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DEVOTION TO MARY
Many Protestants and in fact even many Catholics unfortunately have all at one point or another have said that prayer to Mary is not scripturally based or sound. Many Catholics in some cases take the same issue to the other extreme and say that Mary should be prayed to only, and that she is the only way we get to God through prayer. The simple fact is that we to pray to Mary, but she is not the way we get to God the Father. Jesus said clearly in the gospels that:
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me."
Unfortunately this is were many Protestants get hung up is right here at this verse. Usually they take this scripture and isolate it from the rest of the things Jesus was teaching. If you were to read on further with that same passage, we find that Jesus explains a little better of what he was meaning:
"If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Philip said to him, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. "
Here we see that not only is Jesus the way to the father, but He is God Himself and the Father is working through him, and even further in the same scripture we find that there is a third person to God which is the Holy Spirit.
"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you."
So what is Jesus trying to tell his apostles that were all crowded around him at his final time here on this earth? We clearly see He is explaining to them about the doctrine of the trinity. God the Father exists in heaven, and He loves us because He is love and the source of all love. When original sin entered the world, we shut ourselves off from God who chose to send His Son Jesus Christ down to earth to die for our sins. This united us with God. With the sacrifice that Jesus gave up for us, we can now be reunited with God, and to show us even how much more He loves us, the Holy Spirit is given to us in order that we might have an advocate to be with us. Therefore Jesus is telling us that unless you believe in him there is no way you can have salvation granted to you. This concept is embraced wholeheartedly within the church, and is in fact the basis of the entire Catholic and Christian faith. Where many people get hung up is the fact that they believe they can go ONLY to God as a source of intercession and prayer. Jesus never said that he was the only person who heard prayer. He is saying with this scripture that he is the only way to salvation. There is no way that we here on earth will ever get to see God the Father unless we accept Jesus as our savior and at the time of our death see Him and God the Father in heaven.
We can clearly see how God has worked through people all through the Old Testament and the New Testament of scripture. God also worked miracles through the ark of the covenant, an object that God told humans man to make. In the same exact way he works through us to deliver the gospel message, God worked directly through Mary. God uses all of us in some way or form to glorify Himself. All things were created by Him and for Him. Mary is absolutely no exception.
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Mary herself first of all is considered to be the perfect human being according to God's plan for human salvation. To think anything less would be the same as saying that God choose someone who was imperfect and did not fit inside his plan. In other words, if you say that Mary was not the perfect choice for God to deliver His Son into the world through, then you would basically be saying that God made a mistake in choosing Mary. God does not make mistakes, so one must assume that Mary was the perfect instrument by which God used to bring salvation to the world. After all, he asked her and not someone else. The simple fact remains He chose to bring salvation to mankind through not only her absolute devotion to God but through her very body which made a human vessel for Christ the Son of God.
God Himself did not need Mary in the least. Being the all powerful God he was, he could have in fact just said the word and *poof* Jesus was here, but he did not do this. God himself choose Mary to be the one person that linked humanity to Jesus Christ. He choose Mary to be the person who carried Jesus for 9 months so that she could develop His human body. He choose Mary to deliver Jesus into this world in a stable in Bethlehem. He chose Mary to raise His Son to be the man who went through life just like a normal human being.
Was Mary required to say "yes" to God? No, Mary did not need to say yes to God at all. Mary could have just as well said "You know God, I really am not up to bringing the salvation of humanity into this world," but she did not do this. It would have been silly if she would have because God did in fact choose the women he knew would accept and bring Jesus into this world. What did she do?
"Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her."
She herself chose to be the handmaid of the Lord. She submitted herself to the perfect will of God Himself. God does not force his will upon anyone. It is up to us alone to choose to do his will in our lives. This is one of the great reasons why Mary is such a wonderful and beautiful example of submission to God's will and not our own selfish and distorted will. If only we could be as submissive to God as Mary was, we might be much better off.
So what about the titles that the Catholic Church gave Mary? There are quite a few titles that the Catholic Church has given Mary over the years due to theological studies and devotional attitudes toward Mary. The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms all of the titles given to Mary directly:
"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 fulfilment 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."*Lumen Gentium #62*"
(Catechism of the Catholic Church Section 2 Paragraph 6 #969)
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MEDIATRIX OF ALL GRACES / ADVOCATE / HELPER
In the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church), Mary herself is named "Mediatrix of all Graces", "advocate", and "helper' (Chapter 8 Section III). Here is the entire section which the title "Mediatrix of all Graces" originates from:
Here we see how the Church is developing the definition of mediator as it relates to Mary. She is deriving her power from the fact that Jesus, her son is in fact the Son of God. She is constantly pointing the way of man to her Son. We in many ways do the same thing when we witness or teach others about God. We are pointing the way for some other lost soul to the way of Christ. It is through the power of the gospel that we receive this authority to preach God's salvation to all people. How much more powerful would a mediator be if it was the very instrument that God Himself used to bring salvation to the world? It is the mother of Jesus herself that is pointing that way for us. This is exactly what she is doing. She is the way God chose to bring his Son into the world, and now she is doing the same for us. She is pointing the way to God is through her Son which she gave birth to here upon this earth. She is the instrument God himself used to bring salvation to the world. She is the instrument that we can use in order for us to see the way to Jesus. It is through her that God the Son was able to become man and live among us and die for our sins.
