Theotokos: Mediatrix of All Graces

In the previous posts, we have discussed some of the prerogatives or privileges given to Mary by her Son.  These negative prerogatives included her Immaculate Conception, her Perpetual Virginity, and her Assumption into Heaven.  Two other prerogatives will be discussed to round out our discussion of the role and nature of Mary in Catholic faith.  These are the positive prerogatives or privileges given to Mary by her Son.

Through her cooperation with God’s Redemption of humanity, through her cooperation in the Incarnation, Mary became the Theotokos, the Mother of God.  All her privileges, honors, and prerogatives flow from this basic fact.  As the Mother of God, Mary assumes a unique and very special place in human history and in the life of the Church.

Closely related to her cooperation in the Redemption of the world, Mary, with and through her Son, is a mediator of grace.  The traditional title for Mary in this role is Mediatrix of All Graces.  In calling Mary our Mediatrix, we do not mean to deny the fact that Jesus Christ is our sole Mediator.  The mediation of Mary rests entirely upon the Mediation of her Divine Son and would be totally ineffective without it.

In discussing this aspect of Our Blessed Mother, we must be guided by the following principles:

Jesus Christ is our sole Mediator per se.

The mediation of Mary is entirely secondary and subordinate to that of her Divine Son.

As Mother of God, her mediatorship  transcends that of all the angels and saints, and consequently constitutes an altogether unique privilege.

If Christ is the sole Mediator, what do we mean by the term Mediatrix as applied to Mary? 

Christ’s mediation refers to our objective redemption – the once-for-all earning of our salvation – the once-for-all earning of a title to grace for all men.  In and through Christ, we have access to grace.  In and through Christ, the infinite grace of God is made available to man for his salvation and redemption.

There are many ways in which Christ is the only mediator between God and man. 1) There is only one mediator who is such by very nature, being both true God and true man. 2) There is only one mediator whose work is necessary, without whom, in God's plan, there could be no salvation. 3) There is only one mediator who depends on no one else for power.

The title, Mediatrix, refers to Mary’s role in our subjective redemption – the distribution of God’s grace to individuals – the process of giving out the fruits of Christ’s objective redemption throughout all centuries.

Mary’s mediation differs from Christ’s on all three counts. 1) Mary is only a creature, but it was appropriate that God freely choose her as Mediatrix because he had made her Mother of the God-man, the Redeemer--it was she who on behalf of the whole human race consented to God's plan of salvation by proclaiming herself the handmaid of the Lord. 2) Her role was not necessary, since Christ was and is the perfect Redeemer and the perfect Mediator. Rather, Mary was associated with her Son by the free decision of the Father, a decision which we cannot ignore. 3) Her whole ability to do anything comes entirely from her Son.

I want to pause here for a moment to repeat a very important fact.  Nothing we have said about Mary, none of her special privileges, were necessary to our salvation – were necessary even to the Incarnation.  God, in His infinite wisdom, could have chosen to effect our salvation in another manner.  The gifts and blessings bestowed freely on Mary by her Creator were to glorify and magnify her Son – everything about Mary points and directs us to the Divine Majesty of her Son.

Really, the Father did not need her at all, except that if He decreed the Incarnation, He necessarily decreed a Mother: she was and is that Mother. But everything else in which He has employed her is not needed.

Yet, if we recall the economy of redemption, it is clear that the Father wants everything to be as rich as possible, so that He will not stop with something lesser if there is more than can be done. Really, the incarnation in a palace, without death, would have been infinite in merit and satisfaction, but God chose otherwise.

Further, the principle of St. Thomas Aquinas helps here. In Summa Theologiae I. 19. 5. c., Thomas says that it pleases God to have one thing in place to serve as a title or reason for granting something further, even though that title does not move Him (in otherwords forces Him to act). It is His love of all goodness and good order that leads Him to act this way. Hence too, even though Calvary earned infinite forgiveness and graces, the Father wills to provide titles for giving out these, in the Mass. Even though He did not need even our Lady, yet He willed to employ her. Even though there is no need of any other saints, in objective or subjective redemption, yet He wills to add them--all to make everything, every title, as rich as possible.

The document Lumen gentium from the Second Vatican Council speaks of her as taking care of all her children. We are extremely numerous, but yet not infinite in number. Therefore, we are not too numerous for her to see and care for. For her capacity for that infinite vision of God is in proportion to her love on earth, so great that Pope Pius IX said it was so great that "none greater under God can be thought of, and no one but God can comprehend it."

Is her mediation merely by intercession, prayer for us to her Son and to God the Father? Or does she also play a role in the distribution of graces from the Father through her Son to us?

First, we need to clarify our understanding of “grace”.  Many speak of grace merely as a favor of God but not a thing that is actually given.  Catholic understanding is that grace is an actual reality, a participation in the life of God that is freely given by Him to us, His children, through the merits of His Son.

If grace is only God’s favor, if God only sits there and smiles at us, and gives us nothing, that means that our salvation comes from our own power.  Such a view of grace implies a modern version of Pelagianism, the heresy that said men can save themselves through their own power and effort.

The truth is that God must give us grace not only for our salvation but even for our ability to do good and holy actions.  God’s grace is what saves us, emboldens us, and enables us to live the Christian life.  The grace flowing from the Father through His Son is what saves us.  Grace is a gift from a loving and merciful God – to hold us in existence, to enable us to live well in this world, and to enable us to share in His life forever.

See more about Grace here and here

Since Mary was associated with her Son in acquiring grace for us, she will also share with Him in distributing that grace to us. This fits well with the words of the Popes, who call her the administra of grace, meaning that she administers or dispenses it. So Pope Leo XIII said:

"... when He [the Father] has been invoked with excellent prayers, our humble voice turns to Mary; in accordance with no other law than that law of conciliation and petition which was expressed as follows by St. Bernardine of Siena : 'Every grace that is communicated to this world has a threefold course. For by excellent order, it is dispensed from God to Christ, from Christ to the Virgin, from the Virgin to us.'"

Parts were Excerpted and adapted from Theology 523: Our Lady in Doctrine and Devotion, by Father William G. Most.
Copyright (c) 1994 William G. Most