| Aspects of Mary and the Church Through the Centuries
It is in
history, [1]
where the actualisation of the Church becomes apparent
in a twofold way: the respective visible manifestation of her inner
portrait as perceived by her own representatives in the different
epochs of time and her actual concrete configuration in her members.
The history of the Church shows the different shifts in emphasis and
the close correlation between both aspects,
idea and reality. [2]
The first centuries are characterized by the image of the Church as mystery. [3] The strong symbolical representation of this mystery is shown by the writers in images deriving from Sacred scripture, mythology, typology, and allegory. [4] Augustine’s notion of the body of the Church as the Eucharistic Body of Christ is particularly influential for the whole of this ecclesiology. [5] The
Marian dimension of the patristic ecclesiology must be seen
in particular against the New Testament background with the implications
of the Pauline and Johannine typology: Adam-Eve-Church-Mary. [6]
From this typological basis developed the Church-Mary
parallel, with Mary as the typos of the Church:
“symbol, central idea, and as it were, the
summary of all that is meant by the Church in her nature and vocation.” [7]
Augustine develops this further in that he places Mary
before the Church as her ideal image [8] and as member of the body of Christ as part
of the Church. [9]
Late Patristic Period and Middle AgesFrom the time of Constantine until the Reformation the notion of the Christian realm or imperium was in the foreground; the populus Dei became the populus Christianus, which became a sociological, political and cultural term. [10] The corpus Christi mysticum, so far reserved for the 'Eucharist' , became the corpus ecclesiae mysticum [11] ; similar changes occurred in the application of the term laoV, now known as laity the term for those who are not part of the clergy and the hierarchy. Although the Church was in the fore as imperatrix et domina, her mystery character was present in the renewal movements and in the great theological treatises of that time. [12] While
the Church-Mary parallel continued into the medieval period,
the Marian reflection of the earlier part of this epoch, strongly
influenced by the Carolingian era, was characterized by the change
from the patristic’s predominantly salvation-historical
perspective of Mary to a more individualized, privilege-oriented understanding
of her. [13]
It was no longer the knowledge about Mary’s importance
in the history of salvation that stood in the foreground, but Mary’s
effectiveness in the here and now. Here we have a development from
the truth of Mary’s position in the objective work
of salvation to her influence on the subjective course of salvation:
the Mother of God became the Mother of the faithful,
the ancilla domini,
the domina and regina
nostra who in the present time fulfills
an essential task in distributing the fruits of salvation. The typology
Mary-Church is no longer seen as purely metaphorical, but, rather,
Mary is the model for the virginal-fruitful Church and the reason
for the Church’s salvific efficacy toward
its members.
[14]
This development remained prevalent throughout the medieval
period. [15]
The image of the Church as it became prevalent after the Reformation [16] was counter-reformation, apologetic-oriented. [17] Influential here in particular was Robert Bellarmine with an ecclesiological concept, which emphasized the visible, institutional structure of the Church. [18] Thus, in the foreground stood the Church, united in the papacy, with a strong apologetic impetus. [19] The division
of Christendom brought about through the Reformation in the sixteenth
century caused a setback to Marian devotion. Against Luther’s
and the other reformers’ increased distance from Catholic Marian doctrine,
the Catholic representatives pointed out the significance of Mary
in the work of 'Redemption' . [20]
The Council of Trent and the post-Tridentine
period, marked by the mentioned apologetic impetus, gave rise to a
new Catholic self-confidence and a marked Marian piety; the latter
was central to the Counter-Reformation and particularly influential
in strengthening the faith. This new springtime of Mariology was vitally
carried by the Marian Congregations [established in 1563]. [21]
In the ecclesiological perspective, Mary’s position remained
that of being the Mother of God and the most excellent member of Christ’s
body. All gifts, graces and divine influence proceed from Christ,
the head of the Church, through Mary, the neck, into the body of the
Church. [22]
In the following epoch the image of the Church was affected by the impact of Deism and Enlightenment with Rationalism, which brought about a new interpretation of Christian teaching aimed at effacing all creedal differences. [23] The Church was to be reduced to a moral institution through demythologising and desecrating efforts. On the one hand, this resulted in the endeavours of a more people-oriented liturgical emphasis, and on the other hand a stronger clericalism emerged. The strong apologetic orientation remained and was to be seen against the background of the above-mentioned influences and political changes. [24] The effects
