegue of mine tried to defend the song, saying, "I noticed the words, but my theological take was along the lines that Mary was redeemed by Christ in the eternal dimension but that the act of her redemption is the same as ours: the sacrifice of Christ in the dimension of time." I saw what he was trying to say, but again, the meaning of the lyrics was clearly set in a temporal context, "... will soon deliver you." Lowry does not believe, as a Protestant, in the Immaculate Conception, and the song deliberately says this to malign Catholic teaching and to proselytize. While the redemptive power and grace of the Cross cannot be segregated exclusively to any one time or place, the passion and crucifixion are themselves posited in human history as are their immediate effects upon mortal men and women. God who is in the eternal now, enters into human history and touches us where we live, so-to-speak. Lowry would see this encounter with saving grace as something accomplished with a faith profession in Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior. He also views the work of Christ as accomplished and that we need merely acknowledge it. Catholics would normally see it as impacting upon us, not only with faith, but in a faith that is actualized by obedience and charity within the community of the Church-- particularly through baptism and the other sacraments. While Christ has died, once-and-for-all, his saving work is extended or perpetuated or re-presented through the sacraments.

The mystery of Mary's sinlessness is measured temporally, from the very first moment of her existence in the womb of St. Ann. It was not that she had original sin and that it was quickly stripped away; rather, at the very moment of her conception and personhood, there was no trace or stain of sin. Historically this takes place maybe 45-50 years prior to the saving event at Calvary. Just as the ripples from the Paschal Mystery touch us forward in time, it reached backwards and touched Mary.

As you can tell, I have talked myself silly trying to get churches and schools to either change the offensive lines (no matter whay the composer wants) or to avoid it altogether.

Take care and God bless,
Father Joe Jenkins