Catholic Catechism pages 242-243, we read, “Mary the model of the Church: There is a close relationship between Mary’s spiritual motherhood and the motherhood of the Church. She is the pattern for all whose task in the Church is to assist in Jesus saving work. Every Pope, bishop, priest, deacon, religious, and lay person can look to Mary as the exemplar of fidelity to his or her special vocation of mediating salvation.”
This is their error. To them, Christ is external. To believers, Christ in us is the hope of glory.
“
To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
This explains their infatuation with relics like “pieces of the cross”, ”nails of the crucifixion”, etc.
Believers are actually the flesh and bones of Christ.
“
For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones…”
We are not Christ’s assistants. Corporately (the root of which is
corpus or
body) we are the body of Christ. In and through us He does His work. This is the one-to-one correlation between the Father’s work in Christ and the Son’s work in us.
”
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself”
Just as God was in Christ now Christ is in us.
In Him, we become ambassadors, representatives, of God.
“
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”
This is the language of a kingdom, the kingdom of God.