To Jesus, through Mary

[shortnun]

I'm not really quite sure which forum this should go under, so I'll put it here.

In my Intro to Theo and Theological Methods class, we have the opportunity to explore a theological theme in the Christian tradition and explore it's significance (if any) for the modern day context in which we live. (Then we get to write 10-12 pages.)

I'm thinking of the statement "to Jesus, through Mary." I know that this phrase is used in a number of consecrations to the Blessed Mother. (Those of St. Louis de Montfort first spring to my mind.) Additionally, I can think of more than one or two religious communities that use this phrase in describing their charism.

While I've heard this phrase tossed around, and have my own hypothesis on what it means, I really have no clue. And before I begin my research for the paper, I wanted to toss my idea out to everyone here. Any comments, links, personal opinions, sources for me to consult that you may have would be [i]tremendously [/i]helpful.

Thanks in advance!

[phatcatholic]

well, essentially this phrase articulates mary's sole purpose in life: to unite the world to her Son. it points to her role as coredemptrix and mediatrix of all graces. it points to her role in the Incarnation. it points to her suffering at the foot of the cross. it points to her powerful intercession in heaven, as the Queen of Heaven. every blessing bestowed upon Mary and every thing we believe about her simultaneously affirms some Truth about her Son. true devotion to her invariably leads to greater communion with Him. every person who says the words "to Jesus through Mary" affirms his belief in this role of Mary and hands himself over to her to be handed over to Him.

as for articles, you have come to the right place
[b]--[url="http://www.phatmass.com/directory/index.php/cat_id/16"]Mediatrix, Coredemptrix[/url]
--[url="http://www.phatmass.com/directory/index.php/cat_id/15"]Queen of Heaven[/url]
--[url="http://www.phatmass.com/directory/index.php/cat_id/17"]Devotion and Veneration[/url]
--[url="http://www.phatmass.com/directory/index.php/cat_id/383"]Marian Devotion[/url][/b]

for more on Mary, go [url="http://www.phatmass.com/directory/index.php/cat_id/5"][b]here[/b][/url]

pax christi,
phatcatholic

[StColette]

Nick pretty much covered it completely above and provided a lot of really good sources to further understand about "To Jesus, Through Mary".

I've often thought of this phrase, especially when talking with Protestants. I usually end up wishing that they truly understood how important Mary's role is truly within the Church and in the salvation of souls.

At the very moment that God thought to create Mary to bear His Son, He knew how important it was to make her a spotless example of what a true follower of Christ is to be. Her faithfulness to God in accepting His will is a prime example of how each of us are to be everyday of our lives. During a time when women who were found pregnant out of marriage were stoned to death, Mary took up her cross and did not fear because she knew it was God's will that she bear His Son.

No human person has ever had to suffer as much sorrow as Mary. To watch her only Son be beaten and crucified when there was no true guilt upon Him. Not one of us can ever comprehend the pain that she suffered. But as a faithful child of God, Mary stood bravely at the Cross and gave over her only Son to His Father. Just as Mary bore this great suffering with great strenght, we must also learn this from her.

Before Jesus died on the Cross his concern was for his mother and those who would follow his word in the future. He gave his mother over to all people and all people to his mother. We were given into her care at this very moment. From her we are to learn how to be faithful children of God.

No other person has ever been closer to God then the Holy Mother, not even Moses. While Moses did carry the 10 Commandents written on stone, Our Lady carried the 10 Commandments made flesh within her womb. She raised him, cared for him, taught him, and loved him like no other person could have.

It is amazing to think about how much God gave us in this one person. She is often times ignored by other denominations, which is truly sad. There is still more to her then what I've typed above but that's just the things that stand out the most.

God gave us Our Lady so that we may learn to immitate her ways, which are the ways of her Son. To be faithful and submissive to God. To trust in His Will without hesitation. So we take Mary's hand and she guides us through life so that we may forever be with her Son.

[StColette]

I love this

To Jesus through Mary

"Jesus Christ Is the Last End of Devotion to Mary"

"Jesus Christ our Savior, true God and true Man, ought to be the last end of all our other devotions, else they are false and delusive. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, of all things, We labor not, as the Apostle says, except to render every man perfect in Jesus Christ; because it is in Him alone that the whole plenitude of the Divinity dwells together with all the other plenitudes of graces, virtures and perfections. It is in Him alone that we have been blessed with all spiritual benediction; and He is our only Master, who has to teach us; our only Lord on whom we ought to depend; our only Head to whom we must be united; our only Model to whom we should conform ourselves; our only Physcian who can heal us; our only Shepherd who can feed us; our only Way who can lead us; our only Truth whom we must believe; our only Life who can animate us; and our only All in all things who can satisfy us.

There has been no other name given under Heaven, except the name of Jesus, by who we can be saved. God has laid no other foundation of our salvation, our perfection or our glory, than Jesus Christ. Every building which is not built on that firm rock is founded upon the moving sand, and sooner or latter infallibly will fall. Every one of the faithful who is not united to Him, as a branch to the stock of the vine, shall fall, shall wither, and shall be fit only to be cast into the fire. Outside of Him there exists nothing but error, falsehood, iniquity, futiltiy, death and damnation. But if we are in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is in us, we have no condemnation to fear. Neither the angels of Heaven not the men of earth nor the devils of Hell nor any other creature can injure us; because they cannot separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ. By Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ, we can do all things; we can render all honor and glory to the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost; we can become perfect ourselves, and be to our neighbor a good odor of eternal life. (2Cor. 2:15-16)"

