84. The redemption of mankind by Jesus Christ began with a request by God and the free consent of Mary.

The redemption of mankind by Jesus Christ began with a request by God and the free consent of Mary.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 84

Ave Maria series

84  Was Mary only an instrument of God?

Mary was more than a merely passive instrument of God.  The Incarnation of God took place through her active consent as well.  [493-494, 508-511]

Nativity of Jesus, Marten de Vos 1577  ..... 84

When the angel told her that she would bear “the Son of God”, Mary replied, “Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).  The redemption of mankind by Jesus Christ thus begins with a request by God and the free consent of a human being—and a pregnancy before Mary was married to Joseph.  By such an unusual path Mary became for us the “Gate of Salvation”.  479

[493-494, 508-511]

The Immaculate Conception

493 The Fathers of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God "the All-Holy" (Panagia), and celebrate her as "free from any stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature". (Lumen Gentium 56.)¹³⁸ By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

"Let it be done to me according to your word. . ."

494 At the announcement that she would give birth to "the Son of the Most High" without knowing man, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary responded with the obedience of faith, certain that "with God nothing will be impossible": "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word." (Luke 1:28-38; compare Romans 1:5)¹³⁹ Thus, giving her consent to God's word, Mary becomes the mother of Jesus. Espousing the divine will for salvation wholeheartedly, without a single sin to restrain her, she gave herself entirely to the person and to the work of her Son; she did so in order to serve the mystery of redemption with him and dependent on him, by God's grace: (Compare Lumen Gentium 56.)¹⁴⁰ -- CCC

As St. Irenaeus says, "Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race." (St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3, 22, 4: Patrologia Graeca 7/1, 959A.)¹⁴¹ Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert. . .: "The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith." (St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3, 22, 4: PG 7/1, 959A.)¹⁴² Comparing her with Eve, they call Mary "the Mother of the living" and frequently claim: "Death through Eve, life through Mary." (Lumen Gentium 56; Epiphanius, Haer. 78, 18: PG 42, 728CD-729AB; St. Jerome, Ep. 22, 21: PL 22, 408.)¹⁴³—CCC

IN BRIEF

508 From among the descendants of Eve, God chose the Virgin Mary to be the mother of his Son. "Full of grace", Mary is "the most excellent fruit of redemption" (Sacrosanctum Concilium 103): from the first instant of her conception, she was totally preserved from the stain of original sin and she remained pure from all personal sin throughout her life.-- CCC

509 Mary is truly "Mother of God" since she is the mother of the eternal Son of God made man, who is God himself. -- CCC

510 Mary "remained a virgin in conceiving her Son, a virgin in giving birth to him, a virgin in carrying him, a virgin in nursing him at her breast, always a virgin" (St. Augustine, Serm. 186, 1: Patrologia Latina 38, 999): with her whole being she is "the handmaid of the Lord" (Luke 1:38) -- CCC

511 The Virgin Mary "cooperated through free faith and obedience in human salvation" (Lumen Gentium 56). She uttered her yes "in the name of all human nature" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III, 30, 1). By her obedience she became the new Eve, mother of the living. -- CCC