Explaining Mary Co Redeemer – 4

Mater Dolorosa
An Evangelical may accept this in theory, but still may find it difficult to understand how Mary can be called a “co-redemptrix.” It is worthwhile going back to the mysterious words of St. Paul. In an astounding phrase, St. Paul says that his sharing in Christ’s sufferings is actually effective. It completes “what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” on behalf of the Church (Col. 1:24). If he has to complete Christ’s sufferings is St. Paul implying that Christ’s death on the cross was inadequate? Not at all. Instead, he is teaching that the all-sufficient sacrifice has to be completed by being preached, accepted, and embraced by our cooperation and that our suffering plays a mysterious part in this action. In that way the Redemption of Christ is applied and brought alive in the present moment by our own cooperation in that one, full, final sacrifice. No one says we are equal to Christ, instead, by grace, our cooperation becomes a part of Christ’s all sufficient sacrifice.

If Paul shared in a mysterious way in Christ’s sufferings, and by doing so he shared in the redemptive work of the cross, then it is not too difficult to see how we are all called to do the same thing. In fact, in Romans 12, Paul exhorts us to do just that when he says, “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice”(Rom. 12:1). Jesus also tells us that we must “take up our cross and follow him if we would be his disciples” (Matt. 16:24).

If Mary was the person who was closest to Jesus, and if she was his first disciple, doesn’t it follow that these truths would also apply to her? This is just what the New Testament prophesies. When Jesus was presented in the temple, the prophet Simeon, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, told Mary that “a sword will pierce your own heart also” (Luke 2:35). This verse is the basis for the Catholic understanding that Mary shared in the sufferings of Jesus in a mysterious way, and that her sufferings were a part of the suffering he went through.

I remember when a member of our church lost her teenage son in a car accident. The mother’s grief was a terrible thing to see, and it was like a part of her had died that day. These natural examples can help others to understand why we believe Mary had an intimate relationship with the suffering of Jesus.

In Westminster Cathedral in London, a beautiful painted crucifix hangs over the central altar. On the front is a portrayal of the crucified Lord, and on the back is a portrait of Mary with a pained expression, her arms in the orans position of prayer. This crucifix illustrates the idea of Mary as Co-Redemptrix. Through her suffering she identified totally with her son, and by bringing him into the world, enabled the accomplishment of Redemption.

You Can’t Just Throw Me Away!
The Evangelical may accept Mary as vital for the Incarnation and therefore the Redemption but may wonder why we insist that she has a continuing redemptive and mediatory role. We believe this because Mary’s role was not once and done. Mary did not conceive and bear Jesus, then just disappear. If her action had meaning, then it was as a continuing relationship with her Son.

Within the New Testament Mary’s cooperation with God is ongoing. As she conceived Jesus, Mary began to cooperate with the work of Redemption (Luke 1:38). She continued to do so as she bore him (Luke 2:7), and went on doing so as she interceded with him at the wedding of Cana of Galilee (John 2:3). Her work continued as she attended to him at the cross (John 19:25). As the first Christian, she kept cooperating with grace by being present at the founding of the Church at Pentecost (Acts 1:14). She persists in this role as our Mother in heaven today (Rev. 12:17).

We believe Mary’s role continues because we insist that she was not simply a neutral channel for God to come into the world. She engaged with God, and that matters. Mary was not discarded by God once her purpose was completed. Instead, her cooperation installs her into an eternal relationship with God for the salvation of the world.

There’s a memorable line in a movie where a boy is breaking up with a girl, and she feels used. She cries out, “I am not a tissue! You can’t just throw me away!” To have used Mary to accomplish the Incarnation and then forget about her is to treat her like a tissue. God doesn’t work like that. When Catholics recognize Mary as Mediatrix and Co-Redemptrix, we acknowledge that God’s work in a person’s life transforms them eternally. Mary was given a new name at the Annunciation: Full of Grace. The new name indicates an ontological change. She was changed into a new person with a new role forever.
The fathers of the Second Vatican Council taught:

[The] 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 fulfillment 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. 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 their blessed home. (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 62)

Understanding Mary’s role in redemption sheds light on her Son, but it also sheds light on each one of her Son’s disciples. He completed in her what he wants to complete in us—total transformation into his image. Your Evangelical brother or sister may not agree with you that the Mother of God is Mediatrix and Co-Redeemer, but the proper explanation of the titles should at least give him a new appreciation of Mary and a new appreciation of the wonders God has in store for each of his sons and daughters.