Fr.James Liebner, SVD is the professor of this subject
We have to write the reflection on Mariology this is my reflection.
The Mary dogmas
Throughout the history of the Church, the veneration to the Blessed Virgin Mary has developed in various ways. These concepts of veneration brought us the Doctrine and some explanations about them. Consequently we have many different titles of Mary, such as, Mother of God, Ever-Virgin and Immaculate Conception, etc. In this writing I would like to present some concepts and brief background of the development of the Mary dogmas.
Mary, Mother of God
If someone says “Mary is the mother of Jesus”, it will not be so suspicious. But if someone says “Mary is the mother of God”, it raises a problem as how a created woman can become a mother of God, the Creator. Those who are not Catholic may find it is difficult to accept this sentence, but for Catholics it is a mystery and yet it is a dogma which has been solemnly declared in 431 at the Council of Ephesus.
There are several passages from the Scripture that support the concept proclaimed that Mary is the Mother of God. On the account of the Annunciation, the angel told Mary that the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God (Lk 1:35). And again when Mary visited Elizabeth she called her “the mother of my Lord” (Lk 1:43). St. Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, also put significant words that bring us to realize the motherhood of Mary.
According to Pelikan (1996), the most comprehensive and the most problematic of all the terms invented for Mary by Eastern Christianity was certainly that the title Theotokos, (mother of God). The word “Theotokos” is a compound of two Greek words, θεός (God) and τόκος (childbirth). Literally, this translates as “God-bearer” or “the one who gives birth to God”. We found the evidence of using the term “Theotokos” in the works of Fathers of the Church, such as Origen, Dionysius, St. Athanasius of Alexandria, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine, etc.
In 431, the Council of Ephesus defined the doctrine of Mary as the Mother of God because her son Jesus is one person who is both divine and human. This dogma initially served as a defensive teaching against the teaching of Nestorius, who held with him the concept that Mary gave birth only to Jesus as a human not to the Word who eternally existed. According to Nestorius, one might see Jesus, who was born from Mary, had a human nature which was separated from his divine nature. This concept raises Christological problems.
According to Bastero (2006), Nestorius suggested that we might call Mary the “Anthropotokos” (Mother of the man) or “Khristotokos” (mother of Christ), but not Mother of God. For Nestorius, Christ has two natures. This teaching was unacceptable for St. Cyril of Alexandria. There were so many letters of explanation between Nestorius and St. Cyril. Finally, the Emperor Theodosius convoked a Council to solve this controversy and the doctrine was declared.
St. Cyril of Alexandria emphasized that Jesus Christ who was born from Mary is truly God and truly man. According to his theology, there were two states for the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son. The first state is the pre-exist of the Logos (Word) and the second state is the Incarnation through Mary by the Holy Spirit that the Word became flesh and was made man.
However the controversy continued between the groups of people who supported Nestorius and those who supported St. Cyril. The consequent council after Ephesus was the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and the Second Council of Constantinople in 553. These two ensuing councils repeated the doctrine of “Mary is the really and truly the Mother of God” (Bastero, 2006, p. 161)
Rahner (1963) attested that the fact that Mary is the mother of God as the reflection of the Church is guided by her faith. This faith attained more explicit awareness and expression of the divine sonship of Jesus Christ. It is correspondingly from the belief of the Church that Mary the mother of Jesus is the mother of God. Therefore we can see that Mary is totally related to Christ, she is obedient to the will of God to become the Mother of Redeemer. She is predestined along with him for the redemption of the world.
Mary ever Virgin
We now come to another controversial issue of the Catholic dogma about the virginity of Mary. It is impossible for a human being to think of a woman to be conceived without the seed of a man and to be virgin after giving birth to a child. That is why, whenever we say that Mary is every-virgin, there are so many disputes among the believers and non-believers. Many heresies arose in the history because of the belief in Mary, as an ever-virgin. But in the case of Mary, it is possible that she is ever a virgin because God intervened by acting directly with an extraordinary way in choosing her to give birth to Jesus Christ virginally.
Rahner (1963) investigated that the Church has consequently always taught as part of its belief, and defended against false doctrine, that May conceived her son without the co-operation of an earthly father and remained a virgin after the birth of Jesus too.
Another testimony of Mary to be ever-virgin in the Gospel can be found in John 1:13. It said, “Who was born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will but God”. The words “not of blood” give us the understanding that at the moment of Jesus’ birth, Virgin Mary did not bleed. Through this statement, it is clear that Mary gave birth to Jesus without damaging her virginity. Some Mariologists agreed that Mary giving Jesus a virginal birth fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, saying, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”. For many theologians, this passage supports virginal conception and virgin birth.
But in the Gospel, there are several occasions that speak of “the brothers of Jesus” (Mt 13:55), which make other fellow Christians to assume that Mary has other sons and daughters apart from Jesus. Bastero (2006) attested that when Jesus Christ was on the cross, He entrusted His mother to his disciple. If she had other sons and daughters, He would not have entrusted His mother to John. This is implicit proof that Mary had no other sons and daughters and therefore she is a perpetual virgin.
Pope Leo the Great spoke out concerning Catholic belief in Mary’s virginity, saying that “He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother, who gave him birth without losing her virginity as she conceived him without losing her virginity.” St. Epiphanius again said that Jesus was perfectly begotten of the Holy Mother Mary, ever virgin by means of the Holy Spirit. Since “ever” – “ever-virgin” conveys totality and perpetuity and therefore Mary is a virgin perpetually.
Concerning Mary as ever-virgin, the Fathers of the Church, such as St. Ambrose, St. Jerome and St. Augustine, were ardent defenders of the perpetual virginity of Mary. They saw Mary as a model of consecrated women. St. Augustine strongly defends the virginity of Mary by saying that “Mary remained a virgin in conceiving her son, a virgin in giving birth to him, a virgin carrying him, a virgin in nursing him at her breast, always a virgin”.
St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that “the Blessed Virgin Mary was wholly free from the penalty of conceiving in corruption, giving birth with difficulty and bringing forth in pain”. It seems that St. Thomas was familiar with Genesis 3:16, when God said to Adam and Eve that “I will greatly multiply your pain and your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children”. Mary, unlike the generation of Eve, “conceived without corruption, bore her child in comfort, and brought him forth in joy”.
The teaching of the Church proclaims the absolute truth concerning Mary’s virginity. Mary conceived miraculously and virginally by the almighty power of God which meant that Jesus did not have a human father, and so Mary gave birth without her losing her virginity, and after the birth of Christ she stayed a virgin for the rest of her life on earth”. In other words, in calling Mary, “ever- virgin, it means that before the birth at the birth and after the birth. Mary always remains a virgin. She abstained from all conjugal relations. This also implies that Jesus left intact the virginity of His mother.
