http://www.unhub.com/hugodlr (for my Facebook fans!) 🙂
The titles of “Mediatrix” and “Co-Redemptrix” are not officially defined dogmas of the Catholic Church regarding Mary (I defined the dogmas at the beginning of this document). They may be used of her in an unofficial capacity, but again, like the actual Marian dogmas of the Church, they are Christological in nature; that is, they aim to define more clearly who and what Jesus is instead of trying to define who and what Mary is. The titles refer to her freely given consent to be the Mother of Jesus, the Redeemer and Savior of all humanity and of all the cosmos. If she would have said “no,” we would not have had Jesus. That is a historical fact. Since she said yes, she is part of salvation history. She cannot save us, she does not save us – she is not the Savior, plain and simple. But by merit of her yes, she plays a role in salvation history. That is all those words connote.
In all of the passages above, every reference to Mary ultimately is a reference to Jesus. “To Jesus through Mary” is a popular Catholic saying that teaches that Mary will always point us in the direction of her Son, and will always lead us, with motherly care, to worship and adore her Son. The Catholic view of Co-Redemptrix does not imply that Mary participates as equal part in the redemption of the human race, since Christ is the only redeemer Mary herself needed redemption and was redeemed by Jesus Christ her son. Being redeemed by Christ, implies that she cannot be his equal part in the redemption process. (Quoted from Wikipedia)
One final note: In a document that spans 2,865 sections [talking about the Catechism here], less then 1% of them are related to Mary – yes, she is important to the Christian Church, but we always keep the Blessed Trinity (and Jesus’ Paschal Mystery) central to the mystery of our salvation.
The original document ended here, so I’ll leave it here as well. Next post – some short stories (because I feel like doing fiction instead of non-fiction). 🙂
Blessings & Peace,
Hugo
Thanks pecheur 🙂 I think the reason we choose to honor her and not any of her ancestors (though her parents are official saints in the Church) is that she was the one who gave her "yes" to God. If another would have done that, then we would have the Virign Sophia or Virgin (insert Jewish name here).
However, I would add that it seems that it was in God's plan to send Jesus through Mary. In some way he prepared a suitable vessel for his son, and that's also why we honor her as we do. 🙂
Blessings & Peace,
Hugo
I would clarify that if Mary had said no, someone else would have said yes. It was in God's plan to send Jesus. He chose Mary, and she said yes. However, Mary could have refused to be a part of that salvific history, but she didn't and thus is a part of the world's salvation. But why do we see her veneration and not Jesus' grandmothers (i.e Ruth et al)?
Good post, hugo