-  Straight to Catholics - Why I believe in What I believe  - 

                                           By His Grace Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing, S.J.    

                                 - Jesus Christ the Mediator and other mediations -  P A G E   2  -

However, all this does not take away from Christ Jesus . His unique role as the sole Mediator between God and Man. It is through Him that all go to the Father: "No one goes to the Father except through me", says Christ. (John 14:6) There is also the famous text of Saint Paul "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as random for all". The Catholic Church has always taught that there is only One Mediator: Christ. Vatican Council II says: "We have but one Mediator..." (LG. "Constitution on the Church", No. 60). The meaning of "Mediator" as applied to Christ in the New Testament is more than a "Go-between" or a "representative of" two parties. Christ himself is the "meeting point" between the divine and the human. He is, therefore, at the same time the "High Priest" and the "Victim" of the sacrifice (Letter to the Hebrews). He is the Only High Priest and the Only Mediator.

Objection - If Christ is the only Mediator, why do Catholics call the Virgin Mary, "Mediatrix."?

Response: Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, is mediatrix not in the sense that she replaces Christ as the sole Mediator. Her mediation takes its meaning and activity from Christ's unique Mediatorship.

The Church or "people of God continues the salvific work of Christ in the world. Hence, all we Christians, by virtue of our baptism share in the priesthood of Christ (Vatican Council II, L.G. No.10). The Book of Revelation (Apocalypse) says: "To Him (Christ) who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom and priests to Our God..." (Revelation 5:10). - See section on "Sacrifice of the Mass." Because we share in his priesthood, we also share in his mediatorship as instrument to carry out Christ saving activity in the world. For this reason, Saint Paul can logically speak of two other kinds of mediation which spring from the unique and irreplaceable Mediatorship of Christ: (a) mediation through intercessory prayer to which all are obliged and (b) mediation through the special ministry of the Apostles.

"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for all men, may lead a quite and peaceable life and respectful in every way,... For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony to which was borne at the prayer time. For this, I was appointed a preacher and apostle..." (1 Timothy 2:1-7).

Paul go even further and speaks of filling up in one's own flesh what was wanting in the sufferings of Christ (Colossians 1:24). Is not Saint Paul sharing in Christ's suffering (Christ's sacrifice) a participation in the mediatorship of Christ? Christ's suffering is the consequence of His priesthood which is Mediatorship between God and Man. Since all of us in this sense share, as instruments, Christ's Mediatorship, surely the Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, the most perfect of created creatures must share in a special way Christ's saving activity in the world. It was through her that God the Son came into the world. It was through her that God the Son came into the world. She was filled with the Holy Spirit. The Angel Gabriel the Holy Spirit. Angel Gabriel said, "the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you" (Luke 1:35f). This was the result of her great faith in God. She is for us Catholics a model of faith. She is also a model of true discipleship (as presented by Saint Luke and Saint John). - _, Mary in the New Testament, ed. by Raymond E. Brown, K.P. Donfried, J.A. Fitzmyer, J. Reumann; Theological Theological Publications in India, Bangalore, 1981.- She followed her son from the beginning of His public Life, (John 2:1-12) the feast at Cana. It was here that Jesus performed His first miracle through her intercession. She was at the foot of the cross, at the end of her Son's public ministry, when Jesus gave her to be the mother of His "beloved disciple", symbol of all of us who are Jesus' disciples.

After Jesus' ascension, she was with the Apostles, the first Christian community who "devoted themselves to constant prayer" (Acts 1:14). From all these, the early Church fathers naturally gave her a special place of honour. Therefore, in a specific way, she shares the Mediatorship of Christ, the source of all graces. It is in this sense, that the Eastern Church applied this term mediatrix to the Blessed Virgin. It is difficult to give the exact date when the term was applied. The first writer in whose work the usage of this term can be proved with certainty is Saint Andrew of Crete (740). In the Latin Church, the term was popularized by Saint Bernard (12th century). 

