Is Mary Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate?

Although Mary, the mother of Jesus, is hardly mentioned in the Bible and the Protestant churches consider her to be a relatively minor biblical character, the Roman Catholic Church has long assigned her a lofty position.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, appears in Scripture only in these verses, and never in any position of ministry: The mother of Jesus Mat 1:16; Luk 1:26-38; 2:5-19. Visits her cousin, Elisabeth Luk 1:39-56. Attends the feast at Jerusalem with her husband and her son, starts back on the return, misses Jesus, seeks and finds him in the temple area Luk 2:48-51. Is present with Jesus at a marriage feast in Cana of Galilee Joh 2:1-10. Seeks Jesus when he is teaching in a house Mat 12:46,47; Mar 3:31; Luk 8:19. Present at the cross Joh 19:25-27. Is committed to the care of John, Joh 19:27. Lives with the disciples in Jerusalem Act 1:14. Prophecies concerning Isa 7:14; Luk 2:35.

After the immediate death of Jesus, she is not heard of ever again.

For the Roman Catholic Church four basic dogmas are proclaimed about Mary:

1. Mary is the Mother of God.

2. Perpetual Virginity: Mary was a virgin when Yeshua (Jesus) was conceived; this state continued throughout her life.

3. Immaculate Conception: Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary on 1854-DEC-8. Many Roman Catholics believe that this refers to Jesus' conception circa 5 to 7 BCE. In fact, it means that Mary herself was conceived free of sin before her birth circa 20 BCE.

4. Assumption of Mary: Pope Pius XII, in his Munificentissimus Deus (1950-NOV-1), defined that Mary, "after the completion of her earthly life was assumed body and soul into the glory of Heaven." That is, she was "taken up body and soul into heaven," at the time of her death. She is there "exalted as Queen of the Universe

This blasphemous statement put forward by the Roman Catholics goes this way:

"Since Mary is Jesus’ mother, it must be concluded that she is also the Mother of God: If Mary is the mother of Jesus, and if Jesus is God, then Mary is the Mother of God. There is no way out of this logical syllogism, the valid form of which has been recognized by classical logicians since before the time of Christ.

Although Mary is the Mother of God, she is not his mother in the sense that she is older than God or the source of her Son’s divinity, for she is neither. Rather, we say that she is the Mother of God in the sense that she carried in her womb a divine person—Jesus Christ, God "in the flesh" (2 John 1:7, cf. John 1:14)—and in the sense that she contributed the genetic matter to the human form God took in Jesus Christ."

The truth of the matter is that NO ONE know for sure how much Mary contributed to the genetic make up of Jesus, we are TOTALLY ignorant on the working of God in this matter, except that Mary was the incubator to bring the physical body of Jesus to this world, but His soul and His spirit were given by God directly, how much more it is not revealed.

For sure the term "Mother of God" is an infelicitous one for it raised connotations that Mary has some kind of ascendancy on Jesus and even on God. Indeed Jesus' answer on the matter is: "Woman, what have I to do with thee? ”  As we have seen above, Scripture does not give an exalted position to this Mary as the Roman Catholics would have us believe, indeed the status given to Mary by the Roman Catholics is very much in line to the one given to Diana the pagan goddess.

The Council of Ephesus, 431 AD, had the cult of Diana the virgin goddess (in Greek = Artemis, in Phoenician = Astarte, her cult continued in Ephesus until 431) supplanted by the cult of Mary by the Roman Catholic Church to legitimize that Mary was the "mother of god" and the "mother of all" and not Diana which also had these attributes. They also gave to Mary all the other attributes of Diana such as: "queen of heaven" and "divine virgin" etcetera. Before 431 AD Mary was not recognized and so they then effectively paganised Christianity at Ephesus and Diana, still alive, had her name changed to that of Mary.

So the term "Mary mother of God" was made official only after 431 in appropriating the pagan attributed of the goddess Diana.

Nowhere Scripture uses such a sacrilegious term as "Mary mother of God" but it uses <Mary the mother of Jesus> and we should stick only to this term, adding or subtracting nothing.

Even this term is pagan as applied to Diana/Artemis/Astarte. It brings to mind the recompense offered by Islam to the terrorist martyrs of 72 virgins in paradise that are perpetual virgins.

We read in Scripture: "24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: 25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS." (Mat 1:24-25 AV)

Now the term "knew her" is a Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman as we see also in "And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD." (Gen 4:1 AV) also in Gen 4:25

This means that Joseph did not have sexual intercourse with Mary before the birth of Jesus, BUT it clearly states that he had intercourse with her afterwards. Indeed, beside Jesus, they must have had at least 6 children for they are named in: "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him." (Mar 6:3 AV) The four brothers of Jesus are clearly named and unnamed sisters, which must have been at least two, but for them these are cousins, not brothers.

So, Scripture itself debunks the notion that Mary was a perpetual Virgin, never having had sexual intercourse. Again pagan echoes of the virgin goddess Diana at work in the Roman Catholics beliefs.  

Seems to me that the text does exclude this fantastic interpretation.

Of course if Jesus was perfectly pure, then His mother had to be pure also and so they invented the concept immaculate conception of Mary. But this opens a Pandora box, for her mother too would have had to be conceived immaculately, and her mother and her mother, eventually getting to Eve.

