Our Lady of Grace: A Mariological Re-reading
Introduction
When we gaze upon an image of Our Lady of Grace, it is inevitable to project a contemporary image that has little to do with the context in which it was drawn, painted, sculpted, and eventually described. In this regard, it is important to grasp the profound mariological meaning that remains unchanged, as it belongs to Revelation.
The invocation of the Virgin with the title ‘of grace’ evokes her fidelity and consistency with the Church’s tradition in the nearness of the Intercessor. Speaking of Tradition is also speaking of the Magisterium and its indications for acts of piety. The insertion of Mary into the unique Christian worship of the Church has brought, from Christ, a renewal in the Spirit that leads to the Father.The active participation of the devotee is vital to understanding that we live what we pray and pray what we believe (lex credendi-lex orandi-lex vivendi). It is therefore not strange to think that a devotee of Our Lady truly lives it. Praying before Our Lady of Grace, one invokes mercy, and the tone truly unites with the Absolute made flesh. By the strength of the Incarnation, the devotee becomes a participant and experiences his spiritual rebirth. In this sense, mercy is the daily experience-testimony: it is Jesus who repeats to us: ‘Be merciful, as your Father is merciful’ (Lk 6:36).It is in this sense that we see God’s fear in Mary, that is, trust, not in wrath, but in the greatness that offers the creature novelties at every moment. The generation that God accomplishes in the heart of the faithful is an attitude towards brothers and sisters that creates spaces and reciprocal understanding.Ex-voto: The grace receivedWhen we visit shrines all over the world, we find manifestations of the grace received, often in tragic situations with no apparent way of salvation. This experience is so intense that the devotee feels the need to testify to the greatness of what God accomplished in his life through Mary’s intercession.Over the centuries, Christianity has experienced this intercession, leading to the invocation of Mary as a *taumaturga*, meaning ‘one who obtains from God and grants to those who invoke her with faith’. This intermediary point between God and man has been a source of development, revision, and proposal in mariology, which cannot be fully explored here. However, it is important to note that each era draws closer to the truth of God, as the Holy Spirit guides us to full truth (Jn 16:13). The image of Mary as a loving Mother goes beyond intellectual perception and enters the realm of experiential fact. The believer turns to Mary with unlimited confidence and experiences effective help in difficult moments of life. The relevant phenomenological aspect emerges from the Christian behavior towards Mary, as it relates to a living, dialogical, and recognized presence. The exalted sanctity of Mary may seem at first so different from us, in the world in which we live, but on the other hand, so close to each person in the most painful moments of the sword of sorrow (Lk 2:35).The Birth of the Title Our Lady of GraceThe context of vital realities such as food, work, health, unity, family, peace, and reconciliation, together with the mobilizing power of the figure of the Holy Virgin, which is configured with Christian faith, speaks to the heart with a confidence and affection. This Marian phenomenon results from the continuous salvific action of Jesus, and Mary’s influence throughout the centuries inspires generations to seek support, regardless of culture, in the Mother of the living. Recalling Pope Benedict XVI’s pilgrimage to Einsiedeln in 2011, he stated:
«When Christians in all times and places turn to Mary, they are guided by the spontaneous certainty that Jesus cannot refuse her requests, and they support their unwavering trust that Mary is also our Mother, a Mother who experienced the greatest suffering of all, who understood our difficulties together with us, and thinks maternally of their overcoming»
Seeking Meaning in Biblical and Ecclesial Tradition
When we look at the New Testament, we find grace as a space of encounter between God and humanity. It is the way God becomes a history of salvation. In a simple reading, the plural graces refers to charisms and other aids, while the singular grace speaks of a much deeper and more mysterious reality, especially because it deals with the touch between the divine and human worlds.
In Saint Paul’s letters, we find the description of the Christian life in the early communities in present-day Asia Minor, and we notice that the Spirit distributes and awakens gifts, virtues, ministries, and charisms. The Second Vatican Council in Lumen Gentium 12 states:
“The Holy Spirit not only sanctifies and guides the People of God through the sacraments and ministries, adorning them with virtues, but also, ‘distributing to each person as He wills’ (1 Cor 12:11), He distributes special graces among the faithful of all classes, fitting them for and disposing them to undertake various works and responsibilities, beneficial for the renewal and ever-wider building up of the Church, as those words say: ‘to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good’ (1 Cor 12:7). These charisms, whether the highest or the simplest and common, should be received with gratitude and consolation.”In unison, we can affirm that the ministry does not override the charisms, for this is a charismatic element. Indeed, ministries are conferred preferentially to charismatic men (Acts 13:2-4). The entire ecclesial reality receives the charism as a structural element of the Church, and its members are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone (Eph 2:20). The first of the charisms is love (1 Cor 13:13). Following this, faith, infused by the Holy Spirit. The gift of healing (1 Cor 12:9, 28, 30). These are new events, signs of the new covenant that lead us back to the actions of the Spirit (1 Cor 12:10). The Holy Spirit is the source and ‘dispenser’ of charisms. This affirmation seems to create a contrast or contradiction with the Marian invocation. However, the deeper one goes into spiritual grace gifts, the more the one Spirit (1 Cor 12:11) that led Mary to the fullness of her creatureliness becomes manifest. Paul states that spiritual gifts are ‘manifestations of the Spirit’ (1 Cor 12:1, 7). Thus, graces are then spiritual gifts granted to charismatic faithful and linked to the mediation of persons. Charisms can be permanent or temporary, according to the Father’s will. Graces are not isolated but exist for the community and ultimately come from the Spirit of the Father and the Son.”In the next chapter, we will speak about “Mary as Mediator of Grace in Christ and in the Spirit.” And you, what doubts do you have about Our Lady of Grace?To deepen your devotion to Our Lady of Grace and your cult of Mary, consult the Apostolic Exhortation “Marialis Cultus” by Paul VI on the renewal of Marian piety.Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian theology, Marian apparitions, and the Graduate Program in Mariology.
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