of the Enlightenment on the Church were particularly felt in the area
of Marian devotion and teaching. In contrast to the more demonstrative
and effusive Catholic representation of Marian truth and devotion
of the Baroque, [25]
the time of Enlightenment presented a reduction
of Marian doctrine to a purely moral level of values and virtues associated
with a milieu of bourgeoisie. There is a marked descent from the praise
of Mary’s glories as Queen of Heaven to her being a model character
of a mother’s love and concern for home duties. This Marian content,
rationalized and reduced to mere morality and ethics by many Church
authorities, was kept alive to a significant degree in popular piety. [26]
The influence of the Romantic affected the concept of the Church in a way which brought again to the fore the inner reality of the Church and its 'organic' unity. [27] Through the impact of 'Modernism' and the counter 'Orientation' on neo-scholasticism, the Church increasingly closed itself off to the spirit of the time and became defensive. [28] Within this atmosphere of Catholicism the nineteenth century inaugurated again a re-awakening of Marian piety marked by Marian pilgrimages and apparitions, [29] and inspired by the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which commenced the so-called Marian century. [30] In spite of this renewal of Marian devotion, essentially influenced through the dogmatic definition in 1854, there was considerably less development in Marian theology; [31] however, two eminent theologians and contemporaries need to be mentioned: John Henry Newman, who brought again to the fore the Eve-Mary parallel in support of Mary’s original state of grace [Immaculate Conception], her part in 'Redemption', her 'Eschatological' fulfilment and her intercession, [32] and J. M. Scheeben. The latter gives a fairly detailed Mariological-ecclesiological exposition. Mary, as the grace-filled person [per se] in her relationship with the Trinity and in her divine motherhood, is typologically significant for the Church. [33] From this perspective, Scheeben speaks of a fundamental principle which is constitutive and serves as vantage point for all Mariological statements and the understanding of Mary’s person and task in the order of salvation and the history of salvation: Mary’s divine-spousal motherhood [Gottesbräutliche Mutterschaft ] as her personal character–a term unique to Scheeben’s Mariology. [34] He speaks of the fundamental principle within the framework of the supernatural personal character of Mary. [35] This character distinguishes Mary from all other people: “At the same time, of its very nature and according to the idea of the Church, it is used also in the sense that, compared with all other qualities of Mary, the distinguishing mark of ‘mother of Jesus’ forms the capital, fundamental, and central quality to which, as subordinate attributes, all others are joined.” [36] Further, Scheeben underlines: All the privileges
belonging to the Mother of God are of a super-natural character and
thus find their principle in a supernatural gift of grace, so this
applies particularly to the motherhood itself. This motherhood must
therefore be defined as a supernatural distinguishing mark of Mary’s
person, to which, in addition to her nature, she is raised through
divine grace and which thus has its root in a divine gift of grace
through which it is constituted. [37]
The formative element of Mary’s personal character is the “supernatural, spiritual 'union' of the person of Mary with that of her Son”; it is the highest, most intimate and perfect union between God and a human creature. [38] “Mary, as united with the Logos, is taken into complete possession by him; the Logos, as infused and implanted in her, gives himself to her and takes her to himself as partner and helper, in the closest, strictest, and most lasting 'Community' of life.” [39] Scheeben considers Mary in the role of her divine-bridal motherhood as the mother and 'Heart' of the Mystical Body of Christ. Within the inner organic unity of the Church he highlights this heart function: Mary is . . . the 'Prototype' of the Church, as the idea of the Church is originally realized in her person and in the most perfect manner. Since she herself belongs to the Church and at the same time forms the head-member as root and heart, the idea of the Church as a supernatural principle assisting Christ also obtains its full, concrete and living figure. [40] Scheeben’s
perception of a fundamental principle, and the uniqueness of his concept
of Mary’s personal character has found a resonance in the years preceding
Vatican II [from ca. 1940 on], for example in the works of H. M. Köster, Kurl Rahner and Semmelroth. [41]
The aspects and the orientations that Scheeben gives in this concept have generated negative and
positive critiques. [42]
According to G. Philips, it is not possible
to combine the two terms “mother” and “bride” in the concept of “bridal
motherhood” without creating a misconception in the understanding
of the concept. [43] C. Feckes takes
the divine-bridal motherhood as the fundamental principal of Mariology:
Mary is mother, because she is bride and co-worker of the Redeemer.
