Mary?

[Milliardo]

RonWI:

Imagine that you are going to a fancy dinner. You are a poor student. Your wardrobe reflects this. A nice man comes to your door and gives you a tuxedo. an hour before the dinner.

Yes, you can choose to wear the ragged blue jeans and T-Shirt. But you choose the tux instead. You go to the dinner and everyone says “nice outfit”. Who gets credit: you or the nice man?

Poor analogy. In the first place, had anyone in that dinner even seen that man or know him?

Or imagine this. You are running a marathon. Half way through, someone offers you a ride in the back of their convertible. You choose to get in and ride in style across the finish line. Who gets credit for the victory?

I’m sure neither the man nor you, since that’s cheating. Again, poor analogy.

Nothing was imposed on Mary because she did not resist God’s will.

An angel saying that you have to carry God’s Son is not an imposition? Wow. I am amazed.

But just like we have faith, not because we choose it but because it is given to us (although we can choose to reject it), Mary’s choice, while a choice, was a gift.

Faith is a gift and a choice, let’s make that clear. In fact, a gift can be rejected, yes? So it boils down really to choice, and Mary accepted.

 

[tuopaolo]

Read all about this beautiful teaching here:

www.voxpopuli.org

and also you can check out the material here:

www.marymediatrix.com

A colllection of magisterial teachings can be found here:

ewtn.com/faith/teachings/marya3a.htm

Pope Benedict XV was very devoted to the Mother of God and a strong believer in her singular role in the Redemption. From the above link from EWTN, this teaching of his is quoted:

4. Benedict XV, Epistle, Admodum probatur, June 20, 1917. AAS 10. 182.

"With her suffering and dying Son she suffered and almost died, so did she surrender her mother’s rights over her Son for the salvation of human beings, and to appease the justice of God, so far as pertained to her, she immolated her Son, so that it can be rightly said, that she together with Christ has redeemed the human race."

Since our present Pope Benedict XVI has chosen his name in part to honor Pope Benedict XV, I am hopefully that our present Holy Father will work to proclaiming this teaching of Pope Benedict XV a dogma of divine and catholic faith. But it is up to the Holy Spirit to lead the Pope.

pkmksk:

I was asked a question of which I don’t know the Church’s psoition nor do I know the politics involved. It was about Mary being Co-Redemptrix (sp) or Mediatrix.
I have heard of it before but I have never had a protestant make a point of it to me. Since I am ignorant of the subject I am asking for your knowledge of the subject. Not just one side or the other, but all sides of the argument. Thanks for your help.

P.S. I realize this is probably a subject which has been covered in the past, if this is so could someone just point me in the direction of the old thread.

 

[yochumjy]

RonWI:

Now I realize that all analogies break down at some level, but I hope these make my point. Nothing was imposed on Mary because she did not resist God’s will. But just like we have faith, not because we choose it but because it is given to us (although we can choose to reject it), Mary’s choice, while a choice, was a gift.

Then let us put it this way. Everything that we have is a gift from God, Everything. So saying that Mary’s choice was a gift is okay, but she still did make a choice. You choice to love God is ultimately a gift from God also. He chose to make you and give you the chance. You get to accept or reject. Many reject, thus many are rejecting the tux. Mary wasn’t just pulled out of a hat. You may as well say that Peter, Paul and every other holy person that ever lived is also irrelavant, since everything they did is a gift from God. I suppose, you could even try to make a case building soley on your logic, that Christ wasn’t special, since everything he did and chose was a gift from God. Mary accepted and was Graced with something that no one else had ever done. Because she was given this gift, because we know her closeness to Jesus, we Catholics are confident that she is with Christ and united to him in heaven. We are confident that praying to her does not hamper our relationship to Christ, but enhances it. We are loving those (Mary and Saints) Christ Loved and those that loved Christ in a way that we all aspire to.

 

[tuopaolo]

yochumjy:

So saying that Mary’s choice was a gift is okay, but she still did make a choice.

It’s not only okay, that - the fact that everything She is is a gift from God, is an essential aspect of her beauty for she said not merely that she was immaculately conceived at Lourdes, but that she is the Immaculate Conception. That tells me that part of her essence is in being a gift received from God