Fantastic and Wild a Mother Made by Her Own Child!

Mary: A Gift from Jesus

            Jesus, the eternal un-created second person of the eternal Trinity calls his disciples friends. “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends. (John 15:15)  On the cross Jesus shows the greatest love for his friends by laying his life down for the salvation of their souls.  “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John. 15:13) He also died for those people who hated and crucified Him, for those that ran away from Him, and even for the man who betrayed Him. Some of these people eventually became His friends. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:7-8  The gift of His very life was not the end of the gifts that He gave His friends from the cross. None of us were physically present at Calvary to receive this particular special gift, but John the Apostle was standing  in proxy for all Christ’s disciples when He gave us the gift of His mother. “When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.”  Jn. 19:26-27)  The scriptural truth of Mary as Gift to Christ’s disciples is echoed by Pope John Paul II. “The Redeemer entrusts his mother to the disciple, and at the same time he gives her to him as his mother. Mary’s motherhood, which becomes man’s inheritance, is a gift: a gift which Christ himself makes personally to every individual.” ^[i]

            As fiction as fantastic and wild — a mother made by her own child!^[ii]  God the Son created a woman free from any self-attachment to the fallen world of sin and death. God created a mother who could perfectly love the perfect Son of God by allowing His redemptive suffering to redeem her before all man kind, by her being  preserved from the hereditary sin of Adam and Eve. The mother who loved Christ perfectly has been given to us. “Could one give a greater gift to a friend then his mother? Could one give a greater gift to his mother than his friend?”^[iii]   She is a mother who waits for her children to ask for her material care. The best way to utilize this gift of God’s mother is through the meditative prayerful recitation of the rosary.  Through the sacrament of the Eucharist we have direct access to the heart of Jesus. Through the gift of the Rosary, we have direct access to the heart of our Blessed Mother. “Mary lived with her eyes fixed on Christ, treasuring his every word: “She kept all these things, pondering them in her heart“ (Lk 2:19; cf. 2:51.) “The memories of Jesus, impressed upon her heart, were always with her, leading her to reflect on the various moments of her life at her Son‘s side. In a way those memories were to be the “rosary “which she recited uninterruptedly throughout her earthly life.” ^[iv]  The Rosary is a gift from Mary to her children where she shares her most sacred memories  of Jesus with them. Through the Rosary we ask the our heavenly mother, queen of the universe, the new Eve, our most gracious advocate to intercede for us her children, to her son the king of heaven.  We have trust and confidence that she who took care of Christ from the Annunciation to the Cross will also take care of us with all the motherly affection Christ endowed within her. “By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into the happiness of their true home.^[v]

Mary: The New Eve

Before understanding the importance of this prayer to obtaining Mary’s intercession it is necessary to understand Mary’s role as our spiritual mother. The mother we ask to intercede for us in the Rosary is the new Eve, the new mother of the living. By understanding her role as the new Eve, we can better understand her role as our mother. “If He (Jesus) was to be the new Adam, the founder of a redeemed humanity, she would be the new Eve and the mother of that new humanity. As our Lord was a man, she was His mother; and as He was a Savior , she was also the mother of all whom He would save.” ^[vi] The first Eve assisted the First Adam in bringing death to the world. The second Eve assisted the New Adam in bringing life to the world. “For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:21-23) God reverses the original Eve’s no to God’s commandments with Mary’s yes to His divine will. The early church fathers taught that Mary was the new Eve. “St. Justin and St. Irenaeus speak of Mary as the new Eve who by her faith and obedience makes amends for the disbelief and disobedience of the first woman. According to  the Bishop of Lyons, it was not enough for Adam to be redeemed in Christ, but “it was right and necessary that Eve be restored in Mary” (Demonstratio aposolica, 33). In this way he stresses the importance of woman in the work of salvation and lays the foundation for the inseparability of Marian devotion from that shown to Jesus, which will endure down the Christian centuries.” ^[vii]

The new Eve fully cooperates with the new Adam in restoring life for all humanity. “Just as the first Adam had a woman for accomplice in his rebellion against God, so the new Adam wished to have a woman share in His work of re-opening the gates of heaven for men. From the cross, He addressed His own Sorrowful Mother as the “woman,” and proclaimed her the new Eve, the mother of all men, for whom He was dying that they might live.” ^[viii] She allows God to dwell with humanity by saying yes to bearing his divine personhood in her womb. He becomes her seed and  Mary is the woman whose seed destroys that of the evil one. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head,  And you shall bruise him on the heel.”  (Genesis 3:15)  At the wedding feast of Cana she prepares to plant her seed in the ground. ” The ‘Woman’ did have a seed, and it was her Seed that was standing now at the marriage feast, the Seed that would fall to the ground and die and then spring forth unto new life.” ^[ix] In this act she gives up her maternal rights to protect her child from death. By her asking him to change water into wine, “she was virtually producing a sentence of death over Him. Few are the mother who send their sons to battlefields; but here was one who was actually hastening the hour of her Son’s mortal conflict with the forces of evil. If He agreed to her request, He would be beginning His hour of death and glorification. To the Cross He would go with double commission, one from His Father in heaven, the other from His mother on earth.” ^[x] 

