It is only through Intercession writ large that Catholic prayer finds its target. The way the church has taught me is that Our Lord walked the walk for all of us, individually and as a body at the same time. Our Lord paid the price for me and everyone else. The voucher to withdraw said Price is redeemable while I live on this earth He is the only intercessor for me.. He is the currency/price paid for me thereby releasing/offering redemption through mercy. Mercy is the vehicle through which redemption travels. Mercy is the currency released through the forgiveness of that first personal sin of Adam and Eve. It flows through then releasing me from the effect their sin had on my soul...a debt I inherited from my defaulting parents through no fault of my own. I am told that without this release my soul cannot enter into Christ's Kingdom. What reason can I give for not receiving this free download - gift? There is no obstacle if I accept the truth of my need for redemption. BUT this is the real stumbling block because first I have to believe I am in need of it....and if I don't believe that then neither do I disbelieve it. A bit of an ultimatum here by the looks of it...if I declare myself to be without sin then obviously I can't receive it...if it exists. If I declare myself to be in need of it then surely I would be insincere wouldn't I? Hmmmm....maybe. If it is true this grace is available to me and I do not open up to the possibility then I may lose something valuable. I might doubt its existence, but I cannot know that it does not exist.
From hereon in this article this is the viewpoint that I use....exploring what COULD be true rather than denying the possibility of its truth. If I come to a halt along the road I am closer to an authentic denial...but even that will take time for it to be complete and total.
The Church teaches things and I write them down. I am able to do that only because I have responded with my own 'fiat' and I cannot forget, thank goodness, for I have come to love her bossy ways. It is not up to me to convince anyone reading these words. I state them simply for someone who wants to know, without prior commitment, what exactly the Church teaches - especially today and how this writer sees it all and translates it.
I am taught that Christ's intercession is single-mindedly directed to the Father. He never takes his eyes off the Father whom he adores on my behalf since he became human like me. He is the only intercessor the Father listens to as he shows in his hands and feet the price he has paid for my redemption. I have been ransomed. Mary is the prime intercessor Christ listens to. The intercession of the saints goes through Mary to Christ and She is the only intercessor through whom Christ releases his bounty... graces... to those Mary intercedes for. She is called Mediatrix of all Graces. The Blessed Sacrament is the place where Christ continues to dwell amongst men. In this manner the church alone has the power to pray for the whole world and each individual living and dead. As a human being then, through the Sacraments, I can receive the fruit of Christ's intercession distributed through Mary. A voter approaching the Prime Minister, say, would go to those closest to him to lobby on his behalf. We already know that Mary's requests cannot be refused by Our Lord.
During the Sacrifice of the Mass the Priest intercedes for himself and for us. It is there that Christ's sacrifice is made present to us That sacrifice once begun has never ceased. It is
eternal - infinitely present but only accessible through the Sacrament. Like us, the priest confesses his own sins in the Confessional which is the Sacrament of Mercy.
Since Vatican II access to the Sacraments is diminished slowly receding, eluding our grasp as the destructive force released in the world through that council obliterates the door marked 'Redemption'. It gets smaller and smaller as it recedes further and further into the distance.
The initial target to be destroyed in order to prevent access to the Sacraments is Mary.
LET ME EXPLAIN...
Just as the Father accepts only the intercession of his son so too Christ only accepts intercession through Mary. And just as the Father dispenses graces only through his son, so too Christ dispenses graces to us through Mary. She is the Mediatrix of all Graces
Sad that outside denominations reject the role of Mary on the grounds that Catholics worship her and only God/Christ is worthy of being worshipped. Sadder still is the fact that such people do know how Catholics pray through Mary. Nobody need be in ignorance of what Catholics practice since the above information is virtually shouted from the housetops of every Catholic home. So what is the reason this accusation is perpetuated? Is it because if it is recognised then the Church would have been the only one in the history of the world that has unfailingly revealed the truth about her role?....and is therefore the one and only Church founded by Christ? That the reason for protesting and remaining apart from her no longer exists? That they would have to admit their error?... and horror of horror...join her ranks?