Bastero (2006) wrote that Mary is the prototype of the new people of God, because in her are anticipated the essential features, virgin and mother of the Church, the spouse of Christ, who conceives and gives birth to her children in a virginal way. We have to follow the suggestion of Caurenceau who says that in order to understand the deep reasons for Mary’s lifelong virginity is at the same time to perceive the greatness of a total response to the Word that God speaks to us in Jesus Christ.
The Immaculate Conception of Mary
Another doctrine about Mary is The Immaculate Conception which is “the most remarkable misunderstandings of this dogma of holy Church” (Rahner, 1963, p. 42). Actually, the Immaculate Conception of the blessed Virgin is the physical coming into existence of Mary through generation by her parents. It was physically different from other human beings. This dogma does not imply to the coming into existence of human beings through the conjugal love of two human persons.
Bastero (2006) discovered that the teaching of the Church stated that Mary had to have a privilege because she is the Mother of God. She was adorned with sanctifying grace from the first instant of her existence by God. She never knew the state of the so called “Original Sin”. The Immaculate Conception of the blessed Virgin consists in view of the merits of Jesus Christ her son. Because of this reason, Mary, who is the Mother of the Redeemer, was prepared from the very beginning of her life in the redemptive and saving love of God.
It is no wonder that many Christians, especially the Protestants, find it difficult to believe that Mary was sinless from the moment of her conception to her death, because this doctrine, which is proper to the Catholic Church, just contradicts another doctrine which teaches that all men were born with sin and have the tendency to. As this doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary lacks the explicit biblical foundations and sounds contradictory to the doctrine of the universality of sin, it took the Church centuries to officially pronounce it as a dogma. As its members continually became more aware of the truth of the assertion of the fullness of grace and holiness of the Mother of the Lord, the Church formally proclaimed this doctrine of Immaculate Conception in 1854.
This belief of Mary’s sinlessness is said to have begun with popular devotion of Mary by the earliest Christians and then it found its way into liturgical celebrations before being theologically researched and dogmatically declared as a doctrine by Pius IX. This popular belief of Mary’s Immaculate Conception might have gained its ground in the second century because in the Protogospel of St. James, the miraculous conception of Mary is mentioned. But this belief was not held as true by some earlier Church Fathers saying that Mary did have imperfections.
In the fourth and the fifth centuries, St. Augustine found the difficulty in explaining how Mary’s Immaculate Conception was possible for he firmly held that in order to be redeemed one needs to have shared the sin of Adam. Though Augustine did not deny Mary’s holiness, his doctrine on Original Sin and its transmission through the generative act seemed to have led him and many theologians to conclude that the Immaculate Conception was not possible had Mary been born out of the concupiscence of her parents. Based on St. Augustine’s doctrine of the transmission of Original Sin, many theologians denied the Immaculate Conception, because for them, it was incompatible with the universal Redemption.
Eadmer of Canterbury, who was a close disciple of Anselm and a devout monk of Mary, defended the teaching of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. He distinguished active from passive conception and said that the conception of Mary had in fact be affected by Original Sin, the that was in her parents, (active generation) and not in Mary (passive generation). For Mary is preserved from the sin committed by others. The passive generation is the beginning of a new being and it is precisely in the newness that one can find the break in a long chain of sin.
After Eadmer we, then, have another theologian who developed the idea of preservative redemption. Dun Scotus explained and showed how appropriate it was that God should preserve Mary from sin. Following William of Ware, his teacher, Scotus wrote that Mary was preserved from both Original Sin and actual sin, for if she had not been preserved, she would have been an enemy of God. According to Scotus, Mary was preserved from all stain of sin in view of the Redeemer she was to conceive and in fact, it was her own Son, Christ Jesus who merited this preservation of sin for his Mother. Mary’s exemption from Original sin was not a mere exemption; but rather she had been redeemed by a redemption which prevented her from contracting Original Sin.
For the Protestants, the teaching of the Immaculate Conception is senseless because, this teaching not only contradicts the universality of Original Sin but also presupposes that Mary’s parents and grandparents must have been exempted from sin. If this were the case, the whole line of Mary’s parents must have all been preserved from Original Sin. Given the fact that Mary was just a lowly virgin and an ordinary woman from Nazareth, and nothing was mentioned about her holiness in the scriptures, the Protestants argue, it is impossible that Mary remained sinless throughout her life. Living in a sinful world without committing any sin is just impossible for them.
After gaining the consent from most bishops, Pope Pius IX officially defined the Immaculate Conception of Mary as a dogma in “Ineffabilis Deus” (Ineffable God) in 1854. In his bull, the Pope declared that “the Most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by the singular grace and privilege of God and in view of the merits of Jesus, the Savior, preserved from all stain of Original Sin, and therefore, this doctrine should be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful”. Pope Paul VI, in the Creed of the People of God, also taught that Mary was redeemed in a more exalted manner and preserved from all stain of sin, outstripping in excellence all other creatures by reason of the grace given to her.
Rahner (1963) stated that the truths, which appear the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, lead us back to the beginning of each spiritual being. It is very important to realize that God has laid down the spiritual being since the very beginning of the world. God surrounds the life of man with His eternal redemptive love. He surrounds the life of humanity with loving fidelity and Mary possessed grace of God from the beginning because of His plan for humanity that they shall be free.
In conclusion, given all the explanations of the theologians, it is reasonable and grounded enough to believe that Mary was preserved from all kinds of sin because, for God, nothing is impossible. It is really appropriate that Mary should be sinless through her life so that she can become the Mother of God. And lastly, God always gives the necessary graces needed to fulfill the mission he assigns as he did to the prophets in the past.
The Assumption and Queenship of Mary
When I was a little boy, once I asked my mother where was Mary buried? “Nowhere” she told me “She was assumed into heaven” I could not understand the meaning of the word “assume”. My mother tried her best to explain to me but it was too difficult, for a little boy like me, to understand. Later on, I entered the primary school, run by St. Gabriel’s brothers, called Assumption Rayong. Every year on August 15, we will have a holiday as it is the feast of Mother Mary, patroness of the school. Since then, one of my perceptions of the Assumption is holiday.
Now I am growing up and doing theology. I have read many books about Mary. I have gained more understanding and studied the historical background, the biblical basis and the doctrine of the Church. These help me to nurture my spiritual life and also my relationship with Mary, my heavenly mother.
According to Rahner (1963), the Church does not know the life of Mary, but the Church knows what must be said about Mary in confessing the faith and praising the grace of God. And to this there belongs the origin given by God in his grace to Mary, for instance, her Virginity, her sinlessness and her divine motherhood. These events in the life of Mary lead us to her holy end and consummation. For Rahner, the Church recognizes the nature of this consummation as an intrinsic element in what she is told by her faith in the mother of God.
