"After you were made, they broke the mold!" Depending on the company you were in when that was said, this was either a compliment or sarcasm. As a compliment, it means one is unique, one-of-a-kind, special.
Allow me to use the positive sense of this phrase — this one-of-a-kind status — as a weak analogy of our Blessed Mother Mary. She, like no other, is the very pinnacle of creation, the highest, most perfect creature, without the slightest stain of sin. As the Church teaches, she was redeemed in advance by the timeless merits of her Son, Jesus, the Christ. She lived Christian perfection as the Immaculate Conception, whose very life was vivified by the Divine Life of the Trinity. Mary was and is Daughter of the Father, Mother to the Son, and the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. She was addressed by the Angel at the Annunciation, not by her given name but by her ontological status — "Full of Grace" — for, indeed, she was, and still is, so blessed.
What's more, Mary was the mold in and through which God Incarnate was fashioned. Her womb gave life to the Savior of the world — "the Word made flesh" (John 1:14) — the Invisible God made Visible. In her, the Father placed all His trust for the care of His only begotten Son. In the mystery of the Incarnation, the Son of God humbled Himself to be "born of the Virgin Mary."
Now, imagine you have the opportunity to be fashioned by the same mold, the same vessel, the same holy place, that helped bring shape and form to Jesus….
It's October, the second Marian month in the liturgical year, the first being May. More specifically, October is the month of the Rosary, complete with the memorial feast day of "Our Lady of the Rosary" on October 7th. Our late pontiff, John Paul II, once said, "The Rosary is a way of contemplating the face of Christ seeing him — we may say – with the eyes of Mary."
To that end, why not allow ourselves to be refashioned this month by going deeper with Mary in our daily lives? For some that may be renewing your devotion to Mary by praying the daily Rosary. Or perhaps, maybe this might be the month that you get better acquainted with Marian piety. There are many books and pamphlets that can get you started.
For those whose love for Mary has already matured, why not prayerfully consider making a "Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary," according to St. Louis de Montfort? John Paul II recommends this in his encyclical on Mary, Redemptoris Mater: "I would like to recall, among the many witnesses and teachers of this spirituality, the figure of Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, who proposes consecration to Christ through the hands of Mary, as an effective means for Christians to live faithfully their baptismal commitments." (48).
Total Consecration is a prayerful process of 33 days. If you were to begin the process on November 5th, you could complete your consecration and celebrate it on Mary's Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th. To order a book that guides you in the process, click here.
In his book, True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis described Mary as a molder of saints:
I say the saints are molded in Mary. There is a vast difference between carving a statue by blows of hammer and chisel and making a statue by using a mold. Sculptors and statue makers work hard and need plenty of time to make statues by the first method. But the second method does not involve much work and takes very little time. St. Augustine, speaking to our Blessed Lady says, "You are worthy to be called the mold of God." Mary is a mold capable of forming people into the image of the God-man. Anyone who is cast into this divine mold is quickly shaped and molded into Jesus and Jesus into him. At little cost and in a very short time he will become Christ-like since he is cast into the very same mold that fashioned a God-man.
… [They] have discovered the beautiful mold of Mary where Jesus was so divinely and so naturally formed. They do not rely on their own skill but on the perfection of the mold. They cast themselves and lose themselves in Mary where they become true models of her Son.
You may think this is a beautiful and convincing comparison. But how many understand it? I would like you, my friend, to understand it. But remember that only molten and liquefied substances may be poured into a mold. That means that you must crush and melt down the old Adam in you if you wish to acquire the likeness of the new Adam in Mary.
If you live this devotion sincerely, you will give more glory to Jesus in a month than in many years of a more demanding devotion. (219, 220, 221, 222)
The wonderful thing about Mary is that the mold that she is has never been broken. In fact, Christ gave her to us as Mother, as one of his last acts from the Cross. It is her maternal joy to bring Christian disciples to birth by forming them in the likeness of her son, Jesus.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
October 22nd, 2007 at 8:59 am
Dear Pat: Whether that "crushing and liquifying" happens all at once, in 33 days, or in the course of a lifetime (or a combination of the three), this way of purgation is made beautiful when we anticipate the final perfection God wants for each of us. Thanks for the timely reminder! God bless you.
