Mary: The Gift of Mercy - Explaining the Faith

everyone from around the world and welcome to our continuing series of talks today Mary the gift of God's mercy as you can see our Blessed Mother is our Guiding help and a gift of the mercy of God so hello and thanks for joining us I'm father Chris ALR of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception here at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge Massachusetts and we're coming to you live which is in one sense a real difficulty because I don't like talking to an empty Church it's very difficult but I just keep in mind that we've got viewers all over the world so hopefully there's a few of you today tuning in I know what the church is opening that's great and the weather being better now people are going outside so if we can at least get dozen or so are you listening today we we've done something right so today as brother Mark will show you on the screen is a continuing talk of our series called explaining the faith and I've done some talks already on a walk through the mass why the Catholic faith has the trueness of the faith I did one on confession and this is a continuing talk on this series that you can get this DVD on Shop Mercy dot org or if you want to stream it on the Divine Mercy org slash explaining the faith now it's not exactly the same I'm gonna give you kind of an overview and today's topic is our Blessed Mother and I tell you what you need to be able to know these things because we're challenged all the time where's Mary in the Bible and and we're not supposed to honor anybody other than Jesus and we're gonna talk about that today so stay with us as we walk through this important concept and this most important gift of God's mercy and so again part of the explaining the faith series now as you probably know Mary being a gift of God's mercy is misunderstood and that's why we're here today to talk to you and hopefully clarify so you can understand the role of our Blessed mother better and love her even more because you could never love her more than Jesus did right all right now since Mary is the mother of Jesus right she's also the mother of the church why because Jesus's body is the church so Jesus or excuse me if Mary's a mother Jesus and Jesus is the body of the church she's also the mother of the church and guess what Monday the day after Pentecost were celebrating the Feast Mary the mother of the church now this is important and since we make up the church she's the mother of us also because we are the church we represent John or John represented us I should say at the cross when Jesus gave Mary to John as a gift to us as well and this is what we're gonna talk about today now I said last week there's no salvation outside of Jesus and Jesus's body is the church and since we need Jesus for salvation and his body is the church we also need the church for salvation that was the message last week if you want to learn more about it you could tune in we still have those up on YouTube now to be a full member though of the church we need the church's mother and that's who we said is Mary Jesus gave us the church and the mother of the church to get us to heaven this is important basically the church teaches us to Jesus through Mary not to Mary instead of Jesus as we're accused none of that stuff it's to Jesus through Mary and the church because she's the mother so this is what's going on here now look at your screen you see a foot crushing a serpent now depending on what translation of the Bible you read if you want to go all the way back to the Douay Rheims there's all kinds of translations about the gender neuter pronoun and he will crush your head but in some versions like the dreams it says she will crush the head of the serpent now in Bible people said well where's Mary in the Bible well actually God honored Mary above all creatures and we know by the way Jesus did as well at Cana so if God honored Mary above all creatures so should we I always tell my seventh-grade catechism hey guys come on if you could create your own mother wouldn't you make her perfect and I had one students say no because then she'd make me do all my homework and all my chores right well that's the point she helps us do what we needed to do for our own good all right now we don't worship Mary this is a huge misconception you Catholics worship Mary no no we don't Mary is the guide jesus is the goal you know nobody ever claimed Mount climbed Mount Everest without a guide it's it just you don't do it the goal is to get to the top our goal is to get to heaven to get to Jesus but Mary is the guide to make that happen Mary is the guide that will get us there and so she had plays a very important role now I always like to say to my also back to my 7th graders when I teach them who does Satan fear more God or Mary and the answer may surprise you yeah we would want to thank God but you know what Satan in his own way is not unintelligent he knows God created him he knows God is all-powerful and he knows that God is really God and he didn't really have a problem with that which Satan had a problem with because remember Lucifer was not one of the highest angels what he had a problem with is when God announced that he was going to become a man and in order to do that to give a mother that was perfect so all the sudden the angels who were always above man remember the angels are created above mankind by nature so who's higher the angel or a man who's higher will by nature angels are created above mankind now they have they don't get sick they don't get the coronavirus they have greater intellects and us they're not constrained by space and time so by nature they're created above man but when God became incarnate when he became a man and he created the mother to put his son to this earth all the sudden now man by grace has been elevated above the angel that was Satan's problem so who does Satan fear more Mary or God well look at your screen I used to be a wrestler you can tell I am NOT a basketball player I am a wrestler there's a picture of high school wrestling and in I've wrestled as I was in third grade I enjoyed it but I always use this example because I had a pretty tough coach in school and my father also was involved in my wrestling and you know back in my senior year Japanese national wrestling team came to the United States and I was one of the American wrestlers to wrestle against the Japanese national team and the Japanese national champion wrestler that I drew was a hundred and fifty-six and zero that was his record and I I had to wrestle him now I'd love to sit here and tell you I won but nah I didn't I lost but it was a really close match surprisingly I only lost four to two and I actually could have won that match I always think about that because if I would have been a little bit different in my approach I think I was a little too defensive I could have won that match and afterwards both my father and my coach who never said this about a law said good job you lost to the best you you know this was the Japanese national champion he's the best it's not unsurprising that you lost but you did a good job you really did a good job but I think back to the times when I was a wrestler in grade school and my big fear was wrestling a girl because what would happen if he had to wrestle a girl and you lost that would be humiliating right now no offense ladies I don't mean that to be any way offensive but to a grade school boy to lose to a girl would have been humiliating that's because of why why would that be humiliating because of pride pride this is what would be humiliating and so here I lose to a Japanese national champion good job but to lose to a little girl you know if you're a wrestler and you're supposedly boy you know all-american boy no that's humiliating why because of pride and so Satan can halfway understand losing to God he's God he's like the National Champion but to lose to a 15 year old Jewish girl is more than his pride could handle this was the problem that Satan has when Mary comes around if he's attacking you and you call her in and she comes to your aid he flees because he doesn't want to