By giving up her material rights to protect her child, she is helping to co-redeem  the world along with Christ.  As He suffered for the sins of the world, her mother’s heart suffered along with Him. “By the will of God the most Blessed Virgin Mary was inseparably joined with Christ in accomplishing the work of Man’s redemption, so that our salvation flows from the love of Jesus Christ and His sufferings intimately united with the love and sorrows of His mother.” ^[xi] A true mother does more then just give nature to her child. She nurturers the child with love. She is there to feed the child with food and to instruct the child with wisdom.  Any mother’s heart will be permanently attached to her Childs. This is true of all mothers  with a fallen nature and it is even more true for the sinless mother of God.  This is why Mary suffered so much at Calvary, because her heart and soul were so attached to that of her son’s. “The Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully maintained her union with her Son even to the cross where she stood in conformity with the divine plan. There she endured with her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering and united herself to his sacrifice in her motherly heart, lovingly consenting to the immolation of the victim born of her.” ^[xii]

The woman of Genesis 3:15, whose seed is Christ, is the woman who plants her seed at the wedding of Cana in John 2. At the foot of the cross in John 19, she is the woman who lets, with a sorrowful heart, her seed die. This is the place where Jesus gives to Mary his disciples, his mystical body.  “In addressing the words “Woman, behold your son” to Mary, the Crucified One proclaims her motherhood not only in relation to the Apostle John but also to every disciple. The evangelist himself, by saying that Jesus had to die” to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad” (Jn. 11:52), indicates the Church’s birth as the fruit of the redemptive sacrifice with which Mary is maternally associated.” ^[xiii]

            This woman who received us at the cross is Our mother given to us by Jesus. She is “the woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars who with child cries out in  her bags of birth, anguish for delivery.“ Rev. 12: 1-2)” It is at the cross where she gives spiritual birth to Jesus’ mystical body.  The woman in the passage, “refers to the mother of Jesus at the Cross (cf. Jn. 19:25), where she shares in anguish for the delivery of the community of disciples with a soul pierced by the sword (cf. Lk. 2:35) Despite her sufferings, she is “Clothed with the sun”- that is, she reveals the divine splendor- and appears as a “great sign” of God’s spousal relationship with his people.” ^[xiv]

Mary: The Queen Mother

            The fifth Glorious mystery of the Rosary offers a reflection on the woman to whom we pray the rosary to. She is the woman clothed with the sun. The new eve. The queen mother of heaven who is advocate for her children she birthed mystically at the foot of the cross.  If Christ is the king of heaven, Mary is rightly to be called the Queen of heaven. She earned the title by cooperating with her Son in the work of redemption.  “He, the Son of God reflects on His heavenly Mother the glory, the majesty and the dominion of His kingship; for, having been associated with the King of Martyrs in the ineffable work of human Redemption as Mother and co-redemptrix, she remains forever associated with Him by an almost unlimited power, in the distribution of the graces which flow from the Redemption. Jesus is King throughout all eternity by nature and by right of conquest through Him, with Him and subordinate to Him, Mary is queen by grace, by divine relationship, by right of conquest and by singular election. And her kingdom is as vast as that of her Son and God, since nothing is excluded from His dominion.”^[xv]

            Christ’s kingdom is modeled after the Davidic kingdom. The kings in the old covenant followed the outline of the other kingdoms around them and had a royal seat known as the Gebirah, meaning great lady. Kings usually had many wives but only one mother. To avoid the many complicated power entanglements that come with having many wives, the king’s mother would be given power along side that of the king.  1 Kgs 2:19 describes Solomon’s mother coming to intercede on behalf of a man named Adonijah. As she entered the throne room, “the king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he went on his throne, and had a seat brought for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right”  The Queen mother becomes an advocate to the king for the people. The king is seen to treat her with great honor and respect. Any of his wives would still have to bow before him.  Even thou he bows to her in respect he still remains the king, the man in charge. The queen mother sits at his right hand and takes her subordinate yet respectful place beside him.  “Jesus as the eternal king of the New Israel, on the eternal throne of his father, David, of whom Solomon was a prefiguring, would most certainly esteem his Mother at least as much as the earthly kings had esteemed their own mothers. thus one understands the Jewish and biblical basis for the Church’s teaching on the Queenship of Mary.” ^[xvi] As the queen mother of Israel, Bathsheba, interceded to the king on the behalf of kings subjects, so does the Queen mother of heaven Mary, intercede on behalf of the subjects of the new kingdom.

