The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-22

CONCERNING THE VIRGIN MARY.
What the Roman Catholic Church
Teaches About Her.


What the church, says the Monitor
teaches regarding the Blessed Virgin is in
sense this: She is a creature exactly in
the same sense as every other child of
Adam As such she owed her salvation
solely TO the merits of Christ. Her case
differs from that of her fellow beings only
in this, that whereas the merits of Christ
are applied to their souls at some one or
other point of time in the course of their
existence, they were applied to her soul
I'm the very first instant of her existence
that is, at her conception Further. of
her own free will, she conformed to the
will of God and consented to become the
mother of the Savior. In 80 consenting
she co-operated with God, became a fell
low-worller with him, TO use ST. Pauls
expression, In the salvation of the world
In brief, she is the mother of God. though
still his creature
In Newman's words, what dignity can
be too great to attribute to her who is as
closely bound up, as intimately one with
the Eternal World, as a mother with a
son? What outfit of sanctity. what full
ness and redundance of grace what exu-
berance must have been hers on the sup
position that her Maker regarded them at
all and took them into account when he
condescended not to abhor the Virgins
womb?' Still, she Is no more than a
creature, and as such she has no power Of
her own.
Her power is that of prayer. But by
prayer she is all-powerfui. Therefore Cath
oiics ask of her with the most perfect con-
fidence that God, her Son, viii not refuse
her prayer. When they ask gifts and
graces from her, they know she will OBJ
tain them by her power of prayer. When
they thank her for gifts and graces re-
cciVed, they know these have come from
God through her prayer. If they address
her as our life. our sweetness and our
hope" they know she is SUCH not through
any essential power, but through her
prayer to God II they ask her to be their
salvation" they know that she win be
so by this same power of prayer. When
they address her as mother of God" they
use words that are the literal and exact
truth. When they address her as their
salvation they use words that are the
truth, but not the whole truth, 'by our
prayers" or "intercesslon" being under
stood.
The omission of the qualifying phrase
seems strange TO non-Cathotics, only be-
cause they do not bear in mind how exact
and definite Is the teaching of the Cath
Ole church and how unbounded is the
consequent freedom Of devotional Ian
guage which that eXactness enables her
children to use with safety. In the midst
of the most unrestrained outpourlng OF
the affection to Mary, Catholics are con-
scious that she Is the object OF their love
only because she Is the object of Gods
love. As Newman says, Men sometimes
wonder that we can her mother of life, OF
mercy, Of salvation; what are all these
titles compared to that one name, mother
Of God?" II our Protestant friends believe
that her son was God they will not deny,
with the Arlans, that Mary was the moth
er of God. And il they remember that
Catholics hold this with the certainty Of
faith, they win see that there Is nothing
but what rebounds to his glory in the
honor Catholics pay 10 his mother.