Forerunner

[White Peony]

If St. John the Baptist was the forerunner for the first coming of Christ, is Mary the forerunner for the second coming of Christ?

[PJM]

=White Peony;9273775]If St. John the Baptist was the forerunner for the first coming of Christ, is Mary the forerunner for the second coming of Christ?

I'm not sure I fully understand the question.

Certainly John is the forerunner to Christ earthly mission.

Mary being the Mother of Christ who WIll come again as promised has no role that I'm aware of in the Second Comming; BEYOND being our primary advocate before the Throne of her Son for us.

God Bless you,
pat/PJM

[The Holy War 11]

Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant. I love you Mary!

[James224]

Originally Posted by White Peony

If St. John the Baptist was the forerunner for the first coming of Christ, is Mary the forerunner for the second coming of Christ?

Great question! Yes. Many in the church think Mary is appearing all over the world preparing the world for her Son. We don't know when Jesus is coming again and this idea of Mary as the forerunner is not doctrine but it sure looks like it could be true. She began appearing on a regular basis beginning in 1830 as Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Paris. This was the time when the church was going through a lot of persecution. The French Revolution had just come and centered in Paris and more revolutions were coming as well. This was followed by world wars which were really revolutions too.

[Gorgias]

Originally Posted by White Peony

If St. John the Baptist was the forerunner for the first coming of Christ, is Mary the forerunner for the second coming of Christ?

well, not really -- at least, not in the way that I think you mean it.

John the Baptist was the forerunner for Christ because of the prophecy that Elijah would come in advance of the Messiah; Jesus identified that John 'was' the Elijah as prophesied.

Mary, however, was not prophesized to be a 'forerunner' in this way. However, Mary does always point toward Jesus, so inasmuch as her presence points us toward Him, and given that we're waiting in anticipation for the parousia, then in a certain sense you can make this claim of "Mary as forerunner", but it would only be in analogy.

Moreover, John was part of the public revelation of God; since public revelation is closed, we now only have private revelation. Even if the Church verifies that a particular private revelation seems on the up-and-up, it is not necessary to believe in that private revelation for salvation. Therefore, any instance of an appearance of Mary wouldn't be seen as being a "forerunner" in the way that public revelation is.

Does that make sense? Hope it helped...

Blessings,

G.