Mary as Co-Redeemer. What is the difficulty?
The writer of Genesis lived thousands of years after the creation of man. He believed in a God who was loving and meant everything to be good and yet looking around he saw so much evil. Now evil could not be created by God so he reasoned that man himself was responsible for what he saw around him. Man himself must have rebelled against God. He prayed for guidance and what he wrote was inspired by the Holy Spirit.
A Messia would come, born of a woman who would reconcile mankind to God. This is indeed what happened when Jesus appeared. Born of the Virgin Mary he was the promised Saviour. But let us look more closely at what God said in Genesis 3:15. Talking to the serpent, the devil, he said "I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed, it will crush your head and you will lie in wait for its heel" This is an extraordinary saying and could only have been inspired by the Holy Spirit, it was the first prophecy in the bible There would be enmity that is hostility and opposition between the serpent and this future mother who would give birth to the Messiah, her seed.
So this tells us that the work of Redemption would be carried out by two people, a mother and son, Mary and Jesus. So this future mother was going to be extraordinary. To give birth to God, would be certainly take a special woman, a woman specially created who could overcome sin so that the fallen human nature would not be passed on to Jesus. So the Church has taught and Our Lady verified this at Lourdes, that she was the Immaculate Conception. Now we know nothing about the early life of Mary. The Immaculate Conception means that Mary was born with all the graces and gifts of the soul that Eve had, but unlike Eve who fell in temptation, Mary did not. And yes, Mary must have been tempted for she was not a robot, she had free will. The serpent would have been aware of her holy state and furiously battled to destroy her. But he found only enmity coming from her.
It was at the Annunciation the the Angel Gabriel would have informed her why she was so special. Although the reading in the Gospel last for about three minutes it is accepted by scholars that Gabriel would have said much more and indeed toll her of the cost of bearing this child. How she would have such joy for their years and then she would have to prepare him for his death on the Cross. Mary was always aware of his mission and at the marriage feast of Canna when he worked his first miracle for his mother it was her way of telling him that his mission had indeed begun. But his mission was also hers, she had to be there supporting him in his mission, and offering him back to the |Father with her own pain and sufferings on Calvary. Now let us be clear on this. Mary could not redeem the world only the sufferings of Jesus could do that for he was the Son of the Father making a divine offering. But Mary added the sufferings of humanity to the Father, not just the sufferings but the sorrow of her spiritual children. And without her fiat, thy will be done, the Father could never have accomplished the birth of Jesus. She is therefore quite rightly called the Co-Redeemer.
A Messia would come, born of a woman who would reconcile mankind to God. This is indeed what happened when Jesus appeared. Born of the Virgin Mary he was the promised Saviour. But let us look more closely at what God said in Genesis 3:15. Talking to the serpent, the devil, he said "I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed, it will crush your head and you will lie in wait for its heel" This is an extraordinary saying and could only have been inspired by the Holy Spirit, it was the first prophecy in the bible There would be enmity that is hostility and opposition between the serpent and this future mother who would give birth to the Messiah, her seed.
So this tells us that the work of Redemption would be carried out by two people, a mother and son, Mary and Jesus. So this future mother was going to be extraordinary. To give birth to God, would be certainly take a special woman, a woman specially created who could overcome sin so that the fallen human nature would not be passed on to Jesus. So the Church has taught and Our Lady verified this at Lourdes, that she was the Immaculate Conception. Now we know nothing about the early life of Mary. The Immaculate Conception means that Mary was born with all the graces and gifts of the soul that Eve had, but unlike Eve who fell in temptation, Mary did not. And yes, Mary must have been tempted for she was not a robot, she had free will. The serpent would have been aware of her holy state and furiously battled to destroy her. But he found only enmity coming from her.
It was at the Annunciation the the Angel Gabriel would have informed her why she was so special. Although the reading in the Gospel last for about three minutes it is accepted by scholars that Gabriel would have said much more and indeed toll her of the cost of bearing this child. How she would have such joy for their years and then she would have to prepare him for his death on the Cross. Mary was always aware of his mission and at the marriage feast of Canna when he worked his first miracle for his mother it was her way of telling him that his mission had indeed begun. But his mission was also hers, she had to be there supporting him in his mission, and offering him back to the |Father with her own pain and sufferings on Calvary. Now let us be clear on this. Mary could not redeem the world only the sufferings of Jesus could do that for he was the Son of the Father making a divine offering. But Mary added the sufferings of humanity to the Father, not just the sufferings but the sorrow of her spiritual children. And without her fiat, thy will be done, the Father could never have accomplished the birth of Jesus. She is therefore quite rightly called the Co-Redeemer.
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