Virgin Most Powerful

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EasterJoy

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The scriptures two or three Sundays back reflected on the authority of the Pope.

Recognizing that all authority from God is given with the intention that it work to realize the Will of God, what authority does Our Lady have, and what is its nature? What does it mean that Mary is Queen of Heaven, Queen of Apostles and Martyrs, the Queen of Angels, Queen of Peace, and so on?
 
I’ve not been Catholic for long, so I may be off base with this answer.

I think Queen Esther is a picture of the Blessed Mother. She asked her King to allow her to do certain tasks and for various favors.

I think that Mary does the same–asks her Son for permission to do tasks and also to perform favors that only God can do.
 
Cat said:
I’ve not been Catholic for long, so I may be off base with this answer.

I think Queen Esther is a picture of the Blessed Mother. She asked her King to allow her to do certain tasks and for various favors.

I think that Mary does the same–asks her Son for permission to do tasks and also to perform favors that only God can do.
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I think this is a very perceptive comment. I haven’t thought of the term ‘authority’ in relation to Mary. All that she does is by God’s favor.
 
Claire_from_DE said:
I think this is a very perceptive comment. I haven’t thought of the term ‘authority’ in relation to Mary. All that she does is by God’s favor.
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I have been thinking about this. I think it is because we are so used to the secular world, in which power and authority are thought of as the same thing.

The Pope, whether or not he is saintly, has been given authority. The saints, those who have placed themselves totally at the disposal of the Holy Spirit, and Mary foremost among all, have power. She is Virgin Most Powerful because she, of all, is the most at the disposal of God. She is Queen of Heaven because she has always been thoroughly under the domain of the Holy Spirit. To be at her disposal is to be at God’s disposal, for there is no part of her which she holds apart from His will. No Marian devotion is true which neglects this fundamental truth.

This is why Jesus said that his disciples might do deeds as He did, and greater yet. It is not because those disciplies would be greater than He. It is because God wills to do great things through those who rely on Him, particularly after the Resurrection.

Likewise, a Pope who would not dedicate himself to sanctity would have the same authority, but none of the power, of a Pope who keeps himself at the disposal of God.

Yes? No? What do you think?
 
The fifth glorious mystery of the Rosary is the Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and earth. It seems reasonable that this mystery is preceeded by her Assumption…yet I always wondered if the merit for Queen of Martyrs was gained at the foot of the Cross- there where even though she endured such unspeakable pain, she still united herself to her dying Jesus and offered all she could to the Father.

@ Cat: I’ve also read Queen Esther as a type of relection of the Blessed Mother.Apparently there’s a lot in the Old Testament which can prefigure Mary. What I found to be of special interest is that In the Old Testament, from antiquity,it seems it wasn’t the king’s wife who was queen, it was usually his mother…Makes all the more sense with Jesus and His Mother. There are some references about it at this link:
home.inreach.com/bstanley/queen.htm
 
Saying Mary has authority seems wrong to me. Of herself she has no authority, and I don’t think she could command someone to do anything. She can only ask requests of Christ, which hold much weight with Him because she is His mother. Her position is one of honor I think.

I don’t know if I’m saying this correctly…I think Mary has no authority, but her power resides in her favor with Our Lord. She is our Queen, and we would obey would she ask us to do something, but she couldn’t command us to do something as Christ could, she could only request.

…I think…
 
The general OT role of the Queen Mother typifies Mary: she is the Queen Mother to the Incarnate Word, the Logos of the universe, and as such she has been given great authority indeed: she is the Mediatrix of all graces. No graces flows from Heaven to Earth that the Virgin does not have a hand in.
 
Rawb said:
Saying Mary has authority seems wrong to me. Of herself she has no authority, and I don’t think she could command someone to do anything. She can only ask requests of Christ, which hold much weight with Him because she is His mother. Her position is one of honor I think.

I don’t know if I’m saying this correctly…I think Mary has no authority, but her power resides in her favor with Our Lord. She is our Queen, and we would obey would she ask us to do something, but she couldn’t command us to do something as Christ could, she could only request.

…I think…
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Well, people used to go to Peter and John, for healing. I would think her power would be along those lines: that is, not that she has power in her own right, but that she is a uniquely powerful source of the power of Christ. Just as Peter could bid a person to be healed, so could Mary under similar circumstances, because she is that tuned in to the Will of God.

I would think that it is for this reason she is called Virgin Most Powerful, Mediatrix of all graces. Being in total obedience to the Holy Spirit, and always having been so, she is the uniquely powerful channel by which God chooses to dispense His graces: hence, Queen of Priests and Apostles, as well.
 