Since the first century, the early Christian community held the concept that Mary is the first one whom redeemed by Christ. Bastero (2006) stated that in Mary wrought by Christ attains its fullness and is manifested in all its perfection. This perfection of Mary’s redemption impacts on all the mysteries in her life, from her conception and birth to her glorification. The glorification of Mary can be understood only in the sense that she is the mother of Christ and have a special place in the history of salvation. Therefore the glorification of Mary is studied from two points of view, likewise her Assumption and her Queenship.
Assumption and Queenship of Mary are so obviously connected that we regularly find them in the prayer of the Church. “Queen assumed into heaven, pray for us”. This connection leads us back to the Patristic period. In his work, St. Andrew of Crete wrote that the Lord translated Mary from earth to heaven, as Queen of human nature. Apart from this we also have St. Bernardine, St. Robert Bellarmine, Alvarez de Paz, etc. Hence the glorification of the Daughter, Mother and Spouse of the Trinity in summed up in the title “Queen of Heaven and Earth”
The biblical backgrounds that support this title appear in the so called “Christological hymn” which also known as the Kenotic hymn in Philippians 2:6-11. Another source from the scripture is in the writing of Luke in the so called “Magnificat” (Lk 1:46-55). The self-giving love and the exaltation are reproduced in the life of Mary. Mary, therefore, is the queen as Mother of the Redeemer and Mother of all mankind. These mysteries are simply the fulfillment of her raison d'être (reason for being) as the unique Mother she was eternally chosen to be.
In his Apostolic constitution, Munificentissimus Deus (The most bountiful God), Pope Pius XII, declared that the light of divine grace, and inspired by their love for her who is Mother of God and our own sweet Mother too; those enable them to contemplate ever more clearly her privileges, as a marvelous and harmonious whole privileges which were God’s gift to her who was the cherished companion of our Redeemer. This decree was solemnly promulgated on November 1, 1950. One might say that it attested to primarily in Apostolic Tradition.
On the other hand, the source from the Fathers of the Church especially during the first three centuries, we could hardly find the reference of the final destiny of Mary. Bastero (2006) discovered the results for these reasons. Firstly, during the period the Apostolic Fathers and the Apologists propagated and defended the faith concerning the Trinitarian and Christological controversies. Lastly, the doctrine of Eschatology was slow in development.
Subsequently, in the fourth century, St. Ephrem did not observe the body of Mary as subject to corruption. This evidence can be taken as a relevance to the Assumption. The topic of the Assumption of Mary became a significant in the seventh and the eighth century. Bastero (2006) attested that St. John Damascene has left three sermons on the Dormition.
In the Liturgy of the Church, we found the Feast of the Dormition began to be celebrated in the Eastern Church around the middle of the sixth century. The celebration mainly focused on the passing of Mary which was evolving into the actual commemoration of her glorification. Consequently, it handed on to the Western Church and began to be celebrated on August 15. The Assumption of Mary was celebrated as a combination of a historical fact and the object of belief and devotion in the economy of salvation.
After the promulgation of the Immaculate Conception, there was a movement called “assumptionist movement” proclaiming the Assumption of Mary. Pope Pius XII sent first his encyclical letter “Deiparae Virginis Mariae” (The Virgin Mary Mother of God) to consult the bishops all over the world. Finally, the result of this survey brought us the Dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary “Munificentissimus Deus”
Schillebeeckx (1964) found that the dogma informs us that Mary was not obliged to wait, as we are, until the end of time for physical redemption. This is a clear indication of the unique quality of her sublime state of redemption. We can basically understand the meaning of this dogma in two aspects. First, the Assumption of Mary brought the Mother to the first rank after Christ. She is the first and greatest of the Redeemed. Second, Mary, through her Assumption, is the first fruits and model of the Church. In eschatological point of view, Mary has shown us the way to follow Christ. Her glorification affirms us the hope of our own salvation.
I have mentioned already that the connection of the Assumption and the Queenship of Mary is so close. The concept of the Queenship of Mary as Queen has already appeared in the Patristic period. Apparently, Pope Pius XII formally declared the Queenship of Mary in his encyclical called “Ad Caeli Reginam” on October 11, 1954.
The Queenship of Mary led us to deep understanding of her divine motherhood both in natural and spiritual dimension. In natural dimension, she has the right to become a queen because she is the mother of a king, Jesus Christ. Mary, therefore, participates by her maternal right in that universal royal authority of her son. She shares in the royal dignity of Christ but in a subordinate way. For spiritual dimension, Mary exercises her royal power over those spiritual and supernatural gifts which help all men and women reach their final end.
In conclusion, there are four Mary dogmas, the Mother of God (Theotokos), Mary ever-Virgin, The Immaculate Conception and The Assumption and Queenship of Mary. These titles have significant liturgical celebrations in the Church which bring us to meditate the mystery of Jesus Christ in the history of salvation.
The Maternal mission of Mary
There are many different beliefs held by various groups of Christians which make ecumenical dialogue difficult, some have to do with Mary’s role in the redemption of man. Some Protestants cannot accept the titles of Mary which Catholics give them to her, such as, Co-redeemer, Mediator, Intercessor and Advocate. Though those titles have not been declared as dogmas by the Popes, they have long been widely used in prayers, writings and in liturgies. It is recently reported that millions of Catholics, including hundreds of bishops and cardinals, have supposedly signed petitions asking the Pope to proclaim Mary as “the Spiritual Mother of all humanity, the Co-redemptrix with Jesus the Redeemer, the Mediatrix of all graces with Jesus the one Mediator, and the Advocate with Jesus Christ on behalf of the human race”.
When we call Mary “Co-redemptrix”, we do not mean that Mary is a co-principle with Jesus or a kind of addition to his redemptive work but rather her unique participation in the sacrifice of Calvary. She is seen as a companion of the New Adam that she became known as Co-redeemer. Though the Church still has not officially declared Mary as “Co-redemptrix”, the teaching of the Second Vatican Council cleared up any doubt about the possibility of being so, when it says that “Mary’s free, conscious co-operation in the incarnation of the Word is not confined to the moment of the Annunciation, but it extends over her whole life, reaches a climax at Calvary and continues to apply in the maternal care she takes of all mankind”.
Bastero (2006) found that Mary’s spiritual motherhood of us all, is not a metaphor but a joyful fact because in the order of grace, she co-operates in the life and spiritual growth of the faithful, it is she who causes us to be reborn in Christ, and gives us life in the supernatural order. According to Shillebeeckx (1964), the reason why God chose Mary, a woman to play a role in the redemption of man was that God wanted to show the maternal aspect of his love through her’. If Schillebeekx’s assertion was true, then we could conclude that Mary’s spiritual motherhood was intended by God from the beginning and dispensing God’s graces to her spiritual children would be what God wants her to do. Therefore, it would be more accurate to say, as some Mariologists do, that Mary’s co-operation with Christ in the redemption, her universal mediation and her dispensing of graces.