FURTHERMORE:
Christ came into the world through Mary....and as it started so it continued in every aspect of the Catholic faith. From God's perspective Mary was God's priceless work of art. She is the fulfilment of the destiny God planned for each one of us. Adam and Eve did not inherit the legacy of original sin as we did...they were free from sin - original and personal. They were intended by God to enjoy paradise in the natural world as a preparation for the eventual supernatural knowledge of their creator and entry into the face to face presence of the beatific vision....when their bodies would become divinised or spiritualised. For God made not death, neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living. For he created things that they might be: and he made the nations of the earth for health: and there is no poison or destruction, in them, nor kingdom of hell upon the earth...*
In spite of original sin God's will prevails in fulfilling the purpose for which he created us. It is done (... it is accomplished..) by dint of the fact that the redeemer removed all obstacles with these dying words through his sacrifice. We were taught as children that God made us to know, love and serve him here on earth and to be happy with him forever in heaven. Adam and Eve did not have to be told that in their state of innocence.
So Mary is God's completed work, his visible sign of what he desired for each one of us. But rather than torturing us with what might have been.....what had been planned for each one of us..... he redeemed us, restoring a sure hope that his original plan will be fulfilled in us despite the advent of death. And he picked the quickest way. Which is preferable? To visit each human being in the world and personally address each one by dying as many times as there are individuals? Not possible, because only able to die once if he had become truly man. If not truly man then...no redeemer. Problem solved if he can achieve our full redemption through a new Eve. The fallen Eve would be redeemed through the WOMAN that produced the Saviour. The poetry is inescapable: Take a circle and at the top imagine Eve...follow the arrows descending on the left side finally reaching its nadir when the Redeemer fulfilled his promise...then the arrows gradually ascend because of Christ's now full Sacramental presence amongst us. The arrows reach the apex of the circle so that the first woman tempted is redeemed through the willing instrumentality of The Woman. That time has almost arrived when the circle is completed. Our very first parents have been redeemed and with them, redemption offered to every human being ever born.
So Mary has stepped into the breech left by Eve who whilst still our first parent in the natural order, has been redeemed through the intercession of the new Eve - Mary herself. Through Mary the Saviour is brought forth to each soul for whom she intercedes. Every millisecond of Our Lord's Passion was carried out with the very same 'fiat' she gave to God through the Archangel Gabriel when the second Person of the Blessed Trinity sought her consent to become his mother. Her fiat was as continuous and alive as was Our Lord's existence on earth. If her co-operation had been withheld for one of those milliseconds our redemption would not have been possible. Our Lord reserved for Himself the sole role of Intercessor with the Father. It is only the Son that the Father recognises. Those who become united in, with and through him in the Sacraments are absorbed into the goodness of God who alone is good...Christ. In Christ the Father accepts us. Outside of Christ we are the enemies of the Father. Simple as that. Without Mary's continual fiat nobody can come to Christ and nobody can receive Christ. She is like a chalice...she receives from God through His Son. She works on our receptors. Prepares us and presents us to her Son for his intercession to the Father.To deviate for a moment: God would not allow us to blame Adam and Eve when he commanded us...to forgive every one his brother from our hearts. If we hold anything against a brother we fail in exercising the love he showed to each one of us when he, himself, throughout his whole passion, forgave his judges and torturers from the bottom of his heart. If he had not done that then nobody could be redeemed or his proffered redemption would have been selective. If I blame Adam and Eve I would incur judgment upon myself for whoever God has forgiven who can condemn? We know that God has forgiven Adam and those who recognise their sinfulness and seek his redeeming grace through the Sacrament of Penance. Also we are told to judge not lest we be judged. Christ has given his church the power to judge for, 'whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained'. This paragraph that I have just written in itself demonstrates why there can be no salvation outside the His One, Holy Catholic Church.
SONG of MARY
My soul doth magnify the Lord:
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour
Because He hath regarded the lowliness of His handmaid: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He that is mighty hath done great things to me: and holy is His Name. And His mercy is from generation until generations, to them that fear Him. He hath showed might with His arm: He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the lowly. He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath received Israel His servant, being mindful of His mercy: As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever.
