Mary is in a perfect relationship with the Holy Trinity. She wants to guide us there too.
And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women (Luke 1:28).
Mary, who was conceived without sin, knew that she was a loved daughter of God the Father. She knew this because she prayed and had a relationship with Him as we see in her Magnificat. This knowledge and relationship combined with her Immaculate purity meant she was confident and trusting in God the Father. She was truly Full of Grace, just as Eve had once been in the garden. Eve, desiring to be like God, fell from grace by handing the domain of grace that God gave her to Satan, who turned God’s grace to death and destruction. She ate the fruit of self will by falling prey to temptation. Mary, in contrast, never desired to be like God.
Mary Emptied Herself
Instead, she emptied herself. And despite the fact that Mary saw suffering and evil, Mary did not view the Lord as someone who would harm her. Mary ate the fruit of God’s will being fed only from the Tree of Life. Because of this disposition, Mary could receive everything God wanted to give to her. Mary was an open vessel, unashamed before the Lord. In Mary’s case, this meant she would personally carry the Word made flesh. Mary is the perfection of daughterhood.
Because Mary was an open vessel for the Lord this means that when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her she could give her full consent to being overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. Tradition teaches us that this relationship between Mary and the Holy Spirit was spousal as she is often referred to as the spouse of the Holy Spirit.
The Immaculate Conception.
Saint Maximilian Kolbe takes this even further. He referred to Mary as the created Immaculate Conception and to the Holy Spirit as the uncreated Immaculate Conception. Thus when she tells Saint Bernadette, “I am the Immaculate Conception”.
This isn’t just a spousal relationship, it is who she is. (Manteau-Bonamy, Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit). The depth of what this means is a mystery too large for our understanding. But it is through this teaching that we get a glimpse of God’s plan and how Mary, because of the salvific work of God before her conception and her yes to unity with the Holy Spirit, she becomes the Mediatrix of all Graces. This teaching lets us know that the person who embraces Mary is led by her to this unity with the Holy Spirit.
Co-Redemptrix
Mary because of her unity with the Holy Spirit conceives the Son, thus becoming the Mother of God and ushering in the Savior of mankind. This Motherhood of God is Co-Redemptrix in nature because it is through this Motherhood that God saves us by being born and dying on the Cross. She brings the birth of true love into the world. From the Incarnation to the Cross Mary made a gift of herself to the Son, who in turn extends His loving gaze upon her. Her soul magnifies the Lord. Even in her sorrow, she gives to God what belongs to God. This is unconditional love and is the culmination of union with the Trinity.
We see the action of the Co-Redemptrix and the Mediatrix of all Graces at work when we take a look at the relationship she has with those around her who were closest to her. It is important to note that everything she merits is done through the salvific work of her Son whose grace was applied to her preveniently. Where Eve chose to fall from grace by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Mary gifted with grace eats from the Tree of Life.
Grace
Those who surround her benefit from this grace which flows through her and they receive redemption from the Son. Saint Joseph, who originally wants to dismiss her quietly, changes his mind, no doubt through her prayer and of course a visit from the angel. From this angelic encounter, we see Joseph abandon himself to the will of God. He takes Mary into his home.
Take Mary Home
This act of taking her into his home is a restoration of full dominion God had planned for Adam in the Garden. But God gifts this to Joseph who by taking Mary into his home is able to adore the Christ child with a loving gaze, thus magnifying the Lord himself. His decision to say yes and take Mary into his home unites Joseph to Mary and thus into the relationship Mary has with the Trinity. This is the restoration of the blessings of the Father onto the family.
Likewise, we see Saint John take Mary into his home at the foot of the Cross. When meditating more deeply on John’s presence at the foot of the cross, we can gain an understanding of how the ministerial priesthood is united to the family of believers. When Jesus turns to John and says, “Woman, behold your son, and to the disciple, Here is your mother,” (John 19:26) John takes Mary into his home.
