Does Mary Still Need To Help Wretched Sinners?

During my research for the current debate with Matthew Graham, I read the Glories of Mary by St. Alphonsus Liguori. Another Protestant pastor friend of mine claims that this work, above all other works on the Virgin Mary, crosses the line from hyperdulia (high honor) to latria (worship). After reviewing St. Ligouri’s work, I do not see idolatry. However, I do see high honor, the highest honor given a creature, due to Mary’s role as the Mother of God. What also stood out the most to me from the work was Mary’s relationship with sinners, especially wretched sinners.

A search for the book on Kindle comes up with 377 results for the word sinner and 49 results for the word wretched. St. Liguori perfectly sums up the Virgin Mary’s relationship with sinners in the introduction of the work. He states:

Now this is a very consoling truth for souls tenderly attached to the most holy Mary, and for poor sinners who desire to be converted.

In the work, salvation comes only through Christ, not Mary. Mary’s role is to…

…intercede for all those for whom her divine Son offered and paid the superabundant ransom of his precious blood, which alone is our salvation, life, and resurrection.

In short, the entire book represents an appeal for sinners, wretched sinners, to turn to the Virgin Mary in prayer to assist them in their attainment of salvation through her Son.

Moreover, as I read, a thought kept reoccurring in my mind: do wretched sinners still exist for Mary to help? Allow me to explain…

Should Wretched Sinners Still Exist?

Does individual sin exist, or do we all just do “our best” with whatever societal moral expectations we find ourselves living under? Fr. Richard Rohr, author of, The World, the Flesh and the Devil: What Do We Do With Evil?, summarized well the current move away from a focus on individual sin (the focus of in St. Liguori’s work) when he stated:

Picture three boxes. The first is order, the second is disorder, the third is reorder.

We’re all raised in the first box of order. We were given our explanation of what reality means and what God means. It gives you so much comfort that most people want to stay in the first box forever. But what has to happen between your 30s and 50s, is the glib certitudes of the first box have to fall apart. Who’s right, who’s wrong, who’s holy and who’s a sinner – I know these beliefs gave your ego great comfort – but if you stay inside the first box, it creates angry people, rigid people and unhappy people. When you leave the first box it feels like dying.

Moreover, in a 2021 article, Fr. Rohr stated that we were more victims of “original sin” than something “we did.” He states:

We typically think of sin as a matter of personal responsibility and culpability, yet original sin wasn’t something we did at all. It was something that was done to us (“passed down from Adam and Eve”). Evil was a social concept much more than an individual act.

Finally, for Christians like Fr. Rohr, the past focus on individual sins distracts from the more “positive” and inclusive view of human nature. In the same article, Fr. Rohr concludes:

The Christian story line must start with a positive, over-arching vision for humanity and for history, or it will never get beyond the primitive, exclusionary, and fear-based stages of most early human development. By and large, that is where we still are.

Clearly, to those like Fr. Rohr, a work like The Glories of Mary belongs, and must remain, in the primitive and exclusionary past. In other words, wretched sinners no longer exist.

The Ever-Shrinking Modern Inclusive Church

Sadly, with a de-emphasis on individual sin (and the need for a savior), the Church now faces a population crisis in many US dioceses. ABC News recently covered this phenomenon in a story they titled: Is America Losing Its Religion? Faced with falling Mass attendance, the diocese of Buffalo (shown in the ABC News story) must close or consolidate many of its historic parishes. This problem also affects dioceses in Cincinnati, Baltimore, Peoria, and Detroit.

The Ever-Increasing Primitive and Exclusionary Church

Unsurprisingly, the most shrinkage seems to occur in mostly progressive and inclusive areas, while those areas viewed adhering to more primitive and exclusionary (conservative) religion add more Masses and build more Churches. For proof, please see this link that shows the growth and shrinkage of all US dioceses between 2010 and 2020. Of the top twenty dioceses that experienced rapid growth between 2010 and 2020, Texas contains five of them (Austin – 20.27%, Galveston-Houston – 16.67%, Fort Worth – 16.01%, Dallas – 15.22%, and San Antonio – 15.04%).

Moreover, as someone living and worshipping within the diocese of Dallas, I can personally attest to the continued growth experienced here. Mass attendance remains high, and the seminary has many men currently discerning for the priesthood.

Also, as I stated in a previous article, the majority of these young seminarians are for a primitive and exclusionary past, a past fully embracing of The Glories of Mary.

Wretched Sinners in Need of God’s Grace

The truth is that we all sin and stand in desperate need of God’s grace. We also need all the assistance we can get, including those already in heaven, like the Virgin Mary. We cannot hide from sin or redefine it to serve ourselves. We must acknowledge that we stand wholly dependent on God, and no “positive, over-arching vision for humanity” holds the power to rescue us. Let us all turn back to God, and with the Virgin Mary’s assistance, turn away from sin and towards a life of holiness.

To close, I offer the prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas to the Virgin Mary (taken from The Glories of Mary). As we celebrate Christmas, may we all seek her intercession and God’s help.

O most blessed and most sweet Virgin Mary, full of mercy, to thy compassion I recommend my soul and body, my thoughts, actions, life, and death. O my Lady, help and strengthen me against the snares of the devil; obtain me true and perfect love, with which to love thy most beloved Son and my Lord Jesus Christ with my whole heart, and after Him to love thee above all things. My Queen and Mother, by thy most powerful intercession, grant that I may persevere in this love until death, and after death be conducted by thee to the kingdom of the blessed.

Amen!

Merry Christmas!!!