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THE WOMAN NAMED
MARY
by
Rev. Louis P.
Rogge,
O.Carm.
The New Testament
the
inspired
record of how the
how-according
disciples
that Jesus had said and done.
Jesus had
promised
is fundamentally
early
Christian community came to understand more and more
fully
the person
of Jesus and the Good News he came to
proclaim.
It describes
to Jesus’ own
promise-the Holy Spirit gave
the first
of the Lord a
growing
awareness of the
significance
of all
that, upon his
own return to the
Father, he would send the
Spirit
who would be with his
disciples
until the end of time. The
Spirit,
Jesus said, would continue to remind his followers of Jesus’ words and deeds. It was not that the
Holy Spirit
would add
himself had
revealed,
followers of Jesus to an ever
deepening understanding
to what Jesus
revelation
and of its
application
but that he would
guide
the
both of that to the
changing
circumstances be-
lievers would encounter down
through
the
ages.
The New Testament itself contains
examples
of this
process.
many
of the Jerusalem
community
Acts had been
present
at Jesus’ ascension his final command “to be his witnesses
Thus,
for
example, although described in the
early chapters
of
and had themselves heard
in Jerusalem,
throughout
Judea
Louis P. Rogge, (Ph.D. cand., Union Theological Seminary, New York), is a Roman Catholic priest currently serving as Scholar in Residence at Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois. He has been associated with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal since 1969. He has served as a regional coordinator for the Renewal from 1977-80, and was recently elected to serve again in this capacity. Father Rogge has written widely on theological and ecumenical topics. He has been an active participant in the Society for Pentecostal Studies.
– 19-
1
after
persecution
“all the nations”
(Act 1:8),
it was
only
,
that
cf. Mt.
28:19).
the vital
guidance
these
mysteries next
generation
and
Samaria, yes,
even to the ends of the Earth”
broke out that, under the
guidance
of the
Holy Spirit, they began
to
spread
the
Gospel
even as far as Samaria
(Act 8:1-5); and it was
only
after a pair of visions and a sovereign act of God (Act
10) that, again
under the influence of the
Holy Spirit, they
were convinced when Jesus said “to the ends of the earth” he
really
did mean to include
in his church
(Lk. 10:1-11:18;
Nineteen centuries later we are still
experiencing
of the
Holy Spirit. We are,
I believe, under the
guidance
of the
Spirit of Jesus,
continuing
to
plumb
the infinite
mysteries
revealed
by Jesus; we are
continuing
to learn the
significance
of that revelation for our own time and
place.
If we have not been
completely blind,
if we have
opened our ears however
slightly, by
God’s
grace
we do understand more about
than did our fathers, and we can
fully expect
that the
will have an even
deeper
grasp
of their
significance.
to come about.
of God Graduate
probably;
Baptists,
vain effort: Classical Pentecostals Mary. Episcopalians, Lutherans, possibly; Pentecostals,
your pardon, your forgiveness. matic
movement,
costal
fellowship,
It would be
impossible
Ten
years ago
which of us dreamed that the
Society
for Pentecostal Studies would have welcomed a paper by Roman Catholics? Yet Jesus prayed
that his
disciples might
be one. Ten
years ago
how
many
of us would have been
willing
to
pray
with one another? Yet Jesus told us to love one another. I am convinced that it is only under the
guidance
of the Holy Spirit
that such
things really
are
beginning
As late as this
past July
I did not believe we would be
together today. When I wrote to Dr.
Stanley
Horton at the Assemblies
School, I told my
chairman at
Loyola University
of Chicago that it was a
were
simply
not
open
to hear about
Presbyterians,
hardly. Today
I stand before
you convicted;
I ask
After more than ten
years
in the charis-
after more than ten
years
of
experience
I still have much to learn.
to
explore
all the New Testament reveals about
Mary
in the brief time allotted.1 I would like to
begin
with the
1979);
O.P., “Mary
of Pente-
lThe author is indebted for materials in this section especially to Eamon R. Carroll, O.Carm., Understanding the Mother of Jesus (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazeir, Inc.,
and to as yet unpublished papers delivered at the National Marian Charismatic Conference held at the University of Dayton, July 13-15, 1979, especially those of Eamon R. Carroll, O.Carm., “Mary and the Spirit in the Prayer of the Eucharist,” Frederick Jelly,
and the Gifts and Charisms of the Holy Spirit,” and Rene Laurentin, “Mary, Model of the Charismatic, as seen in Acts 1-2, Luke 1-2, and John” (Tapes of these talks are available from the Marian Library of the University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio 45469).
