Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Praise be Jesus and Mary.
Yesterday, on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, there was held at the Vatican a forum in which
cardinals and bishops came together to discuss the timeliness of the proclamation of the
Fifth Marian Dogma of Our Lady as Co-Redemptrix.
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady, those sorrows by which
she participated in our Lord's work of redemption.
As prophesied by Simeon in the second chapter of St. Luke's Gospel,
So today could also be called the Feast of the Co-Redemptrix.
Our Lady, in fact, is the new Eve, just as Christ is the new Adam.
As Eve cooperated with Adam in the fall of the human race,
so Our Lady cooperates with Christ in humanity's salvation.
Now this truth is affirmed throughout the history of the Church.
We go back to the second century with St. Irenaeus, who states,
Just as Eve, wife of Adam, yet still a virgin, became by her disobedience the cause of death
for herself and the whole human race,
so Mary, too, espoused yet a virgin, became by her obedience the cause of salvation for herself
and the whole human race.
That's the second century.
In the twentieth century, we have the words from the Second Vatican Council,
which affirm Our Lady's unique cooperation in the work of redemption
and that she is our mother in the order of grace.
Lumen Gentium, paragraph 61, says this,
Predestined from eternity by that decree of divine providence,
which determined the incarnation of the Word,
to be the mother of God, the Blessed Virgin was, above all others and in a singular way,
the generous associate of the Lord.
She was united with him by compassion as he died on the cross.
In this singular way, she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity
in the work of the Savior, in giving back supernatural life to souls.
Wherefore, she is our mother in the order of grace.
Just like she is our Lord's mother in the order of nature, his natural mother,
so she is our mother in the order of grace.
So she is our mother in the order of grace.
So she is our mother in the order of grace.
She is our mother in the order of grace, the supernatural order.
Moreover, the Venerable John Paul II called Our Lady Co-Redemptrix
six times in his public discourses.
He said, quote,
Her role as Co-Redemptrix did not cease with the glorification of her son.
He means by that that even after the accomplishment of the acquisition
of the graces of redemption at Calvary,
Our Lady's co-redemptive role continues in the distribution of those saving graces
to the hearts of humanity, or more specifically, as the Mediatrix of all graces.
And so today, as we remember Our Lady's seven sorrows
and her unique cooperation in the work of redemption,
let us seek to console her immaculate,
and sorrowful heart by living holy lives
according to God's commandments and the teachings of Holy Mother Church.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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