Home        Other Topics

Mary as Mediatrix

The following are notes for an oral presentation to devout souls of Assumption Grotto Parish on March 11, 2006, in preparation for their consecration or renewal of their consecration to Mary by the consecration of Montfort.

Opening Prayer

Yes, we fly to thee,

we miserable children of Eve,

O holy Mother of God.

To thee we lift our prayers,

for thou art the Mediatrix,

powerful at once and full of pity

of our salvation.

Oh, by the sweetness of the joys

that came to thee from thy Son Jesus,

by thy participation in His ineffable sorrows,

by the splendors of His glory shining in thee,

we instantly beseech thee,

listen, have pity, hear us,

unworthy though we be![1]

I. Introduction

A. A Fatima story: at the first appartion of our Lady, Lucia narrates it so (exemplification of Mary mediating for sinners, and for the eternal salvation of these three children):

Then Our Lady spoke to us: "Do not be afraid. I will do you no harm." "Where are you from?" "I am from heaven." "What do you want from me?" "I have come to ask you to come here for six months in succession, on the 13th day, at this same hour. Later on, I will tell you who I am and what I want. Afterwards, I will return here yet a seventh time." "Shall I go to heaven too?" "Yes, you will." "And Jacinta?" "She will go also." "And Francisco?" "He will go there too, but he must say many Rosaries."

Then I remembered to ask about two girls who had died recently. They were friends of mine and used to come to my home to learn weaving with my eldest sister. "Is Maria das Neves in heaven?" "Yes, she is." (I think she was about 16 years old). "And Amelia?" "She will be in purgatory until the end of the world." (It seems to me that she was between 18 and 20 years of age). "Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?" "Yes, we are willing."

(this passage will be further commented below)

B. Fr. John’s and Eusebius’ contribution

1. Fr. John Bustamante first of all introduced us to St. Louis de Montfort, his entire school of thought, and the characteristics of Marian devotion which are “slavery” to Mary and devotion to her mediation and queenship.

2. Fr. Eusebius discussed the nature of the consecration to Mary encouraged by Montfort, and not by him alone; by it, we completely dedicate ourselves, our thoughts, our words, our actions, our merits – in a word, everything – to the service of Mary. For this is an efficacious way to follow the path of spiritual perfection and perfect obedience to the Holy Trinity.

C. Today’s topic, and how it is divided

1. The truth of Mary as Mediatrix

2. The manner of how Mary Intercedes

3. Why we should seek her mediation in our lives

4. How we should seek her mediation

5. Questions follow

D. These complete notes can be found on my web site, at the top of my home page.

II. Development

A. The truth of Mary’s mediation

1. Montfort’s teaching

a)  “[Mary] is not the sun, which bye the brightness of her rays blinds us because of our weakness; but she is fair and gentle as the moon (Cant. 6:9), which receives the light of the sun.”[2]

b)  The Children of Fatima learned, by Lucia’s father, to call the sun “the Lord’s lamp,” and the moon, “Our Lady’s lamp.” “[Francisco] eagerly counted the stars with us, but nothing enchanted him as much as the beauty of sunrise and sunset. As long as he could still glimpse one last ray of the setting sun, he made no attempt to watch for the first lamp to be lit in the sky. ‘No lamp is as beautiful as Our Lord’s’ he used to remark to Jacinta, who much preferred Our Lady's lamp, because as she explained: ‘It doesn't hurt our eyes’.”[3]

2. The Church’s teaching

a) “Theologians commonly admit that Mary exercises moral causality by her past merits and satisfaction and by he represent intercession.”[4]

b) “Among her many other titles we find her hailed as ‘our Lady, our Mediatrix’[5].”[6]

c) “Adorned from the first instant of her conception with the radiance of an entirely unique holiness, the Virgin of Nazareth is greeted, on God's command, by an angel messenger as ‘full of grace,’ (cf. Lk 1:28) and to the heavenly messenger she replies: ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word.’ (Lk 1:38) Thus Mary, a daughter of Adam, consenting to the divine Word, became the mother of Jesus, the one and only Mediator. Embracing God’s salvific will with a full heart and impeded by no sin, she devoted herself totally as a handmaid of the Lord to the person and work of her Son, under Him and with Him, by the grace of almighty God, serving the mystery of redemption. Rightly therefore the holy Fathers see her as used by God not merely in a passive way, but as freely cooperating in the work of human salvation through faith and obedience. For, as St. Irenaeus says, she ‘being obedient, became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.’[7]”[8]

