Q.1.
Catholics do not 'worship' Mary as such, but they revere her and send their prayers through her, since they believe she was and is a uniquely close and potent channel to the Godhead. Which of the aspects or attributes below would you identify as the least directly applicable, or transferable, to modern Catholic witness?
Q.2.
Mary was present at Jesus' first recorded public miracle: what was this miracle, and its context?
Q.3.
Catholic doctrine draws out three particular strands in the life and actions of Mary ( ~ the Church's beloved Three, perhaps not accidentally echoing the persons of the Trinity?). Which of the suggestions below is the least genuine?
Q.4.
Which of the following correctly describes Mary's demographic status at the time of the Annunciation?
Q.5.
The Catholic Church allots itself a series of festal days each year to contemplate and honour aspects and incidents in Mary's life. One that is completely unique to her (rather than how a birthday, or martyrdom anniversary, would be with any lesser saint) is the Assumption ... of what, and when?
Q.6.
With all due respect to Mary herself and the millions of Catholic believers, it might almost seem hard now to set a question asking 'where HADN'T a vision of the Blessed Virgin' somehow been claimed to have been seen by someone or other down 2,000-odd intervening years. However, the following list includes three very well-attested shrines and one knowing fake. Which is the duff one?
Q.7.
So far as English-speaking Catholics are concerned, Mary's whole adventure as mother of Jesus of Nazareth began with the Archangel Gabriel's announcement (Annunciation) to her: 'Hail Mary, full of grace ...' [ ... then what?]
Q.8.
As reported in the Gospels, Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was six months ahead with her own pregnancy, and Elizabeth felt her child 'quicken' (move inside her) for the first time in presumed direct response to being in proximity to Mary and Jesus. Who was Elizabeth's baby to become?
Q.9.
Mary's response to the Annunciation message was, for all Christians, besides being historically crucial, a model of humility. As one might almost expect at such a surprising and emotional moment, her diction becomes poetic rather than everyday (slightly like how characters break into 'song mode' at key moments in operas and musicals, rather than just carrying on ordinary dialogue): she draws various contrasts between 'the meek and the mighty', as she prioritises God's purpose. Her song ~ adopted as a Canticle, rather like the Psalms she would already have known as a pious Jewess ~ is traditionally known by the Latin version of its first word ... as ... ?
Q.10.
Obviously, the circumstances of Jesus' birth (the Annunciation, the first-Christmas trek to the stable and 'all that') were pretty unusual: but Mary also, much later, had to endure one particular agony that not many mothers ever do. What was probably the worst aspect of this?