THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
IN OUR LIFE AS CHRISTIANS.
The Saints on the Blessed Virgin Mary.
A Filial and Loving Tribute to Our Mother for Her Birthday.
AV summary and text.
OUTLINE
- THE SAINTS ON OUR LADY’S ROLE IN THE HISTORY OF SALVATION AND IN OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE.
- MARY AS MEDIATRIX OF GRACES IN THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
Dear brethren in Christ, DOES OUR DEVOTION TO MARY DIMINISH GOD’S GLORY? WHAT IS MARY’S ROLE IN THE SALVATION HISTORY AND IN OUR LIFE AS CHRISTIANS? These questions are answered with the quotes of several saints and some points of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Let us be grateful to God for giving us Mary as Our Mother. Let us honor and love her more for every praise we give her ultimately redounds to God’s glory as when one praises a painting, he ultimately glorifies the painter.
1. THE SAINTS ON OUR LADY’S ROLE IN THE HISTORY OF SALVATION AND IN OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE.
When St. Bernard of Claravall was still a young boy, he suffered a dangerous infection. He sought Our Lady’s help and while He was praying “Ave, Maris Stella (Hail, Star of the Sea)” and recited the part “Monstra te essem matrem (Show yourself a mother!)” Bernard was instantly healed, body and soul. His love for the divine Mother that soon he would enkindle a burning devotion to her all over Europe, which earned him the title of Marian Doctor of the Church. Without being the source of grace, St. Bernard taught that Mary is the aqueduct through which God’s grace arrives at us.
“This stream [Christ] from the heavenly source [God the Father] descends to us through an aqueduct [Mary]; … The aqueduct itself is always full, so that all may receive of its fullness, yet not the fullness itself. … an Aqueduct which, receiving the fullness of the Fountain from the Father’s heart, has transmitted it to us, if not as it is in itself, at least in so far as we could contain it.”
-St. Bernard of Clarivaux
Below are more quotes from various saints which give a glimpse of our Mother Mary’s role in our Christian life and the salvation of mankind.
“We never give more honour to Jesus than when we honour his Mother, and we honour her simply and solely to honour him all the more perfectly. We go to her only as a way leading to the goal we seek – Jesus, her Son.”
–Saint Louis Marie de Montfort
“Let us not imagine that we obscure the glory of the Son by the great praise we lavish on the Mother; for the more she is honored, the greater is the glory of her Son. There can be no doubt that whatever we say in praise of the Mother gives equal praise to the Son.”
–Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Father and Doctor of the Church
“If anyone does not wish to have Mary Immaculate for his Mother, he will not have Christ for his Brother.”
–Saint Maximilian Kolbe
”A man is no true Christian if he has no devotion to the Mother of Jesus Christ.”
–Saint John Eudes
“I wish I had a voice loud enough to tell all the sinners of the world to love Mary. She is the ocean across which one must travel in order to reach Jesus.”
Speaking of Our Lady, Padre Pio said: “Each grace passes through her hands.”
-St. Padre Pio de Pietrelcina
“Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much.
You can never love her more than Jesus did.”
–Saint Maximilian Kolbe
‘No grace comes from heaven to earth but what passes through Mary’s hand.
St. Bernardine of Siena.
If I were a leper my mother would hug me. She would kiss my wounds without fear or hesitation. —Well then, what would the Blessed Virgin Mary do?
When we feel we are like lepers, all full of sores, we have to cry out: Mother! And the protection of our Mother will be like a kiss upon our wounds, which obtains our cure.
–St. Josemaria Escriva
“If you ever feel distressed during your day — call upon our Lady — just say this simple prayer: ‘Mary, Mother of Jesus, please be a mother to me now.’ I must admit — this prayer has never failed me.”
–Blessed Mother Teresa
“Only after the Last Judgment will Mary get any rest; from now until then, she is much too busy with her children.”
–St. John Vianney
During these remaining days of preparation for Our Lady’s birthday, may we continue to offer her our “spiritual flowers”. We love you, Mother Mary.
Please help us all to love God in the same way You loved Him.
A big kiss and a strong hug from all of us!
Fr. Rolly A., priest of Opus Dei.
2. MARY AS MEDIATRIX OF GRACES IN THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
This post underlines the fact that Mary as the Mother of God Our Lord Jesus Christ has a special role in the salvation history for bringing Christ into the world and continues to cooperate with Him and His Church in the salvific mission in heaven. Jesus is the One and Only Mediator but from the beginning till end, He wanted Mary to cooperate in His salvific mission. Mary’s powerful mediation on our behalf depends on and arises from the merits and power of the mediation of Her Son. The saints were conscious of this. So is the Catholic Church which in the Catechism teaches:
494: At the announcement that she would give birth to “the Son of the Most High” without knowing man, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary responded with the obedience of faith, certain that “with God nothing will be impossible”: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word.”Thus, giving her consent to God’s word, Mary becomes the mother of Jesus. Espousing the divine will for salvation wholeheartedly, without a single sin to restrain her, she gave herself entirely to the person and to the work of her Son; she did so in order to serve the mystery of redemption with him and dependent on him, by God’s grace:
As St. Irenaeus says, “Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.”Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert. . .: “The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith.” Comparing her with Eve, they call Mary “the Mother of the living” and frequently claim: “Death through Eve, life through Mary.”
969 “This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation . . . . Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.”
970 “Mary’s function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin’s salutary influence on men . . . flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it.” “No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by his ministers and the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source.”
SEE AS WELL:
HOW WOULD YOU PREPARE FOR OUR MOTHER MARY’S BIRTHDAY? “FLOWERS” FOR OUR LADY. Video summary and text in http://wp.me/p6k7Mv-1ne
THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF GOD. This is what the Catholic Church teaches and what we Catholics believe in http://wp.me/p6k7Mv-bQ
AUDIO SOURCE:
Ave Maria (Sylvain Zimmer) by Les Petits Chanteurs de Montigny is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License. In http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Les_Petits_Chanteurs_de_Montigny/Compilation_classique/05_-_Ave_Maria_Sylvain_Zimmer