God loves order! The sun and moon set and rise; water evaporates off of oceans and lakes, which turns into clouds, which then rains on the earth. Spring yields to summer, then to fall, then to winter, and back to spring. "To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.
A time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal ...
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance ...
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to lose and a time to seek;
a time to rend and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
A time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal ...
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance ...
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to lose and a time to seek;
a time to rend and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
God established an order beginning with creation which sustains through eternity - "as it was in the beginning, is now, and forever shall be!" That order extends to His decision on how He chose to incarnate His son. He could have done it anyway He wanted. Instead, He chose Mary. Therefore, "... in suffering with Him as He died on the cross, she cooperated in the work of the Savior, in an altogether singular way, by obedience, faith, hope, and burning love, to restore supernatural life to souls. As a result she is our Mother in the order of grace." Lumen gentium # 61-62 (emphasis mine)
But wait! Mary is even more than that! St. Bernadine of Sienna states "[F]or by excellent order, [grace] is dispensed from God to Christ, from Christ to the Virgin, from the Virgin to us." Mary is the dispenser of grace! This was established by God in the order that He first established with Mary. Remember, Mary's role was not necessary. God is God! But because God chose Mary, in it He establishes an order which we cannot ignore. An order established by God by its very nature is perfect, and therefore operates in both directions. This means, that our path to Jesus is through Mary!
Now then that we understand Mary in the order of grace, let's take it a little further. To whom may Mary dispense grace? To whomever she wants! Think about the Wedding at Cana. "Do as He tells you," was her order to the servants, after she told Jesus that there was no more wine. Would she not, while in perpetual union with Christ, continue to say to us, "do as He tells you?" And would we not then be beneficiaries of grace bestowed upon us from God, through Jesus, and through Mary?
Where am I going with this? There was once a time in Europe when it was all Catholic. It is no longer that way. Through the sins of the Catholic Church, many, many people have been misled. Through no fault of their own, they have been separated from the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. My belief in a good and gracious God would leave a path for a non-Catholic to make it to heaven (no way am I implying that all Catholics get to heaven). How would this happen? Through Mary! If Mary is the dispenser of grace, through her eternal union with Christ, she may dispense grace upon non-Catholics as she sees fit. If this were true, then what comes naturally out of her role as Mediatrix is a role as the Great Equalizer - the Bridge on the path to salvation for non-Catholics.
This does not grant an exemption to non-Catholics to remain that way. Jesus Himself says so: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. (John 6:53)." Even further, St. Louis de Monfort proclaimed "As in the natural life a child must have a father and a mother, so in the supernatural life of grace a true child of the Church must have God for his Father and Mary for his mother."** But I would like to believe that Mary, in her role as Mediatrix and dispenser of Grace, could and would at the precise salvific moment, in her perfect union with Christ, bring about act of grace to a soul in most, great need.
*Theology 523: Our Lady in Doctrine and Devotion, by Father William G. Most. Copyright (c) 1994 William G. Most; from an Electronic text (c) Copyright EWTN 1996. All rights reserved.
** The Secrets of Mary, St. Louis de Monfort; from an Electronic Copyright (c) 1998 EWTN. All Rights Reserved.
But wait! Mary is even more than that! St. Bernadine of Sienna states "[F]or by excellent order, [grace] is dispensed from God to Christ, from Christ to the Virgin, from the Virgin to us." Mary is the dispenser of grace! This was established by God in the order that He first established with Mary. Remember, Mary's role was not necessary. God is God! But because God chose Mary, in it He establishes an order which we cannot ignore. An order established by God by its very nature is perfect, and therefore operates in both directions. This means, that our path to Jesus is through Mary!
Now then that we understand Mary in the order of grace, let's take it a little further. To whom may Mary dispense grace? To whomever she wants! Think about the Wedding at Cana. "Do as He tells you," was her order to the servants, after she told Jesus that there was no more wine. Would she not, while in perpetual union with Christ, continue to say to us, "do as He tells you?" And would we not then be beneficiaries of grace bestowed upon us from God, through Jesus, and through Mary?
Where am I going with this? There was once a time in Europe when it was all Catholic. It is no longer that way. Through the sins of the Catholic Church, many, many people have been misled. Through no fault of their own, they have been separated from the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. My belief in a good and gracious God would leave a path for a non-Catholic to make it to heaven (no way am I implying that all Catholics get to heaven). How would this happen? Through Mary! If Mary is the dispenser of grace, through her eternal union with Christ, she may dispense grace upon non-Catholics as she sees fit. If this were true, then what comes naturally out of her role as Mediatrix is a role as the Great Equalizer - the Bridge on the path to salvation for non-Catholics.
This does not grant an exemption to non-Catholics to remain that way. Jesus Himself says so: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. (John 6:53)." Even further, St. Louis de Monfort proclaimed "As in the natural life a child must have a father and a mother, so in the supernatural life of grace a true child of the Church must have God for his Father and Mary for his mother."** But I would like to believe that Mary, in her role as Mediatrix and dispenser of Grace, could and would at the precise salvific moment, in her perfect union with Christ, bring about act of grace to a soul in most, great need.
*Theology 523: Our Lady in Doctrine and Devotion, by Father William G. Most. Copyright (c) 1994 William G. Most; from an Electronic text (c) Copyright EWTN 1996. All rights reserved.
** The Secrets of Mary, St. Louis de Monfort; from an Electronic Copyright (c) 1998 EWTN. All Rights Reserved.
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