Her first service as co-worker in the redemptive 'Work' of her Son
is her maternal action. She is bride, because she is mother,
since her motherly action includes in her Fiat a bridal dimension. [44]
A pertinent modification and application
of Scheeben’s idea of the Mariological fundamental
principle is given by Fr. Kentenich [45]
in his Marian 'Paradigm'. [46]
In
accordance with a long tradition acknowledging the essential 'Unity'
between Christ and Mary, [47]
and in affiliation with Scheeben’s concept, he defines, as a fundamental Marian
principle, the personal character of Mary: [48] as “the unique bridal, permanent helpmate
and associate of Christ, who is the Head of the whole Church and world,
in the entire work of redemption,” [49]
or expressed in the shorter version from
1950: Mary is “the official companion and helpmate of Christ in the
entire work of redemption.” [50]
Although all of Mary’s unique gifts–like
her immaculate conception, perpetual virginity, the
intemerata and her divine motherhood–are included
and are to be interpreted from the above paradigm, yet Kentenich’s
choice of this definition as he stated in 1941 points beyond traditional
Mariological interpretations toward Mary’s active involvement in
salvation 'History' . She is, through her educative task
toward humanity, the free cooperative permanent helpmate and
associate of Christ in the entire work of redemption. [51]
The Christologically
founded and oriented unity between Christ and Mary is constitutive for Mary’s place in God’s divine plan, in
the order of salvation and at the centre of salvation history,
and gives her an official character. [52] For Kentenich, Mary’s position
in God’s plan of salvation is the starting point for everything that
can be said about her person and her mission. From Vatican I to Vatican II The First Vatican Council, compelled through exterior circumstances, could deal only with the position and task of the pope and could not go into the question of the Church’s self-concept, a concept which should have found expression as the corpus Christi mysticum and as the true, perfect, spiritual and supernatural 'community'. [53] At the beginning of the present century a new understanding of the Church was emerging: a move from a scholastic, institutional concept to a biblical and patristic image. “The Church is awakening in souls,” wrote Romano Guardini in 1922. [54] His writing and those of Henri De Lubac and Yves Congar address this new awakening. [55] It is well presented in De Lubac’s work: The only
real Church, the Church which is the Body of Christ, is not merely
that strongly hierarchical and disciplined society whose divine origin
has to be maintained, whose organization has to be upheld against
all denial and revolt. That is an incomplete notion and but a partial
cure for the separatist, individualist tendency of the notion to which
it is opposed; a partial cure because it works only from without by
way of authority, instead of effective 'union' . If Christ is the
'Sacrament' of God, the Church is for us the sacrament of Christ;
she represents him, in the full and ancient meaning of the term; she
really makes him present. [56]
This notion of the inner reality of the Church was given a strong impetus by Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi, [57] in which he brought together the Body of Christ and the 'People of God' united to Christ, and Mediator Dei. [58] The different streams of this newly-inspired reflection upon the Church’s inner reality, its mystery, flowed into the discussions of Vatican II, and placed the Church at the center of attention. [59] The awareness of returning the image of the Church to patristic notions also brought into the ecclesiological foreground the patristic image of Mary and the Church intertwined. The task of Mary is also the task of the Church: “As it is the mother role of Mary to give to the 'World' the God-man, so it is the mother role of the Church, culminating in the celebration of the 'Eucharist' , to give us also Christ as the head, sacrifice and nourishment for the members of his mystical body.” [60] Finally, the 'Eschatological' significance of the close association of Mary and the Church finds expression in the dogmatic definition of Mary’s Assumption. [61] During the decades just prior to Vatican II, a particular representative of Scheeben’s Mariological thinking was C. Feckes. Known as the interpreter of Scheeben’ Mariology, he follows him in his understanding of the basic Marian principle: the divine-bridal motherhood; Mary is mother because she is bride and helpmate of Christ. [62] In his ecclesiology Feckes attempts to present the Church as the