Having walked the Passion with the Immaculata and her Son, John has abandoned his will to God the Father and taken the Immaculate Conception into his home. From the very wounds of the Tree of Life, John becomes united to Mary, which is to say he is united to the Trinity through the Cross and the Immaculate Conception. Here too we see dominion restored. This is the model for the Priesthood.
And so to the Priest takes Mary into his home and takes up his cross becomes ever united with the Trinity and brings us the Eucharistic Lord to consume, uniting us with the lay faithful with the Tree of Life. To Jesus through Mary, we enter into the right relationship with the Most Holy Trinity.
For these turbulent times we live in, may we all take Mary into our home and receive the Eucharist with total abandonment to God’s will.
Our Lady, Healer of Families, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, Anchor of Families, pray for us.
Saint John, Beloved Disciple, pray for us.
Divine Child Jesus, save us.
There is no co-redemptrix – the church has declined on multiple occasions to bestow this title. Even John Paul II refused to assign such a title. Salvation is the unique work of the crucified one, and no mortal of any grade has sufficient share in that work to claim even partial credit for it.
Mary may be the Mediatrix – but her dignities end there. The rest is divine in nature and scope, and no saint – not even a hyperdulia-due one – is entitled to claim any share in it. This is the work of God alone, the cornerstone, and it is wonderful in our eyes!
I found this article by a former Catholic to be very interesting.
https://d2114hmso7dut1.cloudfront.net/customers/c6c15290-b8d0-11eb-b10f-0614187498c1/sites/c6f4ef1a-b8d0-11eb-8655-0614187498c1/files/426c9c00-4be9-11ec-8ecd-3f1cce1cdd1e/original/file.pdf
Bob: Christ’s place in the plan of redemption cannot be supplemented by anyone else regardless of the titles bestowed on them. As the God-man, it was only possible for Christ to have the pure sacrificial blood that was required by His Father for being the one redeemer and mediator of all graces. We benefit from what Christ did only when the Spirit of the God-man is within us because the graces from God flow into us through Christ when His Spirit is within us. This is why anyone else is excluded.
To Susan:
Thanks for taking the time to respond to my concerns.
I am Catholic.
I would suggest then that you take to prayer your disagreement with Catholic Doctrine (like the Assumption) which is infallible teaching. The church doesn’t stand on Scripture Alone and Scripture actually says that. Usually when someone disagrees with Doctrine, it isn’t the church with the issue, but the person. Sounds like you and God need to work this out in prayer. Nothing I can say will likely change your heart so there is no point continuing here, but if you ask God sincerely to explain these teachings to you I suspect he will open your heart to His Mother. Have a Blessed Day.
Why go to Jesus through Mary when we can go to Jesus directly (as, indeed, He encourages us to do in the Gospels)?
Jesus came to us through Mary, we can do the same as He did.
[…] Bernard’s Advice: How to Run a Catholic Apostolate – B. Sokolowski at CatholicFundraiser.net To Jesus Through Mary – Susan Skinner at Catholic Stand How the Virgin Stopped a Plague – Block Rosary […]
Father William G. Most stated: Leo XIII, in the text referred to, spoke of Mary, as having “practically limitless power.” St. Pius X said she was the “dispensatrix of all the gifts, and is the “neck” connecting the Head of the Mystical Body to the Members. But all power flows through the neck. Pius XII said “Her kingdom is as vast as that of her Son and God, since nothing is excluded from her dominion.” These and many other texts speak in varied ways of Mary as Mediatrix of all graces, so often that the teaching has become infallible.
Don’t we profess this at every mass?
“Lord Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son, Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us; you take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer; you are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.
For You alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.”
Yes Robert we do. And it is true, nothing written in this article changes that. Mary knew from whom all things come, and she cooperated with the Trinity fully. That is the point. She more than anyone recognized what we state at every Mass.
Doesn’t this comment, as well as your article, go far beyond our professions of faith during the mass? Or anything found in the Bible?
