A few weeks ago, on Christmas day in fact, the mother of a friend passed away. A sweeter Christian woman never lived, and it was really no wonder that she entered into paradise on the day Christ entered the world. My friend, who called me upset about her mother, said that the only thought that made her feel better was the thought that her mother would be celebrating Christmas in heaven.
Anyway, a few days later my friends and I went to the house of my friend's sister, where the family was sitting in mourning. We brought lots of things to eat, which is what Armenians do at these times, and we all sat and talked.
As we were there, another old friend arrived. I had not seen this woman for a long time, since she had left the Armenian Church. She is a follower of Vassula Ryden, and her involvement in the Vassula movement caused her to eventually renounce the Armenian Church and convert to the Catholic Church.
Before long, this woman began telling us things that did not sound right. They were teachings about the Mother of God that just sounded bizarre to me. My friends and I tried to gently correct her, but she continued on with her assertions.
I want to pass what she said by our Catholic members here, to see if what she said is really Catholic teaching, or if it is perhaps just some weirdness coming out of the Vassula crowd.
One of the things she said was that it was not just Christ who saved us, but the Mother of God who saved us as well. She made it sound as if the Mother of God was as much our savior as Christ.
Among other things, she said that it was "Mary's blood" that saved us, because Christ got His blood from her. She made it sound like it was actually St. Mary's blood that was in Christ veins, and that therefore it can be said that "Mary's blood" saved us.
She brought up the creation narrative in the Book of Genesis and said that when God created Adam, He used a plural pronoun for Adam. She said the meaning behind this was that God was creating both men and women, and that therefore both a male and female saviour would be needed to save all of humanity. In other words, one male saviour would not have been enough; we also needed a female saviour, who was the Virgin Mary.
She also brought up the Wedding of Cana, and used that to say that the Mother of God could change her Son's will.
This all sounded weird to me. I know that the Mother of God had a unique role in our salvation, by bearing Christ. I also know that she is the source of His humanity. I also know that the Wedding at Cana demonstrated what an effective intercessor the Mother of God is. However, the above things said by this woman seemed to go too far.
I have trouble believing that this correctly represents the teachings of the Catholic Church. I get the feeling that this woman's main source of instruction has been from people who are in the Vassula movement. I therefore just assumed that the weird things she was saying could be attributed to that.
However, I just wanted to be sure. If and when I get into another conversation like this with that woman, or others like her, I'd like to be able to say that I've communicated with other Catholics who said such beliefs are not really the beliefs of their Church.
Unless, of course, what she said really does represent what you guys believe.