| Documents |
II. Mary and Jesus Christ / 3. Handmaid, Associate,
Cooperatrix |
| Lumen Gentium,
1964 |
- handmaid of the Lord, Lk
1:38 [consenting to the word of God] 56
- associated herself with
his sacrifice 58
- generous associate and
humble handmaid
- committing herself
wholeheartedly and impeded by no sin to God's saving will, she
devoted herself totally, as a handmaid of the Lord, to the person
and work of her Son, under and with him, serving the mystery of
redemption, by the grace of Almighty God 56
- freely cooperating not
merely as passively engaged by God, but as freely cooperating in
the work of man's salvation through faith and obedience 56
- This union of the mother
with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the
time of Christ's virginal conception up to his death 57
- cooperated by her
obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the work of the
Savior in giving back supernatural life to souls 61
|
| Mense Maio, 1965
x |
- Mary most holy is [Jesus:
"the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort's" (2 Cor 1:3)]
appointed steward and
- generous bestower of the
treasures of His Mercy 10
|
|
Signum Magnum,
1967 |
- celebration accorded to
the humble "handmaid of the Lord" [Lk 1:38] [Ephesus 431]
2
- >was accorded a special
"role... in the mystery of the Incarnate Word and the mystery of
the Mystical Body," [LG 54] that is, "in the economy of
salvation." [LG 55] 5
- she is the mother of
Jesus Christ and His closest associate in "the new economy..."
8
- She participated in her
Son's sacrifice for our redemption in such intimate fashion that
he designated her the mother not only of John the Apostle but
also - it seems legitimate to say this - of the human race, which
he somehow represented. [LG 58; Leo XIII] 10
- From that moment
[Annunciation: she as handmaid] devoted herself wholly to serving
not only her heavenly Father and the Incarnate Word, but also the
whole human race, inasmuch as she had come to realize that Jesus
would free his people... 17
- the Lord's humble
handmaid [then and now] one of loving service 19
- United wholeheartedly
with her Son...she lived a life of total dedication 20
- most faithful handmaid of
the Lord 21
- was her Son's associate
in restoring supernatural life to souls [see LG 61] 29
|
| Creed, Paul VI,
1968 |
- continues...cooperating
15
|
| General
Catechetical Directory, 1971 |
- she "summons the
believers to her Son and to his sacrifice, and to love for the
Father" (LG, 65; note: LG uses the word "prompts" and the context
meant is the liturgy) 68
|
| Behold Your
Mother (USA), 1973 |
- We recognize her unique
and exalted role in the redemption her Son brought to men.
8
- Kept free from original
sin, she was able to give herself wholeheartedly to the saving
work of her Son. 18
- By accepting the
Annunciation, she became intimately associated with all the
saving mysteries of Jesus' life, death, and Resurrection.
18
- Embracing God's saving
will with a full heart and impeded by no sin, she devoted herself
totally as a handmaid of the Lord to the person and work of her
Son. (LG 56) 55 [See also 69]
- Through her life of faith
on earth, and now through her union with the risen Christ, the
Mother of Jesus is the supreme example of loving association with
the Savior in His mission of redeeming mankind. (LG 62) 66
[See also 81]
- The Gospels provide few
details of Mary's life; but they do delineate a remarkable
portrait of the woman who gave herself wholeheartedly to her Son
and His mission in perfect faith, love and obedience. 69
- What Mary began on earth
in association with the saving mission of Jesus, she continues
still, in union with the risen Christ. 69
- always one with her Son's
purposes ( PO 18) 69
- handmaid of the Lord
106
- His [the priest's]
distinct calling to be fellow worker with Christ bears a
resemblance to Mary's unique association in the saving work of
Jesus. 120
- Her humble circumstances
left little choice but to accept what life brought, but her
splendid obedience made her an associate of her Son's saving
work. 126
- From the time of the
Annunciation, she was the living chalice of the Son of God made
man. 131
|
| Marialis Cultus,
1974 |
- March 25: a commemoration
of the Blessed Virgin's free consent and cooperation in the plan
of redemption. 6
- Presentation of the Lord
(February 2), Blessed Virgin was intimately associated as the
Mother of the Suffering Servant of Yahweh 7
- [liturgy, doctrinal
theme] Mary's cooperation in the work of her Son 11
- [love for the Church] as
is wonderfully expressed in the prayer after Communion in the
Mass of September 15: "... that as we recall the sufferings
shared by the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may with the Church fulfill
in ourselves what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ."
11
- [liturgical movement, see
above] worthy Associate of the Redeemer 15 handmaid of the
Lord [see Daughter of the Father] 21
- the associate of the
Redeemer, who already shares fully in the fruits of the Paschal
Mystery, the prophetic fulfillment of her own future [the Church]
22
- "what is given to the
handmaid is referred to the Lord; thus what is given to the
Mother re-dounds to the Son; ... and thus what is given as humble
tribute to the Queen becomes honor rendered to the King." (S.
