Letter to the Editor: Mary, obstacle or ally? Pope reveals answer

April 21, 2005

Dear Editor:

Contrary to many Non-Catholics who deem the Blessed Mother as an obstacle to Christ, the deceased Holy Father, Pope John Paul II showed throughout his entire life and specifically in his encyclicals and homilies, the powerful role of the Blessed Mother.

Pope John Paul II attributed his survival from a May 13, 1981 assassination attempt, which marked the anniversary of the apparition of the Blessed Virgin at Fatima, Portugal, to Our Lady of Fatima. In fact, no Pope in history has been more dedicated to the Virgin Mary than John Paul II who has proclaimed a Marian year, penned a major encyclical on the Blessed Mother, and extended the Rosary to a new set of mysteries. During a 1997 papal audience, John Paul II spoke these powerful words about the Virgin Mary’s supporting role in her Son’s Victory on the Cross.

As Pope John Paul II declared, "Mary … co-operated during the event itself and in the role of mother; thus her co-operation embraces the whole of Christ’s saving work. She alone was associated in this way with the redemptive sacrifice that merited the salvation of all mankind. In union with Christ and in submission to him, she collaborated in obtaining the grace of salvation for all humanity...In God’s plan, Mary is the ‘woman’ (cf. John 2:4; John 19:26), the New Eve, united to the New Adam in restoring humanity to its original dignity. Her cooperation with her Son continues for all time in the universal motherhood which she enjoys in the order of grace. Trusting in this maternal cooperation, let us turn to Mary, imploring her help in all our needs."

The Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, is not an obstacle to Christ; rather, she is an ally, who fights tirelessly against the Devil so that one day all of her children, both Catholic and Non-Catholic, will obtain Eternal Life. Like every good mother, she pleads relentlessly for her children’s needs to the Eternal Father and to Her Son. The Holy Father’s life and devotion to the Mother of God and the Mother of Christ testify that “Her cooperation with her Son continues for all time” and reiterates St. Luke’s Gospel when Mary so humbly proclaimed that ‘all generations shall call me blessed’ (1:48)

Sincerely,

Patrick O’Hearn
SAU Student

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