The Marian principle of the Church: Mary at the cross

# Jo 19,25-27 and the “Marian Principle”: Mary at the Cross as the Peak of Her Maternal Participation in the Redemptive Work

The presence of Mary *at the cross* of Jesus constitutes the highest moment of her maternal participation in Christ’s redemptive work, where she uniquely embodies the maternal participation of the Church.

## Image:

In the presence of Mary *at the cross*, one can summarize what is called, both in the teaching of John Paul II and in theology, the Marian Principle of the Church. However, this is not a return to the theme of the *first principle* of Mariology, based on a recent past. With this principle, we aim to affirm the light and action that comes from Mary’s person and her singular participation in the mystery of redemption. John Paul II, in his *Letter to Women* (1995), prophetically announces further development within the Church in the third millennium, linked to new and surprising manifestations of the *female genius* (no. 11), in harmony with the *Marian Principle of the Church*.

This principle is defined in a multifaceted context: that of the relationship between *the Church and Mary*, between *Church-Mary* and *Christ’s sovereign redemptive mediation*, and between *Mary* and *the identity of women*. Indeed, while the relationship between Christ and the Church-Mary finds its roots in the earliest Christian tradition, from Scripture itself, it also becomes particularly significant for the *issue of women*, which is a sign of our times. In reality, the role of women emerges in the salvific history through the presence of the feminine, from the first pages of Scripture (Gn 1-3) to the last (Rev 12, 21).

# The Marian Principle of the Church: A Female Principle

It is necessary from the outset to affirm, in order to avoid misunderstandings and for a correct evaluation, that the “Marian principle of the Church” cannot be asserted autonomously. It must always be considered in relation to another principle, the structural sacramental-petrine principle, with which it should be deeply united. It is within this relationship that the original value of the Marian principle of the Church is defined, where it is not affirmed that the Church as an “institution” depends from Mary. Rather, as Paul VI stated, one must understand that “the reality of the Church does not exhaust itself in its theological structure, its liturgy, its sacraments, or its juridical norms. Its intimate essence, the first source of its sanctifying effectiveness, must be sought in its mystical union with Christ.”

In this vein, it is also necessary to affirm, as cited from the New Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting John Paul II, that the structure of the Church “is completely ordered to the holiness of the members of Christ. And holiness is measured according to the ‘great Mystery’ in which the Bride responds with the gift of love to the gift of the Spouse.” Mary precedes us all on the path to holiness, which is the mystery of the Church, the “spotless and wrinkle-free Bride” (Eph 5:27). For this reason, “the Marian dimension of the Church precedes its petrine dimension.”

## The Female Principle in Scripture, the New Testament, and Patristic Tradition

The importance of female figures through which God’s people is represented in both the Old and New Testaments and in patristic tradition is well-known. The mystery of the Church is symbolically expressed through figures such as the New Eve, Mother, Bride, and Virgin. The relationship between Christ and the Church, illustrated through these female figures, seeks to convey that if Christ is at the center of God’s original plans, which He elected and decided to recapitulate in Him (Eph 1:10), then neither the Church nor all creation are ever absent from this divine plan. Indeed, the Church is not merely a setting in which this plan unfolds but an essential partner in the divine work.

The fundamental argument for this assertion rests on the fact that there cannot be a genuine revelation of God without His “interiorization within the consciousness of a faithful community.” Thus, the original and ever-living offer of the Trinitarian redeeming love, revealed through Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, evokes a faithful response to this same love. However, this response is itself the fruit of the Father’s initiative, the Son’s action, and the Holy Spirit who prompts it within human hearts.

# The Role of Mary in Catholic Theology

It can be argued that, according to the Father’s plan, in correspondence with the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8), there is also an eternal “female partner” of Christ: the presence of the faithful community, the Church, which early on in Tradition was also referred to as Mary. Therefore: “Just as the Proto-Evangelium (Genesis 3:15) indicates an ecclesia from Adam, so it indicates an ecclesia from Eve-Mary, in which the woman is given the first place in the new beginning of creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) that will be realized in Christ, the New Adam.” The personification of the Church’s mystery in feminine images reaches a completely unique moment in the historical and real person of Mary of Nazareth, culminating in her presence at the cross and the praying community in the Cenacle awaiting the coming of the Spirit (Acts 1:14). It is in her that the personal mystery of the Church is concretely and symbolically realized. Throughout tradition, both patristic and medieval, the relationship “Church-Mary” tends to merge “within the framework of a motherhood identical, at once virgin and esponsal, by which the opening of Mary’s womb is the opening of the Church’s womb.”