As can be seen, this practice goes right back to a very early Tradition which is based on sound theology which comes from the sacred Scriptures. Further more the whole understanding of Mary's mediation, the saints' mediation and our mediation is rooted in the creed "we believe in the communion of saints" which I have already briefly explained before. It seems to me that those who accuse Catholics of calling Mary the "mediatrix", are caught up more with the superficial appearance of the word rather than with the true meaning of the word. I personally do not mind if we do not apply the word "mediatrix" to the Virgin Mary if that would make our accusers happy. But I do mind if they were to ask me to reject the idea of Mary and Christians sharing in Christ's Mediatorship. I would not for anything discard the truth and reality of my faith.

Objection - Why do Catholics call Mary the "Mother of God"? She is the mother of the humanity of Jesus, not of His divinity. Therefore, she should be called the mother of Jesus. 

Response: The title "Mother of God" can only be understood in the historical context of the controversy over Jesus' divinity and humanity. Right from the beginning of the Church, there were discussions and controversies over who Jesus was. Was He really God equal to God the Father? If so, was He really man like us: human beings? How can divinity and humanity exist in the one person? In the process of debate, a number of heresies emerged and they were condemned (see the section on triune God).

The Greek word for "Mother of God" is theotokos (God bearer or Mother of God). The earliest written record of this term that we now have (it could have been used earlier, though we have no record of this) is from Alexander of Alexandria (II) m 325 A.D.. but in subtuum papyrus, in the John Rylands library, it is put back to 270 A.D. If this is correct, then it is the earliest record of the term. By the time of Saint Athanasius (293-373 A.D.),. the usage of the term was common. Saint Gregory Nazianzen (324-389 A.D.) said, "If anyone does not accept the holy Mary as theotokos, he/she is without the Godhead.' In the West or Latin world, Saint Ambrose (340-397 A.D.) was the first to use "mother of God." But it was Saint John Damascene (680-690 A.D.) who developed a theology of the divine motherhood.

Of course, the root of this is found in the Gospel where Mary was the mother of the Son of God (Galatians 4:4; Luke 1:32,35); when Elizabeth calls Mary "the mother of my Lord" (Luke 1:43). The word :Lord" equals to God as can be seen from the same passage in Luke. Elizabeth said, "And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." And Mary replied, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour." (Luke 1:45-46).

The early Church had to fight against: (1) Docetism that believed that Christ's body was a mere phantom - that is, Christ Jesus was not truly Man. (2) Valentinus who taught that Christ's real body was a celestial body that merely passed through Mary, that is, a denial of Mary's real motherhood of Christ, the divine, and therefore of Christ's humanity. (3) Marcion who taught that Christ appeared from nowhere as a full-grown man, that is, again a denial of Christ's humanity and hence Mary's motherhood. (4) Fautius of Mileve, a champion of Manichaeism, who taught that the Holy Spirit overshadowed the earth (the Virgin) and not Mary (the person) and that Jesus became divine only when he was baptized in the Jordan. (5) Arius who denied Christ's divinity and hence Mary's divine motherhood, that is, Mary was only the Mother of Christ, the man. (6) Nestorius who taught that Mary was only the "mother of Christ" not the "mother of God' because this world confuse the divine and human aspects of Jesus, that is, there are practically two persons in Christ.

It was in this heated argument about Christ's divinity and humanity that Mary's motherhood was brought in to affirm either Christ's divinity or Christ's humanity, or both. The Church's answer to the confusion was that to deny Mary's divine motherhood was to deny Christ's divinity. This is a logical argument.

                                                 Jesus is God. 

                                                 Mary is the mother of Jesus. 

                                                 Therefore Mary is the mother of God. 

Hence, to deny that "Mary is the mother of God, is to deny the premise "Jesus is God." This was what the bishops at the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D. declared, "If anyone does not confess that God is truly Emmanuel, and that on this account the holy virgin is the mother of God (for according to the flesh she gave birth to the Word of God become flesh by birth), let him/her be anathema (condemned)." - Quoted by Alan Schreck in Catholic and Christian. op. cit., page 176. -  When Catholics use the term "mother of God", it is, in fact, a defense of the divinity and humanity in the one person of Christ.

