A Mary question

[Amylisa]

Hi, I have a concern about something.

I believe in what the Church teaches, and I love Mary.  I believe the visions of Fatima were authentic, and of course they've been approved so I have no worries there.

I am just a little bothered by something Mary was quoted to have said at Fatima,  "Only the Blessed Virgin can save you."   Having been in evangelical churches most of my life, I can tell you these words would automatically be cause for alarm with non Catholic Christians.  I struggle with some aspects of Mariology, even though it's really my favorite 'subject' to study!

I am thinking if Mary really said this, her meaning was that she would intercede with her Son for this sinful world...and that in this way she saves us. 

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?  I can't see the true Mary saying she saves us, since she always points us to Yeshua and not herself.

[phatcatholic]

There is a type of causality in the work of salvation that is rightly attributed to us. Paul had no qualms with saying that he saved people. For example:

Quote

 

Rom 11:13-14   Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry ¹⁴ in order to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.

1 Cor 9:22   To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

 

If Paul can rightly save people, then surely Mary can. Her role in our salvation is obviously much greater. Her "Yes" brought salvation to the world, and her perfect union in suffering with Christ at the Cross won for her and for the Church and extraordinary outpouring of grace.

Of course, ultimately speaking, there is only one Savior: Jesus Christ. But He wills for us to participate in his saving work. Mary did this better than anyone.

To consider her words from another angle, if Jesus desired to make the salvation of a person, or of many people or the whole world, contingent upon the intercession of Mary, then it would be true that we could only be saved by her. But, we know that Mary always intercedes for us, so there's really no suspense here. All that is left is our cooperation with grace.

Saying all that, I agree with you that it is troubling language. It's good to remind ourselves that the language of devotion (especially intense devotion) is not always the language of precise, sharp-as-a-knife theological statements. In our ecumenical and apologetical endeavors, we would obviously strive to be much clearer with our language. But in prayer, devotion, and mysticism, this is not always necessary.

Finally, remind yourself that the Church approved this apparition after a great deal of scrutiny, but we are not required to believe in apparitions or in anything that comes from them, since they are private revelation. Personally, my course of actions is to see in difficult statements like this some defect in my own understanding, not in the prudential judgment of the Church. I trust Her without reservation.