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The Blessed Mother is known by a number of titles that flow from Her role as the Mother of God. Mary is also known as the Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of all Graces.
The Blessed Virgin Mary gave Her entire life to the Will of the Father. Mary journeyed with Her Son from Conception to His Ascension into Heaven and was with Him at every step.Whatever the Father requested, Mary humbly obeyed and completed the Father’s Will. In fact, God rewards all who do His will. Mary is therefore our Advocate, Co-Redemptrix and the Mediatrix of all Graces.
Mary plays a significant role in our salvation and more than we can imagine.
What is Mary doing now?
Mary is the new Eve and a Mother. Eve was the mother of all Creation, but through her fall from God’s Grace, Mary becomes the Mother of all Creation. Mary’s role in Heaven is more powerful than that of all the Angelic Choir and the Communion of Saints. Next to the Holy Trinity, Mary is given prominence in Heaven, after all She is Queen of Heaven.
Mary is our Advocate
Mary in Heaven prays and intercedes on our behalf before the throne of the Almighty.
Every person is invited to invoke Her intercession. Thus, She is our “Advocate”. The work of Heaven continues until we are all safe in the arms of Mary, Jesus, Joseph and all the Heavenly Hosts. Seeing the Beatific Vision is the desire of Our Lady as is the Will of the Holy Trinity.
Whilst we cannot add anything to the saving work of God. However, we can cooperate and ask Our Heavenly Mother to help us reach our destiny.
Mary is the Mediatrix of All Graces
There is no kind of grace She cannot ask God for and mediate; and in so doing She is the “Mediatrix of All Graces”.
The Graces She bestows upon Her children are the means to help us to Heaven. On the Miraculous Medal as shown to Saint Catherine Laboure in 1830, Mary is depicted with rays flowing downwards from Her hands. Showing the Grace that She sends our way, but we must ask for them.
What are you waiting for? Grown your devotion to Her and asks Her for anything, and should it be the Will of the Father, She will grant it to you.
Mary is our journey to Jesus. Know Mary, Know Jesus.
Mary is called “Mediatrix” because all grace comes from Christ, and Christ comes only through Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Mary is also the Mother of all. This honour is given to Mary from the words of Our Lord on the Cross.
At the time of His death, Jesus gave Mary to John and John to Mary:
“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen.
When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son.
After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own” (St John 19:25-27).
St John the beloved Apostles who stood with the Mother of Jesus represents the entire Church. As members of His Church, therefore, all of us are invited to welcome Mary into our homes as our mother.
Saint Paul says that all Christians are mediators or “ambassadors for Christ”:
“But all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
For God indeed was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing to them their sins. And he hath placed in us the word of reconciliation.
For Christ therefore we are ambassadors, God as it were exhorting by us, for Christ, we beseech you, be reconciled to God.
Him, who knew no sin, he hath made sin for us: that we might be made the justice of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:18–21).
Jesus Christ makes this emphasis when he states:
“[H]e who receives any one whom I send receives me; and he who receives me receives him who sent me” (St John 13:20; St Matthew 10:40).
Mary participates in the mediation of Christ in a way unlike any other creature.
In John 2, her mediation at the wedding of Cana led to the first public miracle and the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. In Luke 1:41, her physical mediation brings the unborn Jesus to His unborn cousin, John the Baptist, who is sanctified in Elizabeth’s womb. So through Mary’s mediation, and her active participation with God’s grace, Christ is brought to others.
Can we pray to Mary?
Non-Catholics falsely believe that we must pray directly to God. This is an erroneous thought and is counter-Scriptural.
In fact Scripture invites all to pray for each other. After all why would anyone give up the grace of praying to the Mother of the Redeemer, who holds the highest honor in Heaven after the Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Here are some examples of intercessory passages from the Word of God:
The Scriptures tell us and acknowledges that we can pray for each other as members of the Body of Christ:
“Brethren, pray for us. Salute all the brethren with a holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen” (1 Thessalonians 5:25-28).
“Wherefore also we pray always for you: That our God would make you worthy of his vocation and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith in power: That the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:11).
St Paul strongly believes in the power of prayer and praying for all those around them.
In our everyday we regularly pray for others, even non-Catholics pray on and for their brethren. If our prayers, sinners as we are, go to God, then how much more does the sinless, God-bearer, humble and the one who found favour with God, can do for us in Heaven.