"If, then, we establish solid devotion to our Blessed Lady, it is only to establish more perfectly devotion to Jesus Christ, and to provide an easy and secure means for finding Jesus Christ. If devotion to Our Lady removed us from Jesus Christ, we should have to reject it as an illusion of the devil; but so far from this being the case, devotion to Our Lady is, on the contrary, necessary for us - as I have already shown, and will show still further hereafter - as a means of finding Jesus Christ perfectly, of loving Him tenderly, of serving Him faithfully. "

"I avow, with all the Church, that Mary, being a mere creature that has come from the hands of the Most High, is in comparison with His Infinite Majesty less than an atom; or rather, she is nothing at all, because only His is "HE who is" (Exod. 3:14); consequently that grand Lord, always independent and sufficient to Himself, never had, and has not now, any absolute need of the holy Virgin for the accomplishment of His will and for the manifestation of His glory. He has but to will in order to do everything. Nevertheless, I say that, things being as they are now - that is, God having willed to commence and to complete His greatest works by the most holy Virgin ever since He created her - we may well think He will not change His conduct in the eternal ages; for He is God, and He changes not, either in His sentiments or in His conduct."

"The Son of God became man for our salvation; but it was in Mary and by Mary. God the Holy Ghost formed Jesus Christ in Mary; but it was only after having asked her consent by one of the first ministers of His court. God the Father communicated to Mary His fruitfulness, inasmuch as a mere creature was capable of it, in order that He might give her the power to produce His Son and all the members of His Mystical Body. God the Holy Ghost, being barren in God - that is to say, not producing another Divine Person is become fruitful by Mary, whom He has espoused. It was with her, in her, and of her that He produced His Masterpiece, which is God made Man, and that He goes on producing daily, to the end of the world, the predestinate and the members of the body of that adorable Head.

This is the reason why He, the Holy Ghost, the more He finds Mary, His dear and inseparable spouse, in any soul, the more active and mighty He becomes in producing Jesus Christ in that soul, and that soul in Jesus Christ. It is not that we mean that our Blessed Lady gives the Holy Ghost His fruitfulness, as if He had it not Himself. For inasmuch as He is God, He has the same fruitfulness or capacity of producing as the Father and the Son; only He does not bring it into action, as He does not produce another Divine Person. But what we mean is that the Holy Ghost chose to make use of our Blessed Lady, though He had no absolute need of her, to bring His fruitfulness into action, by producing in her and by her Jesus Christ and His members - a mystery of grace unknown to even the wisest and most spiritual amoung Christians."

"God the Father made an assemblage of all the waters and He named it the sea (mare). He made an assemblage of all His graces and he called it Mary(Maria). This great God has a most rich treasury in which He has laid up all that He has of beauty and splendor, of rarity and preciousness, including even His own Son: and this immense treasury is none other than Mary, whom the saints have named the Treasure of the Lord, out of whose plenitude all men are made rich."

Taken from the book True Devotion to Mary

[StColette]

“To Jesus Through Mary”

When offering the traditional Mass for those who may be assisting for the first time, Fr Hugh Thwaites SJ distributes a short text which explains what the old rite expects of the laity. The text is a powerful meditation on the redemptive work of Our Lord and Our Lady and is fitting reading for all who wish to unite themselves with ‘the Passion of the Christ’.

For some of you, this may be the first time you have come to a Mass in the old Latin rite, and you may be feeling some frustration.

You may be wondering what you are meant to do. You may be wishing you could at least come up to the sanctuary with the offertory procession, if not give one of the readings or even help with Holy Communion. But you are not going to be allowed to do anything. You have just got to sit there. Or maybe kneel or stand. But you cannot do anything.

However, I will try to show you that there is indeed something you can do, something indeed you are meant to do, something that will relieve your frustration and make you very like Our Lady on Calvary.

On Calvary she also must have felt frustrated. She would have given anything to have been allowed to brush the flies from her Son’s face. Or moisten his lips with a damp sponge. Or even kiss his feet.

But the soldiers were there on crowd control duty. Their job was to keep people away from the men on the crosses.

And so our Blessed Lady could only stand there in silence. And she prayed.

She and her Divine Son were the only ones who knew what was actually happening.

She knew that He was the world’s Redeemer. She knew that He was offering a Sacrifice, the Sacrifice. He was offering the Sacrifice that would once more open to us the gates of Heaven. Being God as well as Man, the price He was paying for our salvation was of infinite worth. Though our sins are great and innumerable, they must always be quite outweighed by this ransom of infinite worth.

So she joined with Him in offering this sacrifice to the Father. And loving Him as she did, she united her own suffering heart to His divine Heart.

She offered herself in union with Him, immolating her heart on the altar of her love.

So in this Mass, try to be like Our Lady on Calvary. Our Lord told us that we have all to be like little children if we wish to have the right approach to salvation. And little children look to their mother to learn what to do.

In this Mass, look at Our Lady, and try to do what she did on Calvary. Offer Jesus to the Father, as she is doing. And offer yourself in union with Him.

Words are not needed. You do not need to do anything, outwardly. But inwardly you need to do much. You need to be “actively engaged”, as Vatican II says, trying to be like Mary on Calvary, your heart filled with love, offering the Divine Victim on the altar to the Father, and offering yourself to God in union with Him.

[Taken from the Latin Mass Society's May 2004 Newsletter.]

[url="http://www.latin-mass-society.org/2004/throughmary.html"]http://www.latin-mass-society.org/2004/throughmary.html[/url]

[phatcatholic]

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/phatcatholic/love3.gif[/img]

[ofpheritup]

My answer is going to be simple.

One of the best ways of really getting to know someone is by spending time with his mother.

[StColette]

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It felt good to have time off to answer in this subject