Holy Virgin Mother Mary may not be the Co-Redemptrix, but…

Holy Virgin Mother Mary may not be the Co-Redemptrix, but…

With the recent clarification from the Papal Office about banning the usage of some special terms such as 'Co-Redemptrix' and 'Center of all Divine Graces', the Catholics who are very devoted to Holy Mary are a bit confused and disappointed, with the concern that the Marian devotion in the Catholic Church is diminishing! In fact, such a clarification from the 'Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments', with the permission of the Pontiff, became necessary because some sects within the Church, out of overwhelming piety and love for the Blessed Virgin Mary, started using the titles Co-Redemptrix and Distributor of All Graces, which contradict the very teachings of the Holy Bible (Ephesians 1:7, 1 Tim 2:5, Col 1:13–14, 1 Pet 1:18–19, Gal 3:13 etc.)!

Being a “slave of the LORD JESUS CHRIST” and an ardent son of the Blessed Virgin Mother, as mentioned in the Holy Bible: “Lord, I am Your servant and the son of Your maidservant” (Psalm 116:16), I too am deeply devoted to Our Lady. But the above declaration did not disappoint me, because I am fully aware that my Divine Master Jesus Christ alone is the Redeemer of mankind, and His Holy Mother, who is “full of Divine Grace,” gives necessary graces to Her children to repent, seek and reach Her Divine Son.

I am also aware of the four Holy Spirit–inspired dogmas of the Catholic Church about the Virgin Mother that are unchangeable. They are:

1. Holy Mary is the Mother of God (from AD 431)

2. She is a Perpetual Virgin (from AD 649)

3. She is the Immaculate Conception (from AD 1854)

4. She was Assumed into Heaven (from AD 1950)

There are also many unique specialties of Blessed Mary which were revealed to me, 'Her humble son and the slave of Her Son Jesus Christ,' by the Holy Spirit from the Bible. I do not know whether anyone has interpreted these things in this way earlier. They are:

1. The only human being greeted/respected by Almighty God (Luke 1:28).

   God appeared and spoke directly or through His angels to many of His chosen people in the Bible. But only Mary of Nazareth was greeted—a sign of Divine respect.

2. She is seated at the right side of Her Son (Mark 10:35).

   When the disciples John and James prayed to the Lord Jesus for a favour—to sit at His right and left—He rejected their plea, saying it would be granted by the Father. (Probably this was the only prayer ever unanswered by the Lord for the fulfilment of the Holy verse in John 12:26!)

3. She is respected more than anyone by the Heavenly Father (John 12:26).

   The Lord says in the above Verse: “My Father will respect the one who serves Me.”

   Numerous saints, including the Apostles, served and continue to serve the Lord Jesus. All of them are or will definitely be honoured by the Almighty Father. But the one who served Him more than anyone is undoubtedly His Holy Virgin Mother—who served Him from the womb to the tomb!

   Obviously, She will be honoured more by the God Almighty in accordance with the above Holy verse (Jn12:26).

Jesus Christ is the Source of all Graces (John 1:16), but His Mother Mary was filled with all Divine Graces even before she was greeted by the Angel (God)! This shows that She was chosen by God and was created specially and uniquely, without any blemishes like birth sin.

So, the Blessed Virgin Mary, even though she is not given any official title as the Co-Redemptrix, was created by the Triune God in a very special and unique way blemishlessly and filled with all Divine Graces (Lk 1:28) to be called the Daughter of the Almighty Father, Mother of the Divine Son, and the Mystical Bride of the Holy Spirit!

Why do Catholics venerate Mother Mary and Pray to Her?

Why do the Catholics venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary and Pray to Her? Is it not idol worship? Why to honor Mary and Saints? Why so much importance is given to the devotion of Mother Mary in Catholic Church? 

These are questions frequently asked by most Christians belonging to Protestant / Pentecostal denominations. Sometimes this question arises in the minds of even Catholics who are active in Charismatic Prayer movements. When Lord Jesus is our intercessor, why do we need the aid of other mediators? Answers to these questions are given by many anointed persons who have received numerous blessing through the intervention of Blessed Mother Mary. As I am also one of the billions of devotees who continue to receive innumerable blessing of the Lord through Mother Mary (even though I too had been nurturing the above mentioned doubts for a long time in life), I proudly and gladly wish to share the Divine Promptings by the Holy Spirit of God about Mother Mary.

I don't intend to explain in this post who Mother Mary is to those people who do not know who Lord Jesus Christ is. I am very sure that whoever truly Believes in the Saviour of the humanity Jesus Christ and the Holy Word of God will easily become ardent devotees of the Blessed Mother of God, if they meditate (with openness) certain events / versus in the Holy Bible.

Though there are many incidents and circumstances in the Holy Bible that command and warrant special devotion and veneration to the Blessed Mother Mary, in my opinion the wedding event at Cana is more than enough to understand the preeminence of the 'humble woman' chosen by the Almighty God, before the ages to be HIS Mother when HE is to take incarnation as a man to redeem the mankind in the fullness of time. 

As I stated above, if you have an open heart to know the Holy Will of God about respecting HIS Mother, please read the below narrated Biblical Passage (John 2:1-11) several times meditatively. Remember, if you already have your own presupposition (fed by some persons) in this matter, you will never get to know God's Wish.

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out at the wedding, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Now there were six stone water pots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each. Jesus said to them, “Fill the water-pots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it to him. When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer quality wine;but you have kept the good wine until now.” This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. 

In the above passage in the 'Word of God' we see the Lord saying that His hour had not yet come. Yes, the Lord can never and will never commit an err. Even though His time had not yet come for His self-manifestation and to perform the first miracle, At the request of His Mother, He makes the marriage venue at Cana for His Manifestation and acts immediately! In other words, if I say Mother Mary also played a significant role in planning and executing the redemption mission of Lord Jesus, can you refute it?

We see in the 10 commandments given by God, after the first 3 pertaining to God, the fourth one is to honour one's parents (father and mother). When God wants the people to give utmost respect to their father and mother, how can we expect God to not respect His own Father and Mother? In other words, when God who is pleased when you and me respect our worldly parents (who are sinners), how much more will He not be delighted when we venerate His dear and most Blessed Mother who is 'Full of Grace' and capable of filling others with Holy Spirit with her mere presence and by just making a verbal greeting?

In the Holy Gospel of Luke Chapter 1 verse 43 we see St Elizabeth (the mother of John the Baptist-who got special privilege to prepare the way for the Lord and to baptize Him-) filled with the Holy Spirit of God asks Mother Mary, 'And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?' (Lk 1:43)

After meditating and reading the above passage and after seeing an elderly and saintly person filled with the Holy Spirit venerating and proclaiming and declaring a universal Truth that the humble and Holy woman who carried the Son of God in her womb, is the Mother of her Lord (God), all people under the sun who believe in the God of Baptist John, Zachariah and Elizabeth and who believe in the Most Holy Spirit of God, will surely believe that Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of their Lord Jesus (true God incarnated and assumed human form) and deserves very high veneration and honor. Still if anyone has difficulty in accepting her as the Mother of God, I feel pity for that person and am afraid that he/she is possessed by some evil spirits that hate and oppose Blessed Virgin Mother's special authority granted by the Most High God to crush the head of satan! May the Mother of God pray for that person to gain vision..!