Heidi Hess Saxton Editor, "Canticle" Magazine Blogroll
October 22nd, 2007 at 11:37 pm
On the feast day of the Assuption this year I went to a Maronite Rite church which is the closest for me from work. The priest was explaining how that rite and other Orthodox believe Mary not to have died but was asleep during the assuming of her body into heaven.
October 23rd, 2007 at 7:27 am
Yes, indeed, there are some traditions that speak of Mary's dormition–like a kind of sleep, at the end of her life. We need not be offended when we encounter this understanding, for it comes from a most profound respect for the Mother of God. This comes from an understanding that Mary (as the Immaculate Conception) was free from all stain of sin and its effects, which would ultimately mean she might be free from death and corruption of the body. Which is the same understanding of Mary's nature that we hold dear.
It is interesting to note that the complete papal definition of the Assumption by Pius XII does not mention the actual death of Mary (read it here: http://www.motherofallpeoples.com/index.php/Great-Papal-Excerpts/The-Papal-Definition-of-the-Assumption-of-Mary/Page-3.html) but speaks of her supreme privilege of assumption at the end of her earthly life.
Since Mary's life imaged Christ's life in so many ways, it is reckoned that she may have experienced some temporary separation of the body and soul, and was given a glorified body in heaven by the Divine Son who was surely capable of giving so great a gift and privilege to his mother. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (966) says that Mary's Assumption is a great escatalogical sign of hope for us. Her Assumption is a "participation" in Christ's resurrection, and an "anticipation" of the resurrection of all believers.
October 23rd, 2007 at 7:55 pm
If the Blessed Mother was "without the stain of sin", did Jesus Christ redeem her? If the Immaculate Conception means that Mary was born without Original Sin, and that she did not sin in her lifetime, then why would she be in need of either redemption or Baptism? Since one of the curses of our fall from grace at Eden was death, and since Mary was born without that curse, was it even possible that Mary could die? If that is so, was it even possible that her body could corrupt with age?
I am asking these questions to learn more, not because I am disagreeing with anything, and certainly not to discredit or detract from our Blessed Mother in any way. If I did, I would be the greatest ingrate of all time.
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:57 pm
I had to share this. After submitting the above e-mail, I thought perhaps I could get answers to my questions from a good book. I went to CE Bookstore and they listed a book - Encyclopedia of Mary for $24.95. I really could not make up my mind if I wanted to buy that book or not. It is 500 pages and I wondered if I would ever have time to read it. I sat there in front of the computer for several minutes trying to make up my mind. I finally thought - No, I won't buy it, $24.95 is a bit too much, and I'll wait and see what answers I get from my e-mail.
As I reached for the computer, our cat leaped up on the desk, ran across the keyboard, and stepped on the "Add to my shopping cart" list. Up popped a "Do you want to check out now or continue shopping? I had just purchased the book (or at least the cat did). It all happened in a flash. Is that Divine Intervention or what? I wish I could say that we have a female cat named Mary. No. He is a very large male cat named Numerous that goes out every morning and loves to beat up other male cats - and small dogs - that wander into his territory. Not at all the kind of cat you would think Mary would work with. Come to think of it, she has been extremely generous to me, so she must be willing to work with all of us under-acheivers.
October 24th, 2007 at 12:14 am
Danny, you have an "angel in disguise" in Numerous!
Thank you for bringing back fond memories of my "angel". She used to "pray the rosary" with me daily. I thought she might hear the sound of my glass or plastic rosaries, so used a "knotted cord" rosary during my test period. I took it out of the case in the morning and left it out so there was no sound to alert her. I even varied my routine (often doing the Divine Mercy chaplet and rosary at 4:00 in the summer–with Daylight Savings Time, that made it "really" 3:00), thinking the time of day might be a "clue" for her. Didn't matter what time or what rosary I used: I'd barely get the Sign of the Cross made when, suddenly, from nowhere, she was in my lap purring. I didn't pet her: I attended to my prayers, silently. But there she was, every day without fail. At the end of the "Hail, Holy Queen", before I could lift my arm to close with the Sign of the Cross, she'd stop purring, jump down, and wander off to whatever occupation caught her attention. I miss her.