There are many reasons why Mary is rightly called the spiritual mother of all men. Firstly, by conceiving and giving birth to Jesus, who is the Head of the Mystical Body, Mary spiritually gives birth to us, and all those in the course of time will be the members of that Body. Secondly, as she was chosen to uniquely participate in the redemptive work of Christ, by being faithful to that divine purpose, Mary continues to spend herself in the service of men, who are called to be brothers of her Son, Jesus. By participating actively in the redemptive work of her Son, Mary obtains for us all a new life. Therefore, she can be fittingly called a cause of our supernatural life and on that level, she is truly our Mother.
If we hold that Mary is truly our Mother, and then we must also believe that she performs the functions which this motherhood is due, that is to say, she carries out her maternal role by interceding with her Son on behalf of all human beings, and by granting us the graces necessary for our spiritual regeneration and our eternal salvation. Some people, especially the Protestants, might argued how can a human being have the right to dispense God’s graces to her fellow humans or as to how a creature can intercede or mediate with the Creator on behalf of all for the bible says that “Christ is the only mediator between God and man”.
In his work Rahner (1963) investigated that all are mediators for all, for God assigns his grace to each as he wills, including the gift and grace of being a blessing in the salvation of others. Following Rahner, we can now say that Mary is the only human being who can best help us gain eternal salvation for she was most “fully graced” among all creatures.
As I have mentioned above, Mary’s fiat is not restricted only to the moment of the Annunciation but it extends throughout her life and life after, in fact, she uttered her eternal fiat to all that God willed of her, to the whole great ordered plan of redemption. In other words, she agreed to all God’s plans for man with which He wished to accomplish through her. Therefore, if God wishes her to continue helping Him in bringing about the salvation of mankind, surely she will not deny for she has uttered her eternal fiat to God’s will. We can be sure that Mary would be ready and willing to dispense the graces that her Son Jesus won by his death and resurrection to all her children.
To be a mother does not only mean to give birth to her children, that is to say, to give them life, but it also means to nourish, to raise them up, and to lead her children to be saved. Therefore, in the sense of this motherhood, it is very appropriate to call Mary as “Dispenser of graces, Intercessor, Helper” and above all, “Co-redeemer” because as a mother, all that she wishes would be her children to have the graces necessary for their daily life and their eternal salvation.
For this reason, all the graces obtained in the redemption flow us only through Mary. However, this does not mean that Mary is the author of salvation. For she is not the source of grace but the “Dispenser of grace”, her mediation only depends on that of Christ, the Only Mediator for humanity. “We can simply say that Mary is our mediatrix. After all we have often prayed to our Lady as our advocate, our intercessor” (Rahner, 1963, p. 94).
The Devotion to the Blessed Virgin in my country
According to the History of the Catholic Church in Thailand, the French missionaries, called Missions Étrangères de Paris (M.E.P.), came to Thailand in 1662. They brought with them the devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary as we have some evidence in many churches which offer the several titles of Mary as the patroness of the Church. Therefore we have various names of the Church given the titles of Mary, for instance, Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, etc.
For my diocese, the Cathedral is named Immaculate Conception which was built by the French priest in 1700s. We also have many churches devoted to Mary as the name of the Church. This is a sign of deep relationship between Thais Christians and the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Redeemer.
After the promulgation of the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Thailand has agreed in a consensus to declare that Mother Mary is the patroness of the Catholic Church of Thailand. Hence, on August 15 of every year, we will offer a special prayer to Mary asking her to protect our country, to take care of our King and the royalty, to encourage the youth for the particular vocation of priest and religious and pray to God for us all.
Many parishes in Thailand have a special novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Some parishes organize it every Wednesday while the others make it on Saturday. The faithful will gather together for this novena and after that they will continue with the Eucharistic Celebration.
We also have a Marian month in October as there is a feast of Our Lady of Holy Rosary. Therefore in October the priests, together with the faithful, will bring a statue of Mary to each family’s house and say a rosary together. By meditating the truth of the mystery of Christ through the rosary encourages us to follow the footstep of Mary (cf. RVM # 16).
My parish was built in 1975 and given the name of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Fr. Joseph, the parish priest, who is very faithful to Mary, devotes himself to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. That is the reason why we have this title for our parish. Later on, Fr. Joseph was assigned to become a spiritual director in the minor seminary. He was also my spiritual director who always encouraged me to devote myself to Mary. It was he who told me the Latin expression as “Ad Jesum per Mariam” (to Jesus through Mary). He also repeated this to me again before he passed away.
I began my primary at Assumption College Rayong when I was five years old. Because of the name of this school that my life became closer to Mary. Every year on August 15, we will have a school holiday and on the day before the Brothers will invite the priest to celebrate a Mass in the school. After the Mass we had a long procession around the school and the Catholic students would lead the prayers and altogether would sing “Ave Maria”.
My mother is also the one who devoted herself to Mary. She joins the movement called “Legio Mariae” (Army of Mary) that leads her to say the rosary every day. She also encourages my brothers and sisters to say the rosary as much as possible. Therefore every night after watching the news my family will gather together saying the rosary. This kind of practice makes us to be united in the family. Even sometimes when we have problems among us by praying together to Mary, it brings us the reconciliation and peace.
When I was in Lux Mundi Seminary, I joined the feast of the Presentation of the Lord which occurs on February 2 in the liturgical year. This celebration reminds us the mystery of salvation which has been accomplished by Christ. We will sing solemnly the so called hymn “Nunc Dimitis” as it is written in Luke 2:29-32. This celebration has been explained in the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Paul VI in Marialis Cultus. In number seven of this official teaching I found the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the mystery of salvation who associated as the Mother of the Suffering Servant of Yahweh.
I would like to conclude this work which I have spent most of my times during this month reading and writing. It helps me to get to know Mary deeply and the more I know her is the more I love her. One might suspicious about her virginity or even disagree with some teachings of the Church, but, for me, the important thing is not the issue they are discussing. The most important thing is the quality of the relationship between you and Mary which gradually will lead you to our Lord, Jesus Christ. I want to repeat again that Mary is not only the mother of our Lord, but she is also the mother of Thais and especially she is my mother.
Bibliography
Bastero, J. L. (2006). Mary, mother of the redeemer. Dublin: Four Courts Press.
PeliKan, J. (1996). Mary, through the centuries. New Haven: Yale.
Rahner, K. (1963). Mary, mother of the Lord. New York: Herder.
Schillebeeckx, E. (1964). Mary, mother of the redemption. New York: Sheed and Ward.
