Mary and the Church

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Yesterday’s Feast of Pentecost enabled many of us to renew in our hearts, the coming of the Holy Spirit especially at Baptism and Confirmation, but how many in the Church see those sacraments as “past history” in our lives – much as they see our Sunday Mass and as they “hear” (if indeed most are really listening) when the Gospel is proclaimed.

Yesterday afternoon in our class on the Catechism (we’ve been going through Part I - on the “Creed”) we listened to and discussed CCC paragraphs 963 through 972 on Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church. See HERE. This morning, I continued to ponder the importance of Mary in her role today as Mother of the Church and how sadly, so many Catholics have lost – if they had ever learned at home or being taught in parish schools – a true love for Mary as Mother.

Christ gave Mary to the Beloved Disciple John at the foot of the Cross, after He had promised to send the Holy Spirit to bring the Church into all Truth. Mary had already been overshadowed by the Holy Spirt at the Incarnation; she had conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and brought Christ into the World. At Pentecost the Church by the power of the same Holy Spirit brought Jesus to the multitudes. The Catechism helps us to better understand Mary’s role not only as Mother of Christ but also as Mother of the Church. I will quote only briefly today, hopefully, you will ponder with me:

III. MARY - ESCHATOLOGICAL ICON OF THE CHURCH

972 After speaking of the Church, her origin, mission, and destiny, we can find no better way to conclude than by looking to Mary. In her we contemplate what the Church already is in her mystery on her own “pilgrimage of faith,” and what she will be in the homeland at the end of her journey. There, “in the glory of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity,” “in the communion of all the saints,” The Church is awaited by the one she venerates as Mother of her Lord and as her own mother.

In the meantime the Mother of Jesus, in the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven, is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise she shines forth on earth until the day of the Lord shall come, a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim People of God.

The Church for centuries kept growing in love for Mary and like her, kept giving Jesus to the world. What has happened? An enemy has sown weeds among the wheat. First there was a separation between the East and West, then there was the Protestant revolt, and today we are seeing the increasing confusion and loss of faith by many Catholics which St. John Paul II attributed to a lessening of devotion to Mary. St. John Paul II preached a “New Evangelization” and called Mary the “Star of the New Evangelization” as did Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Francis recently warned the Church that without Mary our souls are like orphans.

Jesus promised He would not leave us orphans and He did not – He gave us His Mother to be our Mother and He promised He and the Father would send the Holy Spirt to bring us into ALL Truth. God does not abandon us, but we are free to leave Him and to leave Mary.

If you do not have a Catechism, please purchase one and I would recommend the revised second edition, see HERE. (Not too expensive from Amazon: $19.95 hardback, $9.95 kindle.)

 

[patricius79]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Yesterday’s Feast of Pentecost enabled many of us to renew in our hearts, the coming of the Holy Spirit…
I continued to ponder the importance of Mary in her role today as Mother of the Church and how sadly, so many Catholics have lost – if they had ever learned at home or being taught in parish schools – a true love for Mary as Mother.

Christ gave Mary to the Beloved Disciple John at the foot of the Cross, after He had promised to send the Holy Spirit to bring the Church into all Truth…

The Church for centuries kept growing in love for Mary and like her, kept giving Jesus to the world. What has happened? An enemy has sown weeds among the wheat. First there was a separation between the East and West, then there was the Protestant revolt, and today we are seeing the increasing confusion and loss of faith by many Catholics which St. John Paul II attributed to a lessening of devotion to Mary. St. John Paul II preached a “New Evangelization” and called Mary the “Star of the New Evangelization” as did Pope Benedict XVI…

Yes, dear sister, it seems to me–I hope I’m wrong–that we are living in the era of silent apostasy, when even churchgoing Catholics are deeply secularized.

Perhaps most don’t even say a single Hail Mary or Our Father daily. Very few confess their sins. Many habitually practice grave immorality like contraception without repentance, and then receive Communion anyway.

