When I find myself in trouble, mother Mary does not come to me – so let it be!

One acknowledges that Mr. Rees-Mogg (R-M) always has something interesting to say. Today’s podcast [Merry Christmas, one and all!], which majors on Mariology (8x ‘our Lady’), with a non-Jewish looking Madonna in the background, is no exception. But my spiritual alarm bells are ringing in my head even now, as I write.

Whilst not wishing to entirely dismiss R-M’s contribution as floccinaucinihilipilification, I have been seriously left discombobulated, and a few things need to be said to put restore my equilibrium. R-M needs to be put right! (I am not referring to his political position, of course!) Before I proceed, I wish that R-M would have read from an English translation rather than some kind of Brevier!

But let’s move on. For starters, spoiler-alert, there is no historical evidence of the annunciation having taken place on March 25^th. We also know for a fact that Jesus was most definitely not born on Dec. 25^th. The emperor Constantine can explain that better than I can.

We take note that Mary is told, not asked (contra R-M), what is about to take place (Luke 1:26ff.). Grace precedes and obedience follows. God’s plan of salvation does not hinge on Mary’s willing response! After all, she was not a Semi-Pelagian!

And there is more! R-M maintains that Mary “is no different from the rest of us” (sic). Well, recent Roman dogma insists that “she far surpasses all creatures, both in heaven and on earth!" (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, in loc.). Not a mere human then, but less than divine, of course, somewhat reminiscent of Arius’s Christology! Which brings me on to Mary’s supposed intercession, unheard of in the early apostolic church! Never commanded, and never practised! Yet, R-M remarks that “our Lady is the great, the best intercessor for us all" (sic). This presupposes, if my logic is right, that the mediatrix is both omnipresent and omniscient, to say the least. How else could she hear our prayers?! Somewhat divine, after all! R-M fails to notice that the New Testament exclusively ascribes the ministry of intercession to both the Son (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25) and the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:27), the Son being the sole Mediator between God and man (John 14:6, 1 Timothy 2:5)! On a side, I do not read in my Bible that Mary “who persuaded Christ to turn water into wine” (sic). It is clear from Jesus’s abrupt response that his mother’s attempt to mediate, or shall we say, to meddle, meets with a gentle rebuke (John 2:4). A careful study of Jesus’ relationship with his mother, as recorded in the four gospel narratives, shows that Jesus, not Mary, is at the forefront of everything!

I have no idea what R-M means when he says that “the perfect son will always do what his mother asks him” (sic). But then I would not understand, as I never was a perfect son and neither was my late mother (Mary would have understood that as she was a sinner saved by grace, though according to papal teaching, Christ need not have died for her). May be it’s different in R-M’s household, though I doubt it!

R-M finishes, in his penultimate sentence, by denying that the Christ-child is our only Saviour. Instead it is, Jesus plus Mary! Being a good papist, his hope, of course, forbids any assurance (presumably the sin of presumption!), and at the end of his life it will be purgatory, or worse, but that is not for me to say! R-M’s video, sadly, is off-message altogether, “pariet autem filium et vocabis nomen eius Iesum IPSE ENIM SALVUM faciet populum suum a peccatis eorum” (Matthew 1:21). And let us not bury the cross under the cradle: Incarnation and atonement belong together!

R-M needs to repent, no, no, not another ‘hail Mary!’. Not penance, but faith alone in Christ alone, who is the one and only Saviour of the world!