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DEFENDING  THE  BRIDE

 

 

One Step Toward Mary is like Three Toward Jesus

Taking one step toward Mary is like taking three steps closer to God because there are at least three reasons why we get closer to God when we open our hearts to love her and ask her to pray with us to her Son Jesus. 


Reason 1.

God wills that we do it.  Jesus was (and is) a perfect Jew especially in regards to the Law.  With infinite perfection He obeyed the 10 Commandments and to honor His mother.  And we are called to imitate Him.

Matthew 18:20
“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
 

1 Corinthians 12:21
“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I do not need you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I do not need you.’”


Reason 2.

Everyone in heaven is united into the Body of Christ and is completely conformed to the will of Christ, because there can be no disunity or division in heaven.  And, we take a step toward God when we go to Mary because she is in Christ, His Body, the Church, and she is a sure channel of His grace because her will is completely conformed to His.

The Holy Spirit aids us in prayer, Romans 8:26-27.  And the Holy Spirit is Love.  He is the love of the Father for the Son and the Son’s love for the Father.  So, the more we love the closer we are to God.  As we grow in love with the Saints and we also open ourselves to the love that Jesus has manifested in their hearts for us, and so we attain more grace. 

He wills that we love everyone, even our enemies.  Certainly He wills that we love the saints.  When we honor God and how He has worked his grace to mold their hearts closer to Him we open our hearts to receive more of God’s grace.

Jacob is role model for all of us in regards to his appreciation of the inheritance that God offers us.  He received the following blessing from his father.

Genesis 27:29“…Cursed be every one who curses you,
and blessed be every one who blesses you!”

And so, we are blessed when we fulfill the Biblical command to honor Mary. 

Luke 1:48
“For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed”

1 John 4:8
“Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.”

1 John 4:20
If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

 


Reason 3.

The Pharisee’s came to Jesus.  However, even when they came they could not receive His grace because they had not humbled their hearts to receive it.  God gives us a good example in the Book of Job.  The Book of Job shows that the most direct way to God is humility.  It was only when Job’s friends humbled themselves before God by accepting Job’s intercession that their hearts were pleasing to God

Job 42:7-9
“ … the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite,  ‘I am angry with you and with your two friends; for you have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job.  Now, therefore, take seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up a holocaust for yourselves; and let my servant Job pray for you; for his prayer I will accept, not to punish you severely. For you have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job.’  Then Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, went and did as the LORD had commanded them. And the LORD accepted the intercession of Job.” 
Cf.
1 Kings 13:4-6, and Genesis 20:7

James 5:16  
“… pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.” 

Augustine once said that humility is the mother of all virtues. That's true because all other virtues flow from a heart of humility.

See Jesus’ example of humility.

 
 

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Mary's Role

Mary’s role in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather the fact that He can transform their hearts and work through them shows His power. Mary’s intercession and work draws all its power from Christ. It does not hinder in any way the immediate union of the faithful with Christ but on the contrary fosters it.

Mary’s role neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator.

God’s power and grace is not limited in any way. He is all powerful.  And His choice to manifest that grace to us in different ways and through different people demonstrates His infinite power.  He wills that others share in His role as Intercessor and Mediator and they are effective to the extent that they partake of that One Source.

 (See LUM. GENT. 60, 62 and CCC 970 )

 

 

A High Speed Connection to God

We have to choose between going to God with Mary’s assistance and going it alone.  Going to God with a devotion to the Saints and saying yes to the help God wants to give to us through Mary is like meeting all your family and friends at a popular outdoor café that offers a high-speed broadband WiFi connection, whereas ignoring the Saints is like being stuck at home alone with Dial-Up.