Angelica Shane C.
Alfonso January 15, 2018Humss 1A-St. Antoninus, O.PWho is Mama Mary? What is her role in the Salvation History? She was chosen by God for the greatest assignment ever given to a human being. Her assignment was to carry, give birth, nurse and nurture the son of God – the second man for the redemption of the human race. In order for this plan to work, God needed a willing vessel to be the mother of His child. Her name was Mary.
Mary was an obedient servant of God, not unlike Adam and Eve. She obey God without doubt, when she heard Angel Gabriel she believed and trusted God. She said, “Let it be done unto me according to your will.
” So, Mama Mary is the Mother of Jesus. Jesus is God. And Mary is the Mother of God, because of who Jesus is. Mary is a human person just like each one of us.
Mary is given a title “THEOTOKOS”, Theo means God and Tokos means child bearer. All in all, Mary is a bearer of God’s child. Mama Mary is the woman of beginnings. We honor Mary because of her great privileges: she conceived without sin, became the Mother of God while remaining a virgin, and was assumed bodily into heaven. There she reigns as Queen of Heaven and Earth, Mother of the Church, God’s greatest creature and mankind’s greatest boast. We honor her because Jesus honored her and perfectly obeying the fourth commandment, and we are called to imitate Jesus.
Mary herself tells us each one of us, she needed Jesus to save her. In a family, the mother is necessary, and so Mary in this sense she’s necessary for salvation. Mary, as the first human to kiss the face of God and the first to believe in Jesus as her Savior, took her place in Salvation History as the first Christian. She is also the one disciple of Jesus who didn’t flee or doubt when all the others fled and doubted, but who stayed and accepted to the very end the burden of being under the Cross. Down through the ages the weeping Mary of the Cross witnessing her son’s torture and death stands in solidarity with all believers who also suffer and live under the shadow of the Cross.
The gift of Mary to the Church was Jesus’ last human act from the Cross. He placed His mother’s care in the hands of the only apostle present at the cross, the Apostle John, “Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.” John 19:26-27 Aside from giving birth to Jesus and she was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit while betrothed to Joseph. In the Salvation History, her main role is the consent to become the Mother Of God and her presence at her Son’s Passion. Mary was a real picture of beauty in and out – she was made pure and immaculate from the beginning of time in the sight of God, faith (in God’s plan) & obedience (to the will of God) Luke 1:38, willingness (to give up her own Son to be crucified) & Strength (to withstand the pain) and forgiveness (for those who crucified Jesus) & love (for all mankind).
The title “Co-redemptrix” is a term that refers to Mary’s unique and intimate cooperation with her divine Son in redeeming the human family. The title is rooted in Genesis 3:15, where Mary is “prophetically foreshadowed in the promise of victory over the serpent” (LG 55). This passage foreshadows the divine work of redemption brought about by Jesus as the Savior of the world, with the Mother of the Redeemer’s intimate cooperation. Mary is called “Mediatrix” (Catechism, no.
969) because all grace comes from Christ, and Christ comes only through Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. Mary is also known as the “Mother of all Christians.” This title refers to Our Lord’s words from the Cross to Mary and John (John. 19:26-27). At the time of His death, Jesus gave Mary to John and John to Mary. “From that hour John took her to his own home” (John. 19:27).
John represented the Church at the foot of the Cross. Therefore, all of us are invited to welcome Mary into our homes as our mother. This leads to the third title of Mary, that of “Advocate for the People of God.
” The early Church manifested her heartfelt belief in the intercessory power of Mary, to whom she called for help and protection in the midst of dangers and trials. The Salve Regina(Hail Holy Queen), composed in the eleventh century, includes this venerable title. Vatican II continues this ancient practice of invoking Mary under the title that conveys her role as intercessory helper for the People of God in times of peril: “Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in he Church under the title of Advocate…” (LG 62). Mary’s role in man’s salvation is clear, that is – to “bear Jesus” and bring Him into the world, to lead us to Him, to bring us closer to Him, to serve as our model of faith and obedience unto Him, to serve as our Spiritual Mother to nourish us for Him and to intercede for us to Him.
The focus is never unto herself but to her Son, Jesus Christ. The reasons for her role are not for herself but to lead us to Jesus.