d) “This maternity of Mary in the order of grace began with the consent which she gave in faith at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, and lasts until The eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this salvific duty, but by her constant intercession continued to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into the happiness of their true home. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, and Mediatrix. This, however, is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator.”[9]

e) These paragraphs of Vatican II are quoted at length in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, nn. 967-970.

B. The manner of Mary’s mediation

1. Example of Fatima: poor sinners

2. Response to Lucia: The second month of the apparitions, the first of which was narrated above in the introduction, was in June. Lucia spoke with Mary, and this is how it went: "I would like to ask You to take us to Heaven." "Yes. I will take Jacinta and Francisco soon. But you are to stay here some time longer. Jesus wishes to make use of you to make me known and loved. He wants to establish in the world, devotion to my Immaculate Heart." "Am I to stay here alone?" I asked sadly. "No, my daughter. Are you suffering a great deal? Don't lose heart. I will never forsake you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God."

a) Comment Mary’s tenderness towards Lucia

b) Comment the introduction, how the Fatima message was so penitential, and all for the salvation of sinners.

c) These two facts prove she mediates by:

(1) Consoling individual sinners

(2) Intervening in the history of salvation to procure the salvation of sinners

(3) The question is now: will we love Mary by imitating her? Do you think you can love her, seeing how much she loves sinners, yet failing to offer sacrifices to save her children from the fires of hell?

C. Why we should seek her mediation in our lives

1. “Let us say boldly with St. Bernard that we have need of a mediator with the Mediator Himself, [Jesus Christ], and that it is the divine Mary who is the most capable of filling that divine office.”[10]

2. “It is more perfect, because it is more humble, not to approach God of ourselves without taking a mediator…. He has seen our unworthiness an dour incapacity; He has had pity on us; and in order to give us access to His mercies, He has provided us with powerful intercessors with His Grandeur, so that to neglect these mediators, and to draw near to His Holiness directly, and without any recommendation, is to fail in humility.”[11]

D. How we should obtain her mediation

1. Co-redemptrix: Meditating on her sufferings. Examples are show, when works of art show the meditation of the artists. Pieta, the Passion of the Christ, the Stabat Mater.

2. Advocate: Obtain freedom from sins.

3. Intercession: growth in virtue and pursuit of goods

4. True devotion: “True devotion to Mary is the burning desire to serve the Mother of God in order to better serve Gos himself.”[12]

5. Imitation. Here is where devotion proves its metal. Devotion to saints, yet no imitation of them, is a failed spiritual life.

III. Conclusion

A. Do not use Mary, love her. Let her help you get to heaven. Be more eager to ask her for the gifts of eternal salvation than those of transitory goods.

B. But also, ask her for all things with trust. None of this, “Maybe” stuff.

C. Here in this Church, I consecrated my priesthood to Mary on the day of my first Mass, with a prayer that I wrote after prolonged meditation on Montfort’s prayer of consecration.[13] I myself did Montfort’s consecration in 2002, and a previous one in the minor seminary one May in the mountains of New Hampshire before a beautiful statue of Mary, along with my other teen-age companions in the seminary. [Encourage all, in this vein, to the consecration of Montfort.]

Finish with Prayer, Hail Holy Queen 

Notes.

On how to make sacrifices:

One day, we were playing on the stone slabs of the well at the bottom of the garden belonging to my parents, which we called the Arneiro ( I have already mentioned this well to Your Excellency in my account of Jacinta). Suddenly, we saw beside us the same figure, or rather, Angel, as it seemed to me. "What are you doing? he asked. "Pray, pray very much! The most Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices constantly to the most High." How are we to make sacrifices? I asked. "Make of everything you can a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners. You will thus draw down peace upon your country. I am its Guardian Angel, the Angel of Portugal. Above all, accept and bear with submission, the suffering which the Lord will send you." (Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words, I, 9).