Mary and her mediation: Part II

The mediation of Mary: part II of the theological reflection

Mary Mediatrix of grace in Christ and in the Holy Spirit

When we analyze patristics and, in general, Marian piety, we perceive that Mary is normally not considered in herself, but always in relation to men and to God. The concrete experience of the Virgin’s closeness in the difficulties of men and the effectiveness of her intervention caused the doctrine of Mary’s mediation to spring forth. The narrative of the Wedding at Cana (Jn 2:1-12), where Mary intercedes with her Son so that He may perform the first sign of water changed into wine, has been for the Church the evangelical affirmation of the effectiveness of the intercession of Mary. Already in the third century we find the “Under Your Protection” (sub tuum praesidium), in which the Christian community of Egypt, faced with the danger of persecution, asks to be delivered from persecution. The Fathers of the Church interpret the experience of the faithful by attributing to Mary the title of Mediatrix, as is the case with Romanos the Melodist (sixth century) when he places on Mary’s lips the evocative declaration:

“I came into the world to overturn the reign of sorrow. I, the one full of grace […] Put a curb, then, on your tears: accept me as your mediatrix with Him who was born of me, because the author of joy is God Himself, begotten in eternity. Be not further angered. Put away all disturbance: I go to Him, full of grace”

On the same path we also find Germanus of Constantinople (d. 733) when he affirms that Mary “was mediatrix first of all by her supernatural childbearing and now by the intercession of her maternal assistance” and Andrew of Crete (d. 740) presents the Virgin as mediatrix between the sublimity of God and the poverty of the flesh and also as mediatrix between the law and grace.

In the Middle Ages a new literary genre arises, the Miracula, which were collections of Marian wonders; in the Lusitanian sphere we see, still in the Galician-Portuguese language, the Cantigas de Santa Maria of King Alfonso X, the Wise (1221-1284). These exert a profound influence on the living experience of the Marian presence, conveying the powerful intercession of the Virgin. The title of mediatrix will appear in the famous Legenda Theophili, which consists in the account of the Bishop’s vicar who makes a pact with the devil in order to have honors and goods, signing the contract (chirografo) in which he sells his soul. Mary appears to him and reproves his behavior; Theophilus addresses a trusting prayer to the Virgin that she may save him. Three days later the Virgin reappears, restoring the chirografo that was taken from Satan’s possession and giving it back to the contrite sinner, who at once burns it in the presence of all the people. From this account it becomes evident that medieval writers look to the Virgin as mediatrix. It is not surprising, then, to see how Saint Bernard refers to the announcement of the angel when Mary: “already full of the Holy Spirit […] for the new coming of the same Spirit became for us the full giver (nobis superplena e supereffluens) so that we might all receive from such fullness.” The Saint of Clairvaux then introduces the mediatio apud Christum (mediation with Christ), which will not fail to provoke numerous observations on the part of the Lutheran Reformation.

Coming to the modern age, the doctrine of Mary as mediatrix is discussed at the Second Vatican Council, opening the doors to long and heated discussions. This illustrates the need to balance and clarify Catholic doctrine on this subject without using an abstract and inopportune methodology. The Council does not accept the expression “mediatrix of all graces” attributed to Mary, because it generates a misunderstanding with regard to the one mediation of Christ and because it is situated within a theological discussion with irreconcilable positions. In this sense the rule of prudence holds, along with the use of terms that express the same reality, such as manifold intercession and maternal charity, so that the Church can invoke Mary with the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, Mediatrix (Lumen Gentium 62), since the one mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise in creatures to a varied cooperation participating in the one source. It is in this sense that we in the Catholic world legitimately and unanimously recognize Mary, full of the gifts of God, as Our Lady of Graces.

From graces to Grace

The central event of the Bible is grace, understood as divine and gratuitous benevolence that runs through the Testaments until it becomes the Gospel of Grace. The revelation of divine love toward creatures so that they may share in the trinitarian life is the highest gift that God grants to His creatures. It is the love that He brings to creatures and that is poured into the faithful, overflowing until it submerges the whole of creation.

Unfortunately history has not always understood the Gospel in the correct way, and not seldom Grace has been turned into a thing, quantified instead of being qualified. As such, the Bernardine image of the aqueduct, which describes the image of Christ the head who makes the graces flow to the faithful through Mary, cannot be proposed today, because of Mariological development and terminological awareness. This image sought, in the sincerity of faith, to express theosis, the dialogical event, the vital relationship of humanization between Creator and creature.

Grace as a dialogical event

When we look at the breadth of Sacred Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, we perceive that it is not a text that speaks about God in a specific way, but presents the dialogue across the millennia between God and man, from Adam, passing through Mary, until reaching the wedding of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem. In this context, when we speak of Grace, we are speaking of a happening bound to the event of the incarnation of the Word in Mary, God making Himself God-with-us in the fullness of time, where we receive grace upon grace (Jn 1:16). This being so, grace is then a space of dialogue between God and man, for it involves the gratuitous gift of love that God makes and man’s response with the same love. It is the Gospel of Grace. Therefore Grace cannot destroy man’s nature, since that would annul the free response, but rather it awakens the response. In fact, the Grace of God happens according to the action of the Holy Spirit as an interior movement that awakens the person and sets him on the way. God has creation as His initiative, but this is not a gift that obstructs the path of man’s freedom. The gratuitousness of grace does not permit an alienation, a fuga mundi, on the part of man, as was wrongly understood in the past. Grace, being a relationship, involves the person who must welcome it so that it may become a true gift, for it is a personal encounter between God, in the event of Christ as the saving Word of the Father, and man who, in the coherence of the gift, returns it (parable of the talents). We are not indicating instants but a long educative process in which man is restored to the original truth through the Incarnation of the Word until God is all in all (theósis) (1 Cor 15:28).

To go deeper into the theme of Mary’s mediation, read the encyclical Redemptoris Mater of Saint John Paul II, which deals with Mary’s maternal mediation in the mystery of Christ and of the Church.

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