Mariology thoughts on Divine Mercy Sunday

I'm about half way through Daughter Zion, a very short but incredibly dense work by then Cardinal Ratzinger.

Earlier in the week, I read Sue Grafton's, T is for Trespass, in short order, but just over 70 pages of Daughter Zion is taking me more time and there are things I might not ever fully grasp...they are over my head.

From Daughter Zion:

"Of course, mere tolerance in the face of manifold customs will not suffice to justify Marian piety. If its basis is as negligible as might appear from the considerations just mentioned, then the continued cultivation of Marian piety would be nothing but a custom contrary to truth. Such customs either wither away because their root, the truth, has dried up, or they continue to proliferate contrary to conviction, and thus destroy the correlation between truth and life. They thereby lead to a poisoning of the intellectual-spiritual organism, the results of which are incalculable." (Daughter Zion, p. 11, Ignatius Press).

This was especially evident this weekend when we were in Barnes and Noble. I had the kids with me in the "Christianity" section while hubby was off looking at the engineering section in peace. While I was looking for any good biblical commentaries (not likely at B&N, but I was biding my time) two girls showed up in the New Age section right next to me (curious placement of books, eh?). They were busy trying to find a good set of Tarot cards and a box of some such other item that would give them special insight. I was struck that devotion to Mary has survived all this time because Mary brings us to Christ, while the other "destroy the correlation between truth and life" as Cardinal Ratzinger mentioned.

"If, however, the unity of man is to be understood in accordance with the faith of the councils, Mary's maternity is most intimately involved with the mystery of the Incarnation as such and reaches into the very heart of the mystery. Thus the christological affirmation of God's Incarnation in Christ becomes necessarily a Marian affirmation, as de facto it was from the beginning. Conversely: only when it touches Mary and becomes Mariology is Christology itself as radical as the faith the Church requires." (p. 35)

"Thus in Mariology, Christology was defended. Far from belittling Christology, it signifies the comprehensive triumph of a confession of faith in Christ which has achieved authenticity." (p.36)

May God's Divine Mercy find the poor lost souls who have misplaced their faith and wasted their energy on false gods.