WHERE IS HOLY MOTHER CHURCH HEADING AS WE NEAR THE MILLENNIUM?

INTRODUCTION
      The Feature Article, begun in the inaugural issue two years ago, deals with the state of the Church. We continue probing the question that has perplexed the Magisterium and the laity for the past 30 years as the liberal element has left its mark, effecting changes that have seemingly watered down the "Roman Catholic" traditions. Yet, God in His Infinite Wisdom, has allowed this to happen for a specific purpose. He has been preparing us in a special way by sending His very Own Blessed Mother to guide us and remind us of our roots. Through perseverance, prayer and loyalty to Holy Mother Church headed by the Holy Father John Paul II and adhered to by the faithful who will not compromise, the pendulum is beginning to swing back toward the conservative side. In the seventieth installment of this on-going feature series, we continue to sound the clarion as a wake-up call to all Catholics, especially bringing to the attention of all Catholics the necessity to mobilize the laity for the sake of Holy Mother Church. If we don't pay attention, we shall pay dearly as the third millennium dawns. We continue to alert the reader to what is happening and sound the call to arms, to enlist in Mary's army and take up the battle cry. God said it, we believe it, that settles it! Too many Catholics are going their own way with little regard to what their spiritual shepherd - the Vicar of Christ says. Sin is whitewashed. If we're not careful there will be a tremendous backwash and who among us wants to get caught in the vortex of that swirling whirlpool of Justice? With this chapter we interrupt the article begun last week by Father Dominik Maria to bring you Dr. Mark Miravalle's rationale for the Final Marian Dogma, all part of the tableau for the ultimate Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary which will signal the beginning of the glorious Reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the new era of peace, the time Our Lady told Saint Bernadette, will be the "Second Golden Age of Mankind." This series is a set blueprint for Catholics everywhere to take up the banner of truth in defending Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church as we prepare for this glorious event.

      With the Solemnity of Pentecost just around the corner and coinciding this year with the Feast of the Visitation and the day Pope Benedict XV set aside for dioceses from Belgium to anywhere else in the world to honor the Blessed Mother with the title of Mary, Mediatrix of all graces, there has been quite a bit of speculation that the Holy Father will proclaim the Dogma of Mary as CoRedemptrix, Advocate, and Mediatrix of all graces. While this still seems a long shot, it would seem the perfect time to bring you, in two parts, the rationale for this "Final Dogma" by Dr. Mark Miravalle, founder of Vox Populi Mariae Mediatrici which means "Voice of the People for Mary Mediatrix." Dr. Miravalle, a professor of Theology and Mariology from Franciscan University at Stuebenville, is author of the book "Mary: Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate." We bring this to you today with the second part tomorrow in lieu of our Significant Site of the Week. Also, next week in this series we will resume the second part of Father Dominik Maria's treatise on the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart.

      We are all privileged to be living during the climax of the universally designated "Age of Mary". International Marian centers such as Lourdes, Fatima, and places of contemporary apparition, as well as numerous other contemporary Marian movements manifest this present climax of love and devotion to the Mother of Jesus throughout the world.

      But along with a climax in devotion to our Lady, this Age of Mary is also crucially calling for a climax in the doctrine about Mary. For authentic love of Mary must be firmly based upon the authentic truth about Mary. Up to the present time in the history of the church, four Marian doctrines have been defined as central Catholic truths by the Church: The Motherhood of God, the Immaculate Conception, the perpetual Virginity of Mary, and her glorious Assumption into heaven. It is now time for the Church, at the summit of this Marian era, to proclaim and define the fifth and final Marian doctrine, that is, Mary's co-redemptive role as Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix of all grace, and Advocate for the people of God.

      When the Church invokes Mary under the title, "Coredemptrix", she means that Mary uniquely participated in the redemption of the human family by Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. At the Annunciation (cf. Lk. 1:38), Mary freely cooperated in giving the Second Person of the Trinity his human body, which is the very instrument of redemption, as Scripture tells us: "We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb. 10:10).

      And at the foot of the cross of our Saviour (Jn. 19:26), Mary's intense sufferings, united with those of her Son, as Pope John Paul II tells us, were, "also a contribution to the Redemption of us all" (Salvifici Doloris, N. 25). Because of this intimate sharing in the redemption accomplished by the Lord, the Mother of the Redeemer is uniquely and rightly referred to by Pope John Paul II and the Church as the "Coredemptrix."

      It is important to note that the prefix "co" in the title Coredemptrix does not mean "equal to", but rather "with", coming from the Latin word, cum. The Marian title Coredemptrix never places Mary on a level of equality with her divine Son, Jesus Christ. Rather it refers to Mary's unique human participation, which is completely secondary and subordinate to the redeeming role of Jesus, who alone is true God and true man.

      Secondly, Mary is invoked in the Church under the title of Mediatrix of all grace. All the graces which flow from the redemption of Jesus Christ are granted to the human family through the motherly intercession of Mary.

      Mary mediated Jesus Christ, the Author of all graces, to the world when she agreed to be the human mother of God made man (cf. Lk. 1:38). And from the cross at Calvary (Jn. 19:26) and as the final gift to humanity, Jesus gives Mary as a spiritual mother to us all: "Son, behold your mother" (cf. Jn. 19:26). For this reason, Vatican II refers to Mary as "a mother to us in the order of grace" (Lumen Gentium, n. 62) and several twentieth century popes have officially taught the doctrine of Mary as Mediatrix of all graces, quoting the words of St. Bernard: "It is the will of God that we obtain all favors through Mary." The Mediatrix performs this task in intimate union with the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, with whom she began the drama of our Lord's Redemption at the Annunciation (cf. Lk. 1:35).

TOMORROW: Advocate for the People of God and Vox Populi Mariae Mediatrici