Why
is The Virgin Mary considered So Important?
Should She be considered Co-Redemptrix
and Mediatrix of All Graces?
Indeed She can and should, because She
is!
INTRODUCTION
Mary is the Mother of Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, the Father.
This is clearly stated in several places in the Holy Scriptures as well
as in the Muslim Holy Qur'an. By way of example, in the Gospel of St.
Luke (1:32) we hear Gabriel the Archangel telling Mary about the son
that She is about to conceive through the action of the Holy Ghost: "He shall be great, and shall be called
the Son of the most High..."
As the Secret Concept of the Holy
Trinity (1) is
understood, the
reality of Her Divine Motherhood (2) can almost be expressed
mathematically. It is no longer an ethereal and elusive manifestation
of piety.
Recognition of the importance of
Mary may also be traced to the
earliest days of Christianity - even before the Patriarchate of Rome
unilaterally claimed absolute control over Christianity.
This recognition is not limited to those whom the world know as
Christians - The Holy Book of Islam, The Qur'an, gives Mary a
preeminence that not even
the
Christian Scriptures accord Her. (3)
DETAILS
About Her Immaculate Conception,
thus,
Her Immaculate Heart
Even though the Muslim Holy Qur'an officially proclaimed Mary's
Immaculate Conception back in the 7th century...
Behold!
The angels said: "O Mary! God hath chosen thee and purified thee -
chosen thee above the women of all nations." [Surah
III. 42]
...it took the Roman Catholic Church Controlling Hierarchy until the
19th century to proclaim it as a Dogma through the Apostolic Letter,
Ineffabilis Deus, issued by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854...
And
hence the very words with which the Sacred Scriptures speak of
Uncreated Wisdom and set forth His eternal origin, the Church, both in
its ecclesiastical offices and in its liturgy, has been wont to apply
likewise to the origin of the Blessed Virgin, inasmuch as God, by one
and the same decree, had established the origin of Mary and the
Incarnation of Divine Wisdom.
...even though Pope Alexander VII had already stated back in the year
1661 that:
Concerning
that Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, ancient indeed is that
devotion of the faithful based on the belief that her soul, in the
first instant of its creation... was, by a special grace and privilege
of God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ her Son and Redeemer of
the human race, preserved free from all stain of original sin.
These pronouncements by Popes Alexander VII and Pius IX were confirmed
by Heaven when the Blessed Virgin appeared to Bernadette in Lourdes,
France, on March 25, 1858, identifying Herself as "The Immaculate
Conception".
With this, Heaven had confirmed the way to the secure refuge for the
times
that were to come (4):
Her Immaculate Heart.
This was
thereafter confirmed in a number of valid Apparitions of Our Lady and
of Our
Lord, to the point where Her Immaculate Heart has been referred to as
the Noah's Ark of these times (5).
Mary and The Gospel
Until the time that Jesus started His public Ministry, He lived a life
hidden from the world. Therefore, essentially all that appears in the
New Testament pertaining the pre-public life of Jesus had to come, by
necessity, through Mary. She
was the only one that could have provided such intimate
information to the Evangelist Luke.
Mary's importance cannot be dismissed without dismissing the
validity of a significant portion of the New Testament.
On The Infinite Intercessory
Power of
Mary
"Power" really means ability to "get things done"; it does not require
that one "owns" the power. It means the ability to engage the power
needed at a particular time.
Monotheistic religions agree that man was created in the Image of God.
Thus, if the virtues that man exhibits are taken to perfection, we will
then see, and begin to understand, the real attributes of God. It then
follows that the power at Mary's command is essentially limited by the
power of The Most Holy Trinity, which is Infinite. How is this
possible? Allow us to walk you through that reality.
What human father, as imperfect as we are, would deny anything to a
good and devoted daughter? None! What human son, as imperfect as we
are, would deny anything to a loving, devoted and self sacrificing
mother? None! What human spouse, as imperfect as we are, would deny
anything to his obedient, loving and devoted spouse? None!
If we then realize that Mary's father is God the Father; her son, is
God the Son; and her spouse is God the Holy Spirit, what would the Most
Holy Trinity deny Mary? Absolutely nothing! Whatever She will ask of
that uncreated and Awesome Creator, She will obtain. Even when God may
not be inclined to do so, He Will do it - just for Her.
Our Lord left us with a very concrete example of this at the Wedding
Feast at Cana [John 2:1-10].
Jesus showed no intention of remedying the situation when the wine ran
out. Mary thought otherwise and This
was the first of Jesus' signs: it was at Cana in Galilee
[John
2:11] A sign worked at Her request - even though Jesus told Her
that His time had not come yet [John 2:4].
The Importance of a Woman in
Redemption
We should acknowledge the very special and primordial role that the
female of the human species plays in the ongoing history of humanity,
with Mary being the foremost example.
This writer, without regretting his manhood, must acknowledge that God
has shown favor toward the female member of the species. After all, the
greatest human that has ever lived was a woman: Mary. Jesus Christ is
God-man. He cannot be grouped into the category of "rank-and-file"
human. However, although Mary was conceived without the stain of the
original sin upon Her soul, She was all human - body and soul. Thus,
regardless of how our feelings may have been conditioned
about Mary, Her role was and is essential to the redemption of humanity.
