by Jayson M. Brunelle

Introduction

In what follows, this author shall attempt to provide a deeper analysis of just how and why Mary, the Mother of Christ, is indeed the Mediatrix of every grace, and that nothing of the vast treasury of God’s Grace – which may be defined as the unmerited gift of participation in God’s own divine, Trinitarian and Family Life, through, with and in Jesus Christ – reaches humanity except through the willed intercession and consent of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

More specifically, it shall be the task of this author to explain this unique Maternal role of the Blessed Virgin in light of her spousal union with the Holy Spirit.  For Mary, not unlike most women in most cultures, assumes the “family name” and “mission” of her spouse.  In the case of the Blessed Virgin Mary, she too assumes the titles and mission of her Divine Spouse, the Holy Spirit of God, Who is chiefly the “Advocate” and the “Unifying and Binding Principle” as the very “Love of God,” Who, as explained by St. Maximilian Kolbe, must be understood to be the “Un-created Immaculate Conception,” Who is the divine fruit of that perfect reciprocity of love between the Father and the Son.

I Divine Revelation and Mariology

Before delving into the theology of the Holy Spirit and His Spousal relationship with Mary, however, I would be doing the reader a great disservice were I not to proceed according to the traditional theological exposition of some truth (or rather, a series of truths) to which both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, the twin-fold source of God’s Divine Revelation, attest.  Moreover, considering the logical, philosophical reality that an effect cannot be greater than it’s cause, and furthermore, considering that the most holy and divine Word of God, that is, the Sacred Canon of individual books, letters, and other writings that comprise the Two Testaments of Holy Scripture could not possibly be what Christians the world over believe and adamantly claim them to be – namely, both “Inspired and Inerrant” – had not their sources – the Biblical authors and the Churchmen who identified and “canonized” the texts, themselves been “Inspired” and prevented from teaching any error regarding anything and everything which pertains to faith and morality. 

The faith that all Christians have in the “Inspired and Inerrant” nature and essence of Sacred Scripture makes absolutely no sense whatever without additionally believing in and attesting to the truth and reality of the existence of an equally inspired “Sacred, Living, Oral Tradition,” which made it possible for the Roman Catholic Bishops to be guided by that Same Spirit of Divine Authorship, in determining which of the multiple texts, letters, books and sundry other writings would, indeed, be incorporated into the Sacred Canon of Inspired and Inerrant Scriptural texts  “Inspired.”  Would it not take Inspiration to know, discern and identify Inspiration?

A proper understanding of the twin-fold source of Divine Revelation as being equally comprised of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition is of paramount importance in the study and comprehension of Mariology, for, many of the sacred “Truths, Dogmas and Doctrines” regarding the Blessed Virgin Mary, while present in a seminal form in Sacred Scripture, are not nearly as fleshed out as, say,  the parables of Christ, or other essential elements of the faith.  Now, I’m fully aware that the statement I have just made will be read and filtered with great suspicion and skepticism by numerous of my beloved Protestant Brethren, and I can appreciate that.  My only response is what I’ve already stated above regarding the equality of dignity possessed by Sacred Tradition, pointing out that an effect (such as an “Inspired” Scripture) cannot be greater than its cause (an uninspired Church).

II Sacred Tradition

Dr. Mark Miravalle, Full Professor of Theology and Mariology at Franciscan University, recognized the world over as one of the leading authorities within the field of Mariology, has made tremendous contributions to the literature in this, his field of expertise.  Additionally, as a scholar working in academia, he represents those exceedingly rare theologians who, in truth, “does Theology on his knees.”

Having been so blessed by Our Lord and Our Lady as to have studied under Miravalle,  during my tenure at Franciscan University of Steubenville, OH, I have witnessed his genuine piety and deep humility, the latter being a character trait that is almost never seen amongst college professors. It is evident that  Miravalle is living the life of a saint through his earnest efforts at living his Total Consecration to Jesus, through Mary.