stick around and get whooped up on he doesn't want to stick around and get beat up by a 15 year old little girl so what does he do he runs and this is why he fears Mary more than God fascinating concept right you know when I was in North Carolina I was preparing for the priesthood and I back in those days I used to go to a barber to cut my hair now you could see my hair I cut it myself so I don't know if it's sided or not because I want to save $15 a month because we only get $50 a month allowance spending money so I learned to cut my own hair so I get to save $15 a month well back then I used to go to the barber shop and I went to the barber and there was a an awesome Baptist barber named Billy who used to cut my hair and he would follow me from time to time asking about what you know my plans were and I shared with them that I was deserting the priesthood and I'll never forget it was my last haircut I ever got in my life 15 years ago and I walk into the barber shop and I'm sitting there in the chair and there's seven other chairs in the barbershop and there's an old grizzly guy in the chair next to me and Billy my barber happens to say to me so are you really gonna go through with this are you really gonna become a Catholic priest and I said well God willing if that's his will I think so and there's this old grizzly guy in the chair next to me and he overhears and he goes huh you gonna spend your whole life in some monastery praying a bunch of Hail Marys now look at your next screen in your next screen or the next slide what do we see we see the Hail Mary now what I said to this guy was sir you must be a Bible love and evangelical Christian because that Hail Mary you're just talking about it is in the Bible see that hail Mary full of grace let's talk about this and I said sir what tell me what the Gospel of Luke first chapter of Luke especially talks about and he says about the birth of Jesus and I said yeah but it's there's more there let's look at this first the angel King and what did the angel say to Mary hail full of grace basically is coming to Mary saying hail full of grace which connects to the Immaculate Conception we'll get to that in a minute the Lord is with you then in the Bible it says Mary goes to visit Elizabeth and what's the scripture say of Elizabeth words blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb this is how powerful these are words right out of the Bible Elizabeth calls are blessed when she says Holy Mary that's her that's basically saying Holy Mary she has blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Holy Mary that's basically calling our Blessed Mother of God where does that come from oh how dare you call Mary the mother of God well Elizabeth did how is it that the mother of my lord should come to me and so I'm in that shear explaining to this guy so she says how is it that the mother my lord should come to me it's the same thing that David said in the Ark of the Covenant when he also went up into the hillside of Judea remember on the visitation which by the way is normally May 31st which we're now celebrating the Mary the mother of church on Monday instead but it's makes it very clear on the visitation in Scripture the Mary went up to the hillside of Judea now what's interesting is so did David David in 2nd Samuel went up to the hillside of Judea and he also said how can the Ark of my Lord come to me this is basically talking about the Ark of the Old Covenant now who's Mary Mary's the Ark of the New Covenant what's the connection David in the Ark of the Old Covenant housed in tuned the old law now with Mary the new Ark of the Covenant in her womb she houses the new law the living law the Word of God come to life she's the Ark of the New Covenant this is very powerful this is why Elizabeth three fierce refers to Mary as the new Ark and Mary says all generations will call me blessed so I said to this old guy in the barber dear sir Miri says right in the Bible all generations will call her blessed why can't you you see sir in the davidic kingdom from which Jesus comes who was the Queen well the wife of the king that's what we usually think of a queen not in the davidic kingdom who was the queen was it was you know the Kings had many wives Kings had hundreds of wives Solomon had so many wives I don't know how I even knew him ah so who was the Queen was it the first wife prettiest wife smartest wife nicest wife favourite wife who was the Queen there was only one Queen the mother that's who the Queen was and so Jesus comes to the Davidic Kingdom why would that change this is first Kings in the Old Testament now this whole thing about let's go back to the Ark of the Covenant you know when I went to the Holy Land Stephen Rea a good friend of mine took us up to the hillside of Judea and he says the archaeological evidence and biblical scholars almost all agree that the place where Mary went to visit Elizabeth as the new Ark of the Covenant was the exact same place that Jesus excuse me that David took the old Ark of the Covenant and to me what's really powerful what and I said this to the old guy in the chair I said sir tell me in the Bible what it says when Mary went to Elizabeth what does it say cause John remember John the Baptist is in the womb of Elizabeth to leap in the womb he says the presence of Jesus and I said well yeah it all bases around that but what does the Bible specifically say that caused John the Baptist to leap in the womb said the presence of Jesus I said yes but there's something in the Bible so I said Billy I saw a Bible up on his shelf I said Billy hand me that Bible now as Bible as Billy hands it to me and I'm flipping through it I'm praying lord please don't let this be some Protestant edition that changed it or took it out and I flipped and there at the sound of Mary's voice the child left in her womb now Scott Hahn points out David did the same thing before the arc of the Old Covenant because what is said that the child left in the womb meaning John the Baptist before Mary the new Ark of the Covenant the word for lept in Hebrew is the same for danced and in the Bible it says David danced before the Ark of the Covenant so you've got David dancing before the old Ark of the Covenant you got John the Baptist's leaping or dancing before the Ark of the New Covenant our mother Mary this is incredible the connection Oh Mary's not the Bible Mary's all over the Bible and so this is what we have to understand when we're confronted about this all right now take a look at your next screen because I want to start talking about what we call the four Marian dogmas and the very first one is on your screen now I'm gonna ask you to do a little quiz what are the four Mary and dogmas all right the first one's right on your screen Mary the mother of God the next Dogma is the perpetual virginity of Mary which many people question the next is the assumption of Mary and the fourth is the Immaculate Conception of Mary now do we have to believe those things absolutely they're dogmatic they're the four Mirian dogmas and I'm gonna prove to you right now that all four of them are true look at your screen brother Mark's gonna put back up Mary holding the child Jesus this is Mary the mother of God how dare you call Mary the mother of God well I just told you Elizabeth did in the Bible is the Bible gonna print it if that's improper no but let's talk about this you know all Protestant fathers accepted calling Mary the mother of God Martin Luther swingley John Calvin they all referred Mary is the mother of God somewhere in the Protestant Reformation the intent was never to throw Mary in the gutter this happened after the beginning of the Protestant Reformation it was not the intent and so Jesus is very important he came to earth and he had a vessel which is mother married now this is gonna be the hardest theology I give you probably in the entire series I've been talking for several weeks now and I want to talk for several more weeks till we complete this series and I'm about to give you probably the deepest theology in the entire series in the next three minutes right now so try to hang with me don't turn me off until you get