– 20-
2
final New Testament the first Christian
community’s Church.
of Mary’s
position
in the
the
were
awaiting
mention of the
Mary
of history. It is a summary of
understanding
In Acts 1 we read that all those who had witnessed Ascension of the
Lord,
in obedience to his
command,
the
promised gift
of the
Holy Spirit.
Vv. 13-14 inform us who
they
were: “…
they
went to the
upstairs
room where
they
were
staying:
Peter and John and James and Andrew;
Philip
and
Thomas,
Matthew, James son of Alphaeus;
Bartholomew and Simon,
the Zealot
party member,
and
Judas son of James.
Together they
devoted themselves to constant prayer.
There were some women in their
company,
and
Mary
the mother
of
Jesus,
and his brothers.”
There is no
question, then,
that
Mary
is
part
of the
Apostolic
com-
munity.
The roll itself is
interesting:
women’-doubtless
first come the
Eleven,
each listed
public
she is the
only
one of
by name,
with Peter, as
always
in first
place.
Second comes ‘some
those who had been active
during
Jesus’ life; Mary;
‘his brothers,’ i.e., members of Jesus’
family. Mary,
as far as we
know,
is the
only
one to
belong
to both
groups
of the second division: the women and the
family.
Moreover
either
group
to be listed
by name,
and she is given her
rightful
title: “the Mother of Jesus” lest there be
any
mistake.
Luke describes the
Apostolic community
in one
place (1:14; 2:1),
but also as “devoted to communal life
(2:42); sharing
all
things (2:44), including meals
(2:46);
in brief, as Luke himself sums it up, a community “of one
and women who came
together
heart and one mind”
(4:32).
Under the
leadership
not
only
as a group of men
Mary
the Mother of Jesus
“When the
day
of Pentecost appeared,
of the
Eleven,
prayed
and waited
along
with the other members of the
community.
came,”
Luke
continues, “Tongues
as of fire
which
parted
and came to rest on each of them. All were filled with the
Holy Spirit. They began
to
express
tongues
and make bold
proclamation 2:1-4). Mary
was one of them.
Mary therefore,
on the
day
of Pentecost;
of praise and
thanksgiving,
themselves as the
Spirit prompted
in
foreign them”
(Ac.
according
to Acts
2, was baptized
in the
Holy Spirit
like the
Apostles,
the women, and the relatives of
Jesus, Mary
too was “filled with the
Holy Spirit,” spoke
in
tongues
and
proclaimed
is not the focal
point
nor the leader of this first charismatic
but she is a part of what charismatic communities
‘core
group’.
the Good News
boldly. Mary
community;
today
would call the
It has
long
been
recognized by
Christian scholars that both the third Gospel
and Acts are the work of St. Luke.
Many parallels
have been pointed
out between the
Gospel according
– 21-
to Luke and the books of
3
Acts. Thus, for
example
the
infancy
narrative of Luke 1-2 is recognized as analagous to what may
be called the
infancy
narrative of the Christian Church. In each case there is an outpouring
the Annunciation
Mary,
overshadowed
wonderful deeds
of the Lord,
and Zachariah,
of the
Spirit
on the
poor:
in by
the
power
of the
Holy Spirit,
the the Lord in the
describes herself as “servant of the Lord” (Lk. 1:38); Elizabeth too is “filled with the
Holy Spirit” (Lk. 1:41);
and the
pious
Simeon is “in- spired by the Spirit” (Lk. 2:27).
As the
early community proclaimed
so
Mary magnifies
beautiful words of the
Magnificat;
Elizabeth ‘cries out in a loud
voice’;
also ‘filled with the
Holy Spirit’
blesses the Lord
(Lk. 1 :42, 67-68). Thus,
in both Luke and Acts,
Mary
is not set
apart
as a sort of prodigy but rather she is shown to be one of the community, one of the anawim,
the
lowly poor
of the Lord; not
apart
from all the
others,
but among
the others.
