Redemptoris Mater Summary
Pope John Paul II begins his encyclical about Marian teaching with a selection from St. Paul's letter to the Galatians, "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'" (Gal. 4:4-6) This sets the tone of his teaching squarely in relationship to the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, hearkening back to his first encyclical, Redemptor Hominis, as well as looking forward to the impending celebration of the Great Jubilee of the 2000th anniversary of the Lord's birth (n. 1).
In beginning with this Scripture, Pope John Paul is also calling attention to the fact that Christianity is a religion that has at its core a family relationship, between Father and Son, which, through their great love for one another, produces a Third Person, the Spirit. And, in their relationship with humanity, the Triune God has included a Woman, Mary of Nazareth. This is an historical event that stands at the center of our history, before which the generations waited, and since which the years have been reckoned. The "fullness of time" is a central theme of the Christology of Pope John Paul. This is an image that we shall study more in other documents, but it has its place here in his Mariological teaching as well (n. 1).
Mary is the first Christian pilgrim, the first to journey in her life with Jesus of Nazareth, her own Son. Her journey was longer than that of all the other Apostles - it began before their individual journeys did, and it had its full consummation before any of theirs did, at her Assumption. The image of pilgrimage has a special meaning for the Holy Father, as he was anticipating the pilgrimage that would take place in the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. He uses pilgrimage here in his teaching on Mary as the guiding element, basing his own teaching on that of Chapter 8 of the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium (n. 2).
Mary's role in the Church and in theology is only important because of Who she bore in her womb. All honor and prayer given to Mary is the direct result of her assent to the Incarnation, her "yes" to the Lord's request that she bear the God-Made-Man. This teaching was defined by the Church rather early on, at the Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.), which declared that Mary could truly be called the "Mother of God", Theotokos in Greek. In affirming this title for Mary, the Church is merely recognizing the logical corollary to the dogma that Jesus Christ is both Truly God and Truly Man. "The dogma of the divine motherhood of Mary was for the Council of Ephesus and is for the Church like a seal upon the dogma of the Incarnation, in which the Word truly assumes human nature into the unity of his person, without canceling out that nature" (n. 4).
Mary was hailed by the Archangel Gabriel as "full of grace", which in the Greek ("kecharitomene") serves as a proper name, not a description. This leads the Holy Father to explain that grace means "salvation through a sharing in supernatural life", which is a divine blessing. "[A]mong all the 'spiritual blessings in Christ' this is a special 'blessing.' In the mystery of Christ she is present even 'before the creation of the world,' as the one whom the Father 'has chosen' as Mother of his Son in the Incarnation. And, what is more, together with the Father, the Son has chosen her, entrusting her eternally to the Spirit of holiness" (n. 8). Accordingly, the Catholic Church recognizes in Mary the highest achievement of all the saints, teaching that she is "redeemed in a more sublime manner" than all others (n. 10).
Mary is "the woman" who fulfills the promise of God spoken in the book of Genesis chapter 3, when He promises that there will be "enmity" between the serpent (the devil) and the offspring of the woman (vs. 15). This promise is called the "Protoevangelium", or "first Gospel", for it provides the key to the Christian mystery: the disobedience of Eve, called "the woman", is restored by the free obedience of Mary, "the woman" who bears the Son Who crushes the head of the serpent by His redemptive death on the Cross (cf. n. 11).
Mary's faith in the promise of God was an abandonment of her own will and her own interest, totally given to the God who had done "great things for" her (cf. Lk. 1:49). This is the essence of faith which the Holy Father defines as "'to abandon oneself' to the truth of the word of the living God, knowing and humbly recognizing 'how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways' (Rom. 11:33)." Mary stands as the exemplar of this faith, conforming herself to God's will (n. 14).
This faith gives consolations in the midst of tribulation and trial, as experienced by Mary in the daily travails of life. "From the moment of the Annunciation, the mind of the Virgin-Mother has been initiated into the radical 'newness' of God's self-revelation and has been made aware of the mystery. She is the first of those 'little ones' of whom Jesus will say one day: 'Father, ...you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes' (Mt. 11:25)" (n. 17). These consolations did not give Mary insight into the great suffering she would endure as she witnessed her Son's seemingly meaningless death. That required a "leap of faith" which we all must make in our own journeys of faith (cf. n. 18).
