Mary Mediatrix of all graces,
Mother of God, Fecioara Maria Mediatoarea Tuturor Harurilor
Divina Misericordia (pagina FB), Fecioara Maria Mediatoarea Tuturor Harurilor |
Mary is the Virgin mother of Jesus Christ
and the wife of St Joseph .
She is the Mother of God (Theotokos) and the Mother of all Human Race.
Virginity and Motherhood, two contrary qualities are united in her by God in
His Omnipotence and love. For truly “to Him nothing is impossible” (Luke 1:37)
Mary grew up in the home of Sts Joachim and
Anna, who gave birth to her after years of childlessness. At the age of three, in keeping with the promise they had
made to God, they gave Mary to serve at the temple. Mary stayed on in the
temple until she was about 16 years of age (there is no conclusion as to the
exact age). She was then given to St Joseph in marriage
according to Jewish customs.
MARY’S UNIVERSAL MOTHERHOOD
The universal motherhood of Mary started
from the time of her fiat and continues even after her death. For she has not
put this noble task aside (according to Fathers of the Second Vatican
Council) but continues it until she sees all her children in heaven. Christ is
the Head of all things and the son of Mary, so since Mary gave birth to the
head, it is fitting that she also gives birth to the rest of the members. This
is the Christian understanding of Mary’s Universal Motherhood.
Mary accepted the burden of being the
“woman” (a title which Christ often reminds her of whenever salvation is in
question) alongside the “man” (a title which was proclaimed by Pontius Pilate
when he said “Ecce Homo” which means “Behold the
Man” Jn 19:5). By accepting to be Mother of
all things, she accepted to go through the pangs of child birth along with
Christ in bringing forth the Church, she accepted to die along with Christ, she
accepted to work with God in “making all things new” and in reconciling all
things in Christ. By so doing she has joined in the work of salvation like no
other mortal is able to; she has been given a singular place in the
distribution of grace to all men.
MARY’S DIVINE
MOTHERHOOD
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In the eastern part of the Roman Empire,
there arose among the faithful the practice of addressing the Virgin Mary as “Theotokos” or “Deipara”, “Dei Genitrix” – Greek and
Latin words meaning “God-bearing” or more simply put “Mother of God”. This
raised serious doubt in the mind of the then newly installed Patriarch
(Archbishop) Nestorius, of the See (Diocese) of Constantinople (then called the
Rome of the East, because Emperor Constantine
relocated the capital of the empire to Constantinople and so the power of the
Patriarch of Constantinople rose over other
Sees). Even today, many people still cannot just accept this title as true and
valid.
Nestorius could stand people address Mary
as “Christokos”
(Mother of Christ),
but Never “Theotokos” for he believed that Christ was not actually one person
with the Eternal Word. Rather he held that He was a (very extraordinary) man
that was united in so way with the Word but was distinct in his Personhood from
the Word. The implication of this is that, when the Word took flesh, another
person sprung from this union. Therefore, the Eternal Son is one person, and
Jesus of Nazareth
is another person (human). This is contradictory to the teaching of the
Apostles who proclaimed the Divinity of Christ and His Humanity as united in
the One Divine Person of the Eternal Word of God.
Mary gave birth to a “Person” (a Divine Person) not just
a “nature” for the later must be united with a subject of whom alone we can
predicate birth, filiation etc. and this subject must be a person (you cannot
say that someone gave birth to a nature but to a person with a particular
nature). Therefore, the Person of the Word while
not ceasing to be Divine took flesh IN the womb of Mary and became Man. Christ, therefore is not a Human Person, but a Divine
Person with two natures; divine and human. For as I said before only a person
can possess a nature, so for the human nature of Christ there did not arise any
new person but the Eternal Person of the Word of the Father, who while not
leaving the bosom of the Father, took a human nature from Mary. Since it is
this same Word that was born of the Virgin Mary, she therefore merits the
singular title of Mother of God for the Person she gave birth to is God the
Son. This is the Faith of the Catholic Church.
If this Word were not the same Person as
the Human Christ, then there may be no salvation for anyone, for no Human Person can possibly pay for the guilt of
Humanity, for according to Archbishop Fulton Sheen “no man can raise himself by
his own shoe lace”. There is need for an external hand to help, and that hand
needs be from outside. But God alone would
not do the “paying” for it is not Divinity that sinned but humanity. Hence the
necessity of the hypostatical Union of Natures
(as I understand it). This is the reason why God deemed it fitting to come as
man, becoming fully God and fully Man: that the punishment due unto the sins of
the world could be atoned in him (through the sufferings endured in his body)
and through his blood give salvation (For he is God, who alone has power to
save) to all who call to him with their hearts.
http://catholicsay.com/mary-mediatrix-of-all-graces-mother-of-god-2/
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