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ENCYCLICAL LETTER "REDEMPTORIS MATER"
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF JOHN PAUL II
ON THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
IN THE LIFE OF THE PILGRIM CHURCH
Introduction...............................................…………………... 3
Part I
MARY IN THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST
1. Full of grace............................................………………. 14
2. Blessed is she who believed.........................……….... 23
3. Behold your mother......................................………. 39
Part II
THE MOTHER OF GOD AT THE CENTER
OF THE PILGRIM CHURCH
1. The Church, the People of God present in all the nations
of the earth............................................…………………..... 53
2. The Church's journey and the unity of all Christians……. 64
3. The "Magnificat" of the pilgrim Church.................…..….. 73
Part III
MATERNAL MEDIATION
1. Mary, the Handmaid of the Lord..........................……….. 80
2. Mary in the life of the church and of every Christian...….. 91
3. The meaning of the Marian Year..........................………. 104
Conclusion.................................................………………… 110
[Note of the keyboarder: the text of the Encyclical follows the
precise pagination of the official text sent from Rome to each
English speaking Bishop of the Catholic Church. The text has
been followed very closely; the only changes have been from
"English" spelling/grammar (e.g. colour) to American custom.
The footnotes are precisely as given, except for footnote 143
where I placed the titles of the books of Saint Louis de
Montfort and of Saint Alphonsus Liguori in English; and also
gave the American publisher (my community) of the book of
Montfort cited by the Holy Father. I'm sure there are mistakes
here and there - my fault! The more I read this Letter, the
more important it appears to me, and not only in mariology.
Fr Pat Gaffney
ENCYCLICAL LETTER "REDEMPTORIS MATER" OF
THE SUPREME PONTIFF JOHN PAUL II
ON THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
IN THE LIFE OF THE PILGRIM CHURCH
Venerable Brothers and dear Sons and Daughters, Health and
Apostolic Blessing.
INTRODUCTION
1. The Mother of the Redeemer has a precise place in the plan of
salvation, for "when the time had fully come, God sent forth his
Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were
under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And
because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our
hearts, crying 'Abba! Father!'" (Gal 4:4-6).
With these words of the Apostle Paul, which the Second Vatican
Council takes up at the beginning of its treatment of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, (1) I too wish to begin my reflection on the role
of Mary in the mystery of Christ
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1. cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, 52 and the whole of
Chapter VIII, entitled "The Role of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Mother of God, in the Mystery of Christ and the Church."
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and on her active and exemplary presence in the life of the
Church. For they are words which celebrate together the love of
the Father, the mission of the Son, the gift of the Spirit, the
role of the woman from whom the Redeemer was born and our own
divine filiation, in the mystery of the "fullness of time." (2)
This "fullness" indicates the moment fixed from all eternity
when the Father sent his Son, "that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life" (Jn 3:16). It denotes
the blessed moment when the Word that "was with God...became
flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:1, 14), and made himself our
brother. It marks the moment when the Holy Spirit, who had
already infused the fullness of grace into Mary of Nazareth,
formed in her virginal womb the human nature of Christ. This
"fullness" marks the moment when, with the entrance of the
eternal into time, time itself is
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2. The expression "fullness of time" is parallel with similar
expressions of Judaism both Biblical (cf. Gen 29:21, 1 Sam 7:12;
Tob 14:5) and extra-Biblical, and especially in the New Testament
(cf. Mk 1:15; Lk 21:24; Jn 7:8, Eph 1:10). From the point of
view of form, it means not only the conclusion of a chronological
process but also and especially the coming to maturity or
completion of a particularly important period, one directed
towards the fulfillment of an expectation, a coming to completion
which thus takes on an eschatological dimension. According to
Gal 4:4 and its context, it is the coming of the Son of God that
reveals that time has, so to speak, reached its limit. That is
to say, the period marked by the promise made to Abraham and by
the Law mediated by Moses has now reached its climax, in the
sense that Christ fulfills the divine promise and supersedes the
old law.