through it because it's not that bad but it might be a little deep all right was Jesus Christ a human person and all of you are gonna say well of course the answer is no no he wasn't and everybody's gonna say call the bishop we have a heretical priest at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy no we don't I'm strictly quoting and going to give you a quote from the Catechism why okay we have one God or three gods we have one God but how many persons we have three persons in the Trinity God the Father is how many persons one God the Son is how many persons one and God the Holy Spirit is how many persons one there are three persons in the Trinity if Jesus was two persons there before persons in the Trinity there's not four persons in the Trinity there is three what this means is Jesus Christ is a divine person from the beginning of all attorney for all eternity not even a beginning for all eternity Jesus Christ is one person now in that one person he had a divine nature so Jesus excuse me the second person of the Trinity is a divine person who had a divine nature I am a human person I have a human nature my humaneness what makes me human what makes me you know think rationally well at least some of the time what makes me have emotions what makes me laugh what makes me cry these are what is your humaneness I'm a human person I'm one person and I have a human nature the second person of the Trinity for all eternity was one person with one nature that one person was a divine person and that nature is a divine nature now at the Incarnation that one divine person the second person of the Trinity who already had a divine nature came to earth and assumed a human nature so you see that one person that divine person the second person of the Trinity who had a divine nature came to earth and assumed a human nature don't believe me look in the Catechism I'm not being heretical the Catechism defines Jesus Christ as one person two natures Jesus Christ is one person the divine persons second person of the Trinity who had a divine nature and now assumed a human nature so I kind of tricked you he is fully God in his nature and he is fully human in his nature so he has two natures his nature is human and his nature is divine but he's one person and that person is divine that's the second person of the Trinity always has been divine always will be divine he had a divine nature to go with it and when he became man at the Incarnation he assumed a human nature so he's one person two natures that's Jesus Christ is defined in the Catechism and so when Mary gave birth does a mother give birth to a person or a nature a mother gives birth to a person so when Mary gave birth she gave birth to a person so who is Jesus Christ I just told you one person two natures and that person is divine and Mary gave birth to the divine person with two natures she gave him his human nature he already had a divine nature so Mary gave birth to the divine person and that makes her the mother of God you see it's more than just saying Mary gave birth to Jesus and Jesus was God and therefore mother Mary's the mother of God it goes deeper than that we go into real theology here I know this is confusing I know this is hard but I explained it much about her on the DVD so I'll tell you at the end I'll to get the DVD you can get the DVD and and trust me I explained it way better there so we want to keep going now Mary gave birth to one person we said this person was the devant it was divine now pious I think was pious tonight said to devote to deny Mary as the mother of God is to deny the Incarnation either Jesus is not God or Jesus is two persons and that is the Nestorian heresy Jesus is one person and that person is divine he's human and divine in his nature he's got two natures and so this is very very important so Jesus is not two persons he is one person two natures that one person is divine Mary gives birth to a person that person is divine therefore we call Mary the mother of God you got all that praise be to God if you do if not as I said get the DVD what helps you explain it a little better right brother Mark's gonna flip to the next slide now what's the next slide up there we see a little Mary walking up the steps right of the temple what dogmatic or what Mary and Dogma is this this is perpetual virginity Mary offering being offered at a very early age in her trusted he to remain chaste and a virgin her whole life that scholars all say that this was done by Mary and her family that this was known that she had consecrated herself like this now this also was accepted by the Protestant fathers that Mary was to remain a virgin swingley listen to this this is quoting the Protestant father whose wing Lee I firmly believe that Mary remained a virgin pure and intact in childbirth and also after birth for all eternity this is the father the Protestant Reformation quoting saying I believe Mary was a virgin for all eternity and Yahoo today all dawn Catholics say this is crazy she wasn't a virgin really well your Protestant father said she was now remember the word people say well father it says in the Bible that Mary had brothers and sisters or Jesus had brothers and sisters which must mean that Mary had other children you gotta know the original language the Bible wasn't written in English the Bible was written in Greek and Jesus spoke Aramaic right and the time was Hebrew and Aramaic and the Bible was written in Greek it wasn't English and the word that we use for English for brothers and sisters means biological but not necessarily brother mark is up in the choir loft running this slides here brothers I called my brothers I call you know brother Alex or or brother Jason or brother mark are they my blood brother no it's the same concept all right the word used in the Greek is a Delphis which doesn't mean for bro her sister biological it doesn't have to mean that it can what it really can mean is also a close relative there's nothing against Church teaching that that Joseph may have been married and widowed prior to Marian may have had other children we don't know it's not against church teaching Jesus could add step brothers and sisters could have been close relatives cousins we know Mary Elizabeth Wright John the Baptist was Jesus cousin which the word in Hebrew could have meant brother all right now in in the Hebrew it is aa which also means brother as a cousin or close relative and so brothers has a different meaning in the biblical language than we use it right you know Jesus could not have had biological brothers because then he could have never given men Mary to John on the cross he would have had to have given married to a biological brother if Jesus had any other brothers Jesus would have had to give and married to his biological brother that was the way Judeo law worked and so when Jesus gave John married to John on the cross there's no way he had brothers because John we know in Scripture was not Jesus's brother we know this he was the sons of Zebedee so there was there was no no way and so we have to understand the importance here I tell another example I was once giving a men's retreat in Nashville Tennessee you know the home of country music and you know sometimes you forget where you're at and I'm doing a talk there Nashville and country music capital well anyway I was trying to explain this concept and I said let me give you an example to the guys I was speaking to I said in the Old Testament who was Abraham in relation to lot because you know lot is related to Abraham and everybody says his nephew and I said if you're reading Genesis 1127 it says lot was Abraham's nephew but if you're reading Genesis 14 14 it says lot was his brother so I said how could you be both your brother and your nephew I said now there's got to be some country song they could explain that and the everybody started laughing I was like oh no I forgot where I'm at I'm in the music country music capital but they all laughed they got the point the point is you're not both your brother and your nephew but the word brother is used in the word nephew is use that's just the way it is all right now it also says in the Bible non