"Behold, this child is set for the ruin, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted. And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed" (Luke 2: 34-35).
    Note in verse 34, Simeon says "the resurrection of many." Ring a bell? How about at the consecration of the wine - PRO MULTIS - "FOR MANY"? Why then do the conciLIARS insist on "For All"? Why indeed. More of the disobedience to God in proffering that man has a better idea.

    In this passage of Luke above is one of the places where we get our theology on our Lady being co-redemptrix. There is one Mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ. Yes indeed. But we all have the capacity of being co-mediator’s with Christ when we pray for one another or bring others to Christ as Mary does. For there is one Creator and that is God. But it cannot be denied that there are co-creators with God or should I say “pro-creators” - people who work with God to bring human life to this world in order to populate Heaven. My parents come to mind here. God set things up this way in the physical realm and more importantly He set things up this way in the spiritual realm giving us the great honor and privilege of being able to work with God to help bring eternal life to souls. Of course in the spiritual realm the closer you are to God the more effective your prayers and works will be. If you had Him in your womb and you nurtured Him with a mother’s milk and you heard and kept the word of God like no other than your mediation would be more effective than all others. If you were the mother of the Son and the daughter of the Father and the spouse of the Holy Ghost then all the better. Meditate just on that for a moment.

    It must be understood that the “co” in co-redemtrix does NOT mean “equal to” in the Catholic theology. It couldn't mean “equal to” in this sense because that would make Mary equal to God which would be blasphemy and we would have to worship the Quartinity instead of the Trinity. “Co” comes from the Latin “cuм” meaning with. So though she is the Co-Redemptrix par excellence in comparison to the rest of creation and she is Co-Redemptrix in a secondary and subordinate role in comparison to Christ, she is not divine and yet without her cooperation where would we be today? Her fiat made it possible for "many in Israel" and, through the Church He founded, many, many others to be eligible for eternal happiness only because of the merits earned by her Divine Son on the Cross in offering to the Father in reparation of our sins.

    Some might say: But might the term “co-Redemptrix” do more harm than good by causing confusion about our Lady’s role rather than clarifying it? Not if we have a clear understanding of what "co" means in this definition and not if we understand that our Lady helped obtain the graces which Christ won for us through her cooperation with Christ in her willingness to suffer with her Son while He was obtaining those graces for us. It must be understood that Christ is the source of all grace and that this grace could not be obtained without Him. This grace could also have been obtained without our Lady's assistance but God did not will it so. God willed that Mary have the great privilege in sharing with her Son the attainment of Redemption for us all - for He wants mankind to be intimately involved in the redemption process.

    And isn't this only fitting? For if it is God against Satan there is no contest. But if God allows man to defeat Satan with the help of God's grace there is a sort of Divine Justice and retribution involved. It was a man that put all mankind in the mess we find ourselves in and now it is man or more specifically “a woman” who is allowed to help get us out of this mess. This was prophesied in Genesis 3:15 and was partially fulfilled at the foot of the cross in time and will be ultimately be fulfilled (as many prophesies are partially fulfilled in a point of history and ultimately fulfilled at the end of time) at the end of time when the head of the Serpent is crushed and Satan is ultimately defeated once and for all. Think how humiliating it is for Satan to be defeated by a base physical creature - by a humble Jєωess - again by the power of God but through her cooperation. Yes, it was a woman who allowed mankind to fall and it is a woman that helps bring mankind back into the good graces of God.

    Hence we can understand the value of suffering when we see the vital role it played in our redemption and how our Lady’s suffering propelled her to Co-Redemptrix status. Speaking of suffering; are there any mothers out there? If you had a choice between dying or watching your Son die a gruesome bloody long death; which would you prefer? Our Lady would have preferred to be on that cross in His place if she could have done so. Merely the witnessing of the injustice would be agonizing in a particularly strong way for one free from sin because when you are completely untainted by any stain of sin the witnessing of injustices will pierce your heart more deeply than all of us who have been affected by sin. One completely free from sin is more sensitive to the effects of that sin. So the Blessed Virgin was profoundly affected interiorly whenever she witnessed any injustice, but having to witness the cruelty, lies, spitting and cursing along with all the agonizing pain to her Son whose bloody hands she had once held, whose maimed face she washed, whose pierced head she remembered kissing when He was a child was beyond bearable. Yet she bore it, willingly, because she knew it was the Father’s will.

    When her Son was redeeming the world on the cross as the New Adam, she was there as the New Eve redeeming the world with Him in a secondary and subordinate way, untying the knot of disobedience from the first Adam and the first Eve. She had compassion for Him. Compassion comes from the Latin - to suffer with. She suffered with Him while He was on that cross. She was a co-sufferer and for that reason and others she was also a co-redeemer. God from the beginning has always wanted mankind intimately linked with salvation history and so Mary is.

    The Blessed Virgin’s soul was pierced with a sword as she was watching her Son die on the Cross so that the thoughts of many would be revealed. Our Lady knows all the mental anguish we go through to the ultimate extant and how tempting it is for mankind to sin as we go through our trials, tribulations and persecutions. She knows the temptation (I have no idea if or how much our Lady was tempted to do any of the things I suggest here but I believe she knows how we feel when we see injustice or when we have been unjustly slighted) of not accepting God's will in her life - the temptation to hate those who persecute or kill the innocent; she knows the temptation to desire revenge rather than just retribution towards those who commit heinous crimes. She knows the temptation to desire “pay-back” toward those who have wronged us or ours rather than engaging in acts of loving mercy (authentic mercy – not the false mercy that puts society or souls in harms way) towards them for the sake of their conversion and as an act of penance for your own soul and the sins of others. A created human being was chosen to reveal the thoughts of many through her sufferings.

    Can anyone recall what happened to the Holy Family between the time of the Prophecy of Simeon and the time they returned to Nazareth? We can see the answer in Matthew 2: 13-23 and the perfect obedience of Joseph and Mary to the will and warnings of God through the angel. I will speak of this obedience and our response to how God tests us in our life in a future installment. Also I will, in this series when we enter the Sorrowful Mysteries in Lent, show how the sword pierced Mary's heart as she co-suffered with her Divine Son.

    I believe the Blessed Virgin reached her threshold for suffering during the carrying of the cross and the crucifixion as did Jesus in His Humanity, spilling every last drop of blood He had for us and undergoing SUCH mental anguish that He sweat drops of blood. The Church teaches that our Lady and our Lord through the unity of their suffering acquired the graces needed for our redemption during our Lord’s passion; Our Lord did so as the source and the summit of all grace; Our Lady did so in a secondary and subordinate manner. Please keep in mind that this privilege as mediatrix and co-redemptrix our Lady enjoys are roles she would not even have, had the opportunity to willingly embrace these privileges not been given her by our Lord and Saviour. The Blessed Virgin did not just happen to be at the right place at the right time at the Annunciation - it was God's will for her to be there - though she was free to accept or reject the will of God as we all are free to accept or reject His will through all the cognizant moments of our lives. The freedom God gives us to avoid His will or to even to purposely do evil is the same freedom that gives us the capacity to love.

    As we meditate on the Mystery of the Presentation, let us thank God for giving us Mary. Thank you, Mary, for giving us God!!! Now let us go and do our part, cooperating with the will of God helping to make possible the salvation of other souls through our words, actions and fidelity to the will of God.

http://www.dailycatholic.org/issue/06Feb/feb2ftt.htm