Where else is Mary called blessed through all generations? Is it not another sign of the truth in the only Church founded by Christ? Nowhere else is she so honoured. In fact it is often the opposite. She calls God her Saviour. That special grace she received preserving her from the inherited state of original sin was won by Christ her Saviour and ours. It was intended, with Mary's creation, that we all be redeemed. Our release from that state of original sin is won through her 'fiat' dissolving the disobedience of Eve so that in becoming our Mother she cannot do otherwise than ask her son, on our behalf, that we inherit through the new Eve purity of soul to replace the debt that we inherited through the first Eve. Finally, outside denominations proclaim to adhere strictly to the Scriptures. The above song of Mary is scriptural.
Mary as Chalice
rather like a flower-soul opening up to The Son.
Mary, alone received from God her pre-given immaculate-free-of-original-sin-inheritance whole and complete to start with. Not so with me....as the parable states, you do not pour new wine into old skins lest they break open. This was the shortest and quickest way that God could bring about the salvation of each one of us. (See previous) Mary's intercession has healed Eve and heals me and those who seek her willing intercession through Christ to the Father. Remember she is not the bank, or the banker...she takes my request to the CO with whom she has direct and perpetual accessibility requesting a withdrawal of grace on my behalf, after she has taught me how to fill out the appropriate forms. Just as the Father listens only to Christ, so Christ listens only to Mary. She is never refused. And she can ask for each one of us at the same time.
To Sum up: Christ does not hear me without Mary aiding me. He hears my prayer in that he directs me to Mary in order to process my prayer to him. My prayer does not go to the Father through Christ without its preparation first. This is how he structured the church to work efficiently, promptly and on-target. He looks at her Immaculate Heart and there, he sees my prayer in embryo. My soul is not immaculate, but following the course laid out by God, I seek her help to have my prayer heard. My prayer may take some time to prepare for being presented to God as my soul>thoughts>actions learn to adapt to the graces pouring into it. One of those graces provides a short-circuit for future prayers reaching her son sooner than this first one which paves the way. So whilst listening to my prayer Mary obtains the graces from her son for my progress before she presents me to Him directly. Then He offers my prayer to the Father filtering it through the ransom He alone paid for my soul. To go to God directly would blind me like the guards that guarded Our Lord's tomb where blinded when he rose from the dead. (The matter of the resurrection will be dealt with on a separate page.)
Christ does not hear me without Mary aiding me.
(see Page: Intercession)
What this all adds up to is that the Catholic has a Marian consciousness whenever s/he prays. I, personally, do not know what I would do without Our Lady. I would not have the precious gift of faith but for her. As I write these words I understand completely her role as Mediatrix of all Graces. For as long as I live on this earth I will never close the gap that separates me from God. This is where Mary's role as Co-Redemptrix comes in...through her sacrifice totally at one with Our Lord's mission she makes up the difference for me. She has paid a price beyond my capabilities....indeed beyond even the capabilities of the greatest saints...and collectively, beyond the capabilities of us all. She has bridged that gap between me/us and her son by laying down her own life...allowing her own heart to be pierced to the core as she accompanied Our Lord on his (and her) way to Calvary.
Any so-called Christian church, or Christian, that denies Mary's role in God's plan for the salvation of our souls is a false religion which is incapable of saving souls.
.........................
This is the unchangeable truth the Church has taught since its inception and cannot be changed as God is unchangeable. So what conclusion does the Pewsitter arrive at when a pope directly contravenes this indelible law by telling people everywhere, of all religions and sects, that under the banner of monotheism one does not have to believe that Christ alone died for our sins? All this, after dismantling the perennial teaching regarding Mary as Mediatrix of all Graces, Co-Redemptrix etc. (See foot of page on 'Pewsitter')
NO! This is not the voice of the true Shepherd.
Mary has been given the role of preserving us from heresy.....is it any wonder then that we common pewsitters cannot be misled by false doctrine - no matter who speaks it.
ROSARY ANYONE?
AN UNAVOIDABLE CONSEQUENCEShould any reader like to receive a set of Rosary Beads with instructions on how to pray it...please contact me.....here
God is present in the world because of Our Lady. Without Our Lady God would not be present in the world. His 'knowability' is possible only through Mary. His life in us beats through Mary's ever-present intercession. Christ did not appear over and over on earth to die for each one of us separately....that is, as many times as there are human beings. Yet he died for each one of us, but, in the single life he led. He then presented her to us as our Mother thereby relating each one of us to Himself in a single stroke. What could be more brilliant, or immediate, to reach each one of us? It is in the church that honours her that we gain access, and nowhere else. Without Mary's continual and unceasing intercession we would not have access to Our Lord's continuous and unceasing intercession with the Father. Without Mary's continual suffering in lock-step with her son's life and passion we can gain no benefits - thus no salvation.
