T
TimothyH
Guest
This is how I explain it…
Part of the belief in Mary as the co-redemtrix is the reality of who she was vs what I call the greeting-card view of Mary.
Mary is often portrayed as demure, even sheepish, helplessly sobbing under the cross while her son dies. The masterpiece sculpture Pieta by Micheelangelo is a perfect example. While it is a masterpiece and has moved me to tears, it is not the whole picture of Mary.
Mary is a Jewish mother. Anyone who knows Jewish mothers know that they are anything but docile and helpless. They are fierce women, and they are absolutely inseperable from their sons.
Read the story of the mother of the seven sons in 2 Maccabees 7. Her sons were being tortured and killed in front of her eyes one by one for not eating pork. Instead of crying helplessly, she encourages them to remain faithful to God’s law, to accept death rather than break God’s law, confident that they will be raised from the dead If they do so.
*But, leaning close to him, she spoke in their native tongue as follows, deriding the cruel tyrant: "My son, have pity on me. I carried you nine months in my womb, and nursed you for three years, and have reared you and brought you up to this point in your life, and have taken care of you. I beseech you, my child, to look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed. Thus also mankind comes into being. Do not fear this butcher, but prove worthy of your brothers. Accept death, so that in God’s mercy I may get you back again with your brothers." (1 Macabees 7:27-29)*This is the perfect image of a Jewish mother. This is the perfect image of Mary!!!
Mary was with her son through his entire ministry. Mary encourages him to stay faithhful to his mission as he cries for Lazarus, as he is accused by the authorities, as he is condemned to die, scourged, crowned with thorns, crucified and dies. Mary is there the whole time, encouraging her son to be faithful to his mission.
Mary was at the foot of the cross but she wasn’t sobbing. She was encouraging her son to accept death, just like the mother of the seven sons in 2 Maccabees 7, confident that she would get him back again, that he would be raised from the dead. This is the model of faith. This is the perfect image of perfect faith and perfect trust in God. This is the image of Mary.
The encouragement she gave her son to stay faithful to the Father through her own anguish, confident in her faith that God would raise her son from the dead is why we call her the co-redemtrix. She shared in his mission, encouraging him, and even daring to tell him that he is to start his ministry (do whatever he tells you) at the wedding at Cana when he is reluctant and says that his time has not yet come.
She is not a pitiful and helpless peasant girl but a fiercly proud mother and sharer in her sons success. That is why Mary is the Co-redemtrix.
-Tim-
Part of the belief in Mary as the co-redemtrix is the reality of who she was vs what I call the greeting-card view of Mary.
Mary is often portrayed as demure, even sheepish, helplessly sobbing under the cross while her son dies. The masterpiece sculpture Pieta by Micheelangelo is a perfect example. While it is a masterpiece and has moved me to tears, it is not the whole picture of Mary.
Mary is a Jewish mother. Anyone who knows Jewish mothers know that they are anything but docile and helpless. They are fierce women, and they are absolutely inseperable from their sons.
Read the story of the mother of the seven sons in 2 Maccabees 7. Her sons were being tortured and killed in front of her eyes one by one for not eating pork. Instead of crying helplessly, she encourages them to remain faithful to God’s law, to accept death rather than break God’s law, confident that they will be raised from the dead If they do so.
*But, leaning close to him, she spoke in their native tongue as follows, deriding the cruel tyrant: "My son, have pity on me. I carried you nine months in my womb, and nursed you for three years, and have reared you and brought you up to this point in your life, and have taken care of you. I beseech you, my child, to look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed. Thus also mankind comes into being. Do not fear this butcher, but prove worthy of your brothers. Accept death, so that in God’s mercy I may get you back again with your brothers." (1 Macabees 7:27-29)*This is the perfect image of a Jewish mother. This is the perfect image of Mary!!!
Mary was with her son through his entire ministry. Mary encourages him to stay faithhful to his mission as he cries for Lazarus, as he is accused by the authorities, as he is condemned to die, scourged, crowned with thorns, crucified and dies. Mary is there the whole time, encouraging her son to be faithful to his mission.
Mary was at the foot of the cross but she wasn’t sobbing. She was encouraging her son to accept death, just like the mother of the seven sons in 2 Maccabees 7, confident that she would get him back again, that he would be raised from the dead. This is the model of faith. This is the perfect image of perfect faith and perfect trust in God. This is the image of Mary.
The encouragement she gave her son to stay faithful to the Father through her own anguish, confident in her faith that God would raise her son from the dead is why we call her the co-redemtrix. She shared in his mission, encouraging him, and even daring to tell him that he is to start his ministry (do whatever he tells you) at the wedding at Cana when he is reluctant and says that his time has not yet come.
She is not a pitiful and helpless peasant girl but a fiercly proud mother and sharer in her sons success. That is why Mary is the Co-redemtrix.
-Tim-
