Mary as Co-Redemptrix

[Church_Militant]

Scott Waddell:

What!? Are you suggesting we look at context? :tsktsk:

just kidding.

Oh well…uh…hmmmm…I guess we could, huh?

 

[Robert_in_SD]

I think the CCC does a pretty good job of summing up what has already been stated on this forum many times. Mary is the perfect example of Christian faith and charity. She submitted herself completely to the will of God, became the mother of the Savior by her obedience, and for these reasons she holds a very special place before God and within His Church…

**. . . she is our Mother in the order of grace **

967 By her complete adherence to the Father’s will, to his Son’s redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church’s model of faith and charity. Thus she is a “preeminent and . . . wholly unique member of the Church”; indeed, she is the “exemplary realization” (typus)510 of the Church.

968 Her role in relation to the Church and to all humanity goes still further. "In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior’s work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace."511

969 "This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation . . . . Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix."512

970 "Mary’s function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin’s salutary influence on men . . . flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it."513 "No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by his ministers and the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source."514

510 LG 53; 63.
511 LG 61.
512 LG 62.
513 LG 60.
514 LG 62.

Mary did *not * play the role of sacrificial victim in salvation history, but she did have an important role - the most important human role - and without her perfect example of obedience and charity, Christ’s redemptive work would not have been possible. As a parent, I can imagine how she must have felt watching her son hang on the cross - if it were me watching my son my prayers would have been to beg God to let me take his place. She suffered - no doubt. But her suffering is a model of christian charity and devotion. It does not take the place of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, but instead flows directly from it.

Why is this such a hard concept for non-Catholics to grasp. If you are a parent, think of Mary’s role in terms of your own role in your child’s life. That - along with her faith and chairty - is the conerstone of her unique connection with the Son of God.

-Peace

 

[batteddy]

There is also an analogy to the Trinity here.

Actively, the Father begats the son, and the Father and Son spirate the Holy Spirit…the person generated or spirated is given their substance by the person who generates or spirates them. Passively, the Son is beggotten by the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son…the person generated or spirated gives the person generating or spirating the opportunity to express their common life and love. Then they create us in common.

Similar to the relationship with God, Jesus, and Mary in the redemption. Actively, God gives the God-Man Jesus the divine life he cannot merit in the Incarnation (ie, Christ’s humanity did not merit the hypostatic union, because he would have needed the hypostatic union to merit in the first place). And then Jesus and God, as one principal (for Jesus is God) give Mary the spiritual life she cannot merit in the Immaculate Conception. Passively, Christ gives God physical life (both by allowing God to live in a body, and “giving” it to him on cross), and Mary gives Christ physical life and then also gives it back to God with him. Then in common they all give the spiritual life to us.

In this analogy, God is analogous to the Father. For although God in this case is the whole Trinity acting in common, it is usual to attribute God in relation to Jesus as the Father. Jesus as God-Man is obviously analogous to the Eternal Son, because Jesus is the Son in His divinity and humanity, and Mary is analogous to the Holy Spirit, because as St. Maximillian Kolbe said, she is like his “quasi-incarnation”. This also helps to show St. Maximillian’s great insight that the proper name for the relation of “procession” might be called “uncreated immaculate conception”…because Mary in relation to Christ and God in the order of the redemption is the created immaculate conception, and using the Trinitarian analogy I showed, this would mean that the Holy Spirit in the order of God’s internal life, could adequately be called the eternal immaculate conception.