Catholics will try to pin us down and it says right there in the Bible it says the Brothers of Jesus James and Joseph the sons of Mary Wow when you read that if you don't know your Catholic faith that sounds like it's gonna nail you to the wall if you seriously read in the Bible that the Brothers of Jesus James and Joseph the sons of Mary how do you defend that well you say to those people you got to keep reading because later in the Bible it identifies that Mary as the wife of Clopas not our Mary so we know our Mary was not married to Clopas the other Mary was and that's who the mother of James and John Joseph was and so we have to understand how it's used in Scripture right alright but the marks gonna flip the next screen now what it looks like Mary laying dead right this is the preparation for the body of Mary in the assumption this is the third Mary in dogma called the Assumption well actually it was the last one to Claire but the third one I'm covering now how do we know Mary's body was assumed into heaven as the Catholic Church teaches does it say so in the Bible well the Bible doesn't have to necessarily say something specifically for to mean it it only it I mean there are things that aren't in the Bible that we know happened for fact you know so why why do we have to not believe that God can use other means to teach and show us yes he can now I don't have time right now to explain all the reasons that Mary was assumed body and soul in heaven Adam Mary died that one in the East called the Dormition or in the West many scholars think that Mary did and that her body was assumed into heaven but some believe that she didn't that she was assumed while still living and it it it's up to you really if you believe she died or not that's not the issue the issues you must believe her body was assumed into heaven different than the Ascension the Ascension of Christ he ascended to heaven on his own power the ascension but this is the assumption which means God assumed Mary body and soul into heaven now how do I think a now do I believe that Mary was assumed into heaven I go to a real practical example I'm an engineer so I'll give you a real practical answer my for me the real practical answer is have you ever seen a first-class relic of the bones of Mary you know if there were by that by the time Mary died decades after Jesus did it was pretty much well-known through all of the known world who Jesus was and who his mother was if Mary would have died and the bones were left behind they would have been the hottest commodity a 1st century Christianity who were already collecting the relics of the saints you don't think that they would have collected the relics of Mary as she left her bones behind ya better believe they would have but yet no city has ever claimed the relics of Mary let me tell you if there were relics of Mary the ferp first for class relics the bones you better believe Jerusalem Nazareth Bethlehem Ephesus all the city she was in would have grabbed those relics and they would have created the first tourist attraction come to Bethlehem come to Ephesus and see the relics of mother of Jesus no city has ever claimed the relics of Mary why they don't exist Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven another Mary and dogma all right let's finish with the last Marian dog but you'll see on your screen the Immaculate Conception of Mary this one also again the Protestant fathers accepted this doctrine they believed it now Mary let's let's Estes I told you a second ago that who gave Jesus is human nature Mary did now where did Mary where did Jesus get his human nature from Mary now did Jesus have a perfect human nature or broken like us we all know we have a broken human nature right you betcha since the fall of Adam and Eve our human nature is broken were inclined to sin were inclined to selfishness laziness blood knee lust whatever it is we're inclined to the sin however however Jesus had no broken human nature he had a perfect human nature and who gave it to him Mary now the point is if Jesus was given a perfect human nature that must mean Mary had an unbroken human nature because Mary could not have passed on a broken human nature to Jesus so she must have had an unbroken human nature and where did that first line of unbroken human nature begin at the Immaculate Conception because if you are not immaculately conceived you're conceived with a broken human nature and I have a broken human nature you have a broken human nature we all have a broken human nature but we didn't give our human nature to Jesus Mary did and so Mary had an unbroken human nature to give to our Lord and this is important right so she couldn't pass on this broken human nature and then another reason to look at this is Mary or excuse me Jesus being God the god man can't coexist with sin and if he's inside the womb of Mary he cannot coexist that soul had any sin she shared the DNA the same blood of Mary ran through Jesus her DNA is in Christ if she had any sin there's no way God could coexist in that womb in her womb in her vessel there is no way God cannot coexist with any sin her DNA and blood is in Jesus and people at non Catholic say well then you're saying Mary didn't need a Savior because she had no sin well no she needed a savior to be wiped clean of that original sin in the first place why would a non Catholic even begin and we don't know how to defend ourselves we don't know how to answer that non Catholics see all the time if you see Mary was without sin you say she didn't need a Savior and all mankind needed a savior yes that's true but the Savior cleansed her from the original sin that took a Savior you know if you believe and Protestant pastors believe that people can be washed clean of sin after they sin why can't they be cleansed and prevented from sin in the first place it takes a lot harder for a mom to wash a shirt of her son after he rolls out in the gutter and tries to get the stain out and then it is if she put it in the drawer and preserved it from ever getting dirty in the first place both take the act of something above the child and in God in his act prevented Mary he placed her in the drawer and prevented her from being stained in the first place both require a Savior whether or not were broken and sin and then God forgives us which he does is our Savior or whether or not is God the Savior he prevented her from getting stained in the first place both require a savior this is very important God preserved her from sin before conception he cleanses us after conception if God can cleanse us from sin after conception why do we not believe that he can prevent Mary from having sin before conception he's God he can do that now why is she call Redeemer that scares a lot of people my father well you can't say that were you crazy what are you talking about yes we can call Mary the core Redeemer because Co doesn't mean equal to in Latin Combe see um kuma or co-redeemer means with means she acted with Jesus in the redemption of mankind she's co-redeemer not cause she's equal to Jesus she's co-redeemer because she gave him his flesh and body by which to redeem the world do you know john paul ii called you and michal Redeemers yeah are we equal to God no but we share when we offer up our sufferings remember the Bible passage I must complete what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ Paul said what could possibly be lacking in the sufferings of Christ your sufferings my sufferings and so we offer it up in john paul ii says when we offer up our sufferings we help share in the cross of Christ and we can help grant soul salvation that grace doesn't come from us comes from God but we can imitate Christ and help bring souls to salvation we're many Col Redeemers Oh father that's radical no well then tell Paul he's heretical when he wrote in the scriptures that I'm a co-worker with God in the garden does that mean he's equal to God he called himself a co-worker no God's the only labor really truly in the vineyard his work did it all not ours well he's a co-worker well no he's not well he called himself a co-worker so we see my goodness this is an intensely simple