Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces: A Survey of Mary’s Role and Its Relation to Consecration

Introduction

Initially it may seem far-fetched to suggest that the Blessed Virgin Mary has been granted the honor and the title of Mediatrix of all Grace, given that explicit mention of any such role is apparently absent from the texts of Scripture. Nonetheless, building upon the Church's tradition, numerous scholars have discerned within the Scriptures subtle and not-so-subtle allusions and appropriations of mediatory types which seem to cast Mary as their anti-type. However, prior to the past century, there has not been an overwhelming amount of attention devoted to presenting a systematic treatment of this topic per se. Historically, scholars have either assumed the role of Mary's Mediation or noted its Scriptural evidence in passing, while pursuing other theological or exegetical goals. Accordingly, the intention of this essay is to build on the work of these scholars by gathering together and presenting systematically the evidence for Mary's role as Mediatrix of all Grace, especially insofar as it relates to Marian consecration, from an historical, theological and biblical perspective.

General Category of Mary's Spiritual Motherhood

Before taking a single step to expound the role of Mary as Mediatrix of all graces, first we must lay the proper foundation by saying a few words about her spiritual motherhood. Spiritual maternity is a generic term designating that Mary is the spiritual mother of all humanity. This Church doctrine was established in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, when it asserted that she is mother to all in the order of grace (Lumen Gentium, n. 61). This motherhood of Our Lady is a gift to the world given by Christ at Calvary,¹ which is properly received by welcoming-like John, the beloved disciple-her into our own homes.

Tropologically, this response is properly carried out when Christians welcome Mary into their own inner, spiritual lives. As such, it is a person gift because she not only enters into the home, but also into the heart and of the believer. Thus, all followers of Christ should actualize their discipleship by continually endeavoring to embrace his mother evermore. Furthermore, doing so will consequently allow Mary to fulfill reiterate her last Scriptural utterance, namely, "Do whatever He tells you." This act of entrustment is what Pope John Paul II has termed "a filial entrusting to the Mother of Christ" (Redemptoris Mater, n. 45).

This notion of Mary's spiritual motherhood serves further as a bridge between authentic Marian doctrine and true devotion to her. It is the answer to the question, "What does Mary have to do with me?" because John acts as a representative type of all beloved disciples. Therefore, since Christ died for all, the gift he gave at his death is also for all, and consequently, Mary's motherhood is universal. Thus, the role given to her at Calvary serves as a clarifying link of her relation humanity.

Mary's Maternal Mediation

Often times, objections to Our Lady's maternal mediation stem from the way one reads 1 Timothy 2:5, "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (RSV)." However, normally these objections are really no more than a symptom of a person's poor understanding of the notion of mediation. In Scripture, the Greek word mesítes means literally a "go-between"² and serves to designate someone who intervenes between two parties for the express purpose of bringing about their unification.³ Accordingly, when we speak of Christ as our "one mediator" the question must be raised as to what precisely this prohibits. However, in order to answer the question, we must take a closer look to see what the passage means when it says "one."

The question we are here concerned with is finding out what precisely is restricted when scripture employs the adjective "one." Again, the Greek will be helpful here as there are two different words for to designate this idea, viz. heis and mónos. The former, which is used in First Timothy, restricts the noun it modifies in regarding its primacy; thus it can certainly be followed by others.⁴ On the contrary, the latter places an exclusive restriction on the noun it modifies, conveying a notion of the one and only.⁵

Accordingly, St. Paul's use of heis is not meant to prevent subsequent mediation to that of Christ. Rather, what is prohibited is any rival, competitive, or autonomous concepts of mediation vis-à-vis that of Christ. As such, First Timothy 2:5 establishes the primacy of Christ as the one mediator, but not to the exclusion of the possibility of secondary, creaturely mediation. Were this mediation to be placed on a level of equality with Jesus' then Paul's prohibition would indeed apply. Thus, in the words of St. Thomas Aquinas, "Christ alone is the perfect Mediator of God and men, inasmuch as, by His death, He reconciled the human race to God ... However, nothing hinders certain others from being called mediators, in some respect, between God and man, forasmuch as they cooperate in uniting men to God, dispositively or ministerially."⁶

Furthermore, rather than prevent other mediation, Scripture teaches in fact that Christians must participate in some aspect of Christ's ministry. And although the Church does not hesitate to admit to the subordinate aspect of Mary's mediation, it notes that there are a number of things unique to Christ that we too must partake of in the Christian life that do not obscure his mediation (Lumen Gentium, n. 62). One such example is that of the manner in which God communicates his grace. That is we, through our baptisms, participate in the divine life of the Trinity-as well as in the one priesthood of Christ in the forms of the ordained ministerial priesthood and the priesthood of the laity-without compromising it (see 1 Peter 2:9).

Returning now to First Timothy, it should be noted that the preceding verses actually make an explicit call for subordinate mediation: "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:1-4)." We can rightly say then that the perfect mediation of Jesus is precisely what provides for subordinate forms of mediation, and his glory is increasingly manifest the more we participate in it.

Accordingly, it is Christ's mother who first and foremost participates in his mediation, not by necessity, but rather by the divine will. We can now address precisely Mary's role. Mary participates in a secondary office of mediation of grace, wherein she dispenses all the graces merited by Jesus Christ, and in a secondary way, from her. Mary then uniquely, like no other creature, participates in this one mediation.

Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces

The title Mediatrix simply refers to a female who has been given the task of mediation, and this title is itself implicit in the expression of spiritual maternity.⁷ To call Mary mother already contains within it an inference that she has the power to mediate grace. And indeed, she participates uniquely in the mediation of her son. According to the fourth century deacon St. Ephraem, Mary, along with the Mediator, is the Mediatrix of the entire world.⁸

It must be asserted, there is indeed a threefold foundation for this role; it is not arbitrarily claimed as though it stood alone on the basis of pious rhetoric. Firstly, Mary alone is the Theotókos. She alone became the mother of God when she gave birth to the word made flesh. As such, it follows that only she has an intrinsic relationship to the hypostatic union as she was the only creature instrumentally involved in God becoming Man. Thus, her mediation in the granting of the source of grace indicates that she was destined for a continuous universal communication of the flow of grace.⁹

In addition to this, Our Lady alone possesses the fullness of grace. Although the saints did indeed excel in grace, their measure paled in comparison to Mary's because she possessed it in plentitude. Nevertheless, a distinction can still be made between her initial fullness of grace, which she received at her Immaculate Conception, and that grace that was superabundantly added with each fiat that she made to the Lord. Regarding her initial measure of grace it should be pointed out that even prior to any free consent to the will of God on her part, she still possessed an allotment of grace that far surpassed all.

Lastly, the third basis for Mary's unique participation in the mediation of Christ is that no human being on earth suffered with him in the same manner that she did. She alone, being perfectly obedient to the will of God, uniquely endured the intensity of Jesus' suffering by lovingly consenting to the sacrifice of her son, the paschal lamb. Further, she associated herself with Jesus' sacrifice in her heart, which points to the reality of her direct participation in the sacrifice at Calvary. Thus, according to the fathers of Vatican II (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 58) Mary said yes to the destruction of Christ because it was the perfect will of the Father, thereby renouncing her natural and supernatural maternal right to defend her child. It is on this account that she is the one able to distribute the graces of Calvary, namely, she aided in their acquisition. As such, the scope of her mediation must answer to that of her earthly activity, as Christ's interpellation to his sacrificial activity.¹⁰

Mary exercises her role as Mediatrix in three fundamental modes: 1.) before her earthly existence; 2.) during her earthly existence; and 3.) following her assumption into heaven. Firstly, she mediates before her earthly existence in virtue of the notion of final causality. That is, because Mary participated in the acquisition of each and every grace of redemption (the final cause), she is rightly understood to have a mediating role in each and every grace regardless of when they are dispensed. Secondly, during her earthly life Mary exercised her role as Mediatrix, again, at least in terms of final causality, i.e., in view of her future merits. Moreover, this does not exclude the possibility that she had some occasions of moral causality (willed intercession) with regard to the distribution of graces (see John 2.1-ff.). Thirdly, the Blessed Mother exercises her mediation in heaven, at least in terms of moral causality. In this mode Mary is praying to Jesus for the release of all graces upon humanity. However, many of the great Mariologists say that she also exercises her mediation by her physical causality, i.e., referring to Mary having a certain jurisdiction over every aspect of grace.¹¹ That is to say that Jesus has given to Mary a custodianship over the graces of redemption. Physical causality is where she is releasing them herself, that is, she need not ask God for them. An objection to the latter is that she might release them in a way incongruent with Jesus' will. However, as the Immaculate virgin, who beholds the beatific vision, she could never be incongruent with the will of God.

Mary Mediatrix in Tradition and the Magisterium¹²

Thus, from what we have said above it is clear that Mary's role as Mediatrix of all graces flows from, and is united to, her role as Coredemptrix. She participated in an intimate and unique way with Christ in the redemption of mankind. Likewise then, she participates in an intimate and unique way in the dispensation of the graces of redemption. This teaching has been attested to in an unbroken manner from the fifth century onward in both the Church's Tradition and in her Papal teachings. We now wish to proceed in summary fashion to provide a survey of some of the major testimonies.

In 431, St. Cyril of Alexandria composed a beautiful prayer, proclaiming to Mary that she is the one through whom all good things of God have come to us: "It is you through whom the Holy Trinity is glorified and adored, ... through whom the tempter, the devil is cast down from heaven, through whom the fallen creature is raised up to heaven ..." Thus, he subtly expounded the truth that the blessings of God's grace are mediated to us through our heavenly mother. Sts. John Damascene and Germain of Constantinople went still further by claiming that Mary fulfills the "office of Mediatrix" and that "no one is saved" except through her, respectively.

One of the greatest Marian saints, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, has been often touted by the popes as a true champion of Our Lady. In fact, he uses expressions that are repeatedly uttered by the magisterium. He taught that "God has willed that we should have nothing which would not pass through the hands of Mary" and thus maintained the tradition that it is the will of God that we receive all graces through her hands.

Theophanes of Nicaea (1381) was the strongest precursor to St. Louis de Montfort in terms of the Holy Spirit's role in mediation of grace. "It cannot happen that anyone, of angels or men, can come otherwise, in any way whatsoever, to participation in the divine gifts flowing from what has been divinely assumed, from the Son of God, save through his Mother." While St. Bernadine of Siena, in the fifteenth century, was one of the first to phrase Mary's role in a truly explicit way. She lucidly asserted that all of God's graces flow in a threefold manner: "This is the process of divine graces, namely, from God they flow to Christ, from Christ to his mother, and from her to the Church ... I do not hesitate to say that she has received a certain jurisdiction over all graces ... They are administered through her hands ..."

Indeed, no survey of Marian saints can be said to be complete without making mention of St. Louis de Montfort, who said in the eighteenth century that

God the Son has communicated to his Mother all that he acquired by his life and his death, his infinite merits and his admirable virtues; and He has made Her the treasurer of all that His Father gave Him for his inheritance. It is by her that He applies His merits to his members, and that He communicates his virtues and distributes his graces. She is his mysterious canal; she is his aqueduct, through which He makes his mercies flow gently and abundantly.

Finally, St. Alphonsus Liguori, who also lived in the eighteenth century, instructed in a most eloquent way that Mary is the universal Mediatrix of each and every grace. "God, who gave us Jesus Christ, wills that all graces that have been, that are, and will be dispensed to men to the end of the world through the merits of Jesus Christ, should be dispensed by the hands and through the intercession of Mary."

No survey of Marian testimonies would be truly complete without drawing attention to some of the more notable Papal statements of the last century. At the turn of the century Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) heroically upheld the cause of Our Lady, writing eleven encyclicals on the Rosary in which he made reference to her as the "treasurer of our peace with God and dispensatrix of heavenly graces," as well as the one "through whom He has chosen to be the dispenser of all heavenly graces." Furthermore, during the pontificate of Benedict XV (1914-1922) the celebration of the Liturgical Office and Mass of Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces was approved

At the Second Vatican Council (in Lumen Gentium 62) the fathers taught that Mary is rightly invoked under the title of Mediatrix. This ecumenical council's statement both assumes and confirms the Papal tradition of the ordinary magisterium about the title of Mediatrix as it makes reference to popes Leo XIII, St. Pius X, Pius, XI, and Pius XII. Finally, our current pontiff notes that that "the virgin at Calvary participates in the salvific power of her suffering son by joining her yes to his yes."