Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

Monday, April 16, 2012

The Virgin Mary: Perfect Instrument of Jesus

The saints were ones who were given a special privilege to God but also chose in a high degree to give themselves and love God. Each 'yes' of the saint is 'yes' to different aspects of God since God is infinite and not simply binary. He is, so to speak, of an infinite amount of colors and different saints focused on different aspects or colors of God. The way this translates is that there are saints that are patrons of different countries, different careers, or different situations in life. Since everything that is created is a reflection of the infinity of God, those that had a particular love for some aspect of creation consequently had a particular love for that 'reflection' of God. So if you really love the people of China over and above other people, you will also love that particular aspect of God in a way that is more than others who loved other aspects of God. That's why some saints have more influence with certain situations than others because in their life they had a special dedication to that specific situation. So if you choose, for instance, to love animals with a particular love on Earth, this will affect the love that you have access to in Heaven, since you chose to love the aspect of God that is reflected in animals. There are saints that loved with such an intense love that they have more universal love that is able to cover more people. Examples would be the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph. They had a love for God that encompassed a wider variety of aspects of the creation than most other saints, therefore they have more influence in Heaven since they loved more universally on Earth. So if we think of God's infinity in terms of the spectrum of light...those that opened their hearts more widely on Earth will be able to allow more of God's light (in terms of spectrum) shine from Heaven. What is the role then of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is able to allow a greater outpouring of God's light for several reasons. Due to the special gift of her Immaculate Conception, she has a superabundant freedom and ability to say yes to God and so to love His creation in a way far above that of other humans. So in this way, Mary had a head start, in that she required no healing of her ability to say yes to God. She had no interior stumbling blocks in embracing all that is a part of the mystery of God. Let's come up with a simple analogy to help explain the difference between Mary and the other saints. If Jesus is a race car driver and we are cars, then it seems that he wants to drive us past the finish line. We will finish the race depending on how fast we can go but also how little time we need to re-fill on gas and fix the car. If we require constant fill-ups and constant engine check-ups, then we will finish the race but while taking a very long time. If we have nothing to fix and are fuel-efficient, then we will finish the race at the time that is appropriate for us. So while the other cars are not as fuel efficient and are missing certain parts or have defective parts, Mary is both fuel-efficient and in perfect working condition. Therefore she can finish the race before many of us can even get ourselves started. She finishes the race so fast, that she can drive Jesus back and forth to help those that have blown out tires, have run out of gas, or haven't even started the race. In this way, we can say that Mary is the Co-Redemptrix, in that she was so effectively healed by Christ at her conception that she was a true vehicle for bringing forth God's grace into the world. Now while Jesus could have finished the race without use of a car, out of love for Mary he allowed her to be a instrument of his power.