## The Birth of the Church in the Fathers: The New Eve and the Sacramental Mystery Emerging from the Crucified

In the theological reflection of the Fathers, the “female principle” of the New Eve is initially affirmed in contemplating the birth of the Church as a “sacramental mystery,” stemming from the event on the cross, in the description of the spear thrust and the flow of blood and water (John 19:34-37). In this narrative, the patristic tradition, recalling the symbolic description of Genesis (2:21-23), sees its fulfillment in the origin of the Church alongside the New Adam during his death sleep. She, as his Bride of the new ages, is filled with the abundance of Christ’s grace, not to fill a need, but to meet ours. In this episode of the Gospel account of Jesus’ crucifixion, one can say that the nuptial bond between the Word and humanity is consummated, and the petrine sacramental face of the Church is defined. The Church, born from blood and water, as a “sign of Christ’s presence” (Lumen Gentium 48) in history, continues the exercise of priestly ministry as its “Body” and the “universal sacrament of salvation.”

Many Fathers do not attach significant theological importance to Mary’s scene at the foot of the cross (John 19:25-27). Instead, it is commented on as an expression of Christ’s filial piety towards his Mother.

Considered in this light, the sacramental face of the Church, born from Christ’s pierced side on the cross, reveals more clearly the presence of Christ himself in his pastoral ministry. It participates in Christ’s salvific mystery, in the action of his sacrifice, continuing throughout history its permanent priestly ministerial function, and emphasizes both its unity with Christ and Christ’s presence in its liturgical life (SC 7.11). The predominance of the cristological-sacramental-Petrine perspective in the image of Eve-Church draws it closer to Paul’s idea of the Body of Christ.

# No entanto, ao focar exclusivamente na unidade da Igreja com o ministério de Cristo, como sinal vivo do seu amor pelos homens, corre-se o risco de despersonalizar a Igreja. Ela se tornaria apenas uma função cristológica, ou seja, a presença comunicativa do Ressuscitado e sua oferta de graça para a humanidade. O Concílio Vaticano II, para evitar esse perigo, destaca o caráter particular desse sinal sacramental, que, além de remeter à Pessoa e ministério de Cristo, envolve sua realidade social, visível e humana, tornando a Igreja uma comunidade universal.

## Maria e a Igreja: Nova Eva nascida da Cruz

A Igreja, como Nova Eva, nasce do evento da cruz (Jo 19,31-37), não apenas como princípio estrutural sacramental, mas também como “alguém” em diálogo com o evento trinitário de Deus. É uma comunidade humana universal, composta por pessoas unidas espiritualmente na fé.

A ação de Maria, sua maternidade espiritual, é crucial no mistério da redenção de Cristo na cruz. Ela permanece fielmente unida ao Filho até a cruz (Jo 19,25), sofrendo profundamente com Ele e associando-se ao seu sacrifício. Ao final, Jesus a apresenta como mãe ao discípulo, dizendo: “Mulher, eis aí teu Filho” (Jo 19,26-27).

## O Papel de Maria na Cruz e na Igreja

A presença de Maria junto à cruz revela tanto o mistério da redenção cumprida em Cristo quanto a imagem da própria Igreja. Sua participação ativa não se limita aos ministros ordenados, mas envolve todos os fiéis, que, unidos aos pastores, constituem o “nós” da Igreja. A obra salvífica é vista no contexto dialógico da Nova Aliança, iniciada com a Encarnação do Filho e consumada em sua morte e ressurreição.

Na carta aos Hebreus, a Encarnação redentora de Cristo é descrita como obediência ao Pai (Heb 10,9-10), culminando na oblação suprema realizada uma vez por todas. Maria responde a essa obediência, tanto na Encarnação quanto na oferta sacrifical do Filho na cruz.

O “tetélestai” (está consumado) da cruz está ligado à presença de Maria, a primeira dos discípulos e Mãe do Senhor e da Igreja. Ela representa o amor trinitário e a humanidade nova revestida da caridade. A obra sacerdotal de Jesus não pode ser consumada sem a participação ativa de Maria, a Mãe da Igreja.