Submitted by Anthony Vorasil RUEKSAWANG (t 576124)
We have to write the reflection on Mariology this is my reflection.
The Mary dogmas
Throughout the history of the Church, the veneration to the Blessed Virgin Mary has developed in various ways. These concepts of veneration brought us the Doctrine and some explanations about them. Consequently we have many different titles of Mary, such as, Mother of God, Ever-Virgin and Immaculate Conception, etc. In this writing I would like to present some concepts and brief background of the development of the Mary dogmas.
Mary, Mother of God
If someone says “Mary is the mother of Jesus”, it will not be so suspicious. But if someone says “Mary is the mother of God”, it raises a problem as how a created woman can become a mother of God, the Creator. Those who are not Catholic may find it is difficult to accept this sentence, but for Catholics it is a mystery and yet it is a dogma which has been solemnly declared in 431 at the Council of Ephesus.
There are several passages from the Scripture that support the concept proclaimed that Mary is the Mother of God. On the account of the Annunciation, the angel told Mary that the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God (Lk 1:35). And again when Mary visited Elizabeth she called her “the mother of my Lord” (Lk 1:43). St. Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, also put significant words that bring us to realize the motherhood of Mary.
According to Pelikan (1996), the most comprehensive and the most problematic of all the terms invented for Mary by Eastern Christianity was certainly that the title Theotokos, (mother of God). The word “Theotokos” is a compound of two Greek words, θεός (God) and τόκος (childbirth). Literally, this translates as “God-bearer” or “the one who gives birth to God”. We found the evidence of using the term “Theotokos” in the works of Fathers of the Church, such as Origen, Dionysius, St. Athanasius of Alexandria, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine, etc.
In 431, the Council of Ephesus defined the doctrine of Mary as the Mother of God because her son Jesus is one person who is both divine and human. This dogma initially served as a defensive teaching against the teaching of Nestorius, who held with him the concept that Mary gave birth only to Jesus as a human not to the Word who eternally existed. According to Nestorius, one might see Jesus, who was born from Mary, had a human nature which was separated from his divine nature. This concept raises Christological problems.
According to Bastero (2006), Nestorius suggested that we might call Mary the “Anthropotokos” (Mother of the man) or “Khristotokos” (mother of Christ), but not Mother of God. For Nestorius, Christ has two natures. This teaching was unacceptable for St. Cyril of Alexandria. There were so many letters of explanation between Nestorius and St. Cyril. Finally, the Emperor Theodosius convoked a Council to solve this controversy and the doctrine was declared.
St. Cyril of Alexandria emphasized that Jesus Christ who was born from Mary is truly God and truly man. According to his theology, there were two states for the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son. The first state is the pre-exist of the Logos (Word) and the second state is the Incarnation through Mary by the Holy Spirit that the Word became flesh and was made man.
However the controversy continued between the groups of people who supported Nestorius and those who supported St. Cyril. The consequent council after Ephesus was the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and the Second Council of Constantinople in 553. These two ensuing councils repeated the doctrine of “Mary is the really and truly the Mother of God” (Bastero, 2006, p. 161)
Rahner (1963) attested that the fact that Mary is the mother of God as the reflection of the Church is guided by her faith. This faith attained more explicit awareness and expression of the divine sonship of Jesus Christ. It is correspondingly from the belief of the Church that Mary the mother of Jesus is the mother of God. Therefore we can see that Mary is totally related to Christ, she is obedient to the will of God to become the Mother of Redeemer. She is predestined along with him for the redemption of the world.
Mary ever Virgin
We now come to another controversial issue of the Catholic dogma about the virginity of Mary. It is impossible for a human being to think of a woman to be conceived without the seed of a man and to be virgin after giving birth to a child. That is why, whenever we say that Mary is every-virgin, there are so many disputes among the believers and non-believers. Many heresies arose in the history because of the belief in Mary, as an ever-virgin. But in the case of Mary, it is possible that she is ever a virgin because God intervened by acting directly with an extraordinary way in choosing her to give birth to Jesus Christ virginally.
Rahner (1963) investigated that the Church has consequently always taught as part of its belief, and defended against false doctrine, that May conceived her son without the co-operation of an earthly father and remained a virgin after the birth of Jesus too.
Another testimony of Mary to be ever-virgin in the Gospel can be found in John 1:13. It said, “Who was born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will but God”. The words “not of blood” give us the understanding that at the moment of Jesus’ birth, Virgin Mary did not bleed. Through this statement, it is clear that Mary gave birth to Jesus without damaging her virginity. Some Mariologists agreed that Mary giving Jesus a virginal birth fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, saying, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”. For many theologians, this passage supports virginal conception and virgin birth.
But in the Gospel, there are several occasions that speak of “the brothers of Jesus” (Mt 13:55), which make other fellow Christians to assume that Mary has other sons and daughters apart from Jesus. Bastero (2006) attested that when Jesus Christ was on the cross, He entrusted His mother to his disciple. If she had other sons and daughters, He would not have entrusted His mother to John. This is implicit proof that Mary had no other sons and daughters and therefore she is a perpetual virgin.
Pope Leo the Great spoke out concerning Catholic belief in Mary’s virginity, saying that “He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother, who gave him birth without losing her virginity as she conceived him without losing her virginity.” St. Epiphanius again said that Jesus was perfectly begotten of the Holy Mother Mary, ever virgin by means of the Holy Spirit. Since “ever” – “ever-virgin” conveys totality and perpetuity and therefore Mary is a virgin perpetually.
Concerning Mary as ever-virgin, the Fathers of the Church, such as St. Ambrose, St. Jerome and St. Augustine, were ardent defenders of the perpetual virginity of Mary. They saw Mary as a model of consecrated women. St. Augustine strongly defends the virginity of Mary by saying that “Mary remained a virgin in conceiving her son, a virgin in giving birth to him, a virgin carrying him, a virgin in nursing him at her breast, always a virgin”.
St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that “the Blessed Virgin Mary was wholly free from the penalty of conceiving in corruption, giving birth with difficulty and bringing forth in pain”. It seems that St. Thomas was familiar with Genesis 3:16, when God said to Adam and Eve that “I will greatly multiply your pain and your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children”. Mary, unlike the generation of Eve, “conceived without corruption, bore her child in comfort, and brought him forth in joy”.
The teaching of the Church proclaims the absolute truth concerning Mary’s virginity. Mary conceived miraculously and virginally by the almighty power of God which meant that Jesus did not have a human father, and so Mary gave birth without her losing her virginity, and after the birth of Christ she stayed a virgin for the rest of her life on earth”. In other words, in calling Mary, “ever- virgin, it means that before the birth at the birth and after the birth. Mary always remains a virgin. She abstained from all conjugal relations. This also implies that Jesus left intact the virginity of His mother.
