An excerpt from “The Truth of Catholicism” by George Weigel:
Mary was the first disciple, because Mary’s “yes” to the angel’s message had made possible the Incarnation of the Son of God. The Church is the extension of Christ and His mission in history; in the image made famous by Pope Piux XII, the Church is the “Mystical Body of Christ.” Mary’s Assumption into heaven was a preview of what awaits all those whom Christ will save. For all these reasons, [Saint John Paul II] proposed [that] Mary provides a defining profile of what the Church is, of how the men and women of the Church should live, and of what the eternal destiny of disciples will be.
This understanding of Mary and the Church challenges the institutional way in which many churchmen (and many Catholic laity) are used to thinking about themselves and their community. The “Marian profile,” [Saint John Paul II] said, is even “more… fundamental” in Catholicism than the “Petrine profile.” Though the two cannot be divided, the “Marian Church,” the Church formed in the image of a woman and her discipleship, precedes, makes possible, and indeed makes sense of the “Petrine Church,” the Church of office and authority formed in the image of Peter. That Petrine Church, the Pope continued, has no other purpose “except to form the Church in line with the ideal of sanctity already programmed and prefigured in Mary.” [Saint John Paul II] argued that these two profiles were complementary, not in tension. He also insisted that the “Marian profile is… pre-eminent” and carried within it a richer meaning for every Christian’s vocation (from his “Annual Address to the Roman Curia,” December 22, 1987).
It was a striking message. Discipleship comes before authority in the Church because authority is to serve sanctity. In a Church of disciples, formed in the image of Mary, the first disciple, what is fundamental is the universal call to holiness. Everything else in the Church—including the work of those with authority in the Church—exists to foster the disciples’ answer to that call.
An excerpt from “Mary’s Mission, Our Response” by Ralph Martin:
In the richness of God’s plan, God, in some sense, does everything Himself. But in another sense, He richly shares the work of salvation with those who are joined to Him. There is one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ; but Jesus Christ now entrusts a share in His work of mediation to Mary (and to us). He has entrusted a share in the work of mediation to the apostles and to all who become disciples of Jesus Christ. We become mediators of the grace of God to others. It is part of the incarnational principle of Christianity that the Catholic Church has kept clear all these years.
God is not robbed of honor and glory by sharing His honor and glory with His creatures; God is glorified in His creatures. God is glorified in Mary through her holiness, through her fruitful intercession, and through her motherhood. Something of God’s glory is revealed in a unique way in Mary, and God wants it to be revealed in that way….
Sometimes we may get the wrong impression from the ways that Mary is spoken of as Queen of Heaven, or Mediatrix of all grace, or Co-redemptrix. She is all those things only in virtue of what Christ has given to her; she is all those things, subordinate to Christ. She is all those things only in fulfillment of the Will of the Father, not in virtue of her own merit or her own doing.
By the choice of God, Mary has been given a unique and a significant share in the work of Jesus, but it has power and virtue only because of Who Jesus is and what He has done.
Mary’s share in the mediation of her Son involves her role as intercessor. Remember that God arranged Jesus’ very significant first miracle, the miracle at Cana, in response to Mary’s intercession. That was no accident! It was in God’s plan that the wine ran out, that Mary interceded, and that Jesus responded, hastening the coming of His hour. Mary continues to intercede for the needs of God’s people, and her intercession is, next to Jesus’ intercession, the most powerful there is because of who she is in God’s plan.
“Dear children! In this time of the grace of expectation, I desire to call you to prayer for Advent to be prayer of the family. In a special way, little children whom I tenderly embrace, I encourage you to prayer for peace in the world; for peace to prevail over peacelessness and hatred. Thank you for having responded to my call.” -Our Lady of Medjugorje, in private revelation given to Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti, on November 25, 2024