## Maternidade Espiritual de Maria na Cruz

A ação materna espiritual de Maria personaliza e antecipa a resposta oblativa do sacerdócio universal de toda a Igreja. Ela encarna as qualidades fundamentais desse sacerdócio, exercido através do culto em espírito e verdade e da oferta de sacrifícios espirituais por parte de todos os fiéis. Essa oferta espiritual não é paralela ao ministério ministerial, mas se realiza em comunhão com ele, num único ato oblativo com a oferta sacerdotal de Jesus, elevada no Espírito a louvor e glória do Pai.

# Reflexões sobre a Participação de Maria e da Igreja no Evento Redentor da Cruz

## A Mãe de Jesus e a Graça Divina

A Mãe de Jesus, em sua existência terrena, é apresentada como a pessoa humana escolhida pelo Espírito para acolher e gerar o Verbo Divino, primeiro em seu coração e depois em seu corpo. Ela representa, em um grau icônico, não apenas a graça da oferta do dom, que precede a resposta da criatura humana de forma absoluta e gratuita, mas também a graça da receptividade que estimula a correspondência ao dom do amor divino. Maria é, portanto, a Mulher predestinada, eleita por excelência, como sinal da predileção da graça divina oferecida à humanidade (κεχαριτωμένη – Lc 1,28), destinada a acolher em si a plenitude do amor do Pai, para toda a humanidade.

## Maria como Nova Sião

Sobre Maria paira o Espírito (Lc 1,35), e ela personifica a Nova Sião, aquela que detém a plenitude da presença do Senhor (Lc 1,28b). Este mistério de eleição e personificação do mistério da Igreja é particularmente evidente no evento da cruz (Jo 19,25-27), onde Cristo proclama Maria como “Mulher”, Mãe dos discípulos e de todos os homens.

## Maria, a Ideia Primigênita da Igreja

Maria, como a ideia primigênita da Igreja, concretiza historicamente na sua forma mais perfeita o conceito de “mistério do nascimento do alto” (Jo 3,3). A Igreja, ao reconhecer-se em sua identidade materna no Espírito, está em essencial correlação com o evento Cristo e com toda a humanidade.

## Maria, Mãe dos Fiéis

Como Mãe dos fiéis, pela virtude do Espírito, Maria é o ícone revelador da fecundidade do próprio Espírito. Ela é a história viva de como o Espírito dispôs a humanidade para acolher profundamente e interiormente a Palavra do Filho. Em sua maternidade pneumática, proclamada por Cristo crucificado (Jo 19,25-27), Maria representa o protótipo da dimensão espiritual da Igreja, que constantemente se envolve com a santidade e orienta os fiéis aos valores do Espírito e à vida mística.

## O Papel de Maria na Experiência Mariana da Igreja

H.U. von Balthasar descreve uma experiência arquetípica da marianidade da Igreja (a experiência mariana de Deus), distinta da experiência dos apóstolos. Esta experiência mariana expressa uma função icônica, revelando a transcendência e comunicando-a. É essencial e insubstituível para a identidade da Igreja, impedindo que ela se contraia às suas estruturas organizativas, conceptualidade técnica ou historicizações simplistas.

## Diálogo Ecumênico e Maria

Este ponto de vista é relevante no diálogo ecumênico com as igrejas evangélicas. Embora existam diferenças quanto à afirmação da teologia católica sobre a “Igreja-Maria” e sua cooperação com a salvação de Cristo, abre-se espaço para um entendimento maior. O Papa Paulo VI, na Exortação Apostólica *Marialis Cultus* (2 de fevereiro de 1974), afirma que a veneração de Maria não é um impedimento ao diálogo ecumênico, mas pode se tornar um caminho e ponto de encontro para a unidade dos cristãos.

## Maria, o Espírito Santo e o Povo Sacerdotal

Na sua maternidade espiritual, Maria revela a fecundidade da graça do Espírito Santo. Isso destaca o mistério da Igreja como comunidade de santidade, comunhão dos santos e culto em espírito e verdade. Este mistério está fundamentado na participação da própria santidade de Cristo, especialmente no batismo, que permite uma vida espiritual proveniente do Espírito Santo.