In fact, I would conclude that there is little or nothing in the Bible supporting your suggestions.
According to Paul, there is one mediator between us and God, and it is Jesus. No mention of any other intercessor on our behalf.
V2’s Lumen Gentium 62 says: “Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, and Mediatrix. This, however, is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator. (17*) For no creature could ever be counted as equal with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer.”
The only thing that is required for Christ to be the one Mediator between God and men is for there to be God the Father and humanity (see 1Timothy 2:5).
No Robert it doesn’t, this has been thought since the early church fathers. Remember the Canon of Scripture was assembled AFTER the church was formed so what the early church thought of Mary matters. Everything Mary is comes from God.
St. Irenaeus (130-202) said this of Mary, so also Mary . . . being obedient, was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race . . . Thus, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith.”
Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian, are all present Mary as the counterpart of Eve, as a “mother of all living”.
This is what Saint Cyril (269) said, “Hail Mary Theotokos{Mother of God}, venerable treasure of the whole world, light unextinguished, crown of virginity, scepter of orthodoxy, indestructible temple, which contains the uncontainable…it is through you that the Holy Trinity is glorified and adored, through you, the precious cross is venerated and adored throughout the whole world, through you that heaven is in gladness, that angels and archangels rejoice, that demons are put to flight, through you that the tempter, the devil is cast down from heaven, through you that the fallen creature is raised up to heaven, through you that all creation, once imprisoned in idolatry, has reached knowledge of the truth, that the faithful obtain baptism and the oil of joy, churches have been founded in the whole world, that peoples are led to conversion.”
St Cyril of Alexandria, Hom. IV Ephesi in Nestorium, Patrologia Graeca 77, 992, BC; Acta Conciliorum Oecumenicorum
Scripture calls HER full of grace (grace being part of the original Greek word).
It takes nothing away from God for Him to elevate her.
Our Catholic Catechism speaks of the Mediation of Jesus; … the Incarnation corresponds to mediation in the order of being, and the Redemption (remission of sin and conferral of grace) is mediation morally.
Jesus is the one mediator as Scripture says, but this does not mean however, that lesser mediators are not allowed. Saint Paul, who you quote also says this; St. “supplications, prayers and intercessions to be made for all men…” 1 Timothy 2:5 – please note, Intercession, which is mediation….
Saint Paul speaks of Jesus as one mediator and then says for this he himself was appointed – so Paul as an Apostle is actually a meditator too, just subordinate to Jesus.
All of this boils down to cooperation with the will of God. No one cooperated more than Mary, and for that she should be honored. The church has always taught this, from the beginning. No one can love Mary more than Jesus Himself does, and He is the one who elevated her, not us, and not herself, but God. She is the woman clothed in the Sun with the moon at her feet and a crown of twelve stars. That is what God did for her, and she in turn brings us closer to the Trinity wanting to share with us what God did for her.
The books of the New Testament were all written before the early church leaders that you mention. None of the early church leaders that you cite knew Jesus, Mary, the Apostles, Paul, etc.
Apostle John cared for Mary, yet, he wrote nothing about coming to Jesus through Mary, or the Assumption.
It is very likely that Mary died before John wrote any of his manuscripts.
I don’t believe that the woman described in Revelation 12 is Mary.
Oh Okay, so you aren’t Catholic. I thought you were a Catholic. That explains your rejection of early church Fathers and doctrine on Mary, you have your own interpretation. You have that right. I didn’t realize you were Protestant since you talked about the Mass.
Have a blessed day.
The graces of the Redemption flow into us through Christ when we have His Spirit within us; therefore, they are not imparted to us from a distance. His Spirit became available for us at Pentecost after He ascended. Mary was present with the others at Pentecost.
The Old Testament saints who died were also saved preveniently, as they had to wait for the completed Redemption. The sacraments associated with receiving the Spirit are Baptism and Confirmation accompanied by faith in Christ.
This is my understanding of how grace is imparted to us through Jesus Christ.
Amen.