Alas, I digress… The reason for my musings on Dr. Miravalle have to do with the fact that he has done the Church and the world a great service in writing, with such lucidity and depth of comprehension, on this very topic of Mary’s Maternal Mediation, specifically, to save the rest of us the time and effort of having to pour over pages of papal encyclicals, mottus propios, Wednesday Audiences, Papal Anguleses, and so on and so forth.  In a small booklet of no more than 42 pages that he wrote for the Marian Movement of Priests, he lists all of the instances when Popes of the 20th Century have referred to Mary as  “Mediatrix.”  This list is no small feat, and speaks to the consistency and repetition necessary to raise a certain teaching of the faith to the level of official Catholic “doctrine,” to which all the faithful must give full assent of intellect and will, as a divinely revealed truth, contained in the “Deposit of the Faith.”  Let us take a look at this impressive display of repetition and consistency in Ordinary Magisterial teaching::

1. Benedict XIV: “Our Lady is like a celestial stream through which the flow of all graces and gifts reach the soul of all wretched mortals” (Pope Benedict XVI, Op Omnia, v. 16, ed., Prati, 1846, p. 428.
2. Pius VII: “Dispensatrix of all graces (Pope Pius VII, Ampliatio privilegiorum ecclesiae B. M. Virginis ab angelo salutatae in coenobio Fratrum Ordinis Servorum B.V.M. Floretiae, AD., 1806;  in J. Bourasse, Summa aurea…, V. 7. Paris, 1862, col. 546).
3. Pius IX: “For God has committed to Mary the treasury of all good things, in order that everyone may know that through her [are] obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation” (Pope Pius IX, Encyclical Letter, Ubi Primum, 1849).
4. Pius IX: “With her only-begotton Son, [Mary is] the most powerful Mediatrix and Reconciler of the world (Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 1854).
5. Leo XIII: “…through whom [Christ] has chosen to be the dispenser of all heavenly graces (Pope Leo XIII, Jucunda semper, 1883).
6. Leo XIII: “It is right to say that nothing at all of the immense treasury of every grace which the Lord accumulated – for “grace and truth come from Jesus Christ” (Jn 1:17) – nothing is imparted to us except through Mary… (Pope Leo XIII, Octobri Mense, 1891).
7. St. Pius X: “[Mary is the] dispensatrix of all the gifts aquired by the death of the Redeemer” (Pope St. Pius X, Ad diem illum, AAS 36, 1904, p. 453).
8. St. Pius X: “…she became most worthily the reparatrix of the lost world’ and dispensatrix of all the gifts that our Savior purchased for us by his death and his blood” (Pope St. Pius X, Ad diem illum, 1904;cf., Eadmer, De Eccellentia Virginis Mariae, c.9).
9. St. Pius X: “For she is the neck of our Head by which He communicates to His Mystical Body all spiritual gifts” (Pope St. Pius X, Pope St. Pius X, Ad diem illum, 1904).
10. Benedict XV: “For with her suffering and dying Son, Mary endured suffering and almost death…. One can truly affirm that together with Christ she has redeemed the human race…For this reason, every kind of grace we receive from the treasury of the redemption is ministered as it were through the hands of the same sorrowful Virgin…” (Pope Benedict XV, Apostolic Letter, Inter Sodalicia, AAS 10, 1918, p. 182; Mass and Office of Mediatrix of All Graces approved 1921).
11. Pius XI: “…the Virgin who is treasurer of all graces with God….” (Pope Pius XI, Apostolic Letter, Cognitum sane, AAS 18, p. 213.
12. Pius XI: “…We know that all things are imparted to us from God, the greatest and best, through the hands of the Mother of God.” (Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Letter, Ingravescentibus malis, AAS 29, 1937, p. 380).
13. Pius XII: “…it is the will of God that we obtain all favors through Mary; let everyone hasten to have recourse to Mary.” (Pope Pius XII, Superiore anno, AAS 32 1940, p. 145).
14. Pius XII: “She teaches us all virtues; she gives us Her Son and with Him all the help we need, for God wished for us to have everything through Mary.” (Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei, 1947).
15. Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, 62: “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.” (Lumen Gentium, Para. 62).
16. St. John Paul II: “Thus there is mediation: Mary places herself between her Son and mankind in the reality of its wants, needs and sufferings.  She puts herself  “in the middle”, that is to say, she acts as a mediatrix not as an outsider, but in her position as Mother.  She knows that, as such, she can point out to her Son the needs of mankind and in fact, she “has the right” to do so.” (Pope St. John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, 1987, no. 21).