Is Mary the Co-Redemptrix?
The title of Co-Redemptrix does not imply that Mary redeemed us. There is only one redeemer, Jesus Christ, ‘God who saves’, the ‘Anointed One’, the ‘Messiah.
The title “Coredemptrix” is a term that refers to Mary’s unique and intimate cooperation with her divine Son in redeeming the human family.
The title is rooted in Genesis 3:15, where Mary is “prophetically foreshadowed in the promise of victory over the serpent” and the one who will crush the head of the serpent, the Devil.
This passage foreshadows the divine work of redemption brought about by Jesus as the Savior of the world, with the Mother of the Redeemer’s intimate cooperation.
Mary is not equal in Her role in the redemption, for it is only Jesus Christ the Son of God, who can redeem our fallen human nature.
The prefix “co” is derived from the Latin word cum, which means “with,” and not “equal to
The “co” here does not mean “equal” but “helping”, as a humble handmaid helps a great Lord—a Lord who exalts his handmaids rather than keeping them passive and inactive.
By her faith and submission to the Will of God She cooperates still, as She did on earth, with God’s Will and work of redemption.
“To cooperate” means “to work with”.
Mary cooperates with God by Her faith and submission. Through Her Fiat, i.e. “Let it be done”, still, in praying to her Son to come to us with His saving grace, and in this way, She is “Co-redemptrix”.
What does the Catholic Church say about Mary?
The Catholic Church Honours Mary as Mother of God, as the Immaculate Conception, Perpetual Virgin and Assumed Body and Soul into Heaven.
These are unique honors assigned to the Highest Creature that God has ever created.
She not only was chosen for role of bringing forth the Saviour of all Mankind, but the Word also made Flesh, God Incarnate and Son of God.
She also continues to play a role till this day. If we are part of the Church Militant, Mary is there to assist us and guide us to Her Son.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the following:
“By her complete adherence to the Father’s will, to his Son’s redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church’s model of faith and charity. Thus she is a “preeminent and … wholly unique member of the Church”; indeed, she is the “exemplary realization” (typus) of the Church” (CCC967).
Further,
“Her role in relation to the Church and to all humanity goes still further. “In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior’s work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace” (CCC968).
What do the Church Fathers teach on Mary’s role?
The Fathers of the Church recognized her role as Mediatrix. For example, Saint Ephrem in the fourth century referred to her as “the Mediatrix of the whole world.”
Although the teaching on Mary’s role as Mediatrix is not dogmatically defined, it is nevertheless part of the Church’s constant teaching.
The following popes speak of Mary as Mediatrix of all graces:
Pope Pius VII, Pope Pius IX, Pope Leo XIII, Pope St. Pius X, Pope Benedict XV, Pope Pius XI, Pope Pius XII, Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, and Pope John Paul II.
Mary is therefore our Advocate,
The early Church manifested her heartfelt belief in the intercessory power of Mary, to whom she called for help and protection in the midst of dangers and trials.
The Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen), composed in the eleventh century, includes this venerable title.
Salve Regina (Latin) Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae: Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve. Ad te clamamus, exsules, filii Hevae. Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle. Eia ergo, Advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte. Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis, post hoc exsilium ostende. O clemens: O pia: O dulcis Virgo Maria. | Hail Holy Queen Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! Our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley, of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus; O clement, O loving, O sweet virgin Mary. |
In summary, the Co-Redemptrix, who uniquely participated with the one Redeemer in obtaining the graces of redemption, continues her participation by distributing the graces of redemption with the one Mediator, Jesus Christ, and the Sanctifier, the Holy Spirit
Thus Mary not only mediates the graces of God to humanity as Mediatrix, but she also mediates the petitions of the human family back to God as our Advocate.
Mary is mine and your Mother, come to her, for She is waiting and wanting to assist and unite us all with Her Son, but we must choose this path.
Here is some food for thought and worth of deep consideration:
Why would anyone deny Her this role, when God Himself, gave Her all She asked for, for She never denied Him anything.
Mary is our Mediatrix, Co-redemptrix and Advocate.
After all, if we Deny Mary, we deny Jesus.
Jus picture your friend ignoring your own mother, whom you love and admire, and speaks ill of her, or denies her entry to their house? What would you do?
I am sure, (as I would do), you will defend your mother and you will do this without reservation.
Love your Heavenly Mother, for She loves you more than you will ever know.