How could it then be wrong to show respect for the Mother of the Son of
God? We are taught to walk in the imitation of Christ. That works fine
for men, because He is a man. Is it then wrong for any Christian woman
to try to walk in imitation of Mary?
We cannot expect to reach the height of perfection of Jesus and Mary,
but instead of becoming discouraged by it, we should look to the holy
men and women of history as a reminder of the level of holiness that
may be attained by striving to
imitate Jesus and Mary. Jesus and Mary are Whom we should
strive to imitate - the role models, so to speak, of humans - and not the holy men and women of
history. The lives of the holy men and women just remind us of the
level of holiness that may be attained by striving to imitate Jesus and
Mary.
Summarizing and concluding about
the
importance of Mary:
+ Mankind fell through
disobedience to
God.
+ Only God-made-man could pay the price of the redemption of humanity.
+ Only a woman, by Divine Decree in accordance to the Universal Laws of
Nature, could generate God-made-man. A man could not.
+ The woman had to give her consent - "Be
it done to me
according to thy word" - as an
act of her free will.
Thus, without the willful assent of a female of the human species to be
mother of the Incarnate Word of God, there would not have been
Redemption of mankind nor the outpouring of Graces at the time of
Pentecost.
Her active Collaboration in our Redemption and unlimited Mediating
power before the Throne of God is a reality and not an exercise in
piety.
+ By the Will of God, She was
invited
to be the Mother of His Son, the Redeemer, thus Her role as
Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix was ordained from all eternity.
+ Exercising Her freedom of choice we have Her willful acceptance to
cooperate in the Divine Plan of Redemption.
+ At the instant of Hypostatic Union, Mary became the Mother of
God-made-man, Jesus Christ, thus, Co-Redemptrix.
+ On the cross, Jesus Christ, in His last instruction before His death,
gave Mary to us as our own Mother through the disciple He loved. Thus
Her role as Mediatrix, at that instant, became manifest through
its confirmation by God Himself.
We must then acknowledge that Mary is indeed the Co-Redemptrix of
mankind and the Mediatrix of all Graces.
Her role has been beautifully and truthfully summed up thus: Who is the Gate (of Heaven) if not Mary?
Mary is the Gate through which Christ entered the world!(4)
As we conclude this document, we must mention the sad reality that a
movement has been gaining momentum claiming that it is Satan who is
passing himself as the Virgin Mary in the Marian Apparitions.
Let us stop for a moment and think.
In every legitimate Marian Manifestation the Virgin Mary has encouraged
the world to:
(a) Live Her Son's Gospel;
(b) Recognize the importance of the Eucharistic Presence of Jesus and
act accordingly toward His Presence.
(c) Pray the Holy Rosary daily while meditating in the Mysteries of our
Redemption as it set out in the New Testament.
She invariably defers to Her Son and teaches all who would listen to
adore and obey Him.
How could that be Satan in disguise? Jesus Himself taught us that such
duality was impossible:
[17]
... Every kingdom divided against itself, shall be brought to
desolation, and house upon house shall fall. [18] And if Satan also be
divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because you say,
that through Beelzebub I cast out devils. [19] Now if I cast out devils
by Beelzebub; by whom do your children cast them out?
[Luke 11] (A
message that is repeated in the Gospels of Matthew 12 and Mark 3)
How can, then, anyone - except those inspired by Satan (6) - think that the Marian
Apparitions are just satanic falsifications?
Think about it... If one were in Satan's shoes what would be the most
effective way to destroy the little faith left in the world? One would
strive to make everyone believe that there were no true Marian
Manifestations and that the counsel given by Mary, in an effort to
counter the failed Evangelization, were indeed from Satan and should be
abandoned.
This demonic propaganda is the second half of Satan's plan to harm as
many souls as possible. The first half started early in the 20th
century when the faithful were made to believe that Satan really did
not exist; that it was just a symbol. That movement resulted in the
devotion to St. Michael the Archangel being demoted to "just another
medieval tradition" and to the elimination of the famous prayer
invoking his protection promoted by Pope Leo XIII in the Nineteenth
Century.
NOTES
(5)
Private
Communication Rev.
E. Peter Royal, 1991,
Professor of Theology at Saint Thomas University, Houston, Texas,
U.S.A., at the time
En Español: ¿Por qué la Virgen María es tan
importante?
Published in honor of Mary's
Wedding - January 23 • Reissued
in honor of the Celebration
of Her Birth - September 8th, 2017 • Overall Revision on May 2018
© Copyright 2005 - 2022
by The M+G+R Foundation.
All rights reserved. However, you may
freely reproduce and distribute this document as long as: (1)
Appropriate credit is given as to its source; (2) No changes are made
in the text without prior written consent; and (3) No charge is made
for it.
Marian Manifestations that we consider essential for the End of
These Times
The M+G+R
Foundation