Bastero (2006) wrote that Mary is the prototype of the new people of God, because in her are anticipated the essential features, virgin and mother of the Church, the spouse of Christ, who conceives and gives birth to her children in a virginal way. We have to follow the suggestion of Caurenceau who says that in order to understand the deep reasons for Mary’s lifelong virginity is at the same time to perceive the greatness of a total response to the Word that God speaks to us in Jesus Christ.
The Immaculate Conception of Mary
Another doctrine about Mary is The Immaculate Conception which is “the most remarkable misunderstandings of this dogma of holy Church” (Rahner, 1963, p. 42). Actually, the Immaculate Conception of the blessed Virgin is the physical coming into existence of Mary through generation by her parents. It was physically different from other human beings. This dogma does not imply to the coming into existence of human beings through the conjugal love of two human persons.
Bastero (2006) discovered that the teaching of the Church stated that Mary had to have a privilege because she is the Mother of God. She was adorned with sanctifying grace from the first instant of her existence by God. She never knew the state of the so called “Original Sin”. The Immaculate Conception of the blessed Virgin consists in view of the merits of Jesus Christ her son. Because of this reason, Mary, who is the Mother of the Redeemer, was prepared from the very beginning of her life in the redemptive and saving love of God.
It is no wonder that many Christians, especially the Protestants, find it difficult to believe that Mary was sinless from the moment of her conception to her death, because this doctrine, which is proper to the Catholic Church, just contradicts another doctrine which teaches that all men were born with sin and have the tendency to. As this doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary lacks the explicit biblical foundations and sounds contradictory to the doctrine of the universality of sin, it took the Church centuries to officially pronounce it as a dogma. As its members continually became more aware of the truth of the assertion of the fullness of grace and holiness of the Mother of the Lord, the Church formally proclaimed this doctrine of Immaculate Conception in 1854.
This belief of Mary’s sinlessness is said to have begun with popular devotion of Mary by the earliest Christians and then it found its way into liturgical celebrations before being theologically researched and dogmatically declared as a doctrine by Pius IX. This popular belief of Mary’s Immaculate Conception might have gained its ground in the second century because in the Protogospel of St. James, the miraculous conception of Mary is mentioned. But this belief was not held as true by some earlier Church Fathers saying that Mary did have imperfections.
In the fourth and the fifth centuries, St. Augustine found the difficulty in explaining how Mary’s Immaculate Conception was possible for he firmly held that in order to be redeemed one needs to have shared the sin of Adam. Though Augustine did not deny Mary’s holiness, his doctrine on Original Sin and its transmission through the generative act seemed to have led him and many theologians to conclude that the Immaculate Conception was not possible had Mary been born out of the concupiscence of her parents. Based on St. Augustine’s doctrine of the transmission of Original Sin, many theologians denied the Immaculate Conception, because for them, it was incompatible with the universal Redemption.
Eadmer of Canterbury, who was a close disciple of Anselm and a devout monk of Mary, defended the teaching of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. He distinguished active from passive conception and said that the conception of Mary had in fact be affected by Original Sin, the that was in her parents, (active generation) and not in Mary (passive generation). For Mary is preserved from the sin committed by others. The passive generation is the beginning of a new being and it is precisely in the newness that one can find the break in a long chain of sin.
After Eadmer we, then, have another theologian who developed the idea of preservative redemption. Dun Scotus explained and showed how appropriate it was that God should preserve Mary from sin. Following William of Ware, his teacher, Scotus wrote that Mary was preserved from both Original Sin and actual sin, for if she had not been preserved, she would have been an enemy of God. According to Scotus, Mary was preserved from all stain of sin in view of the Redeemer she was to conceive and in fact, it was her own Son, Christ Jesus who merited this preservation of sin for his Mother. Mary’s exemption from Original sin was not a mere exemption; but rather she had been redeemed by a redemption which prevented her from contracting Original Sin.
For the Protestants, the teaching of the Immaculate Conception is senseless because, this teaching not only contradicts the universality of Original Sin but also presupposes that Mary’s parents and grandparents must have been exempted from sin. If this were the case, the whole line of Mary’s parents must have all been preserved from Original Sin. Given the fact that Mary was just a lowly virgin and an ordinary woman from Nazareth, and nothing was mentioned about her holiness in the scriptures, the Protestants argue, it is impossible that Mary remained sinless throughout her life. Living in a sinful world without committing any sin is just impossible for them.
After gaining the consent from most bishops, Pope Pius IX officially defined the Immaculate Conception of Mary as a dogma in “Ineffabilis Deus” (Ineffable God) in 1854. In his bull, the Pope declared that “the Most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by the singular grace and privilege of God and in view of the merits of Jesus, the Savior, preserved from all stain of Original Sin, and therefore, this doctrine should be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful”. Pope Paul VI, in the Creed of the People of God, also taught that Mary was redeemed in a more exalted manner and preserved from all stain of sin, outstripping in excellence all other creatures by reason of the grace given to her.
Rahner (1963) stated that the truths, which appear the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, lead us back to the beginning of each spiritual being. It is very important to realize that God has laid down the spiritual being since the very beginning of the world. God surrounds the life of man with His eternal redemptive love. He surrounds the life of humanity with loving fidelity and Mary possessed grace of God from the beginning because of His plan for humanity that they shall be free.
In conclusion, given all the explanations of the theologians, it is reasonable and grounded enough to believe that Mary was preserved from all kinds of sin because, for God, nothing is impossible. It is really appropriate that Mary should be sinless through her life so that she can become the Mother of God. And lastly, God always gives the necessary graces needed to fulfill the mission he assigns as he did to the prophets in the past.
The Assumption and Queenship of Mary
When I was a little boy, once I asked my mother where was Mary buried? “Nowhere” she told me “She was assumed into heaven” I could not understand the meaning of the word “assume”. My mother tried her best to explain to me but it was too difficult, for a little boy like me, to understand. Later on, I entered the primary school, run by St. Gabriel’s brothers, called Assumption Rayong. Every year on August 15, we will have a holiday as it is the feast of Mother Mary, patroness of the school. Since then, one of my perceptions of the Assumption is holiday.
Now I am growing up and doing theology. I have read many books about Mary. I have gained more understanding and studied the historical background, the biblical basis and the doctrine of the Church. These help me to nurture my spiritual life and also my relationship with Mary, my heavenly mother.
According to Rahner (1963), the Church does not know the life of Mary, but the Church knows what must be said about Mary in confessing the faith and praising the grace of God. And to this there belongs the origin given by God in his grace to Mary, for instance, her Virginity, her sinlessness and her divine motherhood. These events in the life of Mary lead us to her holy end and consummation. For Rahner, the Church recognizes the nature of this consummation as an intrinsic element in what she is told by her faith in the mother of God.
