Explaining Mary Co Redeemer – 3

This cooperation with God is not just for the individual’s salvation. The New Testament makes it clear that there is more to it than that. So, for example, we affirm that Jesus is the one High Priest in the new covenant, but the New Testament also calls us to share in that priesthood (Rev. 1:5–6; 1 Pet. 2:5,9). We do this by sharing in Christ’s sufferings (Matt. 16:24; 1 Pet. 4:13). Paul calls himself a “co-worker with Christ” (1 Cor. 3:9) and says part of this is that he is crucified with Christ and shares in Christ’s sufferings (2 Cor. 1:5; Phil. 3:10).

If the Evangelical believes the Bible and wants to live the Christian life, he will not only admit that he needs to cooperate with God for his own salvation, but also that this cooperation is part of a larger identification with Christ, and that this identification with Christ is for the salvation of the world. He will also admit that in some mysterious way, the sufferings we endure are part of the way God works to redeem the world.

Mary, Evangelist
Once an Evangelical admits that cooperation with God is not only possible, but necessary, it opens up the idea that there is a purpose for our co-working with God. We cooperate with God for the salvation of the world. Here is another point where the Evangelical critic can connect. The Evangelical believes that each one of us has a new mission in life: We are to proclaim Christ crucified. We are to spread the gospel and share the saving work of Christ with the world. We are called to prayer, holiness, and evangelism. From there, it is a small step to see that this is another way of saying that we are called to be mediators of Christ’s love and forgiveness.

Every Christian believes that he or she is called to pray for the world, to intercede and to mediate for others, to have a “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18-19). Evangelicals know the Old Testament examples of Moses and Abraham interceding on behalf of others to God, and all Christians agree to the need to mediate in prayer for others. This is a good way to explain the Mediatrix role of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary is the first evangelist. She carried the Word of God in her body, kept it there, and bore it to the world. This was her practical role in the Incarnation, but it was also her theological role. In doing this she shows us our lesser calling to be mediators of the New Covenant and ministers of reconciliation.

It is true that Mary’s role as Mediatrix is more cosmic than our own, but the principles are the same. Understanding our own share in God’s saving work through mediatory prayer and sacrifice helps us understand how she does the same thing, only bigger and better, because she is the holiest of human beings and the one who is closest to the Son of God.
It is worth discussing the fact that the Fathers of the Church saw Mary as Mediator of All graces. Cyril of Alexandria in the fourth century writes,

Hail, Mary Mother of God, venerable treasure of the whole world . . . it is you through whom the Holy Trinity is glorified and adored . . . through whom the tempter, the devil is cast down from heaven, through whom the fallen creature is raised up to heaven, through whom all creation, once imprisoned by idolatry, has reached knowledge of the truth, through whom nations are brought to repentance. (qtd. in Luigi Gambero, Mary and the Fathers of the Church: The Blessed Virgin Mary in Patristic Thought)

Ephrem the Syrian says,

“With the Mediator, you are the Mediatrix of the entire world”; and Antipater of Bostra, a father of the Council of Ephesus, wrote about the Blessed Virgin in the fifth century, “Hail, you who acceptably intercede as Mediatrix for mankind” (qtd. in Gambero, Mary and the Fathers).

These quotations can be multiplied from the liturgies and theological writings of the day. The writers’ exalted language shows how highly they thought of Mary’s role as mediator and co-redeemer. This view of Mary as Mediatrix was not a later invention, but rather comes to us from the early Church.

The Evangelical critic may go along with you thus far, but he still finds the title “Co-Redemptrix” a stretch. Mary may have had an intimate understanding of the redemptive work of Christ, and she may have a role as intercessor and prayer warrior, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that she is the Co-Redemptrix. At this point it is worth explaining that we don’t suggest that Mary’s cooperation with God is equal to Christ’s work. It is of a different order, but it is necessary nonetheless. Mother Teresa’s words “No Mary, No Jesus” express a profound truth. God chose to bring his Son into the world through the cooperation of Mary. Without that cooperation there would have been no Incarnation and therefore no Redemption. Continue Reading