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patricius79
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Some time back someone referred me to a youtube video of Fr. Peter Damian Felhner, of the Francican Friars of the Immaculate. He was on EWTN with Mother Angelica, explaining God’s Mother as our Coredemptrix (completely subordinate to Jesus).
Then I read this article by him recently, in which he explains that total consecration to the Immaculate Heart of the Coredemptrix is the central issue in restoring the primacy of Christ in our lives, thus rebulilding the paralyzed Church. He notes many grave problems or signs of secularization in the Church, such as widespread contraception, failure to attend Mass or Confession or pray the Rosary; denial of truths of the faith, consumerism, pornography, poor catechesis, divorce, decreased vocations, etc.
But everything can be healed through devotion to Jesus through Mary. Popes have asked us to pray the Rosary and completely, constantly entrust ourselves to Mary. They have taught us repeatedly that every grace of Jesus Christ is–by His choice–given through His Mother. Vatican II said that Mary is our Mother in the order of grace, that her veneration fosters our immediate union with Jesus Christ, and that she and Jesus are united in the work of our salvation.
However, many seek to minimize Marian devotion. I have no right to judge them, because I deserve hell myself. I only pray that all our hearts change to understand how much Jesus wants us to venerate His Mother, coming to Him through her, with her, and in her, as Blessed Pope Paul VI tells us to do in the Encyclical, Mense Maio. And to understand that we can never honor the Mother of God enough for what she endured for us as our Maternal Coredemptrix, especially under the Cross of the One Mediator.
It was hard to pick which parts of Fr. Fehlner’s talk to quote. But here are two of my favorite paragraphs. He asks us to zealously prepare the way for the formal definition (of what is already Church doctrine) of the Fifth Marian Dogma:
"Hence, to the degree that the serpent can successfully persuade us to continue to debate the issue—whether the Church and all her members should publicly acknowledge the universal mediation of Mary, rather than resolve it in her favor—to that degree he has staved off final defeat. Only this, absence of a positive conclusion in the form of a dogma, not a negative judgment, is all he needs.
“Conversely, once such a public acknowledgment has been made, the entire tide of battle will be reversed from what looks like an advancing crisis in the Church with no end in sight, to what not only looks like, but is what St. Paul describes as “being snatched from the jaws of hell and transported into the kingdom of light” (cf. Mt 16:17; Col 1:13). Roma locuta, causa finita. The cause “finished” will be that of Mary as total victory of the Church; but the cause finished will also be that of the devil in total defeat.”
http://www.fifthmariandogma.com/why-we-need-the-fifth-marian-dogma-now/
Then I read this article by him recently, in which he explains that total consecration to the Immaculate Heart of the Coredemptrix is the central issue in restoring the primacy of Christ in our lives, thus rebulilding the paralyzed Church. He notes many grave problems or signs of secularization in the Church, such as widespread contraception, failure to attend Mass or Confession or pray the Rosary; denial of truths of the faith, consumerism, pornography, poor catechesis, divorce, decreased vocations, etc.
But everything can be healed through devotion to Jesus through Mary. Popes have asked us to pray the Rosary and completely, constantly entrust ourselves to Mary. They have taught us repeatedly that every grace of Jesus Christ is–by His choice–given through His Mother. Vatican II said that Mary is our Mother in the order of grace, that her veneration fosters our immediate union with Jesus Christ, and that she and Jesus are united in the work of our salvation.
However, many seek to minimize Marian devotion. I have no right to judge them, because I deserve hell myself. I only pray that all our hearts change to understand how much Jesus wants us to venerate His Mother, coming to Him through her, with her, and in her, as Blessed Pope Paul VI tells us to do in the Encyclical, Mense Maio. And to understand that we can never honor the Mother of God enough for what she endured for us as our Maternal Coredemptrix, especially under the Cross of the One Mediator.
It was hard to pick which parts of Fr. Fehlner’s talk to quote. But here are two of my favorite paragraphs. He asks us to zealously prepare the way for the formal definition (of what is already Church doctrine) of the Fifth Marian Dogma:
"Hence, to the degree that the serpent can successfully persuade us to continue to debate the issue—whether the Church and all her members should publicly acknowledge the universal mediation of Mary, rather than resolve it in her favor—to that degree he has staved off final defeat. Only this, absence of a positive conclusion in the form of a dogma, not a negative judgment, is all he needs.
“Conversely, once such a public acknowledgment has been made, the entire tide of battle will be reversed from what looks like an advancing crisis in the Church with no end in sight, to what not only looks like, but is what St. Paul describes as “being snatched from the jaws of hell and transported into the kingdom of light” (cf. Mt 16:17; Col 1:13). Roma locuta, causa finita. The cause “finished” will be that of Mary as total victory of the Church; but the cause finished will also be that of the devil in total defeat.”
http://www.fifthmariandogma.com/why-we-need-the-fifth-marian-dogma-now/
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