but yet so hard to grasp and it shouldn't be this is why I'm here to teach you today all right let's keep going now as Paul says coworkers in the garden mary has a special rule as co-redeemer comedia tricks all right what about coal Mediatrix now that means that she is coal Mediatrix of grace meaning she helps distribute grace there's nothing wrong with that Jesus said to the Apostles I give you the authority to forgive sins who sins you forgive are forgiven doesn't mean the grace came from them it means Jesus had the authority and delegated it to them just like he did to Mary remember Jesus is the head Mary's the neck we are the body and all Grace's come through from the head through the neck to us that's all we mean when we say Mary's co-mediator --ax it scares people Mary participated in a unique way in the reception of grace by the world it is only fitting that we participate that she participate I should say in a unique way of distributing graces throughout the world alright let's get to one of my favorite parts you see the next slide Adam and Eve I had to find the cartoon version because every other version was without the clothes so your kids can watch this issue this episode here because I got the cartoon version alright so you see Mary excuse me Adam and Eve there now I want to tell you real quick about what is the most common title that the Church Fathers gave to Mary and I kind of just gave it away by the slide you see on your screen because it's Adam and Eve okay we call Mary the new Eve Jesus is the new Adam Mary is the new Eve this is what the Protestant or excuse me the Church Fathers called her more than anything else let's look at this why is Mary the new Eve alright let's look at our original Eve the one in the garden let's look at this I want to steal from Tertullian and Justin Martyr here these are not my words stealing them for to to lien and Justin Martyr now what he said was Eve all right this is Justin Martyr Eve was a virgin and undefiled but because she was disobedient she conceived the false word of the serpent and gave birth to suffering and death in the world now Mary was also of virgin and undefiled but because she was obedient she conceived the true word and she gave birth to the god man who brought salvation into the world not suffering and death so the same sex the female that conceived and brought death into the world had to be the same sex that would conceive and bring life into the world and that's what Mary did when she brought in the god man and restore life into the world this is Tertullian now listen to this this to me is powerful if you're gonna listen to nothing else today listen to this Tertullian said did Satan overthrow the man or the woman who did Satan overthrow Adam or Eve every time I ask that question the men say Eve and the women say Adam so all the women say God Satan overthrew the man and all the men say Satan overthrew the woman well Justin excuse me tertulia makes this clear Satan overthrew both the man and the woman Satan didn't overthrow just the man Satan didn't overthrow just the woman Satan overthrew the man and the woman so Joe Tertullian says since Satan overthrew both sexes a man and a women woman it's going to take both sexes to liberate humanity back from Satan it's gonna take a man and a woman to get back what Satan overthrew from a man and a woman that new man is Jesus Christ the new Adam and that woman is Mary the new Eve not equal but with there was a promise in the garden when the fall happened in Genesis of a promise of a savior and the gift of a mother Genesis tells us this God knew we were gonna be screwed as skittish little creatures afraid we were gonna run from him and and you know it's funny because I tell the story when my father and I used to go fishing when I was young we used to go fishing in the river raised in Monroe Michigan used to drive down from Holley at the time and I remember when we first moved to Monroe we've actually moved onto this river and it was great bass fishing and my dad had this special fishing rod that he would use and it seemed like he caught all the big fish and I would look over and I would see every time he had watched the end of his rod it seemed like it would bow over with another big bass and I thought there was something magical about that rod and one day when he was away and my dad used to say you can use any other fishing rod we have tons of them but you can't use that rod sure enough because I thought that rod had something magical i disobeyed right my buddies come over to go fishing I give them two regular rods and I grabbed that rod and I'm so excited I get ready to go and I put the rod over my shoulder I go running up the stairs to to go fishing and I slam the door behind me crunch snap went the fishing rod and sure enough what did I do just like Adam and Eve I tried to hide it I wrapped a piece of tape around the end of the rod tried to put it together well all of a sudden I knew the the jig was up and my dad came home from work and I'm all upset my dad's like what did he do now and my mom shows him the broken fishing rod now we had discipline in my house it wasn't there was nothing wrong with that we need discipline today don't think you're doing your child a favor by not disciplining him so as my father was ready to discipline me who did I run to who do you think I went to I went to my mother who would most of us go to in a case like that our mother God knew after the fall after we sinned after we broke that fishing rod of his that we were going to be skittish scared creatures and they would be afraid to approach him I was afraid to approach my dad not in a bad way just as soon as instead I ran to a mother that's why God gives us the gift of a mother he knew that we would be scared skittish creatures and she's one of our own she can relate to us so much he's fully human she's not God but what family like the Trinity Father Son is complete without a mother now she's not a member of the Trinity but she's in the Queen of Heaven the heavenly Court and you see so when my father went to discipline me my mom met him halfway across the floor and stopped him in his tracks and she interceded for me said don't you lay a hand on him he's already suffered enough as he was getting the belt - you know discipline me that's the gift of a mother it's who we run to and God knew that that's why I was gonna give us the gift of a mother in the garden don't turn it down embrace it accept it now that leads me to what Marian consecration is about look at your screen now there's a perfect example of consecration to Mary 33 days to morning glory by father Mike Gately right now what is consecration basically when you consecrate yourself you basically trust you and trust yourselves to them now what does it mean to trust trust simply means you accept the help that someone offers you if I trust you I accept the help you give me now I always use my brothers as examples because when it comes to directions I trust brother mark if we're driving somewhere and he says I know where this is and we're going west I'm like I think we go east but you know what I trust you all right we're going west but I always laugh God blessed my brother father Allen because I've gotten lost with him so many times if he tells me we're going east I don't trust him I don't accept the help he offers me so when I trust someone I accept the help they offer him so if you trust God you're gonna accept the help he offers you and what is that help he offers you his mother will father Chris how do you know that that's the trust or the the help he wants to give me maybe it's only the gift of the Holy Spirit well that's true too but we know Mary's a gift that he wanted to give you and help because of the cross what did Jesus do on the cross he gave us the gift of a mother no he didn't he only gave it to John and Anne in it but John represented all of us why because John didn't need a natural mother he needed a spiritual mother you see people say well you Catholics think he gave John Mary to John on the cross well yeah but that was only because John was the youngest apostle he was still a young boy he didn't know how