Ildephonsus) 25
|
| Gaudete in Domino,
1975 |
- associated in an eminent
way with the sacrifice of the innocent Servant.
|
| Dives in
Misericordia, 1980 |
- At the same time, [as she
received mercy] still in an exceptional way, she made possible
with the sacrifice of her heart her own sharing in revealing
God's mercy. This sacrifice is intimately linked with the cross
of her Son ...Her sacrifice is a unique sharing in the revelation
of mercy, that is, a sharing in the absolute fidelity of God to
his own love, to the covenant that he willed from eternity and
that he entered into in time with man, with the people, with
humanity; it is a sharing in the revelation that was definitively
fulfilled through the cross. 9
- through her hidden and at
the same time incomparable sharing in the messianic mission of
her Son, was called in a special way to bring close to people
that love which he had come to reveal: the love that finds its
most concrete expression vis-a-vis the suffering, the poor, those
deprived of their own freedom, the blind, the oppressed and
sinners, just as Christ spoke of them in the words of the
prophecy of Isaiah 9
- It was precisely this
"merciful" love, which is manifested above all in contact with
moral and physical evil, that the heart of her who was the Mother
of the crucified and risen One shared in singularly and
exceptionally--that Mary shared in. 9
|
| Ephesus, 1550th
Anniversary, 1981 |
- the first cooperator with
the power of the Almighty 3
- The most Blessed Virgin
is she who, by the overshadowing of the power of the Trinity, was
the creature most closely associated with the work of salvation.
3
- "Embracing God's saving
will with a full heart and impeded by no sin, she devoted herself
totally as a handmaid of the Lord to the person and work of her
Son" and "the holy Fathers see her as used by God not merely in a
passive way, but as cooperating in the work of human salvation
through free faith and obedience." [LG 56] 4
- consented to be the
handmaid of the Lord. 5
- This link [with the
Church] was revealed especially beneath the cross, where she,
"enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of his
suffering, associated herself with his sacrifice in her mother's
heart... She was given by the same Christ Jesus dying on the
cross as a Mother to his disciple, with these words: 'Woman,
behold your son!'" [LG 58] 8
|
| Dominum et
Vivificantem, 1986 |
- The Virgin Mary, who "had
conceived by the Holy Spirit," (cf. Lk 1:35) sensed this [the
interior availability which comes from faith] even more clearly,
when she pondered in her heart the "mysteries" of the Messiah,
with whom she was associated. (cf. Lk 2:19, 51) 16
|
| Redemptoris Mater,
1987 |
- If they lift their eyes
to her from their earthly existence, they do so because "the Son
whom she brought forth is he whom God placed as the first-born
among many brethren (Rom. 8:29),(LG 63) and also because "in the
birth and development" of these brothers and sisters "she
cooperates with a maternal love." (LG 63) 6
- "Behold, I am the
handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word"
(Lk.1:38). ... The mystery of the Incarnation was accomplished
when Mary uttered her fiat: "Let it be to me according to your
word," which made possible, as far as it depended upon her in the
divine plan, the granting of her Son's desire. 13
- In faith she entrusted
herself to God without reserve and "devoted herself totally as
the handmaid of the Lord to the person and work of her Son." (LG
56) 13
- Although through faith
she may have perceived in that instant that she was the mother of
the "Messiah-King," nevertheless she replied: "Behold, I am the
handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word"
(Lk. 1:38) 15
- "suffering deeply with
her only-begotten Son and joining herself with her maternal
spirit to his sacrifice, lovingly consenting to the immolation of
the victim to whom she had given birth," in this way Mary
"faithfully preserved her union with her Son even to the Cross."
(LG 58) 18
- as the messianic mission
of her Son grew clearer to her eyes and spirit, she herself as a
mother became ever more open to that new dimension of motherhood
which was to constitute her "part" beside her Son. Had she not
said from the very beginning: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the
Lord; let it be to me according to your word" (Lk. 1:38)?
20
- by the design of divine
Providence, the mother who nourished the divine Redeemer, Mary
became "an associate of unique nobility, and the Lord's humble
handmaid," who "cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and
burning charity in the Savior's work of restoring supernatural
life to souls." (LG 61)22 [See also 39; LG 62]
"generous companion" 38
- [handmaid's decision]
Mary consents to God's choice, in order to become through the
power of the Holy Spirit the Mother of the Son of God. ... this
consent to motherhood is above all a result of her total
self-giving to God in virginity. Mary accepted her election as
Mother of the Son of God, guided by spousal love, the love which
totally "consecrates" a human being to God. By virtue of this
love, Mary wished to be always and in all things "given to God,"
living in virginity. The words "Behold, I am the handmaid of the
Lord" express the fact that from the outset she accepted and
understood her own motherhood as a total gift of self, a gift of
her person to the service of the saving plans of the Most High.