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redeemed, and being filled with the mystery of Christ becomes
definitively "salvation time." Finally, this "fullness"
designates the hidden beginning of the Church's journey. In the
liturgy the Church salutes Mary of Nazareth as the Church's own
beginning,(3) for in the event of the Immaculate Conception the
Church sees projected and anticipated in her most noble member,
the saving grace of Easter. And above all, in the Incarnation
she encounters Christ and Mary indissolubly joined: he who is the
Church's Lord and Head and she who, uttering the first 'fiat' of
the New Covenant, prefigures the Church's condition as spouse and
mother.
2. Strengthened by the presence of Christ (cf. Mt 28:20), the
Church journeys through time towards the consummation of the ages
and goes to meet the Lord who comes. But on this journey - and I
wish to make this point straightaway - she proceeds along the
path already trodden by the Virgin Mary, who "advanced in her
pilgrimage of faith and loyally persevered in her union with her
Son unto the Cross."(4)
I take these very rich and evocative words from the Constitution
"Lumen Gentium," which
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3. Cf. Roman Missal, Preface of 8 December, Immaculate
Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Saint Ambrose, De
Institutione Virginis, XV, 93-94:PL 16, 342; Second Vatican
Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen
Gentium, 68.
4. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution
on the Church, Lumen Gentium, 58.
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in its concluding part offers a clear summary of the Church's
doctrine on the Mother of Christ whom she venerates as her
beloved Mother and as her model in faith, hope and charity.
Shortly after the Council, my great predecessor Paul VI decided
to speak further of the Blessed Virgin. In the Encyclical
"Christi Matri" and subsequently in the Apostolic Exhortations
"Signum Magnum" and "Marialis Cultus"(5) he expounded the
foundations and criteria of the special veneration which the
Mother of Christ receives in the Church as well as the various
forms of Marian devotion - liturgical, popular and private -
which respond to the spirit of faith.
3. The circumstance which now moves me to take up this subject
once more is the prospect of the year 2000, now drawing near, in
which the Bimillennial Jubilee of the birth of Jesus Christ at
the same time directs our gaze towards his Mother. In recent
years, various opinions have been voiced suggesting that it would
be fitting to precede that anniversary by a similar Jubilee in
celebration of the birth of Mary.
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5. Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Epistle "Christi Matri" (15 September
1966): AAS 58 (1966) 745-749; Apostolic Exhortation "Signum
Magnum (13 May 1967): AAS 59 (1967) 465-475); Apostolic
Exhortation "Marialis Cultus" (2 February 1974): AAS 66 (1974)
113-168.
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In fact, even though it is not possible to establish an exact
chronological point for identifying the date of Mary's birth, the
Church has constantly been aware that Mary appeared on the
horizon of salvation history before Christ. It is a fact that
when "the fullness of time" was definitively drawing near - the
saving advent of Emmanuel - she who was from all eternity
destined to be his Mother already existed on earth. The fact
that she "preceded" the coming of Christ is reflected every year
in the liturgy of Advent. Therefore, if to that ancient
historical expectation of the Savior we compare these years which
are bringing us closer to the end of the second Millennium after
Christ and to the beginning of the third, it becomes fully
comprehensible that in this present period we wish to turn in a
special way to her, the one who in the "night" of the Advent
expectation began to shine like a true "Morning Star" (Stella
Matutina). For just as this star, together with the "dawn,"
precedes the rising of the sun, so Mary from the time of her
Immaculate Conception preceded the coming of the Savior, the
rising of the "Sun of Justice" in the history of the human
race.(7)
Her presence in the midst of Israel - a
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6. The Old Testament foretold in many different ways the
mystery of Mary: cf. Saint John Damascene, Hom. in Dormitionem I,
8-9: S.Ch. 80, 103-107.
7. Cf. Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, Vi/2 (1983) 225 f;
Pope Pius IX, Apostolic Letter "Ineffabilis Deus" (8 December,
1854): Pii IX P.M. Acta, pars I, 597-599.