to take care of himself he needed a good mom take care of them cook and clean and really keep him keep him straight you know John really needed a good natural mother how do we know that isn't true how can I prove to you right now that that's false that Jesus gave Mary to John as a spiritual mother not a natural mother well but father he was the youngest of possibly needed mother to take care of him you know why Jesus didn't give Mary to John as a natural mother but rather a spiritual mother because John's natural mother was right next to him on the cross there's no way Jesus would have said okay John I'm giving you a natural mother to take care of you what an insult to John's real mother next to him on the cross John's real mother was standing right next to a Matthew 27 the mother of the sons of Zebedee was there at the cross who is the sons of Zebedee James and John John is right there his with his mother so when Jesus gave Mary to him as his mother I didn't insult his real mother his natural mother he was giving Mary as a spiritual mother and he gives him to gives her to us too and this is something this is what Marian consecration is it's when when something is consecrated it's set apart to be holy right and so Marian consecration is basically dedicating ourselves to Jesus using the help he gave us what is the help he gave us Mary this is the helpee did it on the cross here it means entrustment to Mary this works because nobody knows Jesus better than Mary does ask Mary help for me into another Jesus Mary formed Jesus in her womb she can form us into another Jesus - this is powerful so entrust yourself to her and give her all things put everything in your hands you know I I guess I get so frustrated because I used to have this long prayer list I have to pray for this person and that person and that person and that person pretty soon it got to be so much I had to make an Excel spreadsheet literally to track everybody that I had to pray for it and I got to be so much Ellison I could only pray once a week for him then all sudden once a month and all of a sudden I realized no you know how you consecrate yourself to Mary all the prayers that you do when you wake up in the morning throughout the day you say Mary I put them in your hands I consecrate myself to you you distribute the graces you know who I love you know who I'm obligated to pray for you take care of it I'm gonna give you my prayers and you do the rest you know what it's like you know what a broker is stockbroker you know a broker somebody you give your money somebody you trust and then they that broker invests it and spreads it out all right now Mary is our broker you give for all your merits your pains your Joy's your sufferings your prayers you give them and you see Mary I place them in your hands I consecrate myself to you she distributes them so that way you don't have to beat yourself up if you've got to pray for cousin Joey grant Emma because she'll take care of that you just place them in her hands when something is consecrated this is what we do when we consecrate ourselves to Mary and we do that all right now what about this the church says consecration to Mary does not diminish or substitute for the love of God you're not replacing God it actually enhances it for all consecration is ultimately made to God now listen to this Vatican 2 vatican ii said quote calling upon Mary's intercession does not hinder in any way the immediate union of the faithful with Christ but on the contrary fosters it lumen gentium 60 all right now look up at your screen you see a picture of Maximilian Kolbe the picture basically says never be afraid of loving Mary too much Jesus loved her more than we ever could so if we're looking at how much Jesus loved Mary why do we have the audacity to think that we could love Mary more than Jesus did no we can't and I think it says here it is never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much you can never love her more than Jesus dead that's pretty powerful isn't it and so this is very important we must understand the role that Mary had now let's go to the next slide here is the next slide that talks about the Immaculate but that's our mother Mary and when we consecrate ourselves entirely to her that we will be able to defeat Satan look at that beautiful slide this is the basically the essence of Marian consecration giving our yes and giving you permission Mary to form me into another Jesus but basically giving yes to the gift Jesus gave us on the cross she as I said form Jesus she conformed us and so when she gives us this opportunity to use her why not Jesus gave us her to use her jesus said that what hurt him the most he told this to Saint Faustina on his passion wasn't our sins what heard him the most was our lack of trust and what better way to trust Jesus than using the gift he gave you Mary his own mother you know st. Louis de Montfort said Jesus came into the world through Mary so we should go also through Mary all right now the next slide 1917 a very interesting here now I do a whole talk on Fatima you can find it online and I don't have talked to do it time to do it right now but I want to just quickly summarize something about fátima and marién I'm getting close to the end here so hang with me in 1884 October 13th to be exact who I think was the greatest Pope in the history of the Catholic Church now i know yes john paul ii absolutely but personally i think Louis excuse me Louie the ninth is might one of my favorite Saints but Pope Leo the 13th who I personally think the greatest Pope in the history of the church overheard a conversation between Christ and Satan and in that conversation christ heard satan say to him i can bring down your church and Jesus said you think so and Satan said yes but I need more power and more time now Jesus granted him more power and more time why why would God do that the Bible says we must be tried in the crucible we must be tested the angels were tested they only got one shot because they saw the effect and the consequences of your decision you and I are tested every day but we are allowed to go to confession and start over unlike the Angels they got one shot because they saw the effect of their decisions we don't we have to trust in faith that's why if you mess up get to confession that was my topic a couple weeks ago now in that conversation Satan said I need more power and more time Jesus said how much power he said enough power to persuade the lukewarm sinner into coming over to my side Jesus gave him the power then he also said I need more time and Jesus said how much time and Satan said about a hundred years so in a hundred years I can conquer your church hmm when did that hundred years begin because Jesus granted the Pope Leo said Jesus granted it to him well I asked you the first question what happened 100 years later to the day October 13 1984 because his conversation happened October 13th 1884 what happened 100 years later to the day 1984 the Detroit Tigers won the World Series yes I'm from Detroit so I have to throw that in there but no what happened 100 years later not to the day but a hundred years later was John Paul consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary but other people say that maybe that hundred years began and another time 1917 1917 was one of the worst war years in human history world war ii was raging the Judeo Masonic bankers took their first country in Russia we had absolutely no idea what was beginning with a bit founder of Planned Parenthood named Margaret Sanger who in 1916 at the time the Angels appeared in Fatima opened up the first birth control clinic in Brooklyn New York and then in 1917 produced a movie called birth control which was so scandalous she actually went to jail for 30 days so all this crap if you will excuse my language was going on in 1917 but God's not gonna be outdone brother Mark's gonna put the slide back up in 1917 what do you see on your screen an answer to what God always does a greater good he gives us the gift of Mary she appeared at Fatima the gift of Maximilian Kolbe a who also in October of 1917 began the mission Immaculata which you don't see on