And to the very end she lived her entire maternal sharing in the
life of Jesus Christ, her Son, in a way that matched her vocation
to virginity. 39
- [united in] first coming,
so through her continued collaboration with him she will also be
united with him in expectation of the second 41
|
| Letter to
Priests for Holy Thursday, 1988 |
- Let us also take Mary as
Mother into the interior "home" of our priesthood. For we belong
to the "faithful in whose rebirth and development" the Mother of
God "cooperates with a maternal love." (LG 63) 6
- The Mother of God, who
(as the Council teaches) cooperates, with a mother's love, in the
rebirth and the training of all those who become brothers of her
Son - who become his friends - will do everything in her power so
that they may not betray this holy friendship. So that they may
be worthy of it. 6
|
| The VM in
Intellectual and Spiritual Formation, 1988
|
- She is the faithful
handmaid who "devoted herself totally... to the person and work
of her Son, serving under him and with him, he mystery of
redemption" (LG 56) 7
- She is the cooperatrix
with the Redeemer: "She conceived, brought forth and nourished
Christ. She presented him to the Father in the Temple, and was
united with him in suffering as he died on the cross. In an
utterly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope
and burning charity in the Saviour's Work of restoring
supernatural life to souls" (LG 61, cf. 56, 58) 7
|
| To
All Consecrated Persons, Marian Year, 1988
|
- These thoughts concerning
the consecration of the person through the profession of the
evangelical counsels keeps us constantly within the sphere of the
Paschal Mystery. Together with Mary, let us seek to be sharers in
this death which brought forth fruits of "new life" in the
Resurrection: a death like this on the Cross was infamous, and it
was the death of her own Son! 17
- But precisely there, at
the foot of the Cross, "where she stood, not without a divine
plan," (LG 58) did not Mary realize in a new way everything that
she had already heard on the day of the Annunciation? Precisely
there, precisely through "the sword which pierced her soul" (cf.
Lk 2:35), through an incomparable "kenosis of faith," (RM 18) did
not Mary perceive completely the full truth about her motherhood?
17
- Precisely there, did she
not definitively identify herself with that truth, "rediscovering
her soul," the soul which, in the experience of Golgotha, she had
to "lose" in the most painful way for the sake of Christ and the
Gospel? 17
- It is precisely into this
complete "rediscovery" of the truth about her divine motherhood
which became Mary's "part" from the moment of the annunciation
that there fit Christ's words on the Cross, the words referring
to the Apostle John, referring to a man: "Behold, your son!" (cf.
Jn 19:26) 18
|
| Mulieris
Dignitatem, 1988 |
- she who is "full of
grace" feels the need to express her personal relationship to the
gift that has been revealed to her, saying: "Behold, I am the
handmaid of the Lord" (Lk 1:38). ... In the expression "handmaid
of the Lord," one senses Mary's complete awareness of being a
creature of God. The word "handmaid," near the end of the
Annunciation dialogue, is inscribed throughout the whole history
of the Mother and the Son. [the Son who has come to serve (Mk
10:45)] 5
- From the first moment of
her divine motherhood, of her union with the Son ... Mary takes
her place within Christ's messianic service. (cf. RM 38-41) [to
serve means to reign] 5
- "The Son whom she brought
forth is he whom God placed as the firstborn among many brethren
(cf. Rom 8:29), namely, among the faithful. In their birth and
development she cooperates with a maternal love." (LG 63)
22
|
| Redemptoris
Custos, St. Joseph, 1989 |
- [Incarnation] This
is precisely the mystery in which Joseph of Nazareth "shared"
like no other human being except Mary, the Mother of the
Incarnate Word. He shared in it with her; he was involved in the
same salvific event; he was guardian of the same love, through
the power of which the eternal Father "destined us to be his sons
through Jesus Christ" (Eph 1:5).1
- Together with Mary,
Joseph is the first guardian of this divine mystery. Together
with Mary, and in relation to Mary,he shares in this final
phase of God's self-revelation in Christ5
|
| Veritatis
Splendor, 1993 |
- Mary is also mother of
mercy because it is to her that Jesus entrusts his church and all
humanity. At the foot of the cross, when she accepts John as her
son, when she asks, together with Christ, forgiveness from the
Father for those who do not know what they do (cf. Lk 23:34),
Mary experiences, in perfect docility to the Spirit, the richness
and the universality of God's love, which opens her heart and
enables it to embrace the entire human race. Thus Mary becomes
mother of each and every one of us, the mother who obtains for us
divine mercy. 120
- and she accompanied him
in the supreme act of freedom which is the complete sacrifice of
his own life. By the gift of herself, Mary entered fully into the
plan of God who gives himself to the world. 120
|
| Tertio Millennio
Adveniente, 1994 |
- The Virgin Mary responded
to God's call with complete openness: "Behold, I am the handmaid
of the Lord" (Lk 1:38) 54
|
| Evangelium Vitae,
1995 |
- The one who accepted
"Life" in the name of all and for the sake of all was Mary, the
Virgin Mother; she is thus most closely and personally associated
with the Gospel of life. 102
|
Catechism of the
Catholic Church, 1994
Fidei Depositum, 1992 |
- [Handmaid,
see also 148, 510]
- 494 ... obedience of faith, certain that
"with God nothing will be impossible": "Behold, I am the handmaid of
the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word."(Lk 1:28-38;
cf. Rom 1:5) Thus, giving her consent to God's word, Mary becomes the
mother of Jesus. Espousing the divine will for salvation
wholeheartedly, without a single sin to restrain her, she gave
herself entirely to the person and to the work of her Son; she did so
in order to serve the mystery of redemption with him and dependent on
him, by God's grace ... (cf. LG 56)
- 964 Mary's role in the Church is
inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it.
