Our Final Cause
There is one thing we are each called to: holiness. It can also be termed complete virtue. It is the bulwark of the Catholic faith. It is what Jesus seeks to accomplish in each of us, for to be completely virtuous is to imitate Christ. We can only do this through His grace. The Mediatrix of All Graces is the Blessed Virgin Mary.
St. Pius X, Encyclical, Ad diem illum, Feb. 2, 1904, AAS 36, 1904. 453-54.
Hence that never dissociated manner of life and labors of the Mother and the Son... . there stood by the Cross of Jesus His Mother, not merely occupied in looking at the dreadful sight, but even rejoicing that 'her only Son was being offered for the salvation of the human race; and so did she suffer, with Him, that if it had been possible, she would have much more gladly suffered herself all the torments that her Son underwent' [St. Bonaventure I. Sent. d, 48, ad Litt. dub. 4]. Now from this common sharing of will and suffering between Christ and Mary, she 'merited to become most worthily the Reparatrix of the lost world' [Eadmer, De Excellentia Virginis Mariae, 9] and therefore Dispensatrix of all the gifts which Jesus gained for us by His Death and by His Blood.... But Mary as St. Bernard fittingly remarks [De Aquaeductu 4] is the 'channel' or, even, the neck, through which the body is joined to the head, and likewise through which the head exerts its power and strength on the body. 'For she is the neck of our Head, by which all spiritual gifts are communicated to His Mystical Body.' [St. Bernardine of Siena, Quadrag. De Evangelio aeterno, Sermo X, a. 3. c. 3.]
I have mused over the idea that for the last couple of centuries especially, the Blessed Virgin is Christ's primary messenger. Why doesn't every visionary, like St. Faustina, receive communication directly from Jesus himself? I think it is for a very good reason: Mary is not honored by our separated brethren. To them, she is just a good woman, but not the Queen of the Angels, the Mother of all Christians, the Second Eve. Mary is a marker. She marks the true Church. The Catholic Church, and in that respect, the Orthodox Church too, for where she is venerated as she truly is, there also is the Eucharist. There also is Christ in His fullness. There also is the path of the Suffering Servant. Take note of how the Word of Faith heresy has infected so much of the Protestant and evangelical community. It is the opposite of the message of Our Blessed Mother at Lourdes and Fatima.
"I cannot promise you happiness in this world. Only the in next one."
"Do you wish to offer yourselves to God? Will you bear all the sufferings he will send you in order to make reparation for the sins by which he is offended? Will you pray for the conversion of sinners?"
These are not very attractive promises and requests if you have been hoodwinked into believing that the favor of God equals wealth and a good self-image, a realization of Maslow's self-actualized hierarchy of needs, and a time-share at a condo in the Carolinas. That you can boss God around and have everything you ever desired. But this is reality. St. Thomas Aquinas writes "...final happiness, which is reached by virtuous action, is a good that belongs not to this life, but to the next life..."(Light of Faith, ch. 173).
We are called to holiness, as the Second Vatican Council's Universal Call to Holiness says. Holiness is virtue, which is truly a complete life in a way that Abraham Maslow could not conceive, for he was focused on this life. It is in the next life that we will get everything one could desire, for it is there that Mary will show unto us the blessed fruit of her womb, Jesus. But we will not get to this point easily. We will have to deny those things we desire, and we desire them greatly, do we not? Prayer, fasting, penance. Not what most people want on their menu.
"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 16:39)
Comments (8)
"The Catholic Church, and in that respect, the Orthodox Church too, for where she is venerated as she truly is, there also is the Eucharist. There also is Christ in His fullness". *(To Worship Mary is Pagan)
"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 16:39) *(Not found in the Bible)
@ThePraisedOne - Typo: Matthew 16:39 should read Matthew 10:39
for where she is venerated as she truly is, there also is the Eucharist. There also is Christ in His fullness".*(To Worship Mary is Pagan)
Do you love your mother? Do you venerate her? (the word's definition in the Oxford American Dictionary is "to regard with great respect"). Is "to regard with great respect" worship? Not if we are following the accepted definitions of words.
No one worships Mary. We love her and "regard (her) with great respect."@praytherosaryeveryday - Couldn't agree with you more with your last statement, No one worships Mary. We love her and "regard (her) with great respect."
And I love very much with great respect both my mother and Mary, Mother of Jesus pbuh.
Nevertheless, why do Christians made molten image of Mary and bow and pray to it? Does this not provoke God to anger? I surely would not go overboard to such extent, would you?
@ThePraisedOne - The Incarnation changed the economy of images. The power to bind and to loose was given by Jesus Christ, to the Apostles, and especially to Peter. As Jesus amended the Law of Moses in His Sermon on the Mount, so His authority to make governance is given to the Church. Islam seeks to give credence to the Mosaic Law without putting it into its historical context.
@praytherosaryeveryday - I'm sorry. I don't get your answer to my question, "why do Christians made molten image of Mary and bow and pray to it? Does this not provoke God to anger?"
@ThePraisedOne - I'm sorry. I don't get your answer to my question, "why do Christians made molten image of Mary and bow and pray to it? Does this not provoke God to anger?"
They don't worship statues. And they are not praying to it. No one is that naive. Another straw man argument.
@praytherosaryeveryday - Alright, Christians do not worship or pray to statues. But how come they kiss the cross and pray to it on every Good Friday?
@ThePraisedOne - We venerate the Cross. The song we sing is
"Behold, behold, the wood of the Cross
On which is hung our Salvation.
Oh come, let us adore."
The Cross is not worshipped, but He who hung there and died, voluntarily, to make right what Adam in his disobedience did. When Adam, who was in union with God, who is all good, disobeyed, he broke his union with God and his goodness. Only one who was never tainted with Adam's sin could set things right, for God's purpose in creating man is for man to share in his goodness for eternity.
If you consider the history of mankind, and how much evil has been done, you see God's justice, when He ejected Adam and Eve from the Garden, where God's goodness was the very stuff of their life. Original Sin is a reality that can only be undone by an infinite being. There is only one infinite being, and He loved us enough to take upon Himself our weakness, to be tempted as we are tempted, yet not be deceived or disobey.
You keep harking back to the humanity of Christ, and how it is unbecoming to almighty God. That is the whole point. How infinite is His love, that he would condescend to become one of us, and to pay the price that we should have paid. There is no greater love than this, than a man should lay down his life, voluntarily, for his friends. Through the Cross, we are now friends of God. More than that, through His Incarnation, through the maternity of Mary, and His gift to mankind of His mother to be our mother too, we are now brothers and sisters to Jesus Christ. We are now a part of God's family, which is the operative function of union with God. We will never be God, for we are creatures, but he wants us to live, and live in His own glory. It is an amazing thing. I recommend the saints to you who have experienced this first-hand. Please research the life of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Bernadette of Lourdes, the little shepherd children of Fatima, and St. Padre Pio. They are testaments of the will of God to bring us into His glory, beginning with this life and completely in the next life.
God is speaking to you, my friend. Everything I have written to you is true. It is confirmed by scripture and history. Give it a fair consideration.
God bless you.