Christ-founded institution of salvation and places a strong emphasis on the ministerial priesthood, the mystical body of Christ. [63] Analogous to Augustine, [64] Feckes speaks of the Holy Spirit as the soul of the Church, as its animating and unifying power. [65] In unison with Scheeben he refers to the relatedness between Mary’s motherhood and that of the Church as a perichorese. [66] Above all, Mary’s place in the Church is characterized as that of the heart . [67] Mary is typos of the Church. Under the Cross she “becomes the mother of all the redeemed” and the mediatrix of graces. [68] The most perfect and original way in which the idea of the Church is realized is in Mary. [69] She is “the first of the redeemed, she is the ideal image of all the redeemed,” [70] and as the pre-redeemed she is model and archetype of the Church as the sum of all the after-redeemed. [71] The latter statement closely resembles the Marian teaching of Vatican II: Mary’s model character for all people of God. O. Cohausz is also strongly influenced by Scheeben, [72] and his argumentation is highly inspired by the Mary-Eve parallel with the primacy of the masculine gender. Mary is the model of creation and the representative of creation in the salvific event of Christ’s 'Incarnation' . [73] She is mother and bride of Christ. She is also our mother because she gave birth to us when she gave birth to Christ. Her motherhood toward us continues in her task as mediatrix of graces. [74] K. Adam and E. Przywara speak of Mary as “the inner form of the Church,” [75] and A. Müller comes to the conclusion, after investigating the patristic sources, that “Mary is the perfect realization of the Church–the essential mystery of the Church is the mystery of Mary.” [76] De Lubac also refers to the patristic tradition in which “the same biblical symbols are applied, either in turn or simultaneously, with one and the same ever-increasing profusion, to the Church and Our Lady.” [77] All the sources of the Church’s tradition point to the fact that everywhere the Church finds in Mary “its type and model, its point of origin and perfection: ‘The form of our mother the Church is according to the form of his [Christ’s] mother'.” [78] H. Rahner, too, speaks of the 'Unity' between Mary and the Church in his studies of the Church Fathers: “The early Church saw Mary and the Church as a single figure: type and antitype form one print as seal and wax.” [79] C. Dillenschneider depicts Mary in her role as the mother of the Messiah; he shows her place next to Christ and within the Church as the archetype [Urbild ] and inner portrait [Inbild] of the Church. [80] Mary stands with Christ at the center of salvation history, [81] and as his helpmate she also cooperates as the representative of humanity and the Church in the 'Incarnation', as well as on Golgotha in the Redemption. [82] Dillenschneider perceives Mary’s mediating role to be a consequence of her “yes” at the Incarnation as well as her “yes” under the Cross. Her “yes” has an ecclesiological perspective since “her general intercession in heaven is nothing else but the highest form of the ‘interceding’ 'Community' of saints.” [83] Prior to Vatican II, the French Mariological Society made its particular contribution to the Mary-Church theme through its three-year series of Marian studies, [84] whereby special mention needs to be made of Canon Philips, one of its members, who repeatedly wrote on this theme and who later became one of the main draftsmen of Chapter VIII of Lumen Gentium. [85] In 1958, the International Mariological Congress in Lourdes too had Maria et Ecclesia as its theme. [86]
Among the German-speaking theologians it was in particular Semmelroth
who discussed Mariology in its relatedness to ecclesiology
under the aspect of 'Archetype' [Urbild
]. He sees in Ambrose’s expression, Mary as the type
of the Church, the sum of the Church’s tradition,
“concerning the Church’s knowledge of its own nature.” [87]
It is within ecclesiology, where Mary’s place
in God’s plan of salvation should be viewed. [88]
Semmelroth sees
an essential element in the relationship of Mary to the Church in
the primitive etymological meaning of type, which in the fullest
sense is threefold. It can signify [1] a personification or representation
of a spiritual entity through some sort of image; [2] “the similarity
between Mary and the Church is the consequence of a very real, inner
connection. The features that make the archetype similar to the image
have somehow grown from the archetype into the image” [89]
; [3] it can be a moral example as a result
of this relationship. [90]
“When it has been established that Mary’s