"This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is
made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception up to his
death"; (LG 57) it is made manifest above all at the hour of his
Passion:
Thus the Blessed Virgin advanced in her
pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with
her Son unto the cross. There she stood, in keeping with the divine
plan, enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of his
suffering, joining herself with his sacrifice in her mother's
heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this victim,
born of her: to be given, by the same Christ Jesus dying on the
cross, as a mother to his disciple, with these words: "Woman,
behold your son." (LG 58); cf. Jn 19:26-27)
- 973 By pronouncing her fiat at
the Annunciation and giving her consent to the Incarnation, Mary was
already collaborating with the whole work her Son was to accomplish.
She is mother wherever he is Savior and head of the Mystical Body.
|
| Letter to Women,
Beijing Conference, 1995 |
- Mary called herself the
"handmaid of the Lord" (Lk 1:38). Through obedience to the word
of God she accepted her lofty, yet not easy vocation as wife and
mother in the family of Nazareth. Putting herself at God's
service, she also put herself at the service of others: a service
of love. Precisely through this service Mary was able to
experience in her life a mysterious, but authentic "reign." It is
not by chance that she is invoked as "queen of heaven and earth."
The entire community of believers thus invokes her as their
"queen." For her, "to reign" is to serve! Her service is "to
reign!" 10
|
| Vita Consecrata,
1996 |
- Every mission begins with
the attitude expressed by Mary at the annunciation: "Behold, I am
the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your
word: (Lk 1:38) 18
- Having lived with Jesus
and Joseph in the hidden years of Nazareth, and present at her
Son's side at crucial moments of his public life, the Blessed
Virgin teaches unconditional discipleship
|
| Ecclesia in
Oceania, 2001 |
- Through Christ's Cross
and Resurrection, God has reconciled the world to himself, and he
has made the Lord Jesus the Prince of Peace for every time and
place. May Mary, Regina Pacis, help the peoples of Oceania to
know this peace, and to share it with others! At the dawn of the
Third Christian Millennium, may true justice and harmony be God's
gift to Oceania and to all the nations of the world! 53
- She has been a wondrous
helper in all the Church's efforts to preach and teach the Gospel
in the world of the Pacific. 53
- We look to you that we
may see your Son, our Lord. We lift our hands that we may have
the Bread of Life. We open wide our hearts to receive the Prince
of Peace. 53
|
| Rosarium Virginis
Mariae, 2002 |
- As we contemplate each
mystery of her Son's life, she invites us to do as she did at the
Annunciation: to ask humbly the questions which open us to the
light, in order to end with the obedience of faith: "Behold I am
the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your
word" (Lk 1:38). 14
- Blessed Bartolo Longo saw
them [chain of beads] also as a "chain" which links us to God. A
chain, yes, but a sweet chain; for sweet indeed is the bond to
God who is also our Father. A "filial" chain which puts us in
tune with Mary, the "handmaid of the Lord" (Lk 1:38) and, most of
all, with Christ himself, who, though he was in the form of God,
made himself a "servant" out of love for us (Phil 2:7). 36
- When we repeat the name
of Jesus - the only name given to us by which we may hope for
salvation (cf. Acts 4:12) - in close association with the name of
his Blessed Mother, almost as if it were done at her suggestion,
we set out on a path of assimilation meant to help us enter more
deeply into the life of Christ. 33
- "Beginning with Mary's
unique cooperation with the working of the Holy Spirit, the
Churches developed their prayer to the Holy Mother of God,
centering it on the person of Christ manifested in his
mysteries." (CCC 2679) 16
|