Just as the Son is our Advocate with the Fathers so Mary is our Advocate with the Son.
Perhaps there are other ways that God the Father could have found to redeem mankind. He chose however to go to a woman in Nazareth and ask her permission to conceive his Son Jesus Christ in her womb. "Behold the handmaid of the Lord" replied the woman "be it done unto me according to thy word" So without the consent of Mary the salvation of mankind could never have happened and she could not have prepared him through life for his death. When the clever people were running about the Church telling us she was "just a woman" I remember my reply was "Yes, isn't it wonderful!"
Then we had the scene at the foot of the Cross when St John was told that Mary was his Mother. But was not that woman in Revelations 12 whose baby the Red Dragon tried to devour not a mother to many children, the children the red dragon, having failed to destroy her and Jesus, went after them? The question we must ask is how can Mary fulfil that role as our Mother in Heaven. How can a heavenly mother protect her children on earth? For many this is a superfluous question. They say rightly that Jesus is our advocate with the Father and we need no other and in fact to introduce Mary as an advocate is blasphemy. Yes, they are right in so far as the only Advocate with the Father who can intercede for the forgiveness of our sins is the Son who died on the Cross for our salvation. Mary never had the power to redeem mankind for she is after all "just a woman" Yet from the earliest times saints, scholars, and peasants and kings felt a need to pray to Mary. Perhaps it was the influence of a mother's love in their own human lives that caused the need for a woman in their spiritual lives..
Fathers were strict but mothers were always the one to cuddle them and make things right. Then we know from the Gospel and professed in the Apostles Creed that Jesus 'will come to judge the living and the dead" So perhaps there is a feeling that "our judge" is not the best one to go to and he will judge so many things, for example are we really sorry? Mary on the other hand is not our judge, the mother only knows love and mercy, and from the experience of those who have gone to her she is rightly called by the Church the Mother of Mercy. The relationship between Jesus and Mary is such that Jesus in Heaven is still an obedient son to Mary, and Mary can obtain many graces from her son on our behalf. To deny the love between a son and his mother is unthinkable.
So Mary is not our Advocate with the Father but she is our advocate with the Son. If we look at the human body, as St Alphonsus Liguori tells us, she is like the neck that joins the head to the rest of the body and through which the nourishment and control of the body flows from the Godhead to the Body of the Church.
Then we had the scene at the foot of the Cross when St John was told that Mary was his Mother. But was not that woman in Revelations 12 whose baby the Red Dragon tried to devour not a mother to many children, the children the red dragon, having failed to destroy her and Jesus, went after them? The question we must ask is how can Mary fulfil that role as our Mother in Heaven. How can a heavenly mother protect her children on earth? For many this is a superfluous question. They say rightly that Jesus is our advocate with the Father and we need no other and in fact to introduce Mary as an advocate is blasphemy. Yes, they are right in so far as the only Advocate with the Father who can intercede for the forgiveness of our sins is the Son who died on the Cross for our salvation. Mary never had the power to redeem mankind for she is after all "just a woman" Yet from the earliest times saints, scholars, and peasants and kings felt a need to pray to Mary. Perhaps it was the influence of a mother's love in their own human lives that caused the need for a woman in their spiritual lives..
Fathers were strict but mothers were always the one to cuddle them and make things right. Then we know from the Gospel and professed in the Apostles Creed that Jesus 'will come to judge the living and the dead" So perhaps there is a feeling that "our judge" is not the best one to go to and he will judge so many things, for example are we really sorry? Mary on the other hand is not our judge, the mother only knows love and mercy, and from the experience of those who have gone to her she is rightly called by the Church the Mother of Mercy. The relationship between Jesus and Mary is such that Jesus in Heaven is still an obedient son to Mary, and Mary can obtain many graces from her son on our behalf. To deny the love between a son and his mother is unthinkable.
So Mary is not our Advocate with the Father but she is our advocate with the Son. If we look at the human body, as St Alphonsus Liguori tells us, she is like the neck that joins the head to the rest of the body and through which the nourishment and control of the body flows from the Godhead to the Body of the Church.
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