that screen who is Pope Pius the 12th the Pope that got us through World War two was consecrated a bishop guess when on May 13th 1917 which was also the Feast of May or the Eucharist all right Mary the mother of the Eucharist also in 1917 Pope Benedict the 15th was praying in a vena to Our Lady of Mercy and on the eighth day Mary appeared in Fatima this is how God answered it now people say well father you said that that the world was consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary no it wasn't because Russia wasn't I'm not here to get into that debate right now all I will tell you as we Marian father's do stand with the statement of the Vatican that Russia was consecrated and that was the word of the Vatican you can look up the church document the year of June 2000 that stated that heaven accepted Lucy's pronouncement of the consecration of Russia yes there were few problems however Jesus was very upset according to sister Lucy that it was late the consecration was late and Russia was gonna spread her errors all over the world and it has now we are paying the consequences of atheism socialism communism and it's coming back to haunt us because Russia was not consecrated in time secondly the three attempts the first tempt was without the bishops because it was late right and the letter that john paul ii sent out didn't arrive to the bishops on time the first time he did it himself without the bishops the second time his letter was late and not all the bishops consecrated in the third time in 1984 he said he consecrated the world because by that time not just Russia needed consecrating but the whole world need to be consecrated now I get it I understand the argument people say it and write to me all the time father the problem is we haven't seen the conversion of Russia and Mary said when Russia is consecrated she will be converted we haven't seen the conversion of rush father Chris so Russia's not being consecrated excellent argument but we are starting to see the concept of the conversion of Russia but if we haven't there's a reason Mary said before we could see the conversion of Russia two things needed to happen one was the consecration of Russia and I can tell you right now please that's not your place nor my place to worry about that's between God and the bishops whether or not Russia was consecrated you can't change that I can't change that that's between God and the bishops it's not our place what we do is we pray and we do as the church instructs us in June 2000 official documents said yes it's been consecrated well the father why isn't Russia being converted because Mary said two things needed to happen in order for Russia to be concentrated excuse me in order for Russia to be converted one was she needed to be concentrated now whether or not you believe that's happened I don't believe the second thing has happened because the second thing that Mary asked to happen which we have not been doing look on your screen the five first Saturday's this is what Mary asked you and I to do are we doing it I see very little of it Mary said and this is the 5 first Saturday's first go to confession now that the churches are opening up you can if you can't you make an act of contrition you receive Holy Communion again churches are opening up get back to the sacraments then you pray the rosary and you meditate a national additional 15 minutes on one or more of the mysteries and this is what Mary asked us to do at Fatima to do the 5 4 Saturdays then we will see the triumph of the Immaculate Heart so even if Russia has been consecrated we haven't seen the conversion of Russia yet because we haven't done our part worried about our part don't worry about something that's not your part we pray for it we pray that Russia God's created but we must worry about our part our part was doing the 5 first Saturdays and that is what's important this is what I asked you to do on 5 the first Saturday of 5 consecutive months do those things confession communion pray the rosary and meditate an additional 15 minutes that's what Mary is asking us to do and we are not doing it what a shame if we spend all our time blaming the Pope for not consecrating Russia when in fact it may have been consecrated and yet we didn't do our part through the five four Saturdays and we're the reason that Russia has not been fully converted let's look in the mirror and say did we do our part that's what we got to worry about now does God only use Saints at like Fatima you st. Jacinto Jacinta and Francisco does he only use Saints well look at your screen right now God can even use presidents there's Ronald Reagan I know not everybody will agree with me but I think a great American hero and president and you know he was shot him and John Paul were shot six weeks apart from each other in 1981 in the spring of 1981 and both said God had speared them for the special purpose both should have died the actual trajectory of the bullet changed course inside John Paul and Ronald Reagan should have bled to death both believed they were speared by God for a purpose and you know what they agreed that that purpose was once they met to bring down communism this is what they said they believe this now if this is their mission we know we know that the KGB was behind the assassination of john paul ii that's been proven that's been proven and so John Paul and Ronald Reagan banded together to defend religious freedom which we should be doing today 22 million soldiers died in the two world wars guaranteeing the future generations would have religious freedom we've been given that gift of religious freedom do we want to be the generation that lets it die no we received it we have the obligation of handing it on and 22 million men gave the ultimate price and sacrificed personal safety to die so that we would have that freedom I think it's pretty audacious of us to think that we shouldn't risk in some way something to also maintain that religious freedom and pass it on all right now Ronald Reagan had an intense interest in fátima nobody knows this but he actually went there and he talked about Mary and he mentioned the three children and he said quote in a simple person or simple people like the three children of Fatima there is more power than all the armies in the entire world and he said this do you know when jong-il when Ronald Reagan died he had one request at his funeral in 2005 and I think it was 2005 wasn't it no no 2004 2004 he had one request that they sing Ave Maria at his funeral he wasn't even Catholic although he was raised right down the road from Fulton sheen Bishop Volt machine alright I'm sorry I'm running along I'm going to wrap up with to Marian devotions if you think Mary can't help you I challenge you to do one of these two merry and devotions there are a million Marian devotions out there you can write to me tell me about your favorite one that's great but I'm telling you I'm gonna give you two right now that have never failed but only use them for big important things don't use them to find your your your iPod you know you want to use these prayers for something important powerful I don't even know if they have iPods anymore I don't know so the point is the first one look at your screen Mary the undo er of knots this is Pope Francis's favorite Eve did the knots Mary undid the knots she is standing on the crescent moon just like in the Our Lady of fátima image I'm sorry Guadalupe Guadalupe image Pope Francis brought this to us from Germany I tell you I've only used this devotion a handful of times and it's done the impossible for me you might want to try this Mary the under of knots it's incredible all right one more you see this on your screen looks like marrying a big fluffy dress anybody know what this devotion is this is called Our Lady of Good success this is an incredible devotion and it will work for you if you trust let me tell you real quickly about it the separation was to a nun in Ecuador in 1600 who predicted a spiritual catastrophe in the Catholic Church and in all of society beginning shortly after the middle of the 20th century when did it happen in in the United States in the Western