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presence so discreet as to pass almost unnoticed by the eyes of
her contemporaries - shone very clearly before the Eternal One,
who had associated this hidden "daughter of Sion" (cf. Zeph 3:14;
Zech 2:10) with the plan of salvation embracing the whole history
of humanity. With good reason then at the end of this
Millennium, we Christians who know that the providential plan of
the Most Holy Trinity is the central reality of Revelation and of
faith feel the need to emphasize the unique presence of the
Mother of Christ in history, especially during these last years
leading up to the year 2000.
4. The Second Vatican Council prepares us for this by presenting
its teaching the Mother of God in the mystery of Christ and of
the Church. If it is true, as the Council itself proclaims (8)
that "only in the mystery of the Incarnate Word does the mystery
of man take on light: then this principle must be applied in a
very particular way to that exceptional "daughter of the human
race," that extraordinary "woman" who became the Mother of
Christ. Only in the mystery of Christ is her mystery fully made
clear. Thus has the Church sought to interpret it from the very
beginning: the mystery of the Incarnation has enabled her to
penetrate and to make even clearer the
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8. Cf. Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern
World "Gaudium et Spes," 22.
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mystery of the Mother of the Incarnate Word. The Council of
Ephesus (431) was of decisive importance in clarifying this, for
during that Council, to the great joy of Christians, the truth of
the divine motherhood of Mary was solemnly confirmed as a truth
of the Church's faith. Mary is the Mother of God (=Theotokos),
since by the power of the Holy Spirit she conceived in her
virginal womb and brought into the world Jesus Christ, the Son of
God who is of one being with the Father. (9) "The Son of God ...
born of the Virgin Mary ... has truly been made one of us,"(10)
has been made man. Thus, through the mystery of Christ, on the
horizon of the Church's faith there shines in its fullness the
mystery of his Mother. In turn, the dogma of the divine
motherhood of Mary was for the Council of Ephesus and is for the
Church like a seal upon the dogma of the Incarnation, in which
the Word truly assumes human nature into the unity of his person,
without canceling out that nature.
5. The Second Vatican Council, by presenting Mary in the mystery
of Christ, also finds the path to a deeper understanding of the
mystery of the Church. Mary, as the Mother of Christ, is in a
particular way united with the Church, "which
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9. Ecumenical Council of Ephesus, in Conciliorum
Oecumenicorum Decreta, Bologna, 1973, 41-44, 59-61:DS 250-264;
cf. Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon, o.c. 84-87:DS 300-303.
10. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution
on the church in the Modern World "Gaudium et Spes," 22.
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the Lord established as his own body."(11) It is significant
that the conciliar text places this truth about the church as the
Body of Christ (according to the teaching of the Pauline Letters)
in close proximity to the truth that the Son of God "through the
power of the Holy Spirit was born of the Virgin Mary." The
reality of the Incarnation finds a sort of extension in the
mystery of the Church - the Body of Christ. And one cannot think
of the reality of the Incarnation without referring to Mary, the
Mother of the Incarnate Word.
In these reflections, however, I wish to consider primarily that
"pilgrimage of faith" in which "the Blessed Virgin advanced,"
faithfully preserving her union with Christ.(12) In this way the
"twofold bond" which unites the Mother of God with Christ and
with the Church takes on historical significance. Nor is it just
a question of the Virgin Mother's life-story, of her personal
journey of faith and "the better part" which is hers in the
mystery of salvation; it is also a question of the history of the
whole People of God, of all those who take part in the same
"pilgrimage of faith."
The Council expresses this when it states in another passage that
Mary "has gone before," becoming "a model of the Church in the
matter of faith, charity and perfect union with
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11. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church "Lumen Gentium," 52.