Since the first century, the early Christian community held the concept that Mary is the first one whom redeemed by Christ. Bastero (2006) stated that in Mary wrought by Christ attains its fullness and is manifested in all its perfection. This perfection of Mary’s redemption impacts on all the mysteries in her life, from her conception and birth to her glorification. The glorification of Mary can be understood only in the sense that she is the mother of Christ and have a special place in the history of salvation. Therefore the glorification of Mary is studied from two points of view, likewise her Assumption and her Queenship.
Assumption and Queenship of Mary are so obviously connected that we regularly find them in the prayer of the Church. “Queen assumed into heaven, pray for us”. This connection leads us back to the Patristic period. In his work, St. Andrew of Crete wrote that the Lord translated Mary from earth to heaven, as Queen of human nature. Apart from this we also have St. Bernardine, St. Robert Bellarmine, Alvarez de Paz, etc. Hence the glorification of the Daughter, Mother and Spouse of the Trinity in summed up in the title “Queen of Heaven and Earth”
The biblical backgrounds that support this title appear in the so called “Christological hymn” which also known as the Kenotic hymn in Philippians 2:6-11. Another source from the scripture is in the writing of Luke in the so called “Magnificat” (Lk 1:46-55). The self-giving love and the exaltation are reproduced in the life of Mary. Mary, therefore, is the queen as Mother of the Redeemer and Mother of all mankind. These mysteries are simply the fulfillment of her raison d'être (reason for being) as the unique Mother she was eternally chosen to be.
In his Apostolic constitution, Munificentissimus Deus (The most bountiful God), Pope Pius XII, declared that the light of divine grace, and inspired by their love for her who is Mother of God and our own sweet Mother too; those enable them to contemplate ever more clearly her privileges, as a marvelous and harmonious whole privileges which were God’s gift to her who was the cherished companion of our Redeemer. This decree was solemnly promulgated on November 1, 1950. One might say that it attested to primarily in Apostolic Tradition.
On the other hand, the source from the Fathers of the Church especially during the first three centuries, we could hardly find the reference of the final destiny of Mary. Bastero (2006) discovered the results for these reasons. Firstly, during the period the Apostolic Fathers and the Apologists propagated and defended the faith concerning the Trinitarian and Christological controversies. Lastly, the doctrine of Eschatology was slow in development.
Subsequently, in the fourth century, St. Ephrem did not observe the body of Mary as subject to corruption. This evidence can be taken as a relevance to the Assumption. The topic of the Assumption of Mary became a significant in the seventh and the eighth century. Bastero (2006) attested that St. John Damascene has left three sermons on the Dormition.
In the Liturgy of the Church, we found the Feast of the Dormition began to be celebrated in the Eastern Church around the middle of the sixth century. The celebration mainly focused on the passing of Mary which was evolving into the actual commemoration of her glorification. Consequently, it handed on to the Western Church and began to be celebrated on August 15. The Assumption of Mary was celebrated as a combination of a historical fact and the object of belief and devotion in the economy of salvation.
After the promulgation of the Immaculate Conception, there was a movement called “assumptionist movement” proclaiming the Assumption of Mary. Pope Pius XII sent first his encyclical letter “Deiparae Virginis Mariae” (The Virgin Mary Mother of God) to consult the bishops all over the world. Finally, the result of this survey brought us the Dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary “Munificentissimus Deus”
Schillebeeckx (1964) found that the dogma informs us that Mary was not obliged to wait, as we are, until the end of time for physical redemption. This is a clear indication of the unique quality of her sublime state of redemption. We can basically understand the meaning of this dogma in two aspects. First, the Assumption of Mary brought the Mother to the first rank after Christ. She is the first and greatest of the Redeemed. Second, Mary, through her Assumption, is the first fruits and model of the Church. In eschatological point of view, Mary has shown us the way to follow Christ. Her glorification affirms us the hope of our own salvation.
I have mentioned already that the connection of the Assumption and the Queenship of Mary is so close. The concept of the Queenship of Mary as Queen has already appeared in the Patristic period. Apparently, Pope Pius XII formally declared the Queenship of Mary in his encyclical called “Ad Caeli Reginam” on October 11, 1954.
The Queenship of Mary led us to deep understanding of her divine motherhood both in natural and spiritual dimension. In natural dimension, she has the right to become a queen because she is the mother of a king, Jesus Christ. Mary, therefore, participates by her maternal right in that universal royal authority of her son. She shares in the royal dignity of Christ but in a subordinate way. For spiritual dimension, Mary exercises her royal power over those spiritual and supernatural gifts which help all men and women reach their final end.
In conclusion, there are four Mary dogmas, the Mother of God (Theotokos), Mary ever-Virgin, The Immaculate Conception and The Assumption and Queenship of Mary. These titles have significant liturgical celebrations in the Church which bring us to meditate the mystery of Jesus Christ in the history of salvation.
The Maternal mission of Mary
There are many different beliefs held by various groups of Christians which make ecumenical dialogue difficult, some have to do with Mary’s role in the redemption of man. Some Protestants cannot accept the titles of Mary which Catholics give them to her, such as, Co-redeemer, Mediator, Intercessor and Advocate. Though those titles have not been declared as dogmas by the Popes, they have long been widely used in prayers, writings and in liturgies. It is recently reported that millions of Catholics, including hundreds of bishops and cardinals, have supposedly signed petitions asking the Pope to proclaim Mary as “the Spiritual Mother of all humanity, the Co-redemptrix with Jesus the Redeemer, the Mediatrix of all graces with Jesus the one Mediator, and the Advocate with Jesus Christ on behalf of the human race”.
When we call Mary “Co-redemptrix”, we do not mean that Mary is a co-principle with Jesus or a kind of addition to his redemptive work but rather her unique participation in the sacrifice of Calvary. She is seen as a companion of the New Adam that she became known as Co-redeemer. Though the Church still has not officially declared Mary as “Co-redemptrix”, the teaching of the Second Vatican Council cleared up any doubt about the possibility of being so, when it says that “Mary’s free, conscious co-operation in the incarnation of the Word is not confined to the moment of the Annunciation, but it extends over her whole life, reaches a climax at Calvary and continues to apply in the maternal care she takes of all mankind”.
Bastero (2006) found that Mary’s spiritual motherhood of us all, is not a metaphor but a joyful fact because in the order of grace, she co-operates in the life and spiritual growth of the faithful, it is she who causes us to be reborn in Christ, and gives us life in the supernatural order. According to Shillebeeckx (1964), the reason why God chose Mary, a woman to play a role in the redemption of man was that God wanted to show the maternal aspect of his love through her’. If Schillebeekx’s assertion was true, then we could conclude that Mary’s spiritual motherhood was intended by God from the beginning and dispensing God’s graces to her spiritual children would be what God wants her to do. Therefore, it would be more accurate to say, as some Mariologists do, that Mary’s co-operation with Christ in the redemption, her universal mediation and her dispensing of graces.