relation to the Church and her members is factual and ontological,”
then there will be moral consequences, resulting in “a new relationship
in the moral and exemplary order.” Our lives will have to be ordered
“according to the life led by the Archetype before us.” [91] Subsequently, in search of a basic Mariological
principle, he claims: Because Mary was to be the type of the Church, she was given existence as the virginal Mother of God. There is no other Marian mystery which, as the intentional principle, could precede and give root to the position that Mary holds as type of the Church . . . all other Marian mysteries draw their inner meaning and connection from this basic mystery. [92]
At the center of the economy of salvation
and its very essence is the total Christ, that is, Christ with
the members of his mystical body. The Church is so intimately bound
to Christ that she becomes his mystical body, united to him as to
her head without any lessening of her bridal attitude toward him. [93]
It follows that the basic mystery of Mariology will be that which brings Mary closer to the center of the economy of salvation, which is the Church. This coming-together takes place through the bridal aspect of the divine motherhood, because here Mary shows herself as the completed bridal fiat for the advent and work of the Saviour. [94] In this context Semmelroth addresses also the question of co-redemption and speaks of Mary as “the type of the truly co redeeming Church which gives salvation.” [95] The task of the Church as the community of the redeemed in Christ [96] in God’s salvific plan casts light on Mary’s role within the history of salvation. “Mary cooperated with her own redemptio objectiva, which redemption, however, simultaneously signifies the reception of the fruits of salvation for the entire Church and which is therefore objective with regard to the individual.” [97] Thus, Semmelroth concludes that Mary, like the Church whose archetype she is, also mediates all graces [98] and affirms as type and pinnacle of the Church “Christ’s work and thereby disposed both herself and the Church within her for the pleroma of salvation.” [99] “In the divine motherhood, Mary was given the most perfect opportunity to prefigure the Church in a co-redemptive way,” [100] and in her Immaculate Conception “the Church emerges as the one essentially redeemed, the one that could never exist tainted with original sin and therefore, in the womb of humanity.” [101] Mary “personifies the Church as a symbol . . . personifies the Church as the primordial cell from which the Church extends in time and space . . . and is gathered into a juridically representative oneness.” However, writes Semmelroth, “There is no question of a Marian-Mystical Body. Rather, it is a Marian-bridal element within the Mystical Body of Christ.” [102] The redeemed state of the physical cosmos at the end of time shines forth in her body in which she partook in Christ’s death. As archetype, Mary’s body shows [in her Assumption] the Church’s fully redeemed body, and it lights the way for the body of the Church and shows that the transfiguration dwells like a seed within her corporeality. [103] Mary, the archetype, represents also the ideal type, the model and moral example “against whom the Church as a whole and all her members can examine their own attitude toward their redemption and fullness of grace as they work out their own lives. . . The Church living in her individual members needs Mary for her growth toward what she is and toward her hidden potential. Mary causes the essence of the Church to shine before individual human beings to appeal to their own moral efforts.” [104] Although Semmelroth emphasizes Mary's archetypal function in “the Church insofar as she is the bride of Christ and mother of the individual faithful,” [105] in actual terms it refers to the community of the lay faithful. Christ as the bridegroom is, so to speak, the archetype of the ministerial priesthood, while Mary is archetype of the Church in so far as she is laoV, as the community of the lay faithful, receiving and co-sacrificing, encounters Christ, who through the office of the ministerial priesthood stands before the lay faithful. [106] In his early work,
Schillebeeckx presents a more
integral thinking when referring to Mary’s position in the Church:
Mary lives in communion with her Son’s redemptive activity, joined to him in motherly love. Even though she is certainly outside the hierarchical Church and is fully a member of the community of the Church, she is nonetheless in the Church, the mother both of the ordinary believer and of the hierarchy. She is the mother in the Church both in the Church’s teaching authority and in her governing authority and pastoral office, because she occupies an eminent position in the work of redemption which the hierarchical Church must draw on. [107] It was the task of Vatican II [Lumen Gentium as well as the proclamation Mary, Mother of the Church ] to balance the somewhat prevailing perspective of contemplating Mary’s relationship with the Church and her place in the Church in vertical/horizontal categories [in terms of being placed “against”]. Mary, in her uniqueness as mother, helpmate, and associate of Christ in the entire work of redemption, [108] transcends such categories: as the pre-redeemed person, the immaculate original personification of the Church, she is the most excellent member and model of the Church, and at the same time the Mother of the Church, who is active as the educator of all the members. [109] Chapter Eight of Lumen Gentium It is significant that at the Council the Marian chapter became the final chapter of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. [110] The first chapter of the Constitution gives an exposition of the mystery of the Church, how this mystery is then unfolded in the People of God , in the hierarchical framework, and in the laity. The pondering of the mystery of the Church in the first chapter is presented in the final chapter in a personalized manner in the figure of Mary and her place in the mystery of Christ and of the Church. The developmental stages of the Marian schema during the Council from an independent schema until its insertion into the Constitution on the Church, reflects the Council's emphasis on integration, unity and on a reorientation of the sources of Christianity. The Council integrated the mysteries of our Faith into the one unifying mystery of salvation, Jesus Christ, who extends the saving efficacy of his resurrection to all people through the Church, his sacrament on earth. [111] By integrating Mariology into ecclesiology, Mary as an icon represents, in her person and the pertinent teaching about her, the mystery of Christ in the Church and its immeasurable effect on humankind in salvation history. Thus, Mariology has been approached not deductively, [112] but from the center of the mystery of salvation [113] and in this approach the traditional Mariological statements have been christologically and ecclesiologically integrated and rearranged. [114] This salvation-historical perspective is seen as a truly new theological perspective. [115] “The person, the mission, the privileges of Mary, and also the devotion offered to her, are not considered in themselves or in relation to her dignity as Mother of God. Rather, the whole treatment is developed and expanded in the broader framework of the history of salvation.” [116] This new perspective, presenting the Mother of God at her rightful place in salvation history, shows her as the example of the human person cooperating with grace in the work of salvation and also as the example of the Church, the sign and effective instrument of salvation. [117] She portrays the acting person and the acting ecclesial community and hence, evidences dimensions of anthropological and ecclesiological dynamics, which are important elements in the ecumenical dialogue. “The importance of Chapter VIII of Lumen Gentium lies in the value of its doctrinal synthesis and in its formulation of doctrine about the Blessed Virgin in the context of the mystery of Christ and of the Church. In this way the Council allied itself to the patristic tradition which gives a privileged place to the history of salvation in every theological tract; stressed that the Mother of the Lord is not a peripheral figure in our faith and in the panorama of theology; rather, she, through her intimate participation in the history of salvation, “in a certain way unites and mirrors within herself the central truths of the faith” [121] ; [and] formulated a common vision for the different positions about the way in which Marian matters are to be treated.” [122] Pope Paul VI not only confirmed Mary's place as type and model [123] of the Church, as expressed in Chapter VIII of Lumen Gentium, but also promulgated her place as “our mother in the order of grace” [124] through the solemn proclamation of Mary as Mother of the Church at the closing of the Third Session of the Council. [125] Aspects of the Mary and the Church in Postconciliar Magisterial Documents From the post-conciliar documents
the following shall be considered here:
Marialis Cultus, Signum
Magnum, and Redemptoris Mater. [126]