This is why she is called Co-Redemptrix.
Since the advent of Vatican II Mary has been pushed into the background. Pope John Paul II was too embarrassed to have her statue remain in its place when praying with non-catholics. Her indispensable role in the salvation of souls is never mentioned in the new ecumenical church. She can only be found where traditional Catholics pray the Rosary. Let us look at the unavoidable consequence of this blasphemous omission.
Until the end of time evil men will never give up the goal of destroying the Catholic faith . Just as their ancestors achieved the destruction of Jesus in his humanity so their modern progeny will destroy humanity that bears His Name. Refusing to contemplate the truth about the Resurrection of Christ these men have shown an inability to learn from their forbears' error by repeating it. Thus do they become the devil's useful idiots who is playing them for suckers.
When Christ intervened initially becoming the Son of Man, it was to save the elect...that is, those persons that lived throughout history beseeching God to deliver them from the 'unjust man'- the counterpart of the 'unjust man' in today's society. So it is that when Christ returns it will be for the same reason, the only difference being that those set eternally on an evil path are finally separated from amongst the flock. This was not the case during the Incarnation period as all mankind did not have the knowledge of God so that those who 'sought after justice' were given the opportunity to find it (the elect). The return of Christ will occur at harvest time when the weeds and the hay will have grown to their full height and safe to separate so that the wheat is kept and the weeds burned. It would seem that that time is upon us.
The persecution of the elect is increasing worldwide and will become so bad that the faith will be abandoned, just as Christ was abandoned the first time....yet it was precisely at that point then, and now, that the Passion of Christ was borne by Him - alone. Nobody could do what Christ did for us....to bear the untold weight of mankind's sins alone. To suffer the torments of hell for his Elect that they would be delivered from entering that place. Not one person could or would be with Christ in this, his last unimaginable agony. No one person can be saved by his own efforts no matter how holy for no-one can enter hell except those who will remain there. So it is that the redemption of every single one of us depends on Christ's offering alone. To obtain the freedom thus won for us it is obvious I have to recognise that I am a sinner in need of redemption. Pride prevents the evil man from ever admitting that, and so he will continue to persecute and destroy the human element that constitutes the Church. When Justice has gone from the world then evil prevails.
Mary was the first to receive the grace of full redemption from sin at her conception and so the gradual unravelling of sin in mankind began to unfold. Her many appearances on earth have continually told us that if we do as she tells us we will receive through her, and her intercession, the same graces she received....but in measured doses. God's whole plan for us to be related to him is axiomatic when we have the same Mother. Nothing could be simpler or plainer. Because She has been rejected....or should I say Ejected from the family home we are at the mercy of evil powers against which we have no weapons with which to defend ourselves. And so....
.......THERE COMES A CONVERGENCE WHEREIN CHRIST RETURNS AT THE PRECISE MOMENT WHEN THE EVIL MAN IS MASTER OF THE HUMAN RACE, BELIEVING HIMSELF SUCCESSFUL AS THE LAST OF THE ELECT CHRISTIANS ARE UNABLE TO CONTINUE ALONE. ABOUT TO SUCCUMB, INTO THAT OPENING VOID CHRIST'S SACRIFICE ON CALVARY IS DISPLAYED FOR ALL TO SEE AS THE ONLY BRIDGE BY WHICH TO CROSS OVER IT. OTHERWISE WE FALL INTO THE PIT. IF A MAN HAS A JUST HEART HE WILL RECOGNISE THE SAVIOUR IMMEDIATELY.
It would seem then that so many souls will be transformed by, and after this event, that the ranks of the elect, being now swollen, will be enabled to spread the peace of Christ throughout the whole world.....for a time..... leading to the final judgement.
Our Lady's role has always been to preserve us from evil as she has been preserved, so that when we refuse to heed her warnings we reap the whirlwind that we have sown. This is why she is often shown as weeping....that her children will have to suffer so much - needlessly.
