Ask Father Mateo
Msg Base: AREA 5 - ASK FATHER CIN ECHO AMDG
Msg No: 135. Tue 9-10-91 15:28
From: Father Mateo
To: Ted Ludwig
Subject: More Questions about Mary
³ Father, I have some confusion when it comes to Mary. I did not attend
³ Catholic Schools, but did attend CCD classes. At the time I attended the
³ current philosophy was to determine your own consience and not on
³ Scripture and Church Dogma. It seems like a whole generation of Catholics
³ , me and many of my friends were sort left without a clue as to what is th
³ e truth. We were told to just Follow our Conscience, but that is
³ difficult when one does not know the church's teachings. My parish priest
³ suggested that I attend RICA so that I may learn the things that I never
³ learned before. I have received the sacraments up through confirmation.
³ So ,as no to ramble any longer I have a couple of questions. In Luke
³ 8:19-21 the scripture seems to put Jesus' family as no more important than
³ any other follower. I get confused between Catholic teaching (which I
³ said I am not too familiar with) and what my protestant friends say is
³ Mary's role. It seems that scripture states that the only way to the
³ Father is through Jesus. If this is so, why do we need intercessors. By
³ the way, I do believe in the Sacrament of Penance and its scriptural
³ backing. Can you give me an idea of some good literature I can read to
³ get some answers. I'm seem to somtimes have a crisis of faith because of
³ my ignorance. I do believe that Jesus is the savior and the son of god.
³ I also believe that he is present in the eucharist, but many other things
³ I do not know. Oh well, I won't take any more of your time. Thank you
³ very much for your help.
Dear Ted,
For your further Catholic instruction, I recommend Father John
Hardon's "Catholic Catechism" (Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-08045-X,
paperbound). Also, please write to Catholic Answers, P.O. Box 17181,
San Diego, CA 92177 and ask for their catalog. It has books and
pamphlets, tapes and videos on every conceivable Catholic subject.
If you were ever told just "to determine your own conscience without
reference to Scripture and Church dogma," you were a victim of a
blind leader who badly misled you. Of course, we must follow our
consciences. They are our inner determinant of right and wrong in
our every action.
But the uninstructed conscience is no help to right action. We have
a personal obligation to form our consciences according to objective
moral norms. If you are convinced that God has made a revelation and
entrusted it to His Church, you are bound to inquire about that
revelation, learn its content, and follow it. No one is a Catholic
whose beliefs and conscience are unformed by Catholic teaching.
Now with regard to your questions on Mary, will you please download
message 139 (to Dan Pacheco) and message 140 (to Timothy Anderson) on
this Ask Father conference?
About Luke 8:19-21, may I ask you to read also Luke 11:27-28? Now
let me give you a quote from a very PROTESTANT book, the German
Evangelical Adult Catechism: "Mary is not only 'Catholic', she is
also 'Evangelical.' Protestants tend to forget that. But Mary
clearly is the mother of Jesus and closer to him than the closest
disciples..... A woman from the crowd says to Jesus: 'Blest is the
womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!' Jesus replies:
`Blest are they who hear the word of God and keep it.' But does that
not apply precisely to Mary? She is depicted as exemplary hearer of
God's word, as the handmaid of the Lord who says 'Yes' to the will of
God.... Mary is the pattern for men who let themselves be opened and
gifted by God, of the community of believers, of the Church." (I
lifted this quote from Albert Nevins' book 'Answering a
Fundamentalist' published by Our Sunday Visitor Press, ISBN
0-87973-433-7, $5.95.)
(continued in next message)
##Mmr 2.38á. !link TL 8-17-91 23:04
.ORIGIN: 023/000 - CATHOLIC INFORMATION NETWORK #1, SAN DIEGO (619) 287-5828
Msg Base: AREA 5 - ASK FATHER CIN ECHO AMDG
Msg No: 136. Tue 9-10-91 15:39
From: Father Mateo
To: Ted Ludwig
Subject: More Questions about Mary
(continued from previous message)
The Bible uses the word 'mediator' four times of Jesus (1st Tim 2:5;
Hebrews 8:6, 9:15, 12:24). Now Hebrews 8:6 implies that a mediator
is a minister, i.e., one who engages in a spiritual service to
people. A mediator is a go-between. The mediator of the New
Covenant is Jesus. He is God and man, so he in his own person spans
the chasm between sinful man and God. By his Sacrifice on the
Cross,, he pays the debt for his sinful brothers and sisters, our
whole human race, and so can offer us reconciliation to the Father.
That is why BY NATURE and IN FULLNESS he is the one Mediator between
God and us.
Now here we Catholics part company with Protestants, who deny that in
any way Jesus can SHARE his mediatorship with us. We say He does by
reason of the fact that He UNITES us to Himself as MEMBERS of His
Mystical Body, His Church, of which He Himself is head (Romans
12:4-5; 1st Cor. 10:17, 12:12-27; Ephesians 1:22-23, 2:15-16;
Colossians 1:18-24, 3:15).
We live by His life as an interior, vivifying principle (Gal. 2:20).
Therefore, as we share His life, we also share His ministry of
service for others. We are His co-mediators in two ways: 1) by
sharing in His priesthood (Rev 1:6, 5:10, 20:6), and 2) by
intercession, by praying for others.
Christ is the sole perfect Mediator, Priest, and Intercessor. We
share all that. Our activity and merit does not detract from His--it
all FLOWS from His. We draw all our saving, ministering power FROM
HIM. Out of His overflowing love and generosity, He freely wills to
dissociate us with Himself in power and in pain, so that we may share
His eternal joy, reward, and glory (2 Cor 1:3-7, Phil 2:12-18; Rom
8:17) as we have believed in Him and shared His afflictions.
That is why the famous "One Mediator" text of 1st Timothy 2:5-6 is so
widely misunderstood. It must not be torn out of context and read by
itself. The text is bracketed by St. Paul's urging Timothy and his
people to become intercessors themselves for others (2:1-2), because
others' salvation depends on their intercession (implied in 2:4); and
by Paul's witness (2:7) that he himself is a preacher, and apostle to
the Gentiles, implying that his own ministry was instrumental in
bringing the Gentiles to salvation, in dependence upon Jesus' unique
mediation.
Since all churchmembers, alive in Christ, are participants in his
saving activity, so also and more so is His Mother, the holiest and
greatest disciple of us all, the closest and most like to her Son.
So she is called Mediatrix, Universal Intercessor, Co-Redeemer par
excellence. The same is true of the other saints in their degree,
all of them our brothers and sisters in Christ, as she is our Mother.
Sincerely in Christ,
Father Mateo