"...why the Church herself is a Marian mystery."

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Yesterday, I posted excerpts from the book, “Mary the Church at the Source” and receiving a reply, I quoted more from Pope Emeritus (Benedict XVI, who as co-author of this book was known then as Cardinal Ratzinger)

Today I want to enlarge on those quotes I posted yesterday. Today’s quote includes the title of today’s post:

It is, I believe, no coincidence, given our Western, masculine mentality, that we have increasingly separated Christ from his Mother, without grasping that Mary’s motherhood might have some significance for theology and faith. This attitude characterizes our whole approach to the Church. We treat the Church almost like some technological device that we plan and make with enormous cleverness and expenditure of energy. Then we are surprised when we experience the truth of what Saint Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort once remarked, paraphrasing the words of the prophet Haggai, when he said, “You do much, but nothing comes of it!” (Hag I:6) 'When making becomes autonomous, the things we cannot make but that are alive and need time to mature can no longer survive. ’

What we need, then, is to abandon this one-sided, Western activistic outlook, lest we degrade the Church to a product of our creation and design. The Church is not a manufactured item, she is, rather, the living seed of God that must be allowed to grow and ripen. This is why the Church needs the Marian mystery, this is why the Church herself is a Marian mystery. There can be fruitfulness in the Church only when she has this character, when she becomes holy soil for the Word. We must retrieve the symbol of the fruitful soil, we must once more become waiting, inwardly recollected people who in the depth of prayer, longing, and faith give the Word room to grow. (From "Mary – The Church at the Source, Ignatius Press 2005, p. 16-17.)

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[patricius79]

This lack of receptivity in the Church has to do with too little filial love for our Blessed Mother of grace, and why there is so little life-giving, healing nurturing that happens in the Church today.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear patricius,

Thanks so much for your faithful “heart” and your continuing love for Jesus through Mary. It is a joy to receive the “hearts” of brothers and sisters who want to hear of our Mother, and who sincerely are seeking to know, love and serve her more in order to know, love and serve Jesus more!

Please let us continue to pray for one another, for the Universal Church and for all those in most need of God’s Mercy. These are difficult days for the Church and Pope Emeritus and Cardinal Sarah have written a new book to be published first in French this month and then the English version to be published in February.

Edward Pentin, an excellent Catholic Reporter has written an article on this new book in “The Catholic Register” – it is well-worth reading, see HERE

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Stephie,

Thanks also for your faithful “heart” and your continuing love for Jesus through Mary. I hope those who “viewed” this post pondered the words of Pope Emeritus (Benedict XVI):

"…we are surprised when we experience the truth of what Saint Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort once remarked, paraphrasing the words of the prophet Haggai, when he said, “You do much, but nothing comes of it!” (Hag I:6) 'When making becomes autonomous, the things we cannot make but that are alive and need time to mature can no longer survive. ’

What we need, then, is to abandon this one-sided, Western activistic outlook, lest we degrade the Church to a product of our creation and design. The Church is not a manufactured item, she is, rather, the living seed of God that must be allowed to grow and ripen. This is why the Church needs the Marian mystery, this is why the Church herself is a Marian mystery. There can be fruitfulness in the Church only when she has this character, when she becomes holy soil for the Word. We must retrieve the symbol of the fruitful soil, we must once more become waiting, inwardly recollected people who in the depth of prayer, longing, and faith give the Word room to grow.

I’ve continued to ponder those words and prayerfully listen to what the Holy Spirit has given us through his profound insights. In particular the last 2 sentences:

…There can be fruitfulness in the Church only when she has this character, when she becomes holy soil for the Word. We must retrieve the symbol of the fruitful soil, we must once more become waiting, inwardly recollected people who in the depth of prayer, longing, and faith give the Word room to grow

Perhaps you and others may reply with what blessed you. especially, after pondering more.

 

[StephieNorthCo]

The Blessed Virgin has only a few words quoted in scripture.

I have been contemplating these 2 separate phrases, as they seem to go together quite well…

All generations shall call me Blessed.

And

Do whatever He tells you.

The later, of course, is the last thing we hear from Mary in the Gospels.

Blessings,
Stephie

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Stephie,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Whenever we prayerfully ponder Holy Scripture, God “speaks” to the ears of our hearts. Certainly, all Scripture is - in someway or another - “connected” and when we listen carefully, we begin to hear how, as you wrote: “separate phrases seem to go together quite well…”

The 2 phrases you mentioned: “All generations shall call me blessed” (from Luke 1:48) and “Do whatever He tells you” (from John 2:5) can be heard as Mary’s revealing, by the power of the Holy Spirit, God’s Faithfulness to His children in Christ.

Although we have few “recorded” words of Mary in Scripture we "see’ her through the testimony of the Gospel writers. We also know that John at the end of his Gospel wrote:

It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true.There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written. (John 21: 24 - 25)

The few words of Mary, which we hear recorded in the Gospel, God has deemed sufficient. There are no recorded words of her husband St. Joseph at all, and even those of Jesus Himself are not all recorded. What is important to remember is that all Scripture is divinely inspired and God permitted the writers to write what He inspired. They wrote each in his own unique way but all by God’s Grace. The Catechism of the Catholic Church in Part 1 on “Revelation”:

53 The divine plan of Revelation is realized simultaneously “by deeds and words which are intrinsically bound up with each other” and shed light on each another. It involves a specific divine pedagogy: God communicates Himself to man gradually. He prepares him to welcome by stages the supernatural Revelation that is to culminate in the person and mission of the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.

also

81 “Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit.”

“and [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound and spread it abroad by their preaching.”

Thanks again, Stephie!