The dimensions of Mary's relatedness to the Church, flowing from her union with Christ, as presented in Chapter VIII of Lumen Gentium, and Pope Paul VI's proclamation of Mary's title Mother of the Church, are reiterated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. [127] In the Catechism the mystery of Mary is related primarily to the Trinitarian mystery. [128] Her relationship with the Church is within the section devoted to the Holy Spirit, which immediately links the establishment of the Church at Pentecost with the Incarnation of the word through Mary's cooperation. [129] As the spotless Bride, Mary is the example of the Church's holiness, and in this the Marian dimension of the Church precedes the petrine. [130] The Catechism further presents Mary as the exemplary realization of the Church, and her eschatological icon and preeminent sign of hope. [131] Mary's undivided unity with Christ marks her pilgrimage of faith and perseverance in faith [132] and her motherhood of the Church. [133] Pope Paul VI re-emphasises Mary's role as model and mother of the Church in Signum Magnum and in Marialis Cultus. [134] In Signum Magnum the Pope writes: Mary is the Mother of the Church–not only because she is the mother of Jesus Christ and his closest associate in ‘the new economy . . .’ but also because she ‘shines as the model of virtues for the whole community of the elect’. . . . She participated in the 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. [135] Now in heaven she carries on her motherly role, helping to nourish and foster the divine life in the souls of redeemed men. This truth is a most consoling one, and God in his wisdom has made it an integral part of the mystery of human salvation. [136] Again, in Marialis Cultus, which places emphasis on the integration of Marian devotion into Christian worship, the central understanding of Mary is given in her being the pre-eminent member of the Church, a shining example and the loving mother. The introduction points already to the centrality of Mary in the mystery of the Church: The Church's reflection today on the mystery of Christ and on her own nature has led her to find at the root of the former and as a culmination of the latter the same figure of a woman: the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ and the Mother of the Church. And the increased knowledge of Mary's mission has become joyful veneration of her and adoring respect for the wise plan of God, who has placed within his family [the Church], as in every home, the figure of a woman, who in a hidden manner and in a spirit of service watches over that family. [137] The interrelatedness between the Church and Mary is expressed in the following text: The faithful will be able to appreciate more easily Mary's mission in the mystery of the Church and her preeminent place in the communion of saints if attention is drawn to the Second Vatican Council's reference to the fundamental concepts of the nature of the Church as the Family of God, the People of God, the Kingdom of God and the Mystical Body of Christ. This will also bring the faithful to a deeper realization of the brotherhood which unites all of them as sons and daughters of the Virgin Mary, ‘who with a mother's love has cooperated in their rebirth and spiritual formation,’ and as sons and daughters of the Church. . . . They will also realize that both the Church and Mary collaborate to give birth to the Mystical Body of Christ since ‘both of them are the Mother of Christ, but neither brings forth the whole [body] independently of the other.’ [138] Similarly the faithful will appreciate more clearly that the action of the Church in the world can be likened to an extension of Mary's concern. [139] In Redemptoris Mater, Pope John Paul II gives an original synthesis of essential elements of chapter VIII of Lumen Gentium, Marialis Cultus, Signum Magnum, Christi Matri [140] and his personal reflections regarding Mary and the Church. Primarily the consideration is Mary's exceptional pilgrimage of faith in which she “advanced, faithfully preserving her union with Christ." [141] In this way the 'twofold bond' which unites the Mother of God with Christ and with the Church takes on historical significance.” [142] Ecclesiologically the Pope speaks within “the redemptive economy of grace” of a unique
correspondence between the moment of the Incarnation of the Word and
the moment of the birth of the Church. The person who links these
two moments is Mary: Mary at Nazareth and Mary in the Upper Room at
Jerusalem. In both cases her discreet yet essential presence indicates
the path of ‘birth from the Holy Spirit'. Thus she who is present
in the mystery of Christ as Mother becomes–by the will of the Son
and the power of the Holy Spirit–present in the mystery of the Church.