This impressive display of consistency and repetition in the Papal teachings of the past 150 years leads Miravalle to make the following statement in the aforementioned booklet: “We must thereby keep in mind that the role of Our Lady as Mediatrix of Grace is anything but a new doctrine, but rather constitutes the consistent doctrinal teaching of the Papal Magisterium.”

III Sacred Scripture

(To Be Cont’d…)

IV Two, In Becoming One, Become Three

Divine Revelation, via it’s twin-fold source of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition (with the latter being a “living” Tradition that is guided by the Spirit Himself) makes known to us that the Spirit is both the “Advocate” and the “Love of God.”  As the “Love of God,” the Holy Spirit is, as it were, the “divine fruit” of the love that exists, from all eternity, between the First Two Persons of the Holy Trinity; namely, the Father and the Son.  Thus, while the Father eternally begets the Son, and as the Son inherits the fullness of everything that the Father is and has, including the absolute fullness of His divinity, the Son experiences the most perfect, profound and metaphysically intense love for His Father – a Divine love that is perfectly reciprocated by the Father for the Son.  It may be stated that the divine love between the Father and the Son is so ontologically perfect and fecund, that it gives rise to a new, Third Divine Person, Who can be said to be the divine personification of the love between the two aforementioned Divine Persons.

This penultimate cosmic equation of One Person/One Common Nature + One Person/One Common Nature = Three Persons/One Common Nature can be seen reflected all throughout God’s creation, particularly in the spousal relationships amongst human persons.  The Sacramental social contract of Holy Matrimony is only fully ratified upon completion of the marital act of conjugal love, which serves as the fullest expression of the love that the couple has for each-other.  For, as human persons, who are body-soul composites, it is precisely the marital act that most perfectly exemplifies both the spiritual and the physical unity and fecundity of their love, which, by its nature, must be both unitive and procreative. The conception of a new human person is the natural consequence of the fruitfulness of the married couple’s unreserved, unselfish love for each other.  Thus, the child conceived within the context of this spousal expression of love may be said to be the human personification of the love that the spouses have for each other.  Thus, it may be stated that the two, in becoming one, become three!

Clearly, the same can be stated of the Holy Trinity, on and after which human love has been modeled.  It is the human family which has been created in the image and likeness of the Divine Family of the Holy Trinity.

V “Who Are You, Immaculate Conception?”

At this point, it becomes possible for us to more closely examine Kolbe’s Mariology.  St. Maximilian Kolbe possessed a deep and profound devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes, who revealed her identity to the impoverished, poorly educated peasant-child, Bernadette, in the following manner: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”  While many are quite familiar with this account of Our Lady’s self-revelation to St. Bernadette, few are aware of the profound theological insights to which it gave rise on account of the myriad hours of prayerful reflection of St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, who penned his most astounding Mariological insights just hours prior to being arrested and imprisoned by the Nazi’s.

As a Conventual Franciscan Friar who possessed a most profound devotion to and comprehension of Our Lady and her copious titles and roles, it was his earnest desire to spread the deeply sanctifying devotion of total Consecration to Jesus through Mary as far and as widely as possible, as the perfect means to that ultimate end of establishing the very Reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on earth; that is, the fulfillment of that for which we, as Christians, have been praying, for the past 2,000 years: “Thy Kingdom come; Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven!”

VI Marian Consecration: The Key to Sanctification and the Salvation of a War-Torn World

Not unlike the great St. Louis Marie de Montfort before him, the great, divinely inspired champion of that “True Devotion to Mary” which, praise be to God, has gained such widespread popularity amongst so many souls, Kolbe grasped the profundity and import of an ever-more perfect devotion to the Immaculate Virgin Mary as the key to a “quick, easy, sure and secure” union with Christ.