## O Sacerdócio Comum e Universal

O sacerdócio comum e universal, ou sacerdócio espiritual, é a condição em que a Igreja, como “edifício espiritual”, oferece sacrifícios espirituais agradáveis a Deus por meio de Jesus Cristo (1Pe 2,5). Este sacerdócio, anunciado por Cristo (Jo 4,23), encontra sua realização inicial na figura materna de Maria aos pés da cruz. A santidade sacerdotal de Jesus, consumada em seu sacrifício de obediência ao Pai, ressoa perfeitamente em Maria, que se torna a Nova Eva (a “Mulher”: Jo 19,26; Gn 3,20) e a Igreja.

## A Participação Espiritual na Oferta Sacrificial de Cristo

A participação espiritual na oferta sacrificial de Cristo define o sacerdócio da Igreja universal e sua qualificação mariana. Este não é um exercício de poder ou força humana, mas um dom singular de graça concedido exclusivamente por Deus. O Concílio Vaticano II enfatiza que todos os dons de Maria estão ordenados a Cristo (LG 67).

Therefore, if the Second Vatican Council states that in the Church, Mary is invoked “with the titles of Advocate, Helper, Aid, Mediator” (LG 62), these attributions (particularly “mediator”) must be interpreted within a context that properly affirms the transcendence and effectiveness of Christ as the unique Mediator (cf. LG 62). In this context, the preferred language by the Council is that of “cooperation,” language that itself must be dissociated from any ambiguity: “cooperate” in the Catholic perspective is always to respond to God’s grace initiatives, to recognize His gifts. Thus, Mary’s work, her yes, is affirmed within an economy of “grace offering” that makes space for the creature’s free response.

Maria’s singular role in the salvific event on the cross must be described better, however, not only as cooperation but also, in accordance with the ancient tradition of faith, as “spiritual motherhood” or as “maternal mediation.” This affirms, at least implicitly, that Maria’s participation, though subordinate and shared in relation to Christ, should also be understood “in a different sense from its line of salvific effectiveness.” Maria’s effective role should not be placed on the line of communication, grace donation, which in theology refers to Christ’s redemptive action within the sacraments. Mary cannot be considered an eighth sacrament or a super-sacrament. Her personal active role must be understood rather along the lines of grace reception, offered by Christ through the action of the Holy Spirit to those who, in faith, participate in the sacramental life of the Church. Christian understanding of grace involves, as I mentioned above, the requirement to combine two essential aspects: God’s gift’s priority and the personal-community response’s gratuity to that gift. In Mary, these two aspects are found. Indeed, not only does her grace burst forth from Christ crucified and risen, but her reception of it also realizes, under the action of the Spirit, a love response. She historically accomplishes the ‘fiat’ of receptivity, consent, and communion in espousal to the gift that comes from the Father through Christ Jesus, in the unity of the Spirit who endures in the life of the Church. I can say then that Mary, in her physical motherhood, not only generates, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, Him who incarnates salvation itself, the Savior, the objective content of faith that is only received in her, but she also generates, in the Holy Spirit, the very faith that is believed within the Church, which as Mother, spiritually generates in Mary. And wherever the Church’s generative work takes place in history, Mary’s spiritual motherhood extends. Thus it can be affirmed with the Fathers that when a faithful soul, in faith, opens itself to receive, in the Spirit, the seed of the Word, it becomes, like the Church and Mary, “generator of the Word.” Therefore, Mary, through her maternal mediation, “personally” and not merely exemplarily, lives and acts within the Church, in that maternal generative influence made of receptivity and dedication.

The Marian principle of the Church, by recalling Mary’s participation in the mystery of Christ’s cross, does not compromise the absolute primacy of grace. Rather, it shows that the very gift of grace does not exclude human response, but rather suscits, enables, and even obliges it. The receptivity to grace is expressed in the indubitable principle that “we are not the origin of ourselves,” placing us as responsible persons: “the grace that falls becomes a grace that allows for a response.” Thus, the “Marian principle” reminds us that human response is an integral part of the redemptive process. But this means that the active aspect that shines in Mary’s maternal action and in the Church’s action, in its personal freedom character, should be considered not isolated from itself but within the context of the influence derived from the divine love’s offering in Christ, who with his merciful love’s gift, also nourishes a faithful and total response attitude, where Christ’s action finds its fulfillment (John 19:25-28).