Mary,
rather than some sort of super-human
of Sion,
prototype
God,
the model of the New Creation that is called to live according to the New Covenant to be sealed in the blood of her Son. Indeed
Mary
is a model of openness to the Holy
Spirit,
and of the exercise of the
gifts
so
of the
Spirit. Mary
is a model Pente-
is
portrayed
as the
Daughter
characteristic of the
presence costal.
let us shift our attention
John as theophanies
prodigy, of the new
people
of
to John.
by
of the third
Much more could be said of the Lucan
portrait
of
Mary,
and I am sure that
many
here are far more able than I, far better informed. But
to the
Gospel according
Mary appears
at the
beginning
and at the end of Jesus’
public life; at Cana
(Jn. 2)
and at
Calvary (Jn. 19).
Both events are described
with clear references to the
theophany
of Sinai
(Ex. 19). At Cana,
and on
Calvary,
there are communalities: Cana is the
sign, Calvary
the fulfillment. It was on ‘the third
day’ (Jn. 2: 1) that
the events at Cana took
place, just
as it was “On the
morning
day …
Moses led the
people
out of the
camp
to meet God”
(Ex. 19:16). In each case there is an affirmation of God’s covenant with man: at the foot of the mountain the
People
of God
promise: “Everything
has said we will do” (Ex. 19:8); while at Cana is recorded l?Tary’s soli- tary
command: “Do whatever he tells
you” (Jn. 2:6). Mary
is indeed the
Daughter
of Sion.
the Lord
is the
age
and the
mentioned in the
Scriptures
At
Calvary,
Jesus’ hour has arrived; his Death-Resurrection moment of his
glory,
the hour when he is lifted
up
to draw all men to himself,
the hour that had not
yet
arrived at Cana. At Cana Jesus changes
water into
wine, certainly symbolic
of that ‘new wine’ so often
as a
sign
of the Messianic
coming
of the
Spirit;
at
Calvary
Jesus tastes the ‘common wine,’ so symbolic
of the Old Law, and then he said: ” `Now it is finished.’ Then
-22-
4
abundant;
he bowed his head, and delivered over the
spirit” (Jn. 19:30).
At Cana the wine
symbolic
of the New
Age
of the
Spirit
is described
at
Calvary
the
symbol
is richly and
abundantly
the
reality
of the
Spirit,
the rich wine of the
nuptials
between and his Church, as Fr. Carroll describes it. At both Cana and
Calvary
Jesus addresses Testament
Mary
as “woman,”
as rich and fulfilled with
Christ
a term
frequently
used in the Old
Jesus to work the
sign
time of
glory-is given
a
ministry
to indicate God’s
People Israel,
and now
applied by
John as a
symbol
of the New Israel to
Mary.
Just as at Cana
Mary
ministers to the needs of the
wedding party by requesting
that “revealed his
glory,
and his
disciples
believed in him”
(Jn. 2:11), so the “woman” who is
present
on
Calvary
as Jesus is “lifted
up”-his
to the
Church, the Body
of
Christ, being
born from her Son’s
open
side:
“Woman,
(Jn. 19:26).
there is
your
son”
John,
like
Luke,
sees
Mary
as an
integral part
of the
community
that is the
Body
of Christ. She ministered to the Child born to her
by
the power
of the
Spirit,
and she is called
by her Son to continue her
maternal
ministry
to His
body.
references between
Cana and Pentecost,
by
St. Gaudentius
use of
thus
a
geneology
the head of the
serpent-it as the New Eve.
Time does not
permit
more than a catalogue of some other Biblical
to
Mary: thus,
for
example,
the
many points
of
similarity
already recognized
of Brescia in the late fourth or
early
fifth
century;
and Matthew’s
to describe the Incarnation as the New
Creation, relating Mary
to the woman of Genesis
3:15,
whose
offspring
is to crush
was common for the Fathers to refer to Mary
“Rather
previously
proclaimed
‘
to which Jesus
replied
had of the same
Spirit (Lk.
Then there is the Lukan account of the enthusiastic woman who cried out “Blest is the womb that bore
you …”
blest are
they
who hear the word of God and
keep
it”
(Lk. 11:27-28).
Far from a rebuke to his Mother, Jesus
points
out that
Mary is to be
praised
not so much for her
physical
motherhood as for her openness
to the
Spirit,
her trust in the word of
God, as Elizabeth
under the
inspiration
1:45).
