‘Mary Did You Know’: The Catholic version

We are all familiar with it. Many Catholics debate the merits of what has easily become one of the most familiar and loved Christmas songs: Mary Did You Know. For those who love Christmas music, as I do, there are two camps you fall into when it comes to this song. You either love it or hate it. I’m not sure there is much in between.

The song is beautifully written and composed, but, sadly, not an accurate reflection of Mary’s experience. Let’s take a brief look, along with my proposal for a “revised” version of the song from a Catholic view.

Mary, having been preserved from original sin, was raised in a devoted Jewish family and was a devout Jew herself. We know the Blessed Mother frequently “pondered” or “treasured” things in her heart, such as the message from the angel Gabriel. She meditated on the actions of Jesus as she found him, after three days of searching, in the temple where he was sitting among the teachers.

What did Mary ponder? We are not given the full details of what went through her head. I imagine, as a good Jewish girl who grew up with Sacred Scripture, that she would have been relating those events to things she had known about the coming Messiah. I suspect she would have been pondering what it means to have your only child as the Messiah. The message from Gabriel would have rung bells in her head about scriptures she had heard from the prophets. Mary would have known the Messiah was from God, and thus would have suspected He would have performed miracles. Mary would have known the Messiah had come to save the world.

Here’s what we know, for a fact, that the Blessed Mother knew about the birth of her Son.

“And coming to her, he said, ‘Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.’…Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”…and the angel said to her in reply, ‘the holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. , the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” (Luke 1:28,32-33,35)

We also know that during her visitation with Elizabeth, the Blessed Mother’s cousin confirmed what the angel had told Mary and recognized the holiness of the child in her womb. Additionally, Mary would have sat and heard the readings of the prophet Isaiah that foretold what would happen when the Messiah came to us.
“Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then, the tongue of the dumb will sing.” (Isaiah 35:5-6)

So, now that we have an idea of what Mary might have been meditating on and pondering, along with what she knew, let’s look at my proposed revision of the beloved Christmas song Mary Did You Know. I called it: Mary you DID know.

Mary, You Did Know

Mary, you did know that your baby boy

Would one day walk on water.

Mary, you did know that your baby boy

Would save our sons and daughters.

You did know that your baby boy

Has come to make us new;

This child that you delivered

Has done delivered you

Mary, you did know that your baby boy

Will give sight to a blind man

Mary, you did know that your baby boy

Would calm a storm with His hand.

You did know that your baby boy

Has walked where angels trod.

And when you kiss your little baby

You’ve kissed the face of God.

Mary, you did know

The blind will see, the deaf will hear,

The dead will live again.

The lame will leap, the dumb will speak,

The praises of the Lamb.

Mary, you did know that your baby boy

Is Lord of all creation

Mary, you did know that your baby boy

Will one day rule the nations.

You did know that your baby boy

Was Heaven’s perfect Lamb

And the sleeping Child you’re holding

Is the great, I Am

Oh, Mary you did know.