Thus, we can see exercised in Mary, in an exemplary way, the double participation of the universal priesthood of the Church in Christ’s sacerdotal action:

a. Regarding her mediating descent, in the communication of grace, Mary appears as an excellent model for the Church in the attitude of receiving grace in the Spirit. Thus, she reminds us that faith is not primarily a man’s search for God but the recognition that God, in Christ, comes to meet him in his grace.

b. Regarding her mediating ascent from Christ, expressed in her prayer and offering to the Father, Mary incarnates prototypically for the Church the principle of the creature actively participating in Christ’s oblation. This is how, after the “Marialis Cultus” (On the Marian Worship), the presence of Mary in the Church’s liturgy is studied with particular attention, so that “discovering the living and operative presence of the Mother of the Lord in the liturgy and celebrating her memory becomes the highest expression of veneration and, therefore, recognition of her exemplarity. Looking at Mary, we are invited to make our life a worship to God and our worship a commitment to life” (MC, 21).

This movement where the Church receives and offers through its prayer the gifts that come down from the Father, through the Incarnate Son, and by Him ascend to the Father, finds in the Eucharistic action its most complete realization. But in the Eucharist, the Marian principle that characterizes the Church in her role appears even more clearly.

It is particularly in the Eucharist that operates the dual dimension of Christ’s priesthood, through the action of the ministerial priesthood and the universal priesthood. Here appears exemplarily the profound meaning of their reciprocal relationship of complementarity. If it is true, as the Second Vatican Council states, that it is “to form and guide the priestly people” and to offer in his name the Eucharistic Sacrifice, then there also exists the sacred power of the ordained priesthood, which is related to the ministerial priesthood in such a way that it can only be exercised in communion with this ministry. Through this ministry, indeed, such regal priesthood is constituted, and through it, the faithful “contribute to the offering of the Eucharist, and exercise it by receiving the sacraments, with prayer and thanksgiving, with the testimony of a holy life, with self-denial and diligent charity.” But the baptized, consecrated in the image of Christ, are called to live a life of grace in the school of Mary, in her existence of faith, participating in the priestly and filial worship that ascends to the Father in Christ, in Spirit and Truth, in the mystery of the Eucharist. This task must continue in the world through their witness, by which the universal priesthood involves the world’s own life in the worship of Christ and the Church, contributing to its sanctification. In this sense, the baptized are priests of humanity, priests whose personal worship benefits all. The common priesthood tends to elevate the holiness of the universe.

## Synthesis: Mary at the Cross as Icon of Grace’s Fertility and the Marian Principle in the Mystery of the Church

Mary’s presence at Jesus’ cross represents the apex of her maternal participation in Christ’s redemptive work, symbolizing in a unique way the participation of the Church. This moment, highlighted both by John Paul II’s magisterium and contemporary theology, encapsulates the “Marian principle” of the Church, a principle that must not be considered in isolation but always in deep connection with the structural petrine sacramental principle.

Mary, in her union with Christ on the cross, reveals the mystery of the Church as a mystery of holiness and communion of saints, founded on participation in Christ’s own holiness. This mystery is manifested in the sacramental reality of the Church, born from Christ’s side, and expressed through the common spiritual priesthood of the faithful. Mary, as the New Eve, not only cooperates in Christ’s redemptive work but incarnates the Church in her maternal dimension, underscoring the importance of human response to divine grace.

Mary’s role as Mother of the Faithful and icon of the Church emphasizes the need for a spirituality lived in communion with the Holy Spirit, with a commitment to holiness and mystical life. Her presence in the Eucharistic liturgy exemplifies the complementarity between the ministerial priesthood and the universal priesthood of the faithful, where active participation in Christ’s offering is fully realized.

The Marian principle of the Church does not compromise the primacy of grace, but emphasizes the integration of the human response into the redemptive process. Mary, in her spiritual motherhood, exemplifies the reception and dedication to divine grace, showing that true holiness involves both the reception of grace and an active, faithful response to it. Thus, the Marian principle reminds the reader that Mary’s participation in Christ’s cross is a model for the whole Church, a commitment to live fully the universal priesthood in communion with Christ and one another.