Well, people used to go to Peter and John, for healing. I would think her power would be along those lines: that is, not that she has power in her own right, but that she is a uniquely powerful source of the power of Christ. Just as Peter could bid a person to be healed, so could Mary under similar circumstances, because she is that tuned in to the Will of God.
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I would think that it is for this reason she is called Virgin Most Powerful, Mediatrix of all graces. Being in total obedience to the Holy Spirit, and always having been so, she is the uniquely powerful channel by which God chooses to dispense His graces: hence, Queen of Priests and Apostles, as well.
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Exactly! I could not get that thought across! LoL. 👍
 
I wonder if one reason all this is so difficult for us to understand is that we have all been heavily-influenced by Darwinian thinking, the idea that humans are advanced animals.

It is so hard to see ourselves as anything other than that last animal in line on the chart on the science professors wall.

And if we have any doubts that we are animals, we watch television and movies, or listen to music, or even read the newspaper, and we see humans copulating with anyone that they please, killing their young, eating anything that appeals to them, and committing acts of violence in order to displace those who interfere with our assent to the top of the “food chain.”

Interestingly, I think that obesity is a proof that we are not just animals. Animals, with rare exceptions (usually due to illness like diabetes), do not become obese. This would put them at a disadvantage in natural selection. But humans do become obese. We have a free will and often, we choose to exercise it in ways that bring harm to ourselves and others.

Anyway, one of the reasons that I find Catholicism so amazing is that it properly restores humans to their exalted place in God’s plan–we are created in the Image of God. We are just a little lower than the angels! And women are not man’s chattel, as some believe even today. Mary is the Queen of Heaven and Earth–that was God’s ultimate purpose and plan for her.

We were never meant to grovel about a polluted earth like mere animals. We were created to walk with God and rule with Him. God even asked Man to name the creatures–considering the importance of names in the Old Testament, this was not a mere “government job” that God made up to keep man from being bored!

And Mary, the Blessed Virgin, is the “demonstration” of that purpose of humans.

My favorite Rosary mystery is the Crowning of Mary as Queen of Heaven. Remember, I was evangelical Protestant all my life. But when I started studying Catholicism, I realized that the Catholic Church rightly interpreted the Scriptures and placed humans in their proper order in creation.
 
Cat said:
Interestingly, I think that obesity is a proof that we are not just animals. Animals, with rare exceptions (usually due to illness like diabetes), do not become obese. This would put them at a disadvantage in natural selection. But humans do become obese. We have a free will and often, we choose to exercise it in ways that bring harm to ourselves and others.
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I don’t think you’ve ever owned a Labrador retriever!! 😛 😃

Wild animals normally do not have access to an unlimited and fiber-poor food supply, and in the total absence of predators.

Still, the rest of your post is well-taken. I like the observation once that said that Jesus and Mary amply demonstrate the difference between “normal” and “average”. To be normal means to conform to or be an example of a standard or norm. To be average means to conform to the standard in a manner in which all scores, if evenly divided among the others being scored, would be the same as ours.

Jesus and Mary are fully normal human beings. The rest of us, alas, are scattered out around the average.
 
Mary, out of all humanity has a relationship with God that is totally unique. Not only is she a child of the Father as we all are, but she is also mother of the Son and **spouse of the Holy Spirit. ** Just as we have Jesus, who came to us through her, we have grace which comes to us through her. She and she alone is the mediatrix of all grace. Anything we have from Jesus, comes to us through her. It comes to us, not because of her power, but because of her humility and complete submission to the will of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Just as she is child, mother and spouse, she is our mother, mediatrix and and channel of God’s grace for us, which allows us to participate in the divinity of God himself. That is what sanctifying grace is. By sanctifying grace, given to us by God, through her, God dwells in each of us. Because God is one, where one person is, there are the other two. This is how we share in aTrinitarian relationship with God, through her. All this because of her humility. Her message, given at Cana, “**Do whatever he tells you to do”, **is a reflection of her life of total submission to God and an example for each of us.
Prayers & blessings
Deacon Ed B
 
Deacon_Ed_B said:
It comes to us, not because of her power, but because of her humility and complete submission to the will of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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I was thinking that her humility and complete submission is her power. When Jesus told his disciples their faith could move mountains, was Mary’s power not exactly the kind of power he meant? “Blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.”

This is how Mary is, in her power, the Model of Christians.
 
Good one EasterJoy: humility…“gotta have it!”

Mary is the role model par excellence for all of us who share this faith of ours. Her humility is perfectly transparent to God’s will.

In the Blessed Sacrament Jesus is sometimes referred to as Infinite Humility…(hey, like Father - like Son).🙂
 
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