Demark P.

Alamillo Grade 12-Loyalty

Reflection of 4 Dogmas of Mary

The Marian dogmas are all about the generosity of God–as the
Canticle of Mary shows so powerfully. The very existence of the
Marian dogmas is a consequence of God’s generosity. The Marian
dogmas are not (directly) related to the kerygma, but God’s Revelation
is not about God giving us what we need. God’s Revelation is born out
of His boundless love for us, which leads to His desire to be known by
us. In His perfect wisdom, God reveals as much as He wants, but He
doesn’t just reveal what we “need to know.” That’s not the way love
works. (I will surely be vilified for this, but if Revelation is about what
we need to know, there’s a whole bunch of the Bible you can get rid
of.) The kerygma, God becoming man and dying on the Cross for us,
and rising and saving us from sin and death, that’s what we need to
know, and it is absolutely the center, and the most important thing,
and the most fundamental thing. No argument there what-so-ever. But
God is generous, and He tells us more than we need. What He tells us
about Mary through the Marian dogmas is not stuff that we need to
know. So, the very existence of the Marian dogmas tells us something
about God’s generosity, but of course so does the content of the
Marian dogmas. Because all of the Marian dogmas are essentially
about God bestowing special favors to Mary. She gets perpetual
virginity. She gets to be glorified before anyone else. She gets
protected from sin. She gets appointed Mother of the Church and
Queen of Heaven. Jesus loves His mother so much, and, being one of
total generosity, wants us to share His love for her, just like He wants
us to share His love for all, including the saints. God is indeed a
jealous God, but He is jealous of idolatry, that is to say, of what points
us away from Him, but the saints, as should be clear, point us towards
Him.
Kurt Taray Grade 12-Loyalty

Reflection of 4 Dogmas of Mary

The very existence of the Marian dogmas is a consequence of
God’s generosity. The Marian dogmas don’t fit the “had to” mentality,
but the “had to” mentality doesn’t fit the mentality of God. Jesus didn’t
have to do anything He did for His mother. He didn’t need to do any of
this to save humanity. Assuming His mother into Heaven, enthroning
Her as Mother of the Church and Queen of Heaven, preserving Her
from sin, none of these things fall into the rubric “Things I Need To Do
To Save Humanity.” But they do fall into the rubric “Things I Want To
Do Because I Burn With Love.” Jesus is fully divine so He can and
does do all these things; but–and I think this is key, and a deep
mystery we can’t contemplate enough–he is fully human, and perhaps
nowhere else is the fullness of humanity more thoroughly reflected
than in the way He loves His mother in a special, unique way.
Honoring His mother past the point of “reasonableness” may be, along
with Gethsemane and the cry of agony on the Cross, the
most human thing Jesus ever did. And yet it is so utterly divine,
manifesting His total power over sin and death. O, how deep the
mystery of Christ we contemplate through Mary, the Moon that reflects
the Sun. The Marian dogmas allow us to contemplate “the promise of
life” and tell us about God’s utter generosity and love. He glorified
Mary, for no other reason than wanting to, for no other reason than
love; and, because He is the God of generosity, He invites us into this
love, so that we may love her like He did, and that she may love us
like He does.