Similar is the account, found in all three
synoptic Gospels,
of the true
kinsman;
in Luke
(8:19-21)
this is the conclusion of Jesus’
parable of the Sower
(8:4-15)
and the
parable
of the
Lamp (8:16-18).
Who more than
Mary
could Jesus describe as hearing the word of God in a spirit of
openness,
retaining
it,
and
bearing
fruit
through
perseverance;
His
mother is first
among
those who “hear the word of God and act
upon
it”
(cf.
Lk.
1:38).
The New Testament
then teaches
Jesus,
who was born of the
Holy Spirit
with the full
cooperation
– 23-
us that
Mary
is the Mother of
of Mary.
5
Mary certainly
continued to minister and childhood, his adolescence years
Jesus also ministered
to Jesus
throughout
his
infancy
during
all those
and
young manhood,
to
Mary?
Is it not all but certain that
Jesus, the most
perfect
of sons,
helped
his mother
grow
into an ever more
perfect relationship
with God?
The
Scriptures
and that she was
baptized
Pentecostal and charismatic inspired praise,
as
prophesying,
at
Pentecost,
by the Holy Spirit
around
(Jn. 19:27).
She is
depicted
as
uttering
mystically Scriptures
also teach us that
Mary
was
present
in the
Spirit. May
we not
believe,
indeed is it not
indicated,
that she who had been overshadowed
some
thirty years earlier, helped
the other
disciples gathered her in the
Upper
Room to
open
themselves more
fully
to the breath of that same
Spirit being poured
out on the new-born
Body
of her Son? Perhaps
it was then too that these
early disciples
more
fully
understood the
meaning
of Jesus’ words: “Behold
your
mother”
The
Gospels point
out that
Mary
is an
integral part
of that
early
community.
as
speaking
in
tongues.
She heard the word of God,
pondered
it in her heart and acted
upon it; but her ministry is to be Mother of Jesus, a gift unmerited and freely given by God, by the power
of the
Holy Spirit,
for the
building up
of the
Body
of Christ. Her ministry
is therefore
unique, unrepeatable:
of His
Body
the Church. The
Mary
of the
Christ-centered,
Mary,
the Woman of Faith, teaches us to live in “confident assur-
what we
hope for,
and conviction about
things
we do not see”
(Heb. 11:1).
St.
Augustine
reminds us that for
Mary
it was “a
she is Mother is
Spirit-led,
ance
concerning
greater thing
to have been Christ’s mother,”
she is Mother of Jesus and
and charismatic.
disciple
than to have been his
with
Jesus,
the
relationship Lord and her Savior. expressed
it:
a nobler
thing
to have
kept
God’s truth in her mind than to have carried His
Body
in her womb.1 Her
relationship
of mother to child, is
unique,
for her child is also her
As the Irish
theologian
Richard Loehrlein
1 St. Augustine, Sermo 25, 7-8: PL 46:937-938; cited from the English translation in The Liturgy of the Hours (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1975), IV:1572-1573.
– 24-
6
More than
any
other
mother, Mary
was destined to live in her
son; her whole future was in him, not
by
the flesh but
by
the
spirit, since all creation finds its consecration
That
relationship
has not
changed:
in him.1
the Risen
Lord,
he who is Head
of his
Body
the
Church,
is forever the Son of God and the Son of Mary.
* * * * * * * * *
It is an
indisputable-if Protestant Reformation unacceptable by
their
present-day church historian,
little known-fact held
positions
that
many
leaders of the
on
Mary
that are considered followers. The renowned Protestant
has
pointed
out:
churches
today,
none of the
questioned
the biblical
foundation was ‘conceived
Dr. Ross
Mackenzie,
Whatever
may
be true in Protestant
Reformers or their immediate successors
of the two
phrases
of the ancient
creeds, that Christ
by
the
Holy Spirit,
bom of the
Virgin Mary.’ Calvin,
like Luther and
Zwingli, taught
the
perpetual virginity
of
Mary.
