Hear the words of Our Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Guadalupe



Know for certain, smallest of my children, that I am the perfect and perpetual Virgin Mary, Mother of the True God through whom everything lives, the Lord of all things near and far, the Master of heaven and earth. I am your merciful Mother, the merciful Mother of all of you who live united in this land, and of all humanity, of all those who love me. Hear and let it penetrate your heart, my dear little one. Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you. Let nothing alter your heart, or your face. Am I not here who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else that you need? Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Theotokos: Special Prerogatives

What can we say about this “fullness of grace” which was gifted to Mary?  Generally speaking the life of grace culminates, finds its completion, in the state of sanctifying grace.  Remember that sanctifying grace is a supernatural gift of God establishing a more or less enduring state of holiness by which a person is rendered pleasing to God – it is the grace that makes us holy.  Hence, the “fullness of grace” enjoyed by Mary must be conceived as a plenitude of interior holiness, the result of God’s gift of sanctifying grace.

However, this does not mean that to Mary was added all possible supernatural prerogatives or privileges such that she did not lead a truly human life.  She still got hungry, suffered, grew in wisdom and knowledge, and died.  Unlike her Son, Mary advanced in grace and virtue throughout her life – just as other saints have done.  The life of holiness to which we all are called is just that a life – and Mary, like us all, only attained the culmination of this holiness  at her death.

Up to this point, we have been looking at the unique dignity of Mary as the Mother of God and the plenitude of grace with which she was endowed by God.  From these two fundamental principles, a number of extraordinary and unique prerogatives (privileges) can be reasonably deduced.

These prerogatives can be placed into two distinct categories or classes.  Mary’s negative prerogatives consist in the removal or absence of all defects and blemishes that would be incompatible with divine motherhood.  Positive prerogatives are special privileges which God conferred on Mary with a view to adorn and exalt her in a manner befitting the mother of His Son – befitting the Mother of God.

In preparing Mary to be the Mother of His Son, God removed or exempted her from any and all defects or blemishes that would make her unsuitable to hold the Divine Child in her womb and to be a fit mother to Him.  The Church teaches that there were four such negative prerogatives:

1.       Exemption from original sin.
2.       Immunity from personal sin.
3.       Perpetual Virginity
4.       Exemption from the dominion of death

All four prerogatives were gifts to Mary through the merits of her Son, Jesus Christ.  The merits and salvific action of Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection were applied to Mary through the mercy and grace of God.

We will discuss each one separately.

1 comment:

  1. I look forward to the discussion of each one separately, especially Exemption from the dominion of death! I don't know much about that! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

    ReplyDelete