October 24th, 2007 at 7:15 am
Danny,
My computer was down, otherwise I would have returned to this discussion a little sooner.
Addressing the idea of the Immaculate Conception… The Church teaches that Mary was, from the moment of her conception, preserved immune from the stain of original sin (and, therefore, its effects) by a singular privilege from God (which means this was truly unique to Mary alone) in view of the merits of Christ (which means all the graces of that flow from Calvary.) In other words, Mary was redeemed, like every other human being–by Christ–by an application of those merits at her conception.
Allow me to quote Dr. Mark Miravalle, a devout Catholic Mariologist, who wrote the book, Introduction to Mary (Queenship Publishing, 3rd ed., 2006):
"It was Blessed Duns Scotus (d.1308) who solved this theological misunderstanding with the principle of what is called "Preservative Redemption"… God, being outside of time has the power to apply the graces of Redemption to individuals in different times of history and did so to Mary at the first moment of her existence.
That the Blessed Virgin's soul was preserved from original sin at the moment of conception does not mean that Mary had no need of the Redemption of Jesus; rather, Mary owed more to the Redemption of Jesus than anyone else. In fact, Mary received from her Son a higher form of redemption. All other human beings are redeemed after they have received a fallen nature, through sacramental Baptism. Mary, on the contrary was redeemed by the grace of Jesus at her conception, the grace which prevented Mary from ever having a fallen nature. Hence, the grace of Jesus redeemed Mary at conception before her nature was in any way affected by sin. Thus, we rightly say that Mary owed more to Christ than anyone else. Through the graces of Jesus at Calvary, Mary never received a fallen nature but was sanctified and thereby redeemed from the first instance of her existence."
In my humble and simple attempts to share our faith, I often think that Jesus loved his Mother so much, that he saved her first! So that he'd have an immaculate womb to reside in for nine months to take on the body (flesh) that in the end would save us.
(BTW, I think Dr. Miravalle's book a worthy investment too! Talk to your cat about another purchase!)
October 24th, 2007 at 7:20 am
Here's one more gem from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2853) to round out the discussion:
2853 Victory over the "prince of this world" was won once for all at the Hour when Jesus freely gave himself up to death to give us his life. This is the judgment of this world, and the prince of this world is "cast out." "He pursued the woman" but had no hold on her: the new Eve, "full of grace" of the Holy Spirit, is preserved from sin and the corruption of death (the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God, Mary, ever virgin). "Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring." Therefore the Spirit and the Church pray: "Come, Lord Jesus," since his coming will deliver us from the Evil One.
October 24th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Pat: Thank you for your excellent answers that satisfied my questions. You confirm for me what I have always felt in my own mind. Mary did not die and could not die. Mary was unique, one of a kind. Our Blessed Mother was never corrupt.
I am familiar with Dr. Miravalle and have heard him lecture. I'm sure you are aware that he is a leader in the Vox Populi movement that urged John Paul II to declare Mary "co-Redemptrix" with Jesus. It may be a hang-over from my former life as a Protestant, and I realize that John Paul called Mary by that title six times, and there is a pile of literature using that title for Mary, but I get very nervous when the title of co-Redeemer is applied to anyone other than Jesus - even to the Immaculate Heart of Mary - and even as Dr. Miravalle explains his case. He is an excellent teacher and speaker - and no one hearing him can doubt his sincerity- but it still makes me nervous because a lot of people will read the title - and misunderstand the title because they did not have access to Dr. Miravalle's reasoning.