"But why cannot we simply say that Mary is the mother of Jesus?" you may retort. Surely, we can say that Mary is the mother of Jesus. But why cannot we say also that she is the mother of God as explained above? If the refusal to say "Mother of God" comes from wanting to confine Mary to the humanity of Christ without denying His divinity, my answer is that we cannot split Christ into two separate persons. He is One who is both divine and human. There were no two Jesus in the Gospel. there was only One.  

Objection - Why do we say that Mary is sinless? The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible says that only Christ is sinless. By making Mary sinless, are you not making her a God?

Response: Every statement about Mary is always related to the person of Christ. The dogma on Mary's immaculate conception like the term "Mother of God" is a defense of Christ's divinity.

Early Christians were divided on this issue. Origin, for example, did not believe in this. Even Saint Thomas Aquinas did not. But Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine did. The basic reason for the controversy resided in the fear that if Mary was sinless, then she did not need Christ's saving grace. This would be a denial of the Gospel. However, Duns Scotus' reasoning that God applied to Mary Christ's saving grace before the birth of Christ helped the Church in her reflections. This means that Mary was also saved by Christ. As theological reflections continued, the belief in the "Immaculate Conception" became almost universal in the Catholic Church. Then, in 1854 His Holiness Pope Pius IX proclaimed it to be an infallible belief of the Catholic Church.

If Christ is God, then, He is also timeless and spaceless, eternal. This means that every act of His although in space and time (His death and resurrection) is eternal (without time nor space). This is how Mary could be saved and preserved from sin by God before the salvific act of Christ in space and time. Her sinlessness did not come from herself, as Christ is sinless by nature of being what He is. God saved her through Christ's grace and preserved her from sin foe a special purpose: to bear forth His Son who is sinless and never sinned. He cannot become part of sin, otherwise He would not be God, without being sinless. Hence, God prepared a special person to bear His Son who is God - Mary. As can be seen, this statement of Mary's immaculate conception is another defence of Christ's divinity. - Alan Schreck, op. cit., pp. 276-279 - 

Objection - Why do Catholics believe that Mary was taken to heaven "body and soul"?

Response: This is again related to Christ. The dogma of the Assumption of Mary pronounced by His Holiness Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950, was in fact at the petition of "113 Cardinals, 150 Bishops, 32,00 Priests and Religious Brothers, 50,000 Religious Sisters/Women and 8 million lay people". - op. cit., p.180 - The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible tells us that death is the consequence of sin. Since Mary was preserved from sin by God, she did not have to undergo death. The Assumption, therefore, means that because Mary shares the fullness of Christ's redemption - preserved from sin, she also shared immediately the resurrection of Christ: immediate union of her whole being (body and soul) with God at the end of her earthly life. She, as a creature of God, becomes for us than a sign of hope that all who are saved by Christ will also sure in Christ's resurrection on the last day. It is indeed an affirmation that Christ is truly resurrected and shares His resurrection with all who want Him.

Objection - But all these are not found in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible? Where in the Bible can one find Mary as "mediatrix", Mary as "Immaculate Conception", or Mary as "assumed into heaven"?

Response: True, these terms or even the present understanding of these term are not found explicitly in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. But to say that they are not found even implicitly in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible is false. Is the term "Christ is God" found explicitly in the Holy Bible? No. Why? Because the germ of our clearer understanding of the identity of Christ is already in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. The early Christians reflected upon Christ and His teachings and came up with many clearer statements of two Christ is and of what He teaches us. This is what I have been trying to show throughout this book.

Everything in this world either grows or dies. Only dead things do not grow. Man is no exception. Not only does he/she grow physically but also emotionally, psychologically, intellectually and spiritually. History proves that humanity as a whole has progressed not only materially but in knowledge. Spiritually, this should also be true. hence our growth in understanding our faith is not only a must for it to be living but a reality. Christ our Lord knows what He has created. So, before He left us He sent His Holy Spirit to teach us more of His truth: "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth;" (John 16:13).