But this need for mercy is the very reason why God made Mary the path to Jesus, as
Pope Leo 13 says:

"…Thus as no man goeth to the Father but by the Son, so no man goeth to Christ but by His Mother. How great are the goodness and mercy revealed in this design of God! What a correspondence with the frailty of man! … Thus do those whose actions have disturbed their consciences need an intercessor mighty in favor with God, merciful enough not to reject the cause of the desperate, merciful enough to lift up again towards hope in the divine mercy the afflicted and the broken down. Mary is this glorious intermediary; she is the mighty Mother of the Almighty; but-what is still sweeter – she is gentle, extreme in tenderness, of a limitless loving-kindness. As such God gave her to us. Having chosen her for the Mother of His only begotten Son, He taught her all a mother’s feeling that breathes nothing but pardon and love
papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13ro1.htm

 

[MariaChristi]

Yes, dear sister, it seems to me–I hope I’m wrong–that we are living in the era of silent apostasy, when even churchgoing Catholics are deeply secularized.

Perhaps most don’t even say a single Hail Mary or Our Father daily. Very few confess their sins. Many habitually practice grave immorality like contraception without repentance, and then receive Communion anyway.

But this need for mercy is the very reason why God made Mary the path to Jesus, as
Pope Leo 13 says:

"…Thus as no man goeth to the Father but by the Son, so no man goeth to Christ but by His Mother. How great are the goodness and mercy revealed in this design of God! What a correspondence with the frailty of man! … Thus do those whose actions have disturbed their consciences need an intercessor mighty in favor with God, merciful enough not to reject the cause of the desperate, merciful enough to lift up again towards hope in the divine mercy the afflicted and the broken down. Mary is this glorious intermediary; she is the mighty Mother of the Almighty; but-what is still sweeter – she is gentle, extreme in tenderness, of a limitless loving-kindness. As such God gave her to us. Having chosen her for the Mother of His only begotten Son, He taught her all a mother’s feeling that breathes nothing but pardon and love
papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13ro1.htm

Dear brother Pat,

Thanks for the beautiful excerpt from Pope Leo XIII. My husband and I continue to pray for an increase in true devotion to Mary among all the People of God, (clergy, religious and laity). God knows each heart and knows how much the Church needs Mary as Mother and Model. May we cooperate with His grace and by His power working in us, may the world see the Church grow more and more in the likeness of Mary – loving one another as Christ has loved us.

 

[faithsmind]

I think, too, that people have such a hardness in their heart these days, perhaps due to contraceptive use, abortion, and the sexual revolution. But also because of barriers caused by technologies. There is less of a reverence for Mary’s role as quiet mother. There is less value for silence and privacy. Therefore, there is a great hunger for the nurturing heart that is seen in Our Mother. A common complaint from fallen away Catholics is that they do not feel fed in our church. But they don’t realize that they will be fed by going to Our Mother and nurturing their souls by nurturing silence. She gives us Christ. They either don’t respect, grow bored with, or fear the attributes seen in Our Mother.

 

[patricius79]

Dear brother Pat,

Thanks for the beautiful excerpt from Pope Leo XIII. My husband and I continue to pray for an increase in true devotion to Mary among all the People of God, (clergy, religious and laity). God knows each heart and knows how much the Church needs Mary as Mother and Model. May we cooperate with His grace and by His power working in us, may the world see the Church grow more and more in the likeness of Mary – loving one another as Christ has loved us.

Yes, dear sister MariaChristi, there will be no increase in love without an increase in devotion to Jesus through Mary.

It is only through Mary that I can do Christ’s will.

Pope Paul 6th said that Mary is always the path to Jesus, and prayed for a more fruitful and intense Marian piety:

Venerable brothers, the persuasion that the thought of the Church regarding the veneration of praise, gratitude and love due to the most blessed Virgin is in full accord with the doctrine of the holy Gospel, as it was more precisely understood and explained by the tradition of the East as well as of the West, stirs in our spirit the hope that this pastoral exhortation of ours for an ever more fervid and more fruitful Marian piety will be received with generous acceptance not only by the faithful entrusted to your care, but also by those who, while not enjoying full communion with the Catholic Church, nevertheless, together with us, admire and venerate the handmaid of the Lord, the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Son of God.
papalencyclicals.net/Paul06/p6great.htm