Does grace originate from her? Absolutely not. The church has never taught that graces comes from Mary through her own power. The church has always taught that the real grace is coming from God Himself. Lets take a look at paragraph #62 of Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church):
"62. This maternity of Mary in the order of grace began with the consent which she gave in faith at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, and lasts until The eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this salvific duty, but by her constant intercession continued to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and cultics, until they are led into the happiness of their true home. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, and Mediatrix. This, however, is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator. "
(Lumen Gentium Chapter 8 Section III #62-A)
By this statement here, we see that the Church is affirming the fact that Mary has no power in and of herself. She not only does not add anything to Christ, but she does not take anything away from his effectiveness either. Mary is not part of God Himself as Jesus or the Holy Spirit, but she is a divine instrument that God Himself chose to bring the light of the world into the world. It is from her we get Jesus and it is through her we receive grace from Him. Just as she was here to assist in God's plan of salvation through her surrender to God's perfect will, she is in heaven now interceding and praying for us on our behalf. From the rest of the same paragraph we see:
"For no creature could ever be counted as equal with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer. Just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by the ministers and by the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is really communicated in different ways to 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."
(Lumen Gentium Chapter 8 Section III #62-B)
Again more reaffirming that in fact no one can be counted as equal with Jesus or any of the 3 persons that make up God. God communicates in different ways to different people, so if we meditate and concentrate on Jesus we see all the other great men and women that have done his will throughout the ages. Mary is even more special, because through her devotion to God's will we see she brought the Redeemer (Jesus) into this world in physical form through the will of the Father with the aide of the Holy Spirit.
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"The Church does not hesitate to profess this subordinate role of Mary. It knows it through unfailing experience of it and commends it to the hearts of the faithful, so that encouraged by this maternal help they may the more intimately adhere to the Mediator and Redeemer."
(Lumen Gentium Chapter 8 Section III #62-C)
Here we see that the church reaffirms that Mary is definitely in a subordinate roll when compared to God and Jesus Christ himself. We in the church show that Mary is just a way we can more intimately come to respect Jesus Christ. We can see her great love for him as a baby laying in a manger. We can see her great love for Him as a child being lost in the temple. We can see her great love for Him as a young man growing up. We can see her great love for Him as a man whom she requested a favor for a new married couple at a wedding feast in Cannon. We can see her great love for him as he was teaching the people that he was indeed the Messiah that has come to save them. We can see her great love for Him as he was beaten, laughed at and spit upon. We can see her great love for Him as he hung upon a tree because of us and for us. We can see her great love for Him as she held him in her arms as he was taken down from the cross after his death. We can see her great love for Him as she helped prepare his body for burial. We can see her great love for Him as he was placed inside a rock tomb. We can see her great love for Him as she stayed with the other disciples in the upper room when he appeared to them. We can see her great love for Him as she received the Holy Spirit with the other disciples on the day of Pentecost. Her entire life has been dedicated to Jesus Christ, our God and our savior. How wonderful it would be to dedicate ourselves in the exact same way. This is affirmed again within the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
"964 Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it. "This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception up to his death";*Lumen Gentium #57* it is made manifest above all at the hour of his Passion: Thus the Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross. There she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, joining herself with his sacrifice in her mother's heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this victim, born of her: to be given, by the same Christ Jesus dying on the cross, as a mother to his disciple, with these words: "Woman, behold your son."*Lumen Gentium #58**John 19:26-27*"
(Catechism of the Catholic Church Section 2 Paragraph 6 #964)
The most obvious scripture of her intercession is shown in the wedding feast of Cana story in which the Lord performs His first miracle. Here we can look and see how scripture shows how Mary came before our Lord with a request and how he granted it to her even though it was not his time to do so.
"On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." Jesus said to her, "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servers, "Do whatever he tells you." Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, "Fill the jars with water." So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter." So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now." Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him."
Here we see there is a wedding feast in which Jesus, Mary and some of his first disciples were invited. Eventually during the celebration, which sometimes lasted up to 8 days in Jewish custom of the time, the wine that was being served there started to run short. This was a grave embarrassment to not only the host, but to the newly married couple. Even in modern times if you give your guests choice of fish or beef at a reception and you run out of either in the middle of serving your guests, you can easily see how this could be an embarrassment indeed. Well luckily enough Mary gets word of this fact and then goes to Jesus and tells him of the situation. Jesus asks what difference does this make to him? He is not the one who ran out of wine at the celebration. Instead of saying "Ok Lord, I will go back and wait for the wine to run out," Marry turns to the servers and says "Do whatever he tells you to do." Jesus here then changes his mind and turns the water into wine revealing to his disciples who were gathered there that he could perform miracles.
Mary here is revealed as not only informing Jesus of the situation, but also in convincing him to do something about it. Mary here does exactly the same thing for us today as Catholics who believe in her wonderful intercession. We believe that going to her with a request will give her reason to go before the throne of almighty God and present the request to her son. Many non-Catholics say "Doesn't God know our requests anyway?" of course he does, He would not be God if he did not, but you need to look at this scripture as well in the same context. Did not Jesus know the wine was running out and he could do something about it? Of course he did, he would not be Jesus if he did not, but at the same time, we see Mary coming before Jesus himself and requesting something she knew was in his power to do and to do it before his time had arrived.
Another interesting thing of note here is when we look deeper into this scripture we see how Mary treated the servants. Place yourself in the position of head water here at this festival. You know that you are about to be in some serious trouble with your boss when he find out you ran out of wine at this obviously important wedding feast. You then go to Mary and reveal this information to her, and she instantly knows someone who can help. She goes to Jesus with your request, and places it at the feet of Jesus. What happens next? She points to Jesus and says "Do whatever he tells you." This is exactly what happens with Mary in our lives here on earth. If we go to her and whisper in her ear, her love for her Son will place that request at the feet of Jesus, and if it is within his will, he shall grant it.
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