Mary's Maternal Mediation

John Paul II speaks a lot about Mary’s maternal mediation and Fr. Gaitley uses the term “Mediatrix of all graces”.  So, that’s what we are going to focus on tonight!

John 19:25-27 says, “Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home”. This is where Mary becomes OUR mother.  John is representing ALL humanity at this point.  Notice how there are no personal pronouns - it’s all very general, all encompassing terms that Jesus uses here.  We can put ourselves in John’s shoes, and imagine Jesus speaking to us personally, giving us His Mother.  Fr. Bob makes the point, that not only does Jesus give us the gift of HIMSELF on the Cross, but he also gives us his treasured gift of his mother. Mary’s mission to be the Spiritual Mother of all humanity is fulfilled here in this moment.  

But this Mission was not completely foreign to her when Jesus was on the Cross.  She was not caught off guard when Jesus gave her to John and thus the whole Church.  Remember, she “pondered” God’s will her whole life.  Her mission of Spiritual Motherhood really began at the Annunciation.  Dr. Mark Miravalle says, “The Blessed Virgin began her mission as Spiritual Mother of humanity with her ‘fiat’ at the Annunciation.  Her ‘let it be done’ (Lk. 1:38), leads her to becoming the Mother of Jesus, who is the Head of the Mystical Body (which is the Church), and also mysteriously begins her spiritual motherhood in relation to the rest of the Body of Christ which is mystically connected to Jesus the head.”  

If we turn back to the account of the Crucifixion, we see that Christ is stating a fact - almost a command!  “Behold your mother”.  “He does not passively invite us to accept Mary as Mother, rather he states the theological fact that Mary is the newly God-given Mother of each beloved disciple: our remaining question then should not be, “Is Mary our mother?” but more appropriately, “How do we properly behold this Mother, who is now our Mother?” (Miravalle).  

By physically giving birth to Jesus, Mary has MADE IT POSSIBLE for us to attain Salvation, for there is no salvation without Jesus.  I have mentioned before that there was no grace available to humans before Jesus’ Sacrifice on the Cross.  Grace was lost when sin entered this world.  Throughout the whole Old Testament, we see that the Chosen People (Israel) just COULD NOT get their act “together” and follow God as they ought.  They could not keep up their part of the covenant.  When Christ comes and gives himself to us on the Cross, then conquers sin and death through the Resurrection, he makes it possible for us to be united to the Father, through grace.  Grace is spiritual help from God to help us be holy; it gives us a share in the divinity of Christ and helps us be more like Him (who perfectly gives himself to the Father).  We need grace!  We all need grace to help us become saints and to make it to heaven.  We need grace so that we may be saved.  

So, many great theologians, bishops and popes of our Church have taught us that Mary, in a mystical and spiritual way, is the Mother of all grace, since she is the Mother of Jesus.  Miravalle says again, “Mary, in giving birth to Jesus, truly communicated to us the supernatural life of grace that allows us to become children of God.”  I really like that phrase from Dr. Miravalle.  Mary communicated to us the life of supernatural grace.  Let’s look at the word “communicate”.  Webster’s dictionary defines it as “to convey knowledge of or information about :  make known”, “to reveal by clear signs” or “to cause to pass from one to another”.  Using these three definitions, we can see Mary’s role in our salvation:

    By giving birth to Jesus, who is the author of Salvation and Source of all Grace, Mary “makes known” to the world the life of grace; she “reveals” to us the life of grace, and by her physical motherhood, she causes grace to pass from her womb to the whole world.  Grace enters this world through Her, and then Jesus does the work of making it available to us all.  Jesus is the DOER of salvation, he is the FORCE behind grace.  Mary is the GIVER of grace, the dispenser of grace and supernatural life.  Think about it: she carried GOD inside of her, and THROUGH HER, God, in the person of Jesus Christ, entered this world.  

So, for these reasons, she is known as the “Mediatrix of all grace” and this is where John Paul II uses the term “maternal mediation”.  She is the “mediator” of grace.  Now, let’s turn to look at what “mediator” means.  Miravalle says, “A mediator, in general, is a person who intervenes between the two other persons for the goal of uniting two parties.  The task of the mediator is not to distance further, BUT TO RECONCILE, to bring together the two parties in question”.  

Now, it is true that St. Paul says, “For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man: the person of Jesus Christ” (1 Tim. 2:5).  Jesus perfectly and wholly united us back to God the Father by his death and resurrection.  But the story doesn’t end there.  He entrusted a Church to the Apostles, who labored and worked to help bring Jesus to others.  And the rest is history, right?  Here we are, still trying to spread the Good News and trying to GIVE Jesus to others.  We offer prayers and sacrifices for others, trying everything we can to help bring people back to the Father, right?  In this sense, we all SHARE in the mediation of Christ.  So, yes, there is ONE PERFECT MEDIATOR.  But we all participate in his mediation.  

And Mary is in this equation, too.  John Paul II says, “Mary’s maternal mediation does not obscure the unique and perfect mediation of Christ…”  Miravalle says, “The term ‘mediatrix’ therefore, refers to Our Lady’s role as a secondary and subordinate participant in the one mediation of Jesus Christ, who acts with the same intention as her Divine Son, the one Mediator: to redeem and reconcile humanity with God.”  And her role is unique because she alone is the mother of Jesus and she alone participated in his objective work of Redemption.

In Summary, Mary’s Maternal Mediation is exercised in three ways:  

    1.) She uniquely and actively participated with Jesus in the work of Redemption.  Thus she is known as “Co-Redemptrix”.

    2.)  As “mediatrix” she distributes all grace.  All grace comes through her.  Again, there is the distinction that Christ merited/ won for us all grace, Mary is the distributer of that grace won by His Passion, Death and Resurrection.  

    3.) She is our advocate, presenting our needs before the King (remember the peasant analogy from St. Louis de Montfort?)