“Blessed is the fruit of your womb”
Anything that Mary does is solely for the glory of her Son, Jesus Christ. As the Second Vatican Council puts it, “This union of the Mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ’s virginal conception up to his death.”[i] “If you seek Mary you will find Jesus. And you will learn a bit more about what is in the heart of a God who humbles himself”.[ii] Jesus is the Son of God and the Son of Man.
Where does He get His humanity? Jesus received His humanity from Mary. In the womb, Mary’s blood and oxygen travelled to Jesus through his umbilical cord; her very own body gave Him life and nourishment. Anything and everything that makes up Jesus’ humanity is from Mary.
Where does Jesus receive His divinity? This is somewhat of a trick question, for Jesus did not “get” or “receive” His divinity, for He always was, is, and ever shall be divine. As we say in the Nicene Creed, “the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made.” Jesus is a divine person who assumed a human nature, therefore He is one person with two natures: human and divine.
How does Mary’s role factor in with her Son? “The Virgin Mary is so pure, so transparent, that her very presence reveals the splendor and the light of Christ. Men ‘who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,’ deprived of light and incapable of welcoming it, have such need of recourse to her motherly intercession. Mary is the way that leads to Christ; she is the mother who dispels darkness, who prepares hearts to receive the Redeemer.[iii] “Mary and Jesus are always together. Jesus’ most wonderful deeds are performed, as they are now, in intimate union with his Mother, the Mediatrix of all graces.”[iv]
What does mediatrix mean? In the Catechism mediatrix or mediator means, “One who links or reconciles separate or opposing parties. Thus Jesus Christ is the ‘one mediator between God and the human race’ (1 Tim. 2:5). Through his sacrificial offering he has become high priest and unique mediator who has gained for us access to God’s saving grace for humanity. Moreover, Mary too is sometimes called Mediatrix in virtue of her cooperation in the saving mission of Christ, who alone is the unique mediator between God and humanity.”[v]
Fr. Hardon gives a fuller explanation on Mary as the mediatrix of grace (please read carefully):
“A title of the Blessed Virgin as mediator of grace. There are two aspects of this mediation. It is certain in Catholic theology that, since Mary gave birth to the Redeemer, who is source of all grace, she is in this way the channel of all graces to mankind. But it is only probable, as a legitimate opinion, that since Mary’s Assumption into heaven no grace is received by humans without her actual intercessory co-operation.
On the first level of mediation, Mary freely co-operated with God in consenting to the Incarnation, giving birth to her Son and thus sharing with him in spirit the labor of the his passion and death. Yet Christ alone truly offered the sacrifice of atonement on the Cross. Mary gave him moral support in this action. She is therefore not entitled to the name ‘priest, as several Roman documents legislate. As explained by the Council of Florence in 1441, Christ ‘conquered the enemy of the human race alone’. In the same way he alone acquired the grace of redemption for the whole human race, including Mary. Her part in the objective redemption, therefore, was indirect and remote, and derived from her voluntary devotion to the service of Christ. Under the Cross she suffered and sacrificed with him, but subordinate to him in such a way that all the efficacy of her oblation depended on that of her Son.
On the second stage of mediation, Mary co-operates by her maternal intercession in applying Christ’s redemptive grace to human beings, called the subjective redemption. This does not imply that the faithful must pray for all graces through Mary, nor that her intercession is inherently necessary for the distribution of divine blessing, but that, according to God’s special ordinance, the graces merited by Christ are conferred through the actual intercessory mediation of his mother. Recent popes and the Second Vatican Council have spoken in favor of this type of mediation, which finds support in patristic tradition.”[vi]
Isn't calling Mary the mediatrix of all graces contrary to the doctrine that Jesus is the sole mediator between God and man? Jesus is the one mediator and the primary mediator because of His death on the cross. Nothing can ever take away from that. “The Church knows and teaches with Saint Paul that there is only one mediator: ‘For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all’ (1 Tim 2:5-6). ‘The maternal role of Mary toward people in no way obscures or diminishes the unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power’: it is mediation in Christ.”[vii]
Blessed Pope John Paul II continues, “The Church knows and teaches that ‘all the saving influences of the Blessed Virgin on mankind originate… from the divine pleasure. They flow forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rest on his mediation, depend entirely on it, and draw all their power from it. In no way do they impede the immediate union of the faithful with Christ. Rather, they foster this union.’ This saving influence is sustained by the Holy Spirit, who, just as he overshadowed the Virgin Mary when he began in her the divine motherhood, in a similar way constantly sustains her solicitude for the brothers and sisters of her Son.”[viii]
ACTIVITY – Mary and the Mysteries
Give examples of how the mysteries of Rosary show Our Lady cooperates with the saving mission of her Son. In the Annunciation, her yes allows the Word to become Flesh. In the Visitation, she brings Jesus in the womb to visit and impact the lives of Sts. Elizabeth John the Baptist. We recall both of these events each time we pray the Hail Mary. In the Nativity, she gives birth to the Savior of the World, which we recall each time we say sing the “Gloria in excelsis Deo” at Mass. In the Presentation at the Temple, Mary brings her Son to the prophet Simon. Each night at Compline (Night Prayer) the Church exclaims with him, “Lord, now you have let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people: a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel.”[ix] In the Finding of the Boy Jesus at the Temple, Jesus tells Mary, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”[x]and then in the Wedding at Cana,Mary says to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”[xi] While in the temple Mary “did not understand what he said”, by the Wedding at Cana, she now understands the importance of her Son’s mission and ushers in His first miracle. Mary accompanies her Son to Calvary and then holds Him in her arms, just as she held him on the night of the Nativity. She is present when the Holy Spirit descends upon the Apostles. Lastly, it is no wonder that she who followed her Son so faithful in this life would also follow Him to Heaven in the mysteries of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her Coronation as the Queen of Heaven and earth.
