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Day 17

A reading from the second Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians (5:17-21)

Brothers and sisters:

Whoever is in Christ is a new creation:

the old things have passed away;

behold, new things have come.

And all this is from God,

who has reconciled us to himself through Christ

and given us the ministry of reconciliation,

namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,

not counting their trespasses against them

and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

So we are ambassadors for Christ,

as if God were appealing through us.

We implore you on behalf of Christ,

be reconciled to God.

For our sake God made Christ to be sin who did not know sin,

so that in Christ we might become the righteousness of God.

From Devotion to Mary in the Church by Fr. Louis Bouyer

Mary is Co-Redemptrix in the same way as the rest of us, in the first place i.e., inasmuch as the redemption cannot simply be received passively and iust submitted to by humanity….ln no way do we wish to insinuate that God and man can in some way collaborate on the same plane in the work of salvation, no matter how small, how insignificant one would make the part of man in this work. In the work of salvation, iust as in creation, all comes from God. But precisely for this reason salvation is not less efficacious nor any less real than creation; in fact all its efficacy consists in resurrecting the entire reality of the creation. lt is a fallen being, and not another, which is to be elevated. lt is the very thing which was lost which must be saved. lt is necessary , then, that there be the closest

bond, the most solid continuity between the dead being which we became and the living beings which we are to become again. lt follows that salvation for all its gratuity cannot be given to us as a complete whole.

There is not only the matter of making it fruitful in ourselves, but also the free action of man for all its mysteriousness should already be included in the very gift of God. That is why there is no redemption

without suffering. lt is not as if human suffering contributes any value to the cross of Jesus. On the contrary the cross of Jesus because it is the cross of the Son of God gives value to human suffering.Without this communion in suffering which the sin of Adam had brought upon humanity, we cannot share in the glory of the Son of God. "lf we suffer with Him," says St. Paul, "we shall be glorified with Him." lt is in this sense that we must understand his exhortation to "work at our salvation with fear and trembling." And in the same way, we can understand how this statement in no way opposes what he adds: "knowing that it is God who works in us to will and to accomplish."

In the light of these thoughts, we can understand how the Blessed Virgin, standing at the foot of the Cross, her heart pierced by the prophecy of Simeon, represents in an eminent way this cooperation which humanity in its entirety has to contribute towards its own salvation, even though that humanity owes it solely to the strength of her divine Head.

lf we add two considerations, it seems that we will have assembled everything that theologians or the faithful who apply to Mary the title of "Co-Redemptrix" can include under this expression. In the sense which we have already developed one can say that it is the entire Mystical Body which is "co-redeemer". How, then, can we apply the expression in a special way to Mary? First of all, because of the precedence, not only chronological but ontological, of her response to grace when compared with our own response. To put this another way, the special application of this title to Mary is only a special consequence of her maternity of grace. On the other hand the virginity, as well as maternity of Mary, can earn for her this signal attribution. Because of the complete absence of sin in Mary, human suffering finds in the Virgin a strictly incomparable perfection in its correspondence with the suffering, properly redemptive of Jesus.

We are all personally, at least in some measure, the cause of the sufferings we undergo. She alone, with Jesus, could accept them with an absolutely pure generosity. Her "Com-passion" (in the etymological sense of the word, surpassing all the sentimental considerations which it evokes) is, therefore, of a quality absolutely sui generis, and in that measure has an entirely singular efficacy for the entire Mystical Body. lf it is true that all that a member suffers and all that he does has its influence on all, with how much more reason is this true when its suffering is disinterested to this degree that its action is inaccessible to selfishness?

Nothing would be more false than to conclude that Mary had less need of salvation and of grace than all of us. lf the expression "Co- Redemptrix" could lead to such an aberration there is no doubt that the Catholic Church would condemn it mercilessly, for the truth is absolutely opposed to it. In theology, as well as in Catholic spirituality, Mary is, on the contrary, the very example of what grace is, of what grace is able to do, and what grace does. Not only is she in need of the salvation earned by her Son, iust as much as we are, but all her privileges can be simply summed up by saying that she has been saved in a more marvelous manner than any other person. This is exactly what a more precise study of the relation between Mary and the Church is going to show us.

Musical Selection (Tallis)

Alleluia, Ora pro nobis pia virgo Maria. Unde Christum natus est pro nobis pecatoribus. Ora.

Alleluia, pray for us, devout virgin Mary, from whom Christ was born for our sins. Pray.

Prayer

Lord our God, through the Precious Blood of your Son

you reconciled the world to yourself

and at the foot of his Cross

you chose the Blessed Virgin Mary

to be the Mother of reconciliation for sinners;

grant through her intercession

that we may obtain pardon for our sins.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Mother of Reconciliation)

Refuge of sinners, pray for us.

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