The
early
Reformers
was
constantly
even
applied, though
with some
bore him
will call me blessed’-
reticence,
the title Theotokos to Mary, because… ‘she
who is also God.’ Lutherans and Calvinists were in
agreement that
Mary’s prophecy-‘all generations
being
fulfilled in the Church. Calvin called on his followers to venerate and
praise
her as the teacher who instructs them in her Sons’ commands. Even as late as 1655…the
in their Confession stated that the most
holy Virgin and the
glorified
saints are ‘blessed and
worthy
both of
praise and imitation,’ the
Virgin
herself
being designed
‘blessed
among
Waldensians
women.’2
1973),
1 Richard Loehrlein, S.M., “The Holy Spirit and Mary,” New Creatiort 1:2 (Summer,
12.
2Ross Mackenzie, “Mary As an Ecumenical Problem.” Paper given on April 29,19?6, to the Ecumencial Society of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, Washington, D.C. (London:
2. ,
ESBVM, 1976), p.
25
7
Luther’s
positionl
Theotokos,
God-bearer
during
the course of his life.
his belief in
Mary
as
on
Mary
vacilated
Well
grounded
in
Christology,
he
always
retained
or Mother of God-a term that in its
original context referred directly to Christ and consequently
ever
depart
from his defense of Mary’s perpetual
even at the end of his life he did not forbid
prayer
to and veneration of
Mary, although
with a somewhat Rome.
Calvin too
appears
garding
the
Theotokos, so far as to consider
“plainly … evidence to demonstrate
Thus
present-day
reformed mention of the Theotokos,
to Mary. Nor did he virginity. Moreover,
different
understanding
than that of
the definition of
Ephesus
re-
virginity
he went
those who claimed biblical
was to be
given battle-cry
of the
Reformation
Subsequently,
to eliminate the
supernatural development
trine-the
Logical,
if Reason alone is
supreme, Christian,
is
certainly
was not.
to have
accepted
and with
regard
to
perpetual
ignorant”2
that
Mary
had other children than Jesus.
piety,
which all but forbids a
public
does not
depend
on these
great
reformers themselves. Since
Mary’s
name was no
longer
to be
invoked,
it was
only to be
expected
that even her
place
in the New Testament
scant attention. This dilution of the sola
scriptura
was
due,
no
doubt,
to a fear of
falling
into Romanism.
with the rise of rationalism and the
consequent
from the world of man, it was but a logical
to eliminate both the foundation of the Theotokos doc-
duality
of Jesus’ nature-and the doctrine of the
Virgin
birth.
very symbol
of Romanism,
attempts
it
certainly
was; scriptural
and
devotion to
Mary
and even
to
reject.
they rejected Mary
as well.
studiously
With the
passage
of
time, moreover,
Mary
herself had come to be seen
by
the Reformation churches as the
the
symbol
of all
they
intended
Thus, along
with what
they
understood-often with
good
reason-as abuses within the Church of Rome,
Curiously,
for all their
emphasis
on
Scripture, they
remained
. unaware of Mary’s
significance
in the
History
of Salvation. There can be
but that abuses did exist and that
they
needed
correction; however,
the correction of abuse is proper use, not
elimination,
no
question
‘throw out the baby with the bath.’
lest one
Mary (Wilmington,
1 Much of the information in this section is based on Thomas A. O’Meara, O.P., Mary in Protestant and Catholic Theology (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1966). See also the re- markable work by John de Satge, Down to Earth: The New Protestant Vision of the Virgin
NC: Consortium Books, 1976).
2Commentary on the Harmony, cited in O’Meara, op. ciG, p. 130.
26
8
Karl Barth has stated that “Marian
dogma
is … the critical, central dogma
of the Roman Catholic Church.”l This is
simply
untrue. Never- theless,
from an ecumenical
viewpoint
the Roman
position
on Mary is a crucial issue that must be addressed and understood if
dialogue
is to bear fruit.
Many
non-Catholics consider
Mary
“the visible
symbol
of Catholic idolatry; the Roman abandonment
Christ.”2
Fruitful
among
Christians Protestant
document
scholars have
departed
tantism.