 

[MariaChristi]

I think, too, that people have such a hardness in their heart these days, perhaps due to contraceptive use, abortion, and the sexual revolution. But also because of barriers caused by technologies. There is less of a reverence for Mary’s role as quiet mother. There is less value for silence and privacy. Therefore, there is a great hunger for the nurturing heart that is seen in Our Mother. A common complaint from fallen away Catholics is that they do not feel fed in our church. But they don’t realize that they will be fed by going to Our Mother and nurturing their souls by nurturing silence. She gives us Christ. They either don’t respect, grow bored with, or fear the attributes seen in Our Mother.

Dear faithsmind,

Thanks for your insightful reply. Yes, there is an increasing hardness, a coarseness due to many factors, like contraception, abortion and the profusion of immoral films, video games and pornography on the internet that denigrates the beauty of God’s creation of man and woman. Nevertheless, God knew the beautiful Mother He planned to give us. We can hear Mary prefigured in God’s Plan, in Genesis 3:16 when God told the serpent after Adam and Eve had committed the original sin:

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
They will strike at your head,
while you strike at their heel.

Jesus is Mary’s firstborn and her only Son conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit, but we too are her children in the order of grace. There is, as you said in fallen away Catholics, and I would add, in all of humanity, the longing for a Mother who loves as Mary loves us. It is sad to see the decline in devotion to Mary. It is sad that some are not being “well fed” on the Truth of God’s Word, solid teachings of the Church on true devotion to Mary. I believe strongly in the words of St. John Paul II:

…Where the Mother is, there too is the Son. When one moves away from the Mother, sooner or later he ends up keeping distant from the Son as well. It is no wonder that today, in various sectors of secularised society, we note a widespread crisis of faith in God, preceded by a drop in devotion to the Virgin Mother… October, 1982

Some persons are more interested in entertainment than education and formation in the Catholic Faith. We see persons, as you wrote, who “either don’t respect, grow bored with, or fear the attributes seen in Our Mother.” and we need to pray for grace to help them.

Persons cannot love someone they really don’t know. May the Holy Spirit inspire us with ways in which we can share God’s truth about Mary, as we continue to learn from Scripture and the teachings of the Church and in pondering those truths in the silence of prayer. We cannot give what we haven’t got ourselves, but by God’s grace we can do much more than we may be doing. Come Holy Spirit, enable us to share with others the beauty of our Mother and the Love you have given her for each one of us. Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us. Jesus we trust in You!

 

[patricius79]

I think, too, that people have such a hardness in their heart these days, perhaps due to contraceptive use, abortion, and the sexual revolution. But also because of barriers caused by technologies. There is less of a reverence for Mary’s role as quiet mother. There is less value for silence and privacy. Therefore, there is a great hunger for the nurturing heart that is seen in Our Mother. A common complaint from fallen away Catholics is that they do not feel fed in our church. But they don’t realize that they will be fed by going to Our Mother and nurturing their souls by nurturing silence. She gives us Christ. They either don’t respect, grow bored with, or fear the attributes seen in Our Mother.

I think there’s a lot of insight, here, faithsmind. Certainly impurity and failure to pray are things that can blind people to the inexpressible love of Jesus for us in the Blessed Virgin.

I understand why people aren’t feeling emotionally supported in many of our parishes. But we all have to take responsibility for ourselves, turn to Jesus through Mary, and–if possible–pray the Rosary.

Pope Leo 13 says this about the Rosary:

"9. Nor may we permit to pass unnoticed the especial Providence of God displayed in this devotion; for through the lapse of time religious fervor has sometimes seemed to diminish in certain nations, and even this pious method of prayer has fallen into disuse; but piety and devotion have again flourished and become vigorous in a most marvelous manner, when, either through the grave situation of the commonwealth or through some pressing public necessity, general recourse has been had – more to this than to even other means of obtaining help – to the Rosary, whereby it has been reestored to its place of honor on the altars.
papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13ro1.htm