world 1963 when all prayer was taken out of school Kennedy was shot our only Catholic president and everything has been downhill ever since America lost her innocence in 1963 shortly after the middle of the 20th century and then in the late 60s came all this misconception of free love and drugs and sex and defiance of Authority now she's talked about widespread moral corruption profanation of marriage remember Lucy said the final battle between God and Satan she was the seer at Fatima would be over a marriage in the family she said priests will scandalize the faithful and will cause suffering for good priests she said there will be unbridled luxury that will ensnare many souls and there will be a loss of innocence among children and a loss of modesty especially amongst young women we see this all the time it's very difficult in our society today she said there will be a lack of priestly in religious vocations and she said this current period of catastrophe however will be followed by a period of rest raishin we are seeing it right now the church is being cleaned up she's being scrubbed right now she's being cleansed of all this junk right so her name was mother Mariani Mariana and she died in 1635 and in 1906 her body was dug up to be moved and found incorrupt that means she's somebody special these two devotions I wish I could talk more you can find it more on my DVD I talked more about this and brother Mark will show you at the end again how to get the DVD talks all right now here is one more slide a couple more slides John Paul to praying the rosary the story of the Rosary is so powerful I don't have time I got so many stories of the Rosary but you know what people say oh it's just a bunch of repetitive Hail Marys the repetitive Hail Marys no it's not it's not in vain in the traditions of the Bible they repeat things to give emphasis like holy holy holy we repeat the Hail Marys because it gives emphasis to the importance of it it helps guide us it helps give us that that beacon of light to show us our way and I told the story before my mom when she was praying the rosary hail Mary full of grace hail Mary full of grace and it's like how many times do we see that no it's to be about the mysteries because the mysteries are what the rosary is about it's not just about a bunch of Hail Marys it's about the mysteries it's a walk through Scripture and so so John Paul made it very clear that we want to see the value of the Rosary in that all right now let's keep going here because I want to say just a couple more things and we want to wrap up now the Rosary was something that honors Mary doesn't worship Mary and I want to read you a quote the brother might mark not till I'm done is gonna put it on your screen because it's gonna reveal who said it but I'm gonna read you a quote and then brother Marc's gonna put on the screen who said it here's the quote one should honor Mary as she herself wished and as she expressed in the Magnificat how then can we praise her the true honour of Mary is through the honor of God the praise of God's grace Mary does not wish that we come to her but through her to God who said that brother mark put the slide up Martin Luther Martin Luther if you are ever questioned about Mary by a Protestant you could say well the father of your Protestant Reformation Martin Luther said this about Mary and read that quote wow this is powerful stuff so anyway next slide we just got one to go after this the next slide is another good one that I want to read to you if you invoke the Blessed Virgin when you are tempted she will come at once to your help and Satan will leave you this is the rule of Mary and God bless all you you hung with me last slide there is what I think is the most beautiful work of Michelangelo the Pieta and I finish with this slide because a lot of people say that we are taking away from God when we honor Mary and I want to use a story to finish that Scott Hahn gave that when he did our retreat that I thought was awesome and I asked him if I could steal it he said sure he said just imagine that you went back in time to a Renaissance art Fair and there was all the artist standing next to their masterpieces he said you walk in and there's Michelangelo standing next to his masterpiece what is his masterpiece you see it on the screen the Pieta and you went up and there is Michelangelo standing next to the Pieta and you just draw right to the Pieta and you fall on your knees and you say this is incredible this brings me closer to God Scott Hahn said do you really think Michelangelo is gonna say wait a minute get up I'm offended you've insulted me you're not paying honor to me you're honoring that no Scott Hahn said that'd be crazy when you honor the art you honor the artist and God is the artist he fashioned it and what is his greatest masterpiece Mary honor the art you honor the artist this is why we have so much grace given to us through this gift and you're not offending God you're honoring God you're praising God by giving his gift to you a part of your life so brothers and sisters let us today on a Saturday which is always our Ladies Day give thanks to God for this special gift of Mary she unlocks all the graces at the cross now why are not we receiving these Grace's all the time because we don't trust enough if we trust we need to be more like Mary and say Lord give me the help I need and God bless you for hanging in with me I hope that you enjoyed this talk remember going to continue next Saturday and we'll do a talk on Holy Communion I'm sorry I wanted to do Mary and the Eucharist but there's no way Mary just deserves her own slot as does even more so the Eucharist so I'm going to talk about the Eucharist next week join me next week at 11:00 o'clock live and then my final show after we finish all the shows on the DVD I'll be doing a Q&A session well figure out how to do a live webinar where you guys can write in and ask me questions that'll be the last show in a few weeks but in the meantime brother mark to put up the slide and on the slide you can see my DVD called explaining the faith this is where all my talks that I've been given here on Saturdays come from done much better than I'm kind of hacking right now and you can get this talk I have talks on suffering hope suicide Mary Divine Mercy confession the Eucharist I did a walkthrough of the mass it's all on this tape you can get this three DVD series on shop mercy dot org so please visit shop mercy dot org get this DVD today and help us spread this message of God's mercy and today especially Mary or if you want to stream it you can go to our web page there's a link to stream it online if you don't want to mess with the DVD at the Divine Mercy dot org slash explaining the faith and brother mark if you can put it back up one more time the Divine Mercy dot org slash explaining the faith god bless all of you again through the intercession of mother Mary let us bow down for the blessing Heavenly Father we ask that you send the Holy Spirit down upon all those viewing this show all of those who are opening their hearts to receive the gift of your mother Mary through her intercession and the intercession of Saint Faustina and all the saints may Almighty God bless you and through the passion death and resurrection of his Lord Jesus Christ heal you of any ills of the mind body or soul and I bless you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen and God bless you and one last thing I apologize for those of you were turning into virgin most powerful radio for my radio show on Thursday that has been canceled we'll keep in touch as future shows will be coming your way but in the meantime stay with us on Saturdays at 11 because these talks will continue till we finish the series and so I hope you'll join us next Saturday for the talk on most Holy Communion may Almighty God bless you and be with you you

Channel: Divine Mercy

Views: 196,324

Keywords: What is Mary’s Role, Salvation History, Gift of Mercy, Mary, Intercession, Explaining the Faith, Fr. Chis Alar, Catholic teaching, Catholic, Fr. Chris, Salvation

Id: WceJ9GtEY50

Length: 81min 35sec (4895 seconds)

Published: Sat May 30 2020