Pentecostals,
of
Scripture,
of history, of
of fundamental differences of
inspiration:
the basic
the Catholic
Roman
Catholic
position;
such from that of liberal Protes-
dialogue among
Christians must be based on
Scripture. Mary’s place
in
theology,
and in
piety,
is a focal
point
of ecumenical dialogue precisely
because it is symptomatic
in the
understanding
position
is that the Bible alone is
revelatory;
position
is that the Bible, more than
merely
an isolated
text,
is a living
whose riches are to be mined within the context of the
living Body
of Christ. However-and let it be said at
once-many
from this
authentically
have taken a stance hardly
distinguishable
I
believe,
find themselves somewhere in be- tween :
they
tend to
accept
the Protestant
but at the same
time, along
with most
Evangelicals orthodox Roman Catholics,
they agree
that the Bible is the
living
Word of God. Thus the
exegesis
of Pentecostal scholars is more
likely
to be in
and official
position
of Rome than with that of the
majority
of liberal Protestant
is
revelatory;
agreement
with the authentic
*********
Not the least of the
‘surprises
position
that the Bible alone
and
scholarship.
‘
by the
of the
Holy Spirit’ experienced People
of God
during
the last several
years
has been a
quickening
of
of the Reformed
interest
among
Christians among Pentecostals,
in
Mary.3
traditions,
and now even
Renewal
Movement
Shortly
after the first
stirrings
of the Catholic Charismatic
in the winter of 1966-67, a group of British scholars and
lchurch
Dogmatics 1 :2, p. 143, cited in O’Meara, op. cuit, p. 23.
2Walter Burghardt, S.J., “Mary and Reunion,” Catholic Mind 60 (June, 1962), 15, cited in O’Meara, op. ciG, p. 23.
Ministry University
3 Some material in this section is included in a paper delivered at the National Marian Charismatic Conference held at the University of Dayton, July 13-15, 1979, “Mary’s
for Unity” (Tapes of this talk are available from the Marian Library of the
of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio 45469).
– 27-
9
churchmen
founded the Ecumenical
from various catholic, orthodox
Society
of the Blessed
and reformed traditions
Virgin Mary
logical questions; ecumenical devotion.1
to advance the
study
at various levels of the
place
of the Blessed Virgin Mary
in the Church under Christ, and of related theo-
and in the
light
of such
study
to
promote
with non-Catholic
in the
Washington,
D.C.,
theologians
has been con-
A branch of the
society
has been
functioning
area since 1976.2 Here in North America a series of
public dialogues
and even non-Christian
ducted on our
Lady’s place
in Revelation and in the Church.
have been aware of the differences between
beliefs about the Mother of God and those of their
Catholic charismatics
their own traditional
fellow Christians of the Reformation.
It has been a source of no little
under-
pain
and confusion and at times even of divisiveness.
Most of the
early
Catholic Pentecostals lacked an
adequate standing
of the
place
of the
Holy Spirit
in the
plan
of salvation. It was
especially
from the classical Pentecostal
largely
from other Christians, denominations and from charismatic discern the movement
of the
Spirit
in their lives: the
importance being
fed
daily
on the Word of God, the
experience
up
their minds and hearts to God in spontaneous
to witness to the
Lordship
of
being
called
personally courage
to allow
themselves-ordinary
Protestants, that they learned to
of
of being able to raise
prayer.
the
giftedness
of Jesus, the Christians-to be used as instru-
experiential Catholic charismatics Scriptural
of the
sacraments,
ments of God’s
grace,
etc. So meaningful were these novel
(to most)
and
insights,
so personally significant, that
many
of those
early
let
slip
from their consciousness the
equally
content of their own Catholic tradition,
the function of the
hierarchy,
saints, and the unique ministry of Mary in the plan of Salvation.
Mary’s
role in man’s
redemption tion,
nor is it a
superstitious
e.g.,
the
importance the communion of
is not the invention of pious tradi-
No
accommodation to
pagan mythology. individual,
no church
assigned
her a part to
play
in the birth of Jesus; it was God
himself, through
the
power
of the
Holy Spirit,
who chose her as
through
whom the Word was made Flesh. In the divine
plan
she is
by
no means
superfluous,
the
channel,
the
intermediary,
by
no means an
lThe Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Constitution, paragraph 2.
2The address of the American branch of the ESBVM is Box 4557, Washington. D.C., 20017.
– 28-
10
.
‘optional ‘standard
equipment,’
or to
reject.
She is of Good News without
extra’ Christians are free to
accept
and the
proclamation
Mary
is no
longer
the full
Gospel
of Jesus Christ.