Mary: Co-Mediator with Christ

            It is easy for those who do not understand Mary’s participation in redemption to believe that we who honor Mary as a special advocate to the king of heaven,  put her on an equal footing with God. 1 Tim 2: 5-6 clearly states “There is only one mediator between God and Man and that person is Jesus Christ. This however does not exclude any secondary or subordinate mediation. Pope John Paul II points out in one of his Wednesday audiences that a  few verses earlier in 1 Tim 2:1 St. Paul extorts Christians to pray and intercede for one another. This is a form of mediation that Paul says we should exercise right before he mentions that Christ is the sole mediator of mankind  When we mediate, we mediate through Christ. He has allowed us to share in his work of redemption of the universe. “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (Col 1:24)

Everything that we do or receive is from Christ. If we give a cup of cold water to some one it is by the power of Christ. If we are made children of God it is in and through Christ. If we mediate for others with our prayers and spiritual sacrifices it is in and through Christ. Our secondary mediation does not obscure the glory of Christ anymore then the moon takes glory away from the sun. We can only mediate, because of Christ and because he commanded us to do so. He would not command us to do something which would take away glory from himself. If we who are sinful can mediate how much more can the sinless New Eve as the Queen Mother and Advocate intercede for others. She than becomes the perfect prayer partner because she is  His perfect masterpiece of Art that reveals His genius as an artist and the perfect created model for which he desired for mankind. “Do we detract from Christ‘s finished work by affirming its perfect realization in Mary? On the contrary, we celebrate His work, precisely by focusing our attention on the human person who manifests it most perfectly. Mary is not God, but she is the Mother of God. She is only a creature, but she is God‘s greatest creation. She is not the king, but she is His chosen queen mother. Just as artists long to paint one masterpiece among their many works, so Jesus made His mother to be His greatest masterpiece.^[xvii]

^[i] John Paul II,  Redemptoris Mater: Mother of the Redeemer Encyclical Letter promulgated on 25 March 1987  45

^[ii] Song: To The Mystery by Michael Card

^[iii]  Otto Hophan, O.F.M. Cap, Translated from the Germen by L. Edward Wasserman,  The Apostles The Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland, 1962  Ch. 4 pg. 102

^[iv] John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae: On the Most Holy Rosary, Apostolic Letter, 2002 11

^[v] , Lumen Gentium: Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Ch. 8 62

^[vi] Rev. Fulton Sheen, Life of Christ McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc, New York, 1958 Chapter 5, Pg. 75

^[vii] Mark Miravalle, S.T.D, Editor Mary Co-redemptrix: Doctrinal Issues Today. Queenship Publishing Company, Goleta, Ca. 2002.  Rev. Msgr. Arthur Burton Calkins, The Mystery of Mary Coredemptrix in the Papal Magisterium  pg 61

^[viii] Mark Miravalle, S.T.D, Editor Mary Co-redemptrix: Doctrinal Issues Today. Rev. Msgr. Arthur Burton Calkins, The Mystery of Mary Coredemptrix in the Papal Magisterium  pg 52

^[ix] Rev. Fulton Sheen, Life of Christ Chapter 5, Pg. 75

^[x] Ibid

^[xi] Mark Miravalle, S.T.D, Editor Mary Co-redemptrix: Doctrinal Issues Today. Rev. Msgr. Arthur Burton Calkins, The Mystery of Mary Coredemptrix in the Papal Magisterium  pg 52 Pg 77

^[xii] Mark Miravalle, S.T.D, Editor Contemporary Insights on a Fith Marian Dogma: Mary Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate Theological Foundations III, Queenship Publishing Company, Goleta, Ca. 2000, Msgr. Arthur B. Calkins, The Proposed Marian Dogma: The “What” and the “Why” Pg. 23

^[xiii] Mark Miravalle, S.T.D, Editor Mary Co-redemptrix: Doctrinal Issues Today. Rev. Msgr. Arthur Burton Calkins, The Mystery of Mary Coredemptrix in the Papal Magisterium  pg 86

^[xiv]  Mark Miravalle, S.T.D, Editor Mary Co-redemptrix: Doctrinal Issues Today. Rev. Msgr. Arthur Burton Calkins, The Mystery of Mary Coredemptrix in the Papal Magisterium  pg 84,85

^[xv]  Juniper B. Carol, Editor, Mariology Volume 2, The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, 1957, Pg 498

^[xvi] Steven K. Ray, St. John’s Gospel, Ignatius, San Francisco, 2002, pg. 347

^[xvii] Scott Hahn, Hail Holy Queen: The Mother of God in the Word of God, Doubleday, New York, 2001 pg 133

^[xviii] Mark Miravalle, Introduction to Mary, Queenship Publishing Company, Goleta Ca, third edition 2006, pg. 132