Kolbe was hand-picked by Our Lady to accomplish a most profound mission – a mission that would literally alter the trajectory of human history and save millions upon millions of human souls in the process.

VII Lourdes and the Miraculous Medal

While we know that the apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes to St. Bernadette and those of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal to St. Catherine Laboure in Paris – heaven’s divine confirmation, both before and after, of Pius IX’s solemn proclamation of the Immaculate Conception – were the two defining Marian events in Kolbe’s life, affecting deeply his spirituality and Mariology, we additionally see the hand of Providence at work in Kolbe’s founding of the Militia Immaculata in 1917, a mere three days after Our Lady’s last apparition at Fatima on October 13, 1917.  It was as if Kolbe, through an inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was intuitively responding to Our Lady’s clarion call for prayer and penance for the conversion and consecration of Russia.

In order to properly comprehend Kolbean Mariology, however, we must first grasp an essential truth regarding the essence of the Holy Spirit,  Who truly is the Divine Spouse of the Ever Blessed Virgin Mary. This truth consists in a reality spoken of earlier in this essay; namely, that the Spirit, as the eternal spiration of love between the Father and the Son, “proceeds from the Father and the Son,” and may be thought of as the “Divine Personification” of the Love that the Father and Son have for each other. This communal exchange, or “relationship,” of Divine Love that the Father and the Son possess for each other is so very real and life-giving that it actually becomes “Life Making” in the fullest and most radical sense. Thus, the Spirit can be understood to be the true “Love,” and therefore, the very essence or nature of God Himself, as Sacred Scripture states in 1 Jn 4:8: “Anyone who does not love does not know God; for God is love.” It is for this reason that we may refer to the Spirit as the “Principle of Unification.”

Thus, the same Spirit Who so perfectly unites the truly distinct Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity as to effect a true, bona fide oneness of nature and substance, in Love, is the very same Principle of Unification and Oneness of Essence Who takes up His dwelling in the hearts and souls of each individual human person who is in a state of Sanctifying Grace, which is first received at the Sacrament of Baptism.  Baptism, then, is the most primary and foundational of the Sacraments of initiation, as it truly unites and grafts the faithful to that living reality which is the Mystical Body of Christ.  Thus, it is none other than the Holy Spirit of God Who brings it about that all the faithful, through the Sacrament of Baptism, are just as united to, and therefore one with Christ and with each other, as Christ is united to and truly one with His Heavenly Father.  Thus, through Baptism, we become true “partakers of the divine nature” and participants in the Divine Family Life of God, bringing to fulfillment Christs prayer:  “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me” (John 17: 20, 21).

The Different Definitions of ‘Love’

Second, an identification of the nature or essence of the Holy Spirit as the “Love” of God, while serving as a starting point, must further be fleshed out; for, the astute reader will immediately recognize the deficiency of the English language with regard to this multi-nuanced, hackneyed term, “love,” as it can be, and is, applied to a very wide array of relationships, ranging from the most exalted to the most prosaic, and to just about everything in between.  We’d do well, then, to adopt the approach taken by C.S. Lewis, who, in recognition of the same difficulty, turned to the ancient Greeks, who distinguished at least four distinct categories, or types, of “love,” each denoting a fundamentally unique relationship, differing both in essence and degree from the other three.  Henceforth then, let us differentiate the “Four Loves” of the Greeks: (1) Agape, which can best be described as the purest form of love – an unconditional love that wills the good of another and truly expects nothing in return.  It is this term that is most often used to denote the love that Christians ought to aspire to; (2) Eros, which is a passionate and / or romantic love.  The common expression, “Love at first sight,” provides a good description of this type of passionate love; yet, it has been suggested that eros need not be physical.  It may just as well describe the ecstasies of the saints, as their souls are enraptured with the fire of God’s divine love. (3) Philia, which may be referred to as the love of friendship.  It is a deep, mental affection that one experiences towards those beloved family members and / or dear friends to whom one feels a sense of duty, obligation and responsibility – all of which arise out of a deep, filial affection; Finally, (4) Storge, which expresses the somewhat obligatory love that family members quite often have for each other; it may additionally refer to the mere tolerance  of a family member – a family member who may be somewhat “unliked” but “loved” and therefore, “put up with.” Frankly, it seems, at least to this author, to be rather condescending, and certainly is the least affectionate of the four; yet, there are many persons who hold this familial love in a higher, or even the highest, regard, possibly due to the bond of blood.

