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Question

Dear Father,

Many saints as well as the popular tradition (I heard that also from several priests) claim that Mary is the mediator of all graces.
Through a quick web search I found these quotes: S.Bernardo “We get all the graces that the Lord wants to give us from the hands of the Virgin”; Pier Damiani “We are sure that all the treasures of Divine Mercy are in your hands”; St. Alphonsus “It’s a doctrine preached by all Saints that no Grace comes to us from Heaven unless it passes through the hands of Mary”.
And also in the supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii, we say: “Jesus has placed all the treasures of His graces and His mercies in your hands”. My question is whether she truly mediates all graces and why we can affirm it.

Thank you, I’ll pray Mary for you and I wish you a happy feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Antonella

P.S. Thank you for having advised me “Story of a Soul” by St. Teresa in your previous email.

Response from the priest

Dear Antonella,

1. There is no doubt that Our Lady was a mediator in the sense that she gave God the human nature with the event of the Incarnation.

It wasn’t a simple passive mediation like that one from a container towards the content.

It was instead an active mediation because, through her consent, which was free and full of love, God entered the world.

2. At the same way, it’s clear that Mary, with her providential intervention at the wedding at Cana, was the mediator of the manifestation of the glory of Jesus, which is his divine nature, and of the faith of the disciples who from then on believed in Jesus.

3. Furthermore, Jesus from the cross gave her to us as a Mother.

And from that moment she began giving to the Church, which is the mystical body of Jesus, all the kindness and attention that she had given to the body of Jesus during his birth and his growth.

4. Now Mary is in Heaven.

It’s also beyond doubt that Our Lady knows the material and spiritual needs of every man and that because of her charity, which is somehow infinite, for each one of us in every moment she tells Jesus what she said to him one day. in Cana of Galilee: “They have no wine”.

The Church in the prayer “Sub tuum Praesidium” since the first centuries has invoked Our Lady to protect us from every danger.

“We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.”

How could she be insensitive to our needs since God commissioned her to be our mother and our intercessor?

5. God wanted her to be our advocate and mediatrix.

Of course He could do this by Himself.

In this way instead He wanted to give to His dispensation of graces a maternal imprinting, highlighting at the same time both the nature of His love and the power He gives to each of His children when they invoke him.

6. The Holy Curé of Ars said that Our Lady doesn’t send anyone away and doesn’t punish anyone because She is a mother.

If Our Lady is like that, so even more infinitely is God, because She gets all her perfection from Him, including her maternal charity.

7. And if God answers men prayers even if they are sinners (as long as they are repentant), even more Our Lady answers our prayers, in fact the christian tradition called her with this beautiful title: Omnipotentia supplex (Almighty in her prayer).

Just like Christ’s prayer was always answered because it was compliant with the Father’s Will, Our Lady’s prayer, which is always compliant with the Father’s will, is unfailingly answered.

8. If despite the unfailing prayer of Our Lady sometimes we don’t receive what we asked for, it’s because something hampers the help of the Divine Providence.

This obstacle may come from the fact that we don’t pray with the proper dispositions, which are humility, filial charity and perseverance, or it may happen because we ask for a thing which isn’t useful to our spiritual life or because the person for whom we are praying stubbornly refuses the requested conversion.

Thus teaches St.Thomas (Summa Theologica, II-II, 83, 15, ad 2).

9. It’s true that the Holy Scripture says that Christ is our only mediator (1 Tim 2,5-6).

No mediation runs parallel to the one given by Christ.

But when the Lord commands us to pray, He gives the prayer a mediating power.

The Lord commands to pray in his name, that is with the power of his merits, through his mediation.

And who draws Jesus merits better than Our Lady?

10. Of course no mediation runs parallel to the one given by Christ.

But the Lord Himself wanted there to be some subordinate mediations and not only in order of one’s own needs but also to those of others as St.Paul says:” First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone” (1 Tm 2,1).

11. The Second Vatican Council speaks about Mary’s mediation with these words:” 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 cults, 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.

For no creature could ever be counted as equal with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer. Just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by the ministers and by the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is really communicated in different ways to His creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source.

The Church does not hesitate to profess this subordinate role of Mary. It knows it through unfailing experience of it and commends it to the hearts of the faithful, so that encouraged by this maternal help they may the more intimately adhere to the Mediator and Redeemer” (Lumen Gentium, 62).

12. An analogy will help us to understand how Mary’s mediation neither adds to nor detracts from the only Christ’s mediation: we for example say that God is holy and we also say that even for some men.

There is a fundamental difference between the two things though, because God is holiness Himself. And this holiness is his divine life.

The saints are such by derivation from God’s holiness: there isn’t anything holy in them which doesn’t come from God, who is the source of  holiness.

They are also cause of sanctification, depending on God, because they help many people to receive not just their life but that one that comes from God.

At the same time everyone of them highlights something special about God’s holiness.

In every grace that God gives, Mary highlights that divine charity that, as the Holy Curé of Ars said, doesn’t send anyone away and doesn’t punish anyone.

I wish you to always enjoy her maternal care.

I entrust you to her in prayer and I bless you,

Father Angelo