Saints, Mary, and their role in the catholic church

[BoondockRev]

Hey folks just a few quick questions to flex your spiritual muscles.

1)What is Mary’s role in salvation? Does she have one?

2)The Saints, what right do we have appointing the Saints of God? What is their role in the catholic church?

3)What was John Paul II’s stance on Mary?

God bless you all, thanks for the answers.

-Chris

 

[Genesis315]

1)What is Mary’s role in salvation? Does she have one?
-Chris

Her role is indirect. Jesus is the direct cause of our salvation. Mary is considered an indirect cause because she said yes to conceiving Jesus. Adam’s sin was the direct cause of man’s fall while Eve’s disobedience was the indirect cause. Therefore Jesus is the direct cause, while Mary’s obedience is the indirect cause.

2)The Saints, what right do we have appointing the Saints of God? What is their role in the catholic church?

We don’t appoint them, the Church just let’s us know they are in Heaven. This declaration is not what puts them in Heaven. Discerning this is a tough process that requires signs that they are in Heaven. I’m sure someone else can describe the whole process.

3)What was John Paul II’s stance on Mary?

He loved her like a mother and honored her as the mother of Jesus and the perfect Christian.

 

[Ecce_Homo]

What is the role of the saints in the Catholic Church?

In the Aposle’s Creed, we say that we “believe in the communion of saints”. This communion of saints describes a relationship between the Church millitant (here on Earth), the Church suffering (in Purgatory), and the Church triumphant (in Heaven). One can think of this relationship as the relationship between members of a very close family.

The saints are those members of the family who are already in heaven. They need nothing, for they are already in possession of their salvation and are extremely close to God. The Holy Souls in Purgatory are also members of this family. While not already in possession of their eternal reward, they have absolute assurance of their salvation, and having died in the state of grace, are the friends of God. That leaves us–the Church millitant. We remain, even now, in this valley of tears, cooperating, as an act of faith, with God’s grace in the hope of eternal salvation with the saints of God.

As in any close family, the members of the Church (millitant, suffering, and triumphant) desire the welfare of the other members, and do all that is in their power to aid them. So just as I might ask an older brother pray for me or ask him to help me obtain an object that is out of my reach, so I pray to the saints, who are closest to God, to obtain from Him all that I need to join them one day in Heaven and to assist me here on Earth.