MARIOLOGY

I'm often asked about Mary, the mother of Jesus. I have about twenty Catholic texts used in Catholic seminaries and referred to in the teaching of priests. The average Catholic would not believe what the Church actually teaches about her! It is downright heresy! Some years ago I wrote a book entitled "The Teaching of the Catholic Church—Taken from Their Own Textbooks." It is an awesome volume that is quite revealing about their Mariology. Below is a quick summary: "By a special intervention of God, she was preserved from the stain of original sin." "Her many names: 'The Mother of the Homeless, Widowed Mother, Mother of a Political Prisoner, Unwed Mother, Liberator of the Oppressed, Seeker of Sanctuary, and First Disciple.' "Mother of God" therefore endowed with a form of divine perfection." "Immaculate Conception." She was uniquely conceived, was immune from sin, personal or inherited." "She remained throughout her life a virgin." "Free from sexual desire." "At the birth of Jesus, there was non-injury to her hymen and consequently no pain in the birth of Jesus." "She was taken bodily into heaven." "She is now clothed with the sun and stars in glory, according to Revelation 12." (What a terrible misinterpretation of the book of Revelation!) "Mary had an intimate share in Christ's battle against Satan and in His victory over Satan and sin, she must also have participated intimately in His victory over death." "Since she has Divine Motherhood, she has the right to reign as Queen of Heaven." "Mary's royal merit is based on her intrinsic connection with Christ in His work of Redemption." "Mary is the new Eve." "Christ is the Mediator, Mary is the Mediatrix of the whole world." "Since she gave forth Christ, the Redeemer, she is the Source now of all graces." "She is the Coredemptress. She co-operates in the giving of Redemption to mankind." "Nobody can approach Christ except through the Mother, she is the dispenser of all gifts." "Nobody can achieve salvation except through her." "She is the Most Holy One." "God wished that we have nothing, except by the hand of Mary" --St. Bernard of Clairvaux. "She may receive special veneration because she is the Mother of God." "There are two special feasts for Mary: The Feast of her Home-Going (her Assumption to heaven, and her birth." "She is joined by an inseparable bond to the saving work of her Son." "We continually ask her, as our mother, to pray and intercede for us before the throne of God." "Mary's role in God's plan may be best summed up in the phrase 'To Jesus through Mary.'" "It is in Mary that the Church finds her fulfillment." "Through her is the plan of universal salvation." Verses that go against Mariology: "The grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many (who are to be saved)" (Rom. 5:15). "There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). "There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5). "Christ Jesus … who is at the right hand of God; who also intercedes for us" (Rom. 8:34). "Jesus is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them" (Heb. 7:25). "I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through Me" (John 14:6). -- Dr. Mal Couch (10/10)