Mary, as one preserved from original sin by virtue of her Son's redemption, stood at the foot of the Cross in greater agony than any other witness. Because she herself was without sin, she was able to enter into the sacrifice of Calvary in a deeper way than sinners can comprehend, for she understood what it meant for the innocent victim to suffer for the sake of others' sins. In an image used in the class, Fr. Luke compared this to the experience of a master violinist listening to a neighbor child learn to play the violin. The pain experienced by the master violinist is greater because of the perfection which he has achieved; whereas another student would not be as pained to listen to the practice.
Mary's assent to the Incarnation was the beginning of the New Covenant: "this heroic faith of hers 'precedes' the apostolic witness of the Church, and ever remains in the Church's heart, hidden like a special heritage of God's revelation. All those who from generation to generation accept the apostolic witness of the Church share in that mysterious inheritance, and in a sense share in Mary's faith" (n. 27).
The issue of Ecumenical activity, ever at the forefront of Pope John Paul's mind, appears in this document as well. Mary's role has often been seen as a dividing point between Christians, but the Holy Father doesn't feel it needs to be so. "Christians must deepen in themselves and each of their communities that "obedience of faith" of which Mary is the first and brightest example" (n. 29). "Therefore, why should we not all together look to her as our common Mother, who prays for the unity of God's family and who 'precedes' us all at the head of the long line of witnesses of faith in the one Lord, the Son of God, who was conceived in her virginal womb by the power of the Holy Spirit?" (n. 30).
The Eastern Churches have always held Mary in high esteem, and this is a source of great joy for the Ecumenical movement. The Holy Father devotes a considerable number of pages to Mary's place within Eastern traditions, in paragraphs 31-34. He sees in the common respect paid to the Theotokos a chance to reunite the Church that it may "once more breathe fully with her 'two lungs,' the East and the West" (n. 34).
The Incarnation which Mary participated in emphasizes once more the dignity of the human person. "In creating man, God gives him the dignity of the image and likeness of himself in a special way as compared with all earthly creatures. Moreover, in his desire to give, God gives himself in the Son, notwithstanding man's sin: 'He so loved the world that he gave his only Son' (Jn. 3:16). Mary is the first witness of this marvelous truth, which will be fully accomplished through 'the works and words' (cf. Acts 1:1) of her Son and definitively through his Cross and Resurrection" (n. 37).
Addressing the charge that the Catholic Church would have Mary as equal with Christ, John Paul writes, "The Church knows and teaches with Saint Paul that there is only one mediator: 'For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all' (1 Tim. 2:5-6). 'The maternal role of Mary towards people in no way obscures or diminishes the unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power': it is mediation in Christ." Mary is subordinate to Jesus Christ, the one mediator with God. However, "the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise among creatures to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this unique source" (n. 38). Mary serves as a sub-mediatrix, one who is under Christ and yet shares in his mediation of grace.
Mary is a model of motherhood, which is a special and unrepeatable relationship beween child and mother. This special relationship between Mary and her Son is given a new meaning at the foot of the Cross, when Christ gives Mary a new son, John, who represents the Church. Thus, Mary becomes the Mother of the Church, indeed the Mother of all humanity (cf. n. 45). As Mother of the Church, she guides all to Christ through the many trials of life. "[T]he more her children persevere and progress in this attitude, the nearer Mary leads them to the 'unsearchable riches of Christ' (Eph. 3:8). And to the same degree they recognize more and more clearly the dignity of man in all its fullness and the definitive meaning of his vocation, for 'Christ...fully reveals man to man himself.'" (n. 46).
Thus, Mary is the type of the pilgrim, on a journey of faith that encompassed her whole life. She is a Mother to us all. She is a witness to the great dignity of the human person, and she is rightly invoked under the titles of "Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix and Mediatrix" (n. 40).