October 24th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Danny,
Once again, theologians still debate the kind of death/separation-from-the-body/dormition Mary experienced. But many lean toward an idea that Mary had some sort of experience that most likely resembled her Son. Meaning that, as a perfect disciple, Mary's will would be joined to the Lord's will about how to best accomplish the transition from the end of her earthly life to her life in glory. (I'm no skilled theologian, just a graduate theology major trying to teach and write about the Faith.)
It took me some time to understand the beautiful theology behind the idea of Mary's Spiritual Motherhood and maternal mediation for us. But it has three aspects whereby Mary is coredemptrix, mediatrix and advocate for us. (BTW, this is already doctrine, and many popes have taught about Mary's role in salvation history–both then and now–not just John Paul II. The Vox Populi is seeking, along with many prominent Cardinals and members of the clergy, the opportunity to elevate this doctrine to a well-defined precise dogma to assist the faithful's understanding–and clear up misunderstanding of the terms!–much like the Magisterium has done previously regarding the Immaculate Conception in 1854 and the Assumption in 1950.)
To properly understand the title "coredemptrix", we have to understand the proper meaning of the Latin roots. (Our English understanding, I think can "confuse" the proper understanding.) The prefix "co-" comes from "cum" which means "with". (For example, if you graduate from college and you received your degree cum laude, it meant you graduated "with honors.") The suffix "-trix" is the feminine. So the word "coredemptrix" means "woman with the redeemer."
Mary's role in the redemption process is completely subordinate and secondary and wholly dependent on Christ the Redeemer. Recall that her Immaculate Conception was the application of the merits of Redemption by Christ at Calvary. Everything extraordinary about Mary comes from her relationship with the three Persons in the Trinity.
Going all the way back to the earliest Church Fathers, we have Iraneaus in the second century who gives a pretty well-developed idea of Christ as the New Adam and Mary as the New Eve. The Perfect Man and the Perfect Woman (Jesus and Mary) are repairing the damage done by the fall of Adam and Eve. St. Jerome in the 4th century taught with this pithy statement: "Death through Eve, life through Mary." These are just a few samples from history how a doctrine grew from "a small acorn" of understanding to a fuller "flourishing oak tree" of understanding.
We know from 1 Timothy 2:5 that there is only one Mediator, Jesus Christ. That scripture reminds us that no one can rival or parallel the Mediator. However, it does not exclude others participating in the life and grace of God. For example, every time that we pray for someone, we participate in that mediation of Christ. Our mediation is completely subordinate to Christ's and dependent on Christ's mediation. Christ's mediation is not diluted or diminished by our sharing in this divine life with Him, it all the more shows Christ's power! The Priesthood of Jesus is another example. Having an ordained priestly clergy does not diminish or obscure Christ's High Priesthood, it shows its power! We could say the same about Mary's role as coredemptrix. It is a participate in Christ's power–not a diminishing of it. She is coredemptrix with the Redeemer simply in giving her "yes" to the angel, and providing the Body for Jesus–the Body that bled and died and rose again–redeeming us. Mary's Spiritual motherhood–and her Seven Sorrows–show us a perfect model for what Catholics call "redemptive suffering." She is the mother who suffers with her Son, the Suffering Servant. Her maternal suffering, which is perfectly joined to God's will, why she is given the title of coredemptrix.
Of course, in most cases, I think Mary would just love to have us call her "Mother". Just as I desire my own children to call me "Mom", not "Mrs. G."
One more thing: Scripturally, I "get it" when I read these four passages: First, about "the woman" of Genesis 3:15, whose offspring was part of the promise of redemption after the fall; then I read about "the Woman" in Revelation 12:1-17; and then I think about "the hour" foreshadowed in John 2:1-11 and Mary being called "Woman" at the Wedding at Cana; and then I hear Jesus in his final and finest hour, identify Mary–not by her name–as "Woman" in John 19:26 at the foot of the Cross.
Humble apologies if this reply was way too long, but thanks for the opportunity to respond and share about our wonderful Mother!
October 24th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
That is an excellent response, and I appreciate your taking the time to write it. You have helped me to understand and I am grateful. Until someone with more skill comes along (and that might take a while), I think you do quite well as a skilled theologian. Thanks again.