Yet Mary herself acknowledges her sinful nature in crying out for a Saviour: "And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." (Luk 1:47 AV) If she had been immaculate she would not have had a need to be saved. We sin for we have inherited a sinful nature from Adam and if Mary was born immaculate she would not have had this nature and thus incapable of sinning and no need for a Saviour.

Once this dogma is accepted the step to Mary being co-redemptrix, mediatrix, and advocate with Jesus is very small.

Naturally, if Mary was immaculately conceived and had lived a sinless pure life knowing no man, then she could not possibly taste death and had to have a bodily assumption to heaven as Jesus had. Nothing less would do for the "Queen of the Universe". The sequence is quite logical, once the first dogma is accepted. 

Scripture has absolutely no reference to such fantastic notions; in fact these blasphemous suggestions would be totally rejected by the Apostles that made no reference to Mary as being noteworthy in their writings. The last writing of the NT was just before year 100 by John, by then Mary would have died long before and the Apostles would have recorded such an important thing as bodily assumption, but Scripture is totally silent on this issue.

The above dogmas quite logically lead to popes and divines of the Roman Catholics referring to Mary as co-redemptrix, mediatrix, and advocate.

BUT what saith Scripture?: "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;" (1Ti 2:5 AV), is not this statement of Scripture exclusive and clear enough? ONLY the man Christ Jesus is the Mediator, NONE else.

Conclusion
The Paganisation of the Christianity of the Roman Catholics really started when the Roman emperor Constantine declared the Catholic Church as the only lawful religion of the empire in 313 AD declaring himself the Bishop of the church, ordained by God. This declaration opened the Roman Catholicism's door to all sort of symbiosis between Christianity and Paganism, such as Diana/Mary.

The direct result of that decision is clearly seen even in these modern days.

Well, then: is Mary co-redemptrix, mediatrix, and advocate?  The Biblical and Scriptural answerer is a resounding - NO.

Follows here a collection of declarations by men of the Roman Catholic Church:

250 - 350: St. Antonius: "All graces that have ever been bestowed on men, all came through Mary."

1090 - 1153 St. Bernard: ("[Mary is called] the gate of heaven, because no one can enter that blessed kingdom without passing through her."

1221 – 1274 St. Bonaventure : "As the moon, which stands between the sun and the earth, transmits to this latter whatever it receives from the former, so does Mary pour out upon us who are in this world the heavenly graces that she receives from the divine sun of justice." 1

1750: Alphonsus Mary de Liguori, canonized as Saint Alphonsus in 1839, wrote a book "The Glories of Mary." It continues to be published today, under various church imprimaturs. Various chapters in the book are titled: "Mary our Help," "Mary our Mediatress," "Mary our Advocate," etc. 1935: Pope Pius XI gave the title co-redemptrix to Mary during a radio broadcast.

1964-NOV-21: The Chapter 8 of the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, passed by the Vatican Council II, and "Solemnly promulgated by Holiness Pope Paul VI" states, in part: "Rightly, therefore, the Fathers see Mary not merely as passively engaged by God, but as freely cooperating in the work of man’s salvation through faith and obedience. For as St. Irenaeus says, she being obedient, became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race. Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert with him in their preaching ...'death through Eve, life through Mary.' This union of the mother with the son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ’s virginal conception up to his death"

"Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress and Mediatrix."

"...the Blessed Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, and Mediatrix. This, however, is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator."

"For no creature could ever be counted as equal with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer. Just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by the ministers and by the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is really communicated in different ways to His creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source."

1985: Pope John Paul II recognized Mary as co-redemptrix" during a speech in Guayaquil, Ecuador. He said, in part, "Having suffered for the Church, Mary deserved to become the Mother of all the disciples of her Son, the Mother of their unity...In fact Mary’s role as Co-redemptrix did not cease with the glorification of her Son."

1987-MAR-25: In his encyclical Redemptoris Mater, Pope John Paul II "referred to Mary as 'Mediatrix' three times, and as 'Advocate' twice."

1997-APR-9: During an audience Pope John-Paul II referred to the role of Mary during the crucifixion of Jesus: "Mary … co-operated during the event itself and in the role of mother; thus her co-operation embraces the whole of Christ’s saving work. She alone was associated in this way with the redemptive sacrifice that merited the salvation of all mankind. In union with Christ and in submission to him, she collaborated in obtaining the grace of salvation for all humanity...In God’s plan, Mary is the ‘woman’ (cf. John 2:4; John 19:26), the New Eve, united to the New Adam in restoring humanity to its original dignity. Her cooperation with her Son continues for all time in the universal motherhood, which she enjoys in the order of grace. Trusting in this maternal cooperation, let us turn to Mary, imploring her help in all our needs."

The Paganisation of the Christianity of the RCC really started when the Roman emperor Constantine declared the Catholic Church as the only lawful religion of the empire in 313 AD declaring himself the Bishop of the church, ordained by God. This declaration opened the RCC's door to all sort of symbiosis between Christianity and paganism, such as Diana/Mary.

The direct result of that decision is clearly seen even in these modern days.