Thus, for our purposes, it would seem, at least to this author, that the “Love” of God, the Holy Spirit, would be a perfect combination of the first three; namely, agape, eros (in the non-physical fashion) and philia. Storge seems, to this author, to be a purely human experience – a very low “acceptance” of another that one would only begrudgingly endure or tolerate.  Clearly, this is far below the perfection predicated of God, and much more akin to that which human persons, due to their fallen human nature, might feel for members of their family; for, we do not freely chose our family members as we do our friends and lovers.

Further, according to any authentic, Gospel-based Christianity, the “agape,” or “selfless love” that Christ demands of His followers is necessarily “fruitful.” This truth is readily attested to in Chapter 12 of John’s Gospel, verse 24: “Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it stays alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit.”  This truth regarding love’s fruitfulness has been immortalized in a famed poem penned by St. Francis of Assisi, whose final stanza reads: “For, it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”  In addition to love’s fruitful nature, the Love of God is also the greatest of the three supernatural, infused virtues (“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” 1 Cor 13:13.), which, along with the four cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance, comprise the Seven Cardinal Virtues.

Further still, any discussion of Divine Love would be utterly remiss in not addressing Christ’s confirmation of Love of God and neighbor as the summation of every divine law, command, moral precept and/or dictate, as is seen in Luke 10:28 and what follows: “25And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”28And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live”

Now, to elaborate on the fruitfulness of love,  it seems logical to posit that if authentic love is fruitful, then God’s own Divine Love is perfectly fruitful; thus, there emerges, from all eternity, the perfection of the Divine Love that exists mutually between the Father and the Son. This reciprocity of Divine Love that exists between these First Two Persons of the Holy Godhead is so metaphysically and ontologically real, perfect and intense that it naturally gives rise, from all eternity, to a Third Divine Person, Who is the Divine Personification of this reciprocity of  Love between Father and Son. Thus, this Third Divine Person’s Essence is nothing less than the perfectly unitive essence of God Himself, as this essence is the perfect, binding, unitive, Divine Love of God.

The “Created” and “Un-Created” Immaculate Conceptions

That said, we may now begin to discuss the profoundly unique and distinct role of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, after Christ Jesus, occupies the highest possible dignity of all of God’s creatures.   Indeed, it is precisely this truth that I would like to draw out and elaborate upon in this article.  As stated above, it is the contention, or thesis, of this essay that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the God, as the true Spouse of the Holy Spirit of God, would, like any bride, assume the name(s) and mission of her beloved spouse.  Now, we possess a deeper and more profound understanding of and insight into the reality of Mary’s privileged identity as the “Created Immaculate Conception” due to our knowledge of the Spirit’s role as the eternal, “Un-created Immaculate Conception;” for, the latter truly is the “Divine Offspring” of the perfect, eternal love  of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father.  While the Church had long understood the Holy Spirit to be the “Love” between the Father and the Son, it took the many years of arduous, dedicated prayer and reflection on the part of our celebrated Marian Scholar and devotee, St. Maximilian Kolbe, to make this connection and to fully draw out this marvelous parallel between Mary and the Holy Spirit, her Spouse.

