Writer's Wednesday -- John Paul II

In honor of Mary's Feast of the Assumption...

Sometimes it is objected that devotion to our Lady, especially popular devotion, risks detracting attention from the center of the faith, which is Jesus, who died and is risen. But this is not so. Through Mary, we come to her son more easily. Mary is held up as a model for the believer and for the whole Church called to respond to the Lord with her own "yes".

Mary Immaculate is the sign of God's fidelity, which does not yield in the face of human sin. Her fullness of grace also reminds us of the immense possibility for goodness, beauty, greatness, and joy which are within reach of human beings when they let themselves be guided by God's will and reject sin. In the light of her whom the Lord gives us as "our advocate of grace and pattern of holiness," we learn to flee sin always.

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The [Vatican] Council itself offers us a criterion for discerning authentic Marian doctrine: Mary "occupies a place in the Church which is the highest after Christ and also closest to us." The highest place: we must discover this lofty position granted to Mary in the mystery of salvation. However, it is a question of vocation totally in relationship to Christ. The place closest to us: our life is profoundly influenced by Mary's example and intercession... The entire teaching of salvation history invites us to look at the Virgin.

---John Paul II, A Marian Treasury. Pauline Books and Media, 2005.

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