So then why call Mary “mediatrix” of grace? Saint Irenaeus wrote, "As by a virgin the human race had been bound to death, by a virgin it is saved, the balance being preserved, a virgin’s disobedience by a virgin’s obedience"[xii]. Eve made the fall of humanity possible, just as Mary made our Redemption possible (by consenting to bring the Savior into the world),. However, Jesus is the one who actually redeemed us by His death and resurrection. “His splendor is so great that it cannot stay hidden, but acts through his mother, for as soon as ‘the voice of your greeting came to my ears’ – says Elizabeth – ‘the babe in my womb leapt for joy’. What the angel had predicted to Zachary comes true: ‘Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son…he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.’ The Precursor is sanctified before his birth through the mediation of Mary, who, by being Mother of the Son of God, is also mediatrix of grace and holiness, not just for John the Baptist, the greatest among those born of woman, but for all men of all times and all peoples.”[xiii]
How do we mediate? Even though no creature can mediate salvation, God does not will for us to do nothing in regards to the salvation of our souls and that of others. “The question is what purpose [we] serve and what sense do [we] mediate. They can help the cause of mediation in the only way that human beings (or creatures) can contribute to the work of salvation, namely, by their willing response to grace: either better disposing themselves or others for divine grace, or interceding with God to give his grace, or freely co-operating with grace when conferred.”[xiv] For this reason, we can say that Mary is the mediatrix of all grace—because she was full of all grace. “We presume that she –co-operated fully with the graces she received, to save her own soul. But she mediated for others, as well, by her vicarious assistance to the rest of mankind. She deserves the title mediatrix because she co-operated in a unique way with Christ in his redemptive labors on earth, and because in heaven she continues interceding for those who are still working out their salvation as pilgrims in the Church Militant or souls suffering in purgatory.”[xv]
Christ calls all of us into His salvific work. “The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the ‘one mediator between God and men.’ But because in his incarnate divine person he has in some way united himself to every man, ‘the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery’ is offered to all men. He calls his disciples to ‘take up [their] cross and follow [him],’ for ‘Christ also suffered for [us], leaving [us] an example so that [we] should follow in his steps.’ In fact Jesus desires to associate with his redeeming sacrifice those who were to be its first beneficiaries. This is achieved supremely in the case of his mother, who was associated more intimately than any other person in the mystery of his redemptive suffering.”[xvi]
Is there another way to understand the doctrine of Mary as mediatrix? A different way to see Mary as mediatrix of grace is to see her universal role as mother. “In effect, Mary’s mediation is intimately linked with her motherhood. It possesses a specifically maternal character, which distinguishes it from the mediation of the other creatures who in various and always subordinate ways share in the one mediation of Christ, although her own mediation is also a shared mediation. In fact, while it is true that ‘no creature could ever be classed with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer,’ at the same time ‘the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise among creatures to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this unique source.’”[xvii] As the Second Vatican Council taught, “This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues without interruption from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal consummation of all the elect. Taken up to heaven, she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to procure for us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her motherly love she cares for her Son’s sisters and brothers who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home.”[xviii]
Why do Protestants object to Mary being the mediatrix of grace? Protestants believe that giving merit to anyone other than Jesus takes away from Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and our salvation. However, as we have explained at length, Mary’s intercession and mediation takes nothing away nor diminishes Christ’s mercy, grace, and mediation upon the world. In fact, since the Second Vatican Council and the work through ecumenism, “Mary is coming to be more and more honored in Christian Churches of every tradition.”[xix] “Catholics who take their faith in Christ for granted may be surprised to find how sensitive other Christians are to what seems to be a corollary of this faith: devotion to Mary and belief in her influential intercession. The Council’s teaching will serve as a welcome corrective, not to be less devoted to her but to grow in a devotion that is strong in its foundations and truly attractive to all who love Christ and therefore with to grow in the love of his Mother.”[xx]
[i] Lumen Gentium, 57
[ii] J. Escriva, Christ is passing by, 144
[iii] Divine Intimacy pgs. 84
[iv] Fernandez, In Conversation with God 6, 37.2
[v] Catechism of the Catholic Church Glossary 887-888
[vi] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary, 344-345
[vii] John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater
[viii] John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater
[ix] Luke 2:29-32
[x] Luke 2:49
[xi] John 2:5
[xii] Against Heresies, 3, 22, 19
[xiii] Divine Intimacy pgs. 84
[xiv] Hardon, Catholic Catechism pg. 166
[xv] Hardon, Catholic Catechism pg. 166
[xvi] CCC 618
[xvii] John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater
[xviii] Lumen Gentium 62.
[xix] cf. Hardon, Catholic Catechism pg. 171
[xx] Hardon, Catholic Catechism pg. 171