Consequently, clinging to death. Our God is the God of the living, not of the dead, says the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible.

Objection - Why must we go through the Virgin Mary or the saints? Did not the Gospel tell us that Jesus Christ is the only mediator? Why cannot we go directly to Christ?

Response: This objection is more or less answered by what I have explained above. First and foremost, no one said that we must go through Our Lady or the saints to Christ Jesus. We can go straight to Him. However, human beings, being what we are, spirit in matter, social, etc., need a certain amount of "mediation" - through things, through events and through people. Is not going to temples or mosques or churches a human expression of the need of material and social mediation to God? A temple, mosque or Church is material, located in a certain place. The gathering of believers in a place is social. Some people are brought back to God through a disaster or a beautiful happening in their lives - mediation through events. No orthodox Catholic will deny that Christ is the only Mediator. As I have tried to prove this uniqueness of Christ's mediation in no way cuts off all secondary mediations because the latter arises from the former. All Christians living and dead but alive in Christ share in Christ's Mediatorship and it is through us that Christ carries on His salvific activity in the world. Is not the commission of Christ to us all go out and preach His Good News a gift to share in His salvific work, Mediatorship? The whole Body of Christ - living and dead but alive in Christ - shares in the work of the Head: Jesus Christ.

To insist always to go directly to God shows a lack of understanding of: 

- What is meant to be a human being - spirit in matter, a social being, an emotional and intellectual being. - 

- God's way. If He has made us as we are - spirit in matter, social, emotional, etc. - it would be illogical of God to insist or wish that we be otherwise. It would be an absurdity.

-  The Body of Christ or "communion of saints". 

Perhaps, latent with this desire to go directly to God and not through anyone or anything is pride. If God, who created not through anyone or anything is pride. If God, who created all things, works through all - human being, things, events, nature - to draw Man to Him, who are we to spurn them all and say: "We must only go to God directly?" Who are we to limit God's power? This was what Saint Peter meant when he defended himself before the Jewish Christians for baptizing Gentiles, saying: "If then God gave the gift to them (Cornelius and his family) as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?" (Acts 11:17). Is not there a subtle pride in wanting to limit God's power by demanding that we always go directly to God when God himself ordains otherwise? Could it not become a subtle form of wanting to be equal to God?

It is perhaps precisely for this - to keep us humble - that God often works through people and things to draw us to Him. If this is God's way, surely we too can go through things and people (living and dead but alive in Christ) to God. It is also to remind us that we Christians (living and dead but alive in Christ) are united so intimately as to form one Body of Christ. This bring us to the next objection.

Objection - Why do you have images? Did not the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible forbids us to make images: "Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth"?

Response : This text is taken from Exodus 20:4 (cf. Deuteronomy 5:8). Taken out of its context, it appears that God forbids making of images. But can a verse be taken out of context without distortion of its real meaning? We do not need a scholar to tell us that. Any ordinary person, man/woman in the street can tell you that it is very unfair to quote another man's words out of context in which he uttered them.

What is the context of this verse 4 of Exodus 20? It is God's claim that no one should worship anything besides Him: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me." (vv. 2-3) and hence the punch line, verse 5, "You shall not bow down to them or serve them." In other words, nothing should replace God as the centre of our life. We do not have to have images to worship idols. If a man/woman makes "mammon" money as the centre of his/her life he/she is already an idolater. He/She has replaced God as the centre of his/her life with mammon" (money) as the centre of his/her life with mammon. It is not the outward act but the inward intention that makes a man/woman an idolater.

If it were true that God would be contradicting Himself for, five chapters later, Exodus 25:18-22, He commands the Israelites to make two cherubim of gold to be put on the two ends of the "mercy seat". Where "I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you of all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel" (Exodus 25:22). The "mercy seat" was in the "holy of holies" of the temple where no one could go in except the high priest once a year because God, the "Holy of holies", was there present in a special way. Furthermore, this God, in the Book of Numbers 21:8-9, commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent and get the people to look on this serpent to be saved. Are not the cherubim of gold and the bronze serpent images? The conclusion is clear, either God is a fool because He contradicts Himself or we are fools because we have misinterpreted the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. I prefer to think that it is we who are fools. It is not that God forbids images as such but that He forbids any attempt on our part to replace Him, the centre of our life, with something or some persons.

