It is often said that behind every great man, there always is a great woman. This certainly has come true in Jesus and our Blessed Lady. Through grace and cooperation with God’s plan, she made him into what he had become for the world. Just like a woman is always crucial into what kind of person a child becomes, Mary was vital into what Christ became. Remember she was not a puppet in the hands of God; she freely chose to cooperate; no one forced her. As we celebrate the feast of her Assumption— the belief that she was taken body and soul into heaven without knowing any corruption— we owe her so much gratitude for allowing us to hope of salvation by giving us Jesus. I mean God did, but she cooperates. Is it not strange that in an era where Feminism is at its height The Blessed Lady is not on every lip, TV shows, books, movies, and arts as the greatest example of women’s power? If this movement got it right, she should be its vanguard.
Reflecting on what God had accomplished through her, it is concluded that she is the highest honor of our race. Why? No human beings can deem to be the bearer (mother) of God. No one occupies such a pivotal role in the liberation of a race as she did. No hero or heroine was that crucial in any cause. Our salvation begun as a result her fiat; we could speculate about what would have happened had she responded negatively, but all we know she did not. Because of her, heaven and earth, God and human had come together. By such occurrence, the human race that was galloping in the direction of hell makes a U-turn. The church never fails to honor her for playing such a powerful role. That’s why we dare call her Mediatrix, Co-Redemptoris of our salvation. That means she was the spark that started the whole fire though she probably did not foresee the consequences of her fiat. God could have done otherwise of course had he preferred it, but he did not and she cooperated with the divine plan. We can all learn from her exemplary life. Don’t we all want to do something heroic, magnificent, and extraordinary? Well, we can. Search for God’s plan and follow it intensely. Then be ready to be amazed.
She is such a powerful figure for all young men and women striving to be a “person of the Beatitudes”. She remained a virgin before (because she has not known Joseph yet), during (because she bore the child through the power of the Holy Spirit—that’s a miracle), and after (because both Joseph and her understood that what had happened set them apart for a special mission) giving birth to Christ. When promiscuity is so widespread, when clothes and body image are cut to show the power of our maleness and femaleness, when it is deemed “embarrassing” to preserve one’s virginity until marriage, she offers an alternative. Her voice goes out to all striving or doubting whether it is worth preserving themselves. She’s telling us a resounding yes; it worth it. The great pearl that you are was not made to be known by multiple partners or seen by all.
Moreover, as the greatest mother who had ever lived, she is a great model of what it means to be an excellent mother, and a teacher to all fathers. To all women, she teaches how to accompany a child as the child is trying to grow in wisdom and age. She let him be, and through that she discovered who he is—do whatever he tells you (John 2). To fathers, she teaches how to treat a child when things don’t go as planned. Finding him in the temple, notice how she did not yell at him, but rather she asked him a question— Son, why have you treated us this way (Luke 2:48)? Joseph stands there and observes how she does it. we men don’t handle things this way. Another lesson is that in our attempt to help those who need help in this journey, she is a great example of how best to do so— never in a nagging or imposing way. She teaches us that asking questions, attentive listening go a long way.
Mary Mother of God, teach us how to navigate this current!
The church is in the business of reintegration not casting off. She is always ready to pour out the balm of God’s mercy on all those who ask for it with a sincere heart (Amoris Laetitia 296). So, if someone exhibits a way of life incompatible with the Christian ideal, that person needs to let the gospel penetrates his life so he can experience conversion. Pastors of souls are there to help through that process. that simply means there will be a lot of new beginnings and fall start. The church’s role is simple to patiently stand alongside each person as they keep on trying. Again, this is the first time a church document dealing with doctrine is juxtaposing doctrine and spiritual growth.
Without falling into casuistry, the document cleverly maintains that not all divorced and civilly remarried can be pigeonholed as one. There must be “a renewed encouragement to undertake a responsible personal and pastoral discernment of particular cases since the degree of responsibility is not equal in all cases”. Therefore, priests have a duty to initiate a process of accompaniment and discernment in order to “guide the divorced and remarried to an awareness of their situation before God (300). A pastor cannot feel that it is enough simply to apply moral laws to those living in “irregular” situations, as if they were stones to throw at people’s lives (305).
t preserve the essential form and structure of what came before it. It is genuine if it retains one and the same type, the same principles, the same organization; if its beginnings anticipate its subsequent phases, and its later phenomena protect and subserve its earlier; if it has a power of assimilation and revival, and a vigorous action from first to last. By the same token, butterfly can be seen as a genuinely development of caterpillar. While butterfly is not the same as a caterpillar, it preserves the essential form and structure of a caterpillar.
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