In the Church too she continues to be a maternal presence.…
[143] Mary as the believer par excellence is present in the “ecclesial journey or pilgrimage through space and time, and even more through the history of souls” [144] ; she is present when that journey–”the Church's pilgrimage through the history of individuals and peoples”–begins at Pentecost, yet Mary's journey of faith began already at the Annunciation. [145] The triad of Annunciation-Golgotha-Pentecost comes into perspective, as Mary, who is united in prayer with the disciples in the Upper Room “'goes before them,' 'leads the way' for them. The moment of Pentecost in Jerusalem had been prepared for by the moment of the Annunciation in Nazareth, as well as by the Cross. In the Upper Room, Mary's journey meets the Church's journey of faith.” [146] The indissoluble unity of Mary with the mystery of Christ is constitutive of her indissoluble unity with the Church, therefore at “the basis of what the Church has been from the beginning, and of what she must continually become from generation to generation, in the midst of all the nations on earth” is Mary, the believer [Lk 1:45]. [147] It is precisely her “faith which marks the beginning of the new and eternal Covenant of God with man in Jesus Christ” [1] ; and this heroic faith of hers ‘precedes’ the apostolic witness of the Church, and ever remains in the Church's heart, hidden like a special heritage of God's revelation. All those who from generation to generation accept the apostolic witness of the Church share in that mysterious inheritance and in a sense share in Mary's faith. [148] Thus “she offers hope to those . . . who are still on the journey.” She is at the same time “an icon of fidelity for the Church as a whole, a concrete symbol of hope that the Church as a whole may not stray from the path of truth and faithful action in response to the Gospel.” [149] Mary's presence in the mystery of the Church is more than that of a model and figure, because “the Church's mystery also consists in generating people to a new and immortal life: this is her motherhood in the Holy Spirit. And here Mary is … much more. For, “with maternal love she cooperates in the birth and development” of the sons and daughters of Mother Church.” [150] Christ's word from the cross [Jn 19: 26-27], which determines Mary's place in the life of the faithful, expresses the new motherhood of Mother of the Redeemer: a spiritual motherhood, born from the heart of the Paschal Mystery of the Redeemer of the world. It is a motherhood in the order of grace, for it implores the gift of the Spirit who raises up the new children of God, redeemed through the sacrifice of Christ: that Spirit who together with the Church Mary too received on the day of Pentecost. . . . Her motherhood is particularly noted and experienced by the Christian people . . . at the liturgical celebration of the mystery of the redemption. . . . Mary guides the faithful to the Eucharist. [151] In this context the Pope speaks of a “Marian dimension of the life of Christ's disciple,” that is, Mary's motherhood is “a gift which Christ himself makes personally to every individual. . . . At the foot of the Cross there begins that special entrusting of humanity to the Mother of Christ. . . .” [152] Like the apostle John, the Christian who responds to this gift “’welcomes’ the Mother of Christ ‘into his own home’ and brings her into everything that makes up his inner life, that is to say into his human and Christian ‘I’. . . . This filial relationship, this self-entrusting of a child to its mother, not only has its beginning in Christ but also can be said to be definitively directed toward him.” [153] The Church always maintains a close link with Mary “which embraces, in the saving mystery, the past, the present and the future, and venerates her as the spiritual mother of humanity and the advocate of grace.” [154] In conclusion
it can be said: just as in pre-conciliar writings the relationship between Mary and the
Church seems to have been restricted to Mary’s model character and
this pre-dominantly for the lay faithful, e.g., Semmelroth,
so in post-conciliar Mariological-ecclesiological
writings there seems to be a danger of limiting Mary's relationship
with the Church in metaphorical, symbolical terms. [155]
Here, the writings of Pope Paul VI and Pope
John Paul II propose significant perspectives for a more balanced
view. What emerged from the conciliar discussion
and from post-conciliar magisterial documents
regarding Mary and the Church suggests a balanced approach to this
complex issue. The Council indeed marked a turning point in the Church's
approach to her own identity and mission which consequently affected
Marian theology and spirituality. |
[40] M. J. Scheeben, Mariology, trans. by T. L. M. J. Geukers, 2 Vols. (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1947), 216-217. |
[45] The Founder of the International Schoenstatt Movement. |