According
to the Pauline
epistles,
God has chosen us in Christ
(Eph. 1:30-10),
and all who believe in Jesus are united in him
(Gal.
3:16-19. Is it possible,
therefore,
to doubt that
Mary
the Mother of Jesus continues to care for and to minister to the members of her Son’s
Body?
If indeed her mother’s heart was
pierced
with a sword as Jesus was
put
to death by those who rejected
him
(Lk. 2:35),
how much more must that heart be torn
today
as she sees the
Body
of her Son rent asunder
by
those who
profess
to follow him?
The authentic Roman
position chapter
of the
Dogmatic
on
Mary,
as found in the
closing
Constitution on the
Church, explicitly
states devotion to
Mary
should in no
way
detract from the biblical
teaching that Jesus alone is Lord, Jesus alone is Savior, Jesus alone is Mediator
between
God and man.
The maternal
originate, pleasure
but from the divine
duty
of Mary toward men in no
way
obscures or diminishes this
unique
mediation of
Christ,
but rather shows its power.
For all the
saving
influences of the Blessed
Virgin
on men
not from some inner
necessity,
(i.e.,
from
grace). They
flow forth from the
super- abundance of the merits of Christ, rest on His mediation,
depend entirely
on it, and draw all their
power
from it. In no
way
do
they impede
the immediate union of the faithful with Christ.
Rather,
they
foster this union
(No. 60).
to Jesus on the
part
of Chris-
.
Catholic doctrine insists that
Mary’s unique calling
to be Mother of the Lord and her function
among
the members of his
Body
“neither take away
from nor add
anything
to the
dignity
and
efficacy
of Christ the one
(No. 62). Although
due to her
singular relationship
special
veneration
that such veneration “differs
essentially from the cult of adoration which is offered to the Incarnate
Word,
as well as to the Father and
Holy Spirit” (No. 66).
This
special
devotion to Mary
Mediator”
Mary
deserves an
altogether tians, the Council
underlines
must be
fundamentally
and
essentially
Christ-centered:
“While honor-
ing
Christ’s Mother, these devotions cause her son to be
rightly known, loved,
and
glorified,
and all His
commands
Catholic charismatics
correctly gratitude
toward Pentecostals
observed”
(No. 67). feel a
deep
and
abiding
sense of
they
their
peculiar experience
of
and other charismatic Christians: have
shared, lovingly
and
enthusiastically,
the
Gospel message.
But how can Catholic charismatics better show
– 29-
11
their
gratitude,
their Christ-centered love for their brothers and sisters
in the Lord, then
by sharing
with them the revealed truths
preserved
in
their own Catholic tradition? Indeed the law of fraternal love
requires
them to do so.
The
euphroia
of Christian brotherhood, so often
experienced
in
gatherings
of Pentecostal and charismatic Christians, does not excuse
the Christian from
continually seeking
in love an ever
deepening
under-
standing
of the truth of Revelation. Love and truth
go
hand in hand: a
love that fails to enlighten is at best
misguided;
a truth that is not shared
leads to a
misrepresentation
and distortion.
To minimalize
any aspect
of the
Gospel
to our brothers and sisters in
the Lord-even out of a fear of offending them-is not love but selfish-
ness. True
Christianity
is not based on the
principle
of the ‘lowest
common denominator,’ as
though
the wholeness of the
Body
of Christ
could be achieved if
only
Christians would
forget
about their differ-
ences.
Christianity
is not
merely
a human
society
established on some
sort of sociological principle of “give and take”:
compromise may
be an
effective means for
peace among nations,
but there is no
place
for it in
dealing
with the fullness of Revelation that is Christ Jesus. The true
ecumenical Christian seeks to
proclaim
the truth in love
(Eph. 4:15): , the complete Gospel as
he
perceives it,
and the love that risks all-even
rejection-for
the benefit of the brothers. Christian Revelation is a whole:
it is vital,
life-giving,
and it builds
up
the
Body
of Christ.
Compromise
with
regard
to Revelation is divisive and it further wounds the
Body
of
Christ.
Catholic charismatics are not
attempting
to force other Christians
to the Catholic
point
of view. It is
understanding,
mutual understand-
ing,
that is the immediate
goal.