There are many reasons why Mary is rightly called the spiritual mother of all men. Firstly, by conceiving and giving birth to Jesus, who is the Head of the Mystical Body, Mary spiritually gives birth to us, and all those in the course of time will be the members of that Body. Secondly, as she was chosen to uniquely participate in the redemptive work of Christ, by being faithful to that divine purpose, Mary continues to spend herself in the service of men, who are called to be brothers of her Son, Jesus. By participating actively in the redemptive work of her Son, Mary obtains for us all a new life. Therefore, she can be fittingly called a cause of our supernatural life and on that level, she is truly our Mother.
If we hold that Mary is truly our Mother, and then we must also believe that she performs the functions which this motherhood is due, that is to say, she carries out her maternal role by interceding with her Son on behalf of all human beings, and by granting us the graces necessary for our spiritual regeneration and our eternal salvation. Some people, especially the Protestants, might argued how can a human being have the right to dispense God’s graces to her fellow humans or as to how a creature can intercede or mediate with the Creator on behalf of all for the bible says that “Christ is the only mediator between God and man”.
In his work Rahner (1963) investigated that all are mediators for all, for God assigns his grace to each as he wills, including the gift and grace of being a blessing in the salvation of others. Following Rahner, we can now say that Mary is the only human being who can best help us gain eternal salvation for she was most “fully graced” among all creatures.
As I have mentioned above, Mary’s fiat is not restricted only to the moment of the Annunciation but it extends throughout her life and life after, in fact, she uttered her eternal fiat to all that God willed of her, to the whole great ordered plan of redemption. In other words, she agreed to all God’s plans for man with which He wished to accomplish through her. Therefore, if God wishes her to continue helping Him in bringing about the salvation of mankind, surely she will not deny for she has uttered her eternal fiat to God’s will. We can be sure that Mary would be ready and willing to dispense the graces that her Son Jesus won by his death and resurrection to all her children.
To be a mother does not only mean to give birth to her children, that is to say, to give them life, but it also means to nourish, to raise them up, and to lead her children to be saved. Therefore, in the sense of this motherhood, it is very appropriate to call Mary as “Dispenser of graces, Intercessor, Helper” and above all, “Co-redeemer” because as a mother, all that she wishes would be her children to have the graces necessary for their daily life and their eternal salvation.
For this reason, all the graces obtained in the redemption flow us only through Mary. However, this does not mean that Mary is the author of salvation. For she is not the source of grace but the “Dispenser of grace”, her mediation only depends on that of Christ, the Only Mediator for humanity. “We can simply say that Mary is our mediatrix. After all we have often prayed to our Lady as our advocate, our intercessor” (Rahner, 1963, p. 94).
The Devotion to the Blessed Virgin in my country
According to the History of the Catholic Church in Thailand, the French missionaries, called Missions Étrangères de Paris (M.E.P.), came to Thailand in 1662. They brought with them the devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary as we have some evidence in many churches which offer the several titles of Mary as the patroness of the Church. Therefore we have various names of the Church given the titles of Mary, for instance, Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, etc.
For my diocese, the Cathedral is named Immaculate Conception which was built by the French priest in 1700s. We also have many churches devoted to Mary as the name of the Church. This is a sign of deep relationship between Thais Christians and the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Redeemer.
After the promulgation of the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Thailand has agreed in a consensus to declare that Mother Mary is the patroness of the Catholic Church of Thailand. Hence, on August 15 of every year, we will offer a special prayer to Mary asking her to protect our country, to take care of our King and the royalty, to encourage the youth for the particular vocation of priest and religious and pray to God for us all.
Many parishes in Thailand have a special novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Some parishes organize it every Wednesday while the others make it on Saturday. The faithful will gather together for this novena and after that they will continue with the Eucharistic Celebration.
We also have a Marian month in October as there is a feast of Our Lady of Holy Rosary. Therefore in October the priests, together with the faithful, will bring a statue of Mary to each family’s house and say a rosary together. By meditating the truth of the mystery of Christ through the rosary encourages us to follow the footstep of Mary (cf. RVM # 16).
My parish was built in 1975 and given the name of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Fr. Joseph, the parish priest, who is very faithful to Mary, devotes himself to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. That is the reason why we have this title for our parish. Later on, Fr. Joseph was assigned to become a spiritual director in the minor seminary. He was also my spiritual director who always encouraged me to devote myself to Mary. It was he who told me the Latin expression as “Ad Jesum per Mariam” (to Jesus through Mary). He also repeated this to me again before he passed away.
I began my primary at Assumption College Rayong when I was five years old. Because of the name of this school that my life became closer to Mary. Every year on August 15, we will have a school holiday and on the day before the Brothers will invite the priest to celebrate a Mass in the school. After the Mass we had a long procession around the school and the Catholic students would lead the prayers and altogether would sing “Ave Maria”.
My mother is also the one who devoted herself to Mary. She joins the movement called “Legio Mariae” (Army of Mary) that leads her to say the rosary every day. She also encourages my brothers and sisters to say the rosary as much as possible. Therefore every night after watching the news my family will gather together saying the rosary. This kind of practice makes us to be united in the family. Even sometimes when we have problems among us by praying together to Mary, it brings us the reconciliation and peace.
When I was in Lux Mundi Seminary, I joined the feast of the Presentation of the Lord which occurs on February 2 in the liturgical year. This celebration reminds us the mystery of salvation which has been accomplished by Christ. We will sing solemnly the so called hymn “Nunc Dimitis” as it is written in Luke 2:29-32. This celebration has been explained in the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Paul VI in Marialis Cultus. In number seven of this official teaching I found the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the mystery of salvation who associated as the Mother of the Suffering Servant of Yahweh.
I would like to conclude this work which I have spent most of my times during this month reading and writing. It helps me to get to know Mary deeply and the more I know her is the more I love her. One might suspicious about her virginity or even disagree with some teachings of the Church, but, for me, the important thing is not the issue they are discussing. The most important thing is the quality of the relationship between you and Mary which gradually will lead you to our Lord, Jesus Christ. I want to repeat again that Mary is not only the mother of our Lord, but she is also the mother of Thais and especially she is my mother.
Bibliography
Bastero, J. L. (2006). Mary, mother of the redeemer. Dublin: Four Courts Press.
PeliKan, J. (1996). Mary, through the centuries. New Haven: Yale.
Rahner, K. (1963). Mary, mother of the Lord. New York: Herder.
Schillebeeckx, E. (1964). Mary, mother of the redemption. New York: Sheed and Ward.
Submitted by Anthony Vorasil RUEKSAWANG (t 576124)
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