12. Cf. ibid., 58
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Christ."(13) This "going before" as a figure or model is in
reference to the intimate mystery of the Church, as she actuates
an accomplishes her own saving mission by uniting in herself - as
Mary did - the qualities of mother and virgin. She is a virgin
who "keeps whole and pure the fidelity she has pledged to her
Spouse" and "becomes herself a mother," for "she brings forth to
a new and immortal life children who are conceived of the Holy
Spirit and born of God."(14)
6. All this is accomplished in a great historical process,
comparable "to a journey." The pilgrimage of faith indicates the
interior history, that is, the story of souls. But it is also
the story of all human beings, subject here on earth to the
transitoriness, and part of the historical dimension. In the
following reflections we wish to concentrate first of all on the
present, which in itself is not yet history but which
nevertheless is constantly forming it, also in the sense of the
history of salvation. Here there opens up a broad prospect,
within which the Blessed Virgin continues to "go before" the
People of God. Her exceptional pilgrimage of faith represents a
constant point of reference for the Church, for individuals and
for communities, for
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13. Ibid., 63; cf. Saint Ambrose, Expos. Evang. sec. Lucam
II,7:CSEL 32/4,45; De Institutione Virginis, XIV, 88-89:PL 16,
341.
14. Cf. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church "Lumen Gentium,"
64.
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peoples and nations, and in a sense for all humanity. It is
indeed difficult to encompass and measure its range.
The Council emphasizes that the Mother of God is already the
eschatological fulfillment of the Church: "In the most holy
Virgin the Church has already reached that perfection whereby she
exists without spot or wrinkle (cf. Eph 5:27)"; and at the same
time the Council says that "the followers of Christ still strive
to increase in holiness by conquering sin, and so they raise
their eyes to Mary who shine forth to the whole community of the
elect as a model of the virtues."(15) The pilgrimage of faith no
longer belongs to the Mother of the Son of God: glorified at the
side of her Son in heaven, Mary has already crossed the threshold
between faith and that vision which is "face to face" (1 Cor
13:12). At the same time, however, in this eschatological
fulfillment, Mary does not cease to be the "Star of the Sea"
(Maris Stella)(16) for all those who are still on the journey of
faith. If they lift their eyes to her from their earthly
existence, they do so because "the Son whom she brought forth is
he whom God placed as
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15. Ibid., 65
16. "Take away this star of the sun which illuminates the
world: where does the day go? Take away Mary,m this star of the
sea, of the great and boundless sea: what is left but a vast
obscurity and the shadow of death and the deepest darkness?":
Saint Bernard, In Nativitate B. Mariae Sermo - De aquaeductu, 6:
S.Bernardi Opera, V, 1968, 279; cf. In laudibus Virginis Matris
Homilia II, 17: ed.cit., IV, 1966, 34 f
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the first-born among many brethren (Rom 8:29),"(17) and also
because "in the birth and development" of these brothers and
sisters "she cooperates with a maternal love."(18)
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17. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church "Lumen Gentium," 63.
18. Ibid., 63.
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Part I
MARY IN THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST
1. Full of grace
7. "Blessed be the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ who
has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places" (Eph 1:3). These words of the Letter to the
Ephesians reveal the eternal design of God the Father, his plan
of man's salvation in Christ. It is a universal plan, which con
cerns all men and women created in the image and likeness of God
(cf. Gen 1:26). Just as all are included in the creative work of
God "in the beginning," so all are eternally included in the
divine plan of salvation, which is to be completely revealed, in
the "fullness of time," with the final coming of Christ. In
fact, the God who is the "Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ" -
these are the next words of the same Letter - "chose us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons
through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to
the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us
in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of
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our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace" (Eph 1:4-
7).
The divine plan of salvation - which was fully revealed to us
with he coming of Christ - is eternal. And according to the
teaching contained in the Letter just quoted and in other Pauline
Letters (cf. Col 1:12-14; Rom 3:24; Gal 3:13; 2 Cor 5:18-29), it
is also eternally linked to Christ. It includes everyone, but it
reserves a special place for the "woman" who is the Mother of him
to whom the Father has entrusted the work of salvation. (19) As
the Second Vatican Council says, "she is already prophetically
foreshadowed in that promise made to our first parents after
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