Mary was an instrument of redemption, Mary: Day 050

Last updated on: September 9, 2015 at 3:30 am by Pete Socks

Mary was an instrument of redemption, Mary: Day 050 2015-08-22T08:14:47-05:00 Pete Socks

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Mary was an instrument of redemption

St. John of Damascus speaks to God the Son, declaring all that he accom- plished by taking on flesh to redeem us. Then comes an important question: Who was the human instrument God chose to make that redemption possible?

The Father predestined her; the prophets foretold her through the Holy
Spirit. His sanctifying power overshadowed her, cleansed her, and made her holy. Then you, Word of the Father, leaving your place in heaven, invited the lowliness of our nature to be united to the immeasurable greatness of your unsearchable nature as God.

You took your flesh from the flesh of the Blessed Virgin. It was given life by a reasoning soul and dwelled in her undefiled and immaculate womb. Creating yourself, and causing her to exist in you, you became perfect Man without ceas- ing to be perfect God, equal to your Father but taking upon yourself our weak- ness through unspeakable goodness.

Having become in this way the mediator between God and man, you destroyed our enmity with you. You led back to your Father those who had deserted him, the wanderers back to their home, and those in darkness back to the light. You brought pardon to the contrite and changed mortality into immortality.

You delivered the world from the error of belief in many gods, and you made men the children of God, partakers of your divine glory. You raised the human race, which was condemned to hell, above all power and majesty. And in your Person, it is now seated on the King’s eternal throne in heaven.

Who was the instrument of these infinite benefits, beyond all thought and comprehension, if not the mother, ever-virgin, who gave you birth?
—St. John of Damascus, First Homily on the Dormition

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
Does it detract from the glory of God to say that he chose Mary as his instru- ment in our redemption through Christ? Does it lessen the praise for a potter to say that he chose the finest of clays to create his masterpiece?

CLOSING PRAYER
From a prayer of St. Catherine of Siena: You, Mary, are the young plant that pro- duced the fragrant flower of the Word, only-begotten of God, because you were the fertile land that was sown with this Word.

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