Why do we have statues and images in Church? Man/Woman is not pure spirit. He is both spirit and matter, as I have said. He express himself through matter. The body is matter. and more often than not it is through matter - sight, hearing, touch, etc. - that he moves to a deeper meaning (spiritual) of things. Therefore the common phenomenon of representation. The hero of a country is represented by a statue or a picture to remind the people of the greatness of this national hero. No one thinks that we worship the hero. We place on our tables the pictures of our loved ones - be it our mother or father or wife or husband or lover. As Man/Woman is also a matter, he/she needs these material things to remind him/her of certain persons whom he/she respects and loves. His/Her memory also is weak. Material objects or pictures help his/her memory. Some people even kiss the picture or bow before the picture. Does this make them idolaters because they do this most human act? Certainly not. Our statues and images in the Church are to remind us of the persons represented - either Jesus or Mary or Saint John, etc.. We do not believe that these persons are really present in them. They are like photographs of people we love which we place on our table. Neither do we worship them. We worship only the One true God.

The washing before entering a mosque, the bowing of the head and joining of hands and other postures taken when praying, etc. - these are all material meditations. Do not tell me that the washing or bowing of the head is not a material expression of something spiritual? Extend this a little more and you will find that the using of images belong to this category of the need of Man/Woman for material expression of something spiritual. To condone one and deny the other is illogical and inconsistent.

Objection - But why then do you people kneel before them? 

Response: A human gesture can signify many different attitudes of the mind. A hand shake does not always mean friendship. It could mean just that; but it could also mean something else. A common experience is a handshake with someone to whom we have just been introduced. It signifies an acknowledgement of the person, not friendship. Even when we dislike a particular person, we will still shake his/her hand in public because of social norms, making this gesture meaningless in terms of friendship. In traditional China, on a person's birthday, the children were obliged to kneel before the parent knocking their heads three times on the floor. This was certainly not worship. It was a sign of filial piety. Books of sign language or body language show that people of different cultures have different gestures to signify the same thing. An example is the vulgar sign of a G.I. It is American and not Chinese or Spanish. The original sign in Spain for the same thing is quite different. (It is true, however, that this G.I. vulgar sign has become almost universal because of the American influence.) Desmond Morris, an acclaimed scientist on human behaviour said, "Just as one gesture can have many different meanings, so can many different gestures have the same meaning." - Desmond Morris, Manwatching, triad, Granada, 1982, p.41 -

The meaning of gesture depends on the attitude of the mind and the intention of the person and not on the gesture itself. We must learn to go deeper into the meaning of things and not remain on the superficial level. This is the case with kneeling before a statue or an image. It all depends on the attitude of the mind and the intention of the person. For us, Catholics kneeling before the statue of Jesus Christ is an act of worship, not the statue which reminds us of Jesus Christ, but of Jesus Christ who is God. Kneeling before the statue of Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, or the saints is not worship of them but an attitude of reverence for these great people of God. We ask these saints to pray for us. 

In conclusion, I would like to say that those who attack us on this issue have failed to understand the following points: 

- Man - both spirit and matter - expresses himself through matter and through matter moves upward to spiritual reality.

- Therefore, representation by images is a common phenomenon at all levels.

- Every human gesture carries with it a variety of attitudes of the mind or intentions. It is the intention which determines the meaning of the gesture and not vice versa. 

Conclusion - Devotions as practiced by Catholics are not only human but are also based on solid theology found in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. Nevertheless, like all good things they can be distorted and become superstitious, sentimental and self-gratifying. Let us, then, be on our guard against abuse or exaggeration. Let us keep in mind that all devotions should and must lead us closer to God.

 -   WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY  -   

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -