Revelation

In Revelation 12, Mary is the "woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head" (Rev 12:1 NIV). The twelve stars refer to the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles.¹ She is pregnant, and she gives birth to a son who will "rule all the nations with an iron scepter" (Rev 12:5 NIV). The child is "snatched up" to God and to his throne, and the woman flees to the desert. War in heaven ensues.

Mary's relationship to the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles establishes her intimate connection to the People of God. Later in the Book of Revelation John describes heaven with twelve gates, and on the gates are written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel (Rev 21:12 NIV). Mary in heaven has the interests of her people at heart, and she does not disappear from Scripture after the gospels. After her Assumption into heaven, she is still the Advocate for the People of God. It is in Revelation 12 that she is seen "crowned" as Queen of the twelve tribes referred to in Revelation 21, and by virtue of her motherhood of the disciples directly given by Jesus at the cross in John 19, she may be seen to be our mother, too, concerned with the needs of all her children.

The Advocacy of Mary in the Magisterium: The Church Fathers

Many of the Church Fathers were especially devoted to Our Lady, and they saw her in an intercessory role. Mary is "the friendly advocate of sinners" (St. Ephraem), "fighting on their behalf" (St. Germanus of Constantinople). She even pleads for our first parents (St. Romanos); "Mary was persuaded to obey God, that the Virgin Mary might become advocate of the virgin Eve" (St. Irenaeus). St. Bernard of Clairvaux asks Mary to "commend us to your Son."²

Papal Writings and Church Teachings

Pope John Paul II had a special devotion to Our Lady; his motto was "Totus Tuus," or "everything for you," all for Mary. He wrote the encyclical Redemptoris Mater in 1987 to institute a special Marian Year, as part of the preparation leading up to the year 2000, a jubilee year. The encyclical centers Marian devotion in Christ and emphasizes her maternal mediation for the People of God. She was the first to believe at the Annunciation, and she was prayerfully present at Pentecost (no. 26). Both of these moments show Mary's discreet and prayerful maternal presence at key "birth" moments, of Christ and of the Church. Both involve the work of the Holy Spirit to bring about the redemptive mystery of salvation. We should look to her, Pope John Paul II says, as "our common Mother, who prays for the unity of God's family" (RM, n. 30).

Many popes have expressed appreciation and support for Our Lady's role of advocacy. "Mary's prayers place their assurance in a mother's right" (Pope Pius VII), and we may ask her, "our Queen and Advocate," to present our prayers before God's throne (Pope Pius X). If we want grace, we must have recourse to Mary, or it is like we are "trying to fly without wings" (Pope Pius XI), because she is "our Queen and our most loving Advocate" (Pope Pius XII).³

In Lumen Gentium, the "Dogmatic Constitution on the Church" produced by the Second Vatican Council, the Fathers referred to the Blessed Virgin as "Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix." She advocates for us from heaven. "Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation" (LG, 62). The formal declaration of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary in 1950 established the theological basis for her advocacy by placing her, body and soul, in heaven, next to Christ the King, where she advocates for the People of God.

Sacred Tradition: Turning to Mary as Advocate - Prayers

Marian prayers have been in use by the faithful for centuries, enlisting Mary's help in time of need. The Sub Tuum from AD 250 has us "fly to your patronage, O Holy Mother of God," so that she will "deliver us from all danger." We implore her in the Memorare to "remember ... that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help or sought your intercession was left unaided." In the Ave Maris Stella we ask her to break our fetters, chase all evils from us, keep our life all spotless and make our way secure.⁴ To her we "send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears," in the Salve Regina.

Many prayers request the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and some of these are said before or after praying the Rosary, a prayer itself inspired by and for Our Lady. Mary "mediates between heaven and earth, for in her glorified body she belongs in both realms. She listens to the implorations of mankind ... and promises to ease their pain with heavenly medicine."⁵ From a twentieth century apparition in Amsterdam, we are asked to pray for "the Lady of All Nations, who once was Mary, [to] be our Advocate."⁶

In the liturgy for the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin on Saturday, the Church prays to the Lord for the help of Our Lady's prayers: "Lord, as we honor the glorious memory of the Virgin Mary, we ask that by the help of her prayers, we too may come to share the fullness of your grace."⁷

The tone of Marian prayers changed around the year 1000. Christ was seen in a more stern capacity as judge, and penitent Catholics turned to their Mother for help. Wolbodo, Bishop of Liege from 1018-1021, copied a prayer into his psalter which shows these concerns, as the excerpt below attests:

Refuge of the wretched, consolation of the troubled, hope and refuge of sinners, I, a sinner, weighted down by the enormity of my evil deeds, dreading the necessity of the final judgment ... knowing no one more capable of appeasing the anger of the judge than you, the mother whom he chose for the reconciliation of sinners, I humbly beg you most tearfully, most merciful domina, that, when you come to the aid of all those wretched and accursed who are fleeing to you for refuge, you may also deign to succor miserable me.⁸

In Old English, a fifteenth century ballad records healing wonders which occurred due to Our Lady's intercession at a replica of the Holy House of Nazareth in Walsingham, England, which was built according to the instructions of the Virgin Mary after she reportedly appeared to a devout widow there:

Many seke ben here cured by our Lady's mighte
Dede agayne revyved of this no dought
Lame made whole and blynded restored to sighte
Lo here the chyef solace agaynst all tribulacyon
To all that be seke bodely or goostly
Callin to Our Lady devoutly.⁹

Saints and Intercession

Many saints have been especially devoted to Mary, including Sts. Bernard of Clairvaux, John Vianney, Alphonsus Liguori, and Louis de Montfort. Less well-known may be the devotion paid to her by mystics such as St. Teresa of Avila. When St. Teresa was helping a wayward priest reform his ways, she credited the success to Mary. He had been involved romantically with a woman of the town, and after he reformed his ways "he began to loathe that woman." Teresa observes, "Our Lady must have helped him greatly, for he most piously observed the feast of her Conception, and used to celebrate it with the greatest solemnity."¹⁰ Teresa herself had a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary; she writes, "I could not give thanks enough to God and my glorious father St. Joseph ... to whom, as to Our Lady, I used often to commend myself."¹¹

During times of danger and illness the faithful have long called on Mary's intercession for protection and healing. After Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego in Mexico in 1531, devotion to her grew rapidly. In 1736, a terrible plague appeared in Mexico City and its surroundings. After millions of Indians died, they "interpreted these afflictions as God's punishment for the grievous sins of idolatry and the natives' failure to accept the Christian gospel." Other causes also were suggested: excessive drunkenness, stagnant water and poor food. Whatever the reasons for the plague, divine help was needed. Publications of the time show Our Lady of Guadalupe carried through the streets of Mexico City by angels, while the city pleads for her intercession. It was this plague that led to the establishment of Our Lady of Guadalupe as patron of New Spain.¹²

Conclusion

Our Lady is the friend of sinners and the Mother of the faithful. She longs to unite all of humanity in the loving embrace of the Church. Assumed into heaven, she intercedes for the People of God and makes their concerns known to Christ, her Son. In Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the teachings of the Magisterium, Mary emerges as the perfectly formed Mother of God, the human person closest to Christ, and the Queen Mother who intercedes on our behalf. From true and authentic doctrine it can be seen that the Blessed Virgin Mary takes her rightful place as Advocate for the People of God.

In closing, this author joins her sentiments with those of the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, who expresses his love and petitions to Our Lady, "The Woman I Love," in the dedication to her of his book on her, The World's First Love:

The Woman Whom even God dreamed of
Before the world was made;

The Woman of Whom I was born
At cost of pain and labor at a Cross;

The Woman Who, though no priest,
Could yet on Calvary's Hill breathe,
"This is my Body; This is my Blood" -
For none save her gave Him human life.

The Woman Who guides my pen,
Which falters so with words
In telling of the Word.

The Woman Who, in a world of Reds,
Shows forth the blue of hope.

Accept these dried grapes of thoughts
From this poor author, who has no wine;
And with Cana's magic and thy Son's Power
Work a miracle and save a soul -
Forgetting not my own.¹³