Just as
many
sincere Roman Catholics,
due to a variety of factors, are still
today unwilling
or unable to
accept
the
authenticity
of charismatic
spirituality,
so
many
sincere non-
Catholics,
are unable to
put
aside the
training
of centuries that makes
them think of devotion to
Mary
as
Maryolatry.
If both are
truly open
to
the
Spirit,
he will increase their
understanding.
Both must sow the seed
and leave the fruitfulness
up
to the
Spirit.
Christians are
growing impatient
at the
continuing
scandal of the
divided
Body
of Christ. This is good. Yet such an attitude can
easily give
place
to a
misconception;
as the
great
Roman
Archbishop
Michael
Ramsey
stated:
‘
.
Far and wide we have come to realize what the ecumenical task really
is. It doesn’t mean
asking, ‘How may
we unite our Churches s as
they
are now?’ It means
asking,
‘How
may
our Churches be-
– 30-
12
come more Christ like, more obedient to C;hrist’s purpose them?’l
for
It is not Christians
alone,
however dedicated to the Lord
they may be, but the
Holy Spirit working through
them who is the source of
unity in the
Body
of Christ. And the
Spirit
of God works
through
the members of the
Body
to build
up
the
Body.
Can
anyone imagine
a member of the
Body
more
intimately
united with Jesus than
Mary
his mother? Can
any
member of the
Body
be more vitally
concerned with its wholeness than she who
gave
him birth? As Bishop
Alan Clark
recently
wrote: to be sure
Mary
is not the center of Christian
living
and
dying
but she is
found
at the center and leads us to the center. It is the
Holy Spirit
who transforms us into the
Body
of
Christ,
but she is
integral
to that
Body.2
Cardinal Suenens once asked the Roman Catholic
theologian
Karl Rahner
why
so many Christians
today,
even so
many Catholics,
remain aloof with
regard
to our
Lady.
Rahner
replied,
more in reference to liberal Protestantism than to Pentecostal
Christianity:
–
I think so
many
Christians of today have made
Christianity
into an
ideology,
a
Weltanschauung,
a vision of the
mind,
an abstrac- tion. Abstractions don’t need a mother.3
Christianity
is not an
abstraction,
but a vital
reality,
the
Body
of Christ. Just as,
according
to God’s
plan,
Jesus needed the
ministry
of his Mother as he
grew
to
maturity
and was filled with wisdom
(cf.
Lk. 2:40),
so the
Body
of Christ needs that same
ministry
of the Mother of the Lord, so that its members
“may
one
day
attain full
knowledge of his will
through perfect
wisdom and
spiritual insight” (Col. 1:9),
and “become one in faith and in the
knowledge
of God’s Son, and form that perfect
man is Christ come to full stature”
(Eph. 4:13).
1 Cited in Cardinal Leon Joseph Suenens, Essays on Renewal (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Books, 1977), p. 130; cf. also the same author’s Ecumenism and Charismatic Renewal: Theological and Pastoral Orientations (Malines Document 2, Ann Arbor; MI: Servant Books, 1978).
2Alan Clark, “The Holy Spirit and Mary,” an address delivered on June 12, 1976, to the ESBVM, Wells Cathedral (London: ESBVM, 1976), p. 4.
3Suenens, Essays on Renewal, p. 127.
– 31-
13
In March, 1976, Karol Wojtyla, soon to become
Pope
John Paul
II, preached
the Lenten retreat to
Pope
Paul VI and the
papal
household. Toward the end of the final conference he
spoke
these words:
Our times are marked by a great
expectation.
All who believe in Christ and
worship
the true God are
seeking ways
of
unity, and their
cry
is: “Christ sets us free and unites us.” The
Church, the
People
of God, senses ever more
profoundly
that she is being called to this
unity.
The
Church,
the
People
of God, is at the same time the
Mystical Body
of Christ. St. Paul likened the Church to the human
body
in order to describe more
clearly
its life and its unity.
The human
body
is
given
its life and its
unity by
the mother.
Nlary, by the working
of the
Holy Spirit, gave unity
to the human
body
of Christ. And that is why our
hope today
turns in a special way towards her,
in these times of ours when the
Mystical Body
of Christ is
being
more
fully
reconstituted in
unity.1
lkarol
Wojytla [sic] (Pope John Paul In, Sign of Contradiction (New York: The Seabury Press, 1979), p.
206.
– 32-
14