Building on the marvelous insights of this great Marian Saint, it would only be logical to hold that the Most Holy Trinity would maintain consistency with regard to each of the Divine Persons freely choosing to associate Mary, the “Woman” who both begins and ends Sacred Scripture (in the first book of Scripture, Gn 3:15, where the Father first holds out the hope of redemption in the “Proto-Evangelium,” through the “Woman and her offspring – Christ and His disciples” who would crush the head of the ancient serpent; and in the last book of Scripture, where the final battle between good and evil would be fought between the same “Woman and her offspring – Christ and His disciples”) in each of the Divine Person’s unique roles in the unfolding of salvation history.  Thus, the Holy Spirit, as the Divine Spouse of the Blessed Virgin, would emulate the Father and the Son in their unique relationships of dependence on Mary’s wholly obedient “fiat.”  First, the Father freely chooses to become entirely dependent upon Mary’s free-will co-operation in His own Providential plan for the unfolding of the great salvific mystery of the Incarnation of the God-man, Jesus Christ, in her immaculate womb.

Likewise, the Son, the Eternal Word of God, freely chooses to become entirely dependent upon Mary’s free-will co-operation in His Providential plan of her carrying Him (the Christ-Child) in her womb for the duration of His nine-month gestation; giving birth to Him in a cold, impoverished, undignified stable in a foreign land; having to keep Him out of harm’s way by traveling to, and settling in, Egypt, until the threat of Herod’s wrath, and the murdering of countless innocent children, came to an end with the latter’s death; devoting her entire life to providing for each of the numerous needs of the Christ-child, in order that He might grow to be the Son of God  and the Son of Man that the Father had called Him to be; assuring his extensive study of the Talmud, that He might become the great Rabbinical Scholar He was to be, Who would not simply be one among many other teachers of the Mosaic Law, but Who would bring to fulfillment every single prophecy written about Him in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Before we delve into the Holy Spirit’s association of Mary in this fantastic work of Redemption, it is the conviction of this author that we ought to introduce still another concept that, up to this point, seems to have fallen by the wayside.  Moreover, this concept will, in this author’s estimation, shed considerable light upon the unique association of Mary in the titles and roles and mission of the Spirit.

Masculinity and Femininity: Reflective of Creator and Creature Respectively

Up to this point, I have restricted myself to speaking on the relationships that exist between the individual Persons of the Holy Trinity – specifically, the First and Second Persons – in the objective work of redemption, and this, at least in part, as a lead up to the Holy Spirit’s unique association of Mary in the same enterprise.   What I have yet to address, however, is the more fundamental, over-arching role of the Blessed Virgin Mary, not in relation to the specific Divine Persons, but rather, in relation to God’s singular, unified Essence as God the Creator. For lack of better or more suitable terminology or phraseology, I have chosen to refer to this dichotomy  as the “Feminine / Created Counter-part of the essentially Masculine / Creator.”  In addition to other more specific theories being advanced in this essay, I would like to integrate into the fabric of this work a concept that has struck this author and is just now being advanced here for the reader’s consideration.

In essence, the idea is as follows: (1) It is an absolute truth of Divine Revelation that each of the Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity either has been revealed, or has revealed Himself, in the masculine.  Speaking on some of the most fundamental aspects of Divine Revelation, the Second Vatican Council Document, “Dei Verbum,” states the following: “the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines out for our sake in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation” (DV, 2).  More explicitly, “after speaking in many and varied ways through the prophets, ‘now at last in these days God has spoken to us in His Son’ (Heb. 1:1-2). For He sent His Son, the eternal Word, who enlightens all men, so that He might dwell among men and tell them of the innermost being of God (see John 1:1-18). Jesus Christ, therefore, the Word made flesh, was sent as ‘a man to men.'(3) He ‘speaks the words of God’ (John 3;34), and completes the work of salvation which His Father gave Him to do (see John 5:36; John 17:4). To see Jesus is to see His Father (John 14:9). For this reason Jesus perfected revelation by fulfilling it through his whole work of making Himself present and manifesting Himself: through His words and deeds, His signs and wonders, but especially through His death and glorious resurrection from the dead and final sending of the Spirit of truth. Moreover He confirmed with divine testimony what revelation proclaimed, that God is with us to free us from the darkness of sin and death, and to raise us up to life eternal” (DV, 4).

To Be Cont’d…