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“The teaching of the Second Vatican Council presents the truth of Mary’s mediation as ‘a sharing in the one unique source that is the mediation of Christ himself.’ Thus we read: ‘The Church does not hesitate to profess this subordinate role of Mary. She experiences it continuously and commends it to the hearts of the faithful, so that, encouraged by this maternal help, they may more closely adhere to the Mediator and Redeemer.’ This role is at the same time special and extraordinary. It flows from her divine motherhood and can be understood and lived in faith only on the basis of the full truth of this motherhood. Since, by virtue of divine election Mary is the earthly Mother of the Father’s consubstantial Son and his ‘generous companion’ in the work of redemption ‘she is a mother to us in the order of grace. This role constitutes a real dimension of her presence in the saving mystery of Christ and the Church.’”
“Just as she [Eve]. . .having become disobedient, was made the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race, so also Mary, betrothed to a man but nevertheless still a virgin, being obedient, was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race. . .Thus, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had unbound in disbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith,” St. Irenaeus.
“Too many do not realize the logical consequence of the Incarnation is that Jesus of Nazareth, a character in history, was and is personally God in the fullest sense of the word, and therefore to be worshipped as such sans phrase. Not to be clear about this not only obscures the unique privilege of Mary and so makes men niggardly in honouring her. It also creates the risk that the throne which should be hers is given instead to the Son, in place of his rightful one. That is to say, our Lord, in men’s minds, instead of occupying his place at the right hand of the Father comes instead to be thought of as merely the highest of beings after God. The way to keep the proportion of faith is, not to measure out nervously the devotion you give to Mary, but to be quite sure first that you have given to God the things that are God’s just as only if you do this, can you be quire sure of not defrauding Caesar so equally you can be certain that when God has been given his due, Mary will automatically take her proper place in the universe. The person who is most likely to fail in civil allegiance is the man who thinks of God as a limited monarch. . .the same way the one who is most likely to underestimate the Blessed Virgin is he who has an inadequate idea of the nature of the Deity. Newman once spoke of the Arian Christ as usurping a throne in God’s plane reserved for her who is really the highest of all created beings, as the Arians thought the Saviour to be. . .if an untrue devotion to our Lady is to be avoided what is needed is not fewer prayers to her, but more. A form of prayer which does not mention her is to some degree incomplete. Not only does it make men think of God apart from the Incarnation and the Body of Christ: it also runs the risk that when we do turn to Mary we shall forget her relationship to God. Never to think of God without Mary and never of Mary without God is a safe rule,” T. M. Parker, an Anglican theologian, quoted in The Truth About Mary, Vol. 3 Robert Payesko, Queenship Publishing.
Mary’s influence becomes increasingly all-embracing as souls advance in the interior life. This has been often noted by St. Grignon de Montfort: “The Holy Ghost,” he says, “became fruitful on earth through Mary, His spouse. It was with her and of her that He produced His masterpiece, God-made-man, and that He produces daily till the end of the world the predestined members of the body of our adorable Head: that is why He is all the more active to produce Jesus Christ in a soul the more He finds there Mary, His dear and inseparable spouse.
“This does not mean that Mary gave the Holy Ghost His fecundity. . .it means that the Holy Ghost manifests His fecundity by making use of Mary, even though He does not need her, to produce Jesus Christ and His members in and through her: this is a mystery of grace unknown even to the most learned and spiritual of Christians.”
continued. . .
“Just as she [Eve]. . .having become disobedient, was made the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race, so also Mary, betrothed to a man but nevertheless still a virgin, being obedient, was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race. . .Thus, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had unbound in disbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith,” St. Irenaeus.
“Too many do not realize the logical consequence of the Incarnation is that Jesus of Nazareth, a character in history, was and is personally God in the fullest sense of the word, and therefore to be worshipped as such sans phrase. Not to be clear about this not only obscures the unique privilege of Mary and so makes men niggardly in honouring her. It also creates the risk that the throne which should be hers is given instead to the Son, in place of his rightful one. That is to say, our Lord, in men’s minds, instead of occupying his place at the right hand of the Father comes instead to be thought of as merely the highest of beings after God. The way to keep the proportion of faith is, not to measure out nervously the devotion you give to Mary, but to be quite sure first that you have given to God the things that are God’s just as only if you do this, can you be quire sure of not defrauding Caesar so equally you can be certain that when God has been given his due, Mary will automatically take her proper place in the universe. The person who is most likely to fail in civil allegiance is the man who thinks of God as a limited monarch. . .the same way the one who is most likely to underestimate the Blessed Virgin is he who has an inadequate idea of the nature of the Deity. Newman once spoke of the Arian Christ as usurping a throne in God’s plane reserved for her who is really the highest of all created beings, as the Arians thought the Saviour to be. . .if an untrue devotion to our Lady is to be avoided what is needed is not fewer prayers to her, but more. A form of prayer which does not mention her is to some degree incomplete. Not only does it make men think of God apart from the Incarnation and the Body of Christ: it also runs the risk that when we do turn to Mary we shall forget her relationship to God. Never to think of God without Mary and never of Mary without God is a safe rule,” T. M. Parker, an Anglican theologian, quoted in The Truth About Mary, Vol. 3 Robert Payesko, Queenship Publishing.
Mary’s influence becomes increasingly all-embracing as souls advance in the interior life. This has been often noted by St. Grignon de Montfort: “The Holy Ghost,” he says, “became fruitful on earth through Mary, His spouse. It was with her and of her that He produced His masterpiece, God-made-man, and that He produces daily till the end of the world the predestined members of the body of our adorable Head: that is why He is all the more active to produce Jesus Christ in a soul the more He finds there Mary, His dear and inseparable spouse.
“This does not mean that Mary gave the Holy Ghost His fecundity. . .it means that the Holy Ghost manifests His fecundity by making use of Mary, even though He does not need her, to produce Jesus Christ and His members in and through her: this is a mystery of grace unknown even to the most learned and spiritual of Christians.”
continued. . .
). It is recognition of the fact, which has come through a very deep engagement with Scripture, by the use of reason, and through the graced experience of the Church’s life in Christ.
