OUR LADY AS MEDIATRIX OF ALL GRACES

 

 Even though it has not been declared as an official dogma of the faith, the Church in its Ordinary Magisterium teaches that Jesus is the unique Mediator between God and man. However, associated with Jesus in the divine plan of salvation Our Lady is the Mediatrix of all graces.

MEDIATRIX OF ALL GRACES: MEANING.  All of the graces that flow to us flow from the throne of the Blessed Trinity. God is the origin and source through which all graces flow. However, God has chosen Our Lady, the Mother of God as well as Our Mother in the order of grace as a channel through which these graces flow so abundantly.

ANALOGIES.  An image that one of the saints in the Church utilized is the following. The Church has many names and one of the names is The Mystical Body of Christ. Therefore, Jesus is the Head of the Mystical Body the Church; we are the members of this Body. Our Lady then is the neck which connects the Body to the rest of the members! CANAL.  Water flow freely from one place to another by means of a canal. Our Lady is the living canal through which the water of God’s graces flow freely to sanctify humanity. A BRIDGE built over a body of water connects one place to another. So it is with Our Lady. She is the living bridge by which heaven is united to earth. GATE OF HEAVEN. Another poetical title given to Our Lady is the “Gate of Heaven”. A tender and strong devotion to Mary will help us to pass from this life into next and arrive safely at heaven.  All of these are mere images of the presence of Our Lady in the plan of God, in His plan of Redemption.

BIBLICAL PASSAGE: OUR LADY AS MEDIATRIX OF ALL GRACES.  The most obvious Biblical passage that substantiates the role of Our Lady as Mediatrix of all graces is found in the Gospel of Saint John(Jn. 2:1-12) It is the passage of the Wedding Feast of Cana.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF TEXT AND INTERPRETATION.   Jesus enters into His Public ministry after spending close to thirty years in the Private life of Nazareth with Mary and Saint Joseph. Jesus, Mary and some of the Apostles are invited to a wedding banquet. Something embarrassing happens: the wedding coupler runs out of wine. Noticing this embarrassing situation Our Lady intervenes and tells Jesus that there is no more wine. Then finally Our Lady tells the servant: “Do whatever he tells you.” Sic huge stone jars are brought to Jesus filled to the brim with water. Then Jesus turns the water into wine. And it was the best quality wine. Behold a brief summary!

INTERPRETATION.   In the Gospel of John there are the seven signs of Jesus, meaning the seven miracles that Jesus did in this Gospel. The first of these seven miracles was the following: the turning of water into wine in the Wedding Feast of Cana. It is true beyond the shadow of a doubt that Jesus was the one who performed the miracle.  Jesus would perform miracles to give evident proof to the fact that he was not just a man but also God. The catechetical definition for Him is: “Jesus is the Son of God made man.”

MARY’S ROLE.  However, the Biblical passage would be totally incomplete if the role of Mary were not underlined, if her importance were simply sidetracked. This would be a falsification of the text!  Our point is simply this!  It was Our Lady’s loving, attentive, and maternal eye that picked up immediately this embarrassing situation. It was Our Lady, Mediatrix of all graces, that pointed out to Jesus the problem and the dire need of the couple.  Jesus was moved by the love of His Mother. Jesus was touched by the maternal care and attention of His Mother. Jesus was motivated to carry out this first of His many miracles through the presence and the intercession of His Mother. To ignore this would be to falsify an authentic interpretation of the text.

OUR LADY OF THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL.  Our Lady appeared to Saint Catherine Labouree in Rue de Bac, Paris, in the convent in the year 1830.  The nun Catherine was awakened by an angel and beckoned to go into the chapel in the convent because somebody was waiting for her there. Dressing quickly the nun hurried into the chapel to witness a vision that would changer her life as well as countless believers throughout the years. Our Lady was there in the chapel sitting in the Presidential chair of the priest, beckoning the humble sister to draw closer to her.  The closeness was unique in the history of Our Lady’s approved apparitions. The nun actually put her hands in the lap of Our Lady and then they began to talk.

LATER APPARITION. In a later apparition Our Lady asked the nun, Catherine Labouree, to ask that a medal be made in her honor. The nun kept this a secret for many years until through the intervention of her spiritual director and confessor it was revealed.  This is the famous Medal of the Immaculate Conception, commonly called the Miraculous Medal because so many miracles have been attributed to Our Lady through this humble means.

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta as well as Saint Maximilian Kolbe are tow modern saints who have been ardent lovers of Our Lady as well as zealous propagators of wearing with faith and trust this sign of our love for Our Lady and our trust in her power of intercession.

PRACTICE.  Why not turn to Our Lady and tell her what is most heavy on your heart. In other words, we all have at least one small thorn embedded in our own hearts. Why not open up to Our Lady, Mediatrix of all graces and talk to her about this pain, this splinter, this thorn that is causing you so much pain. Our Lady told Saint Catherine of Labouree, referring to the rays emanating from the front image that those are the many graces that nobody asks for! Why not right now and very frequently in the course of your life, open up your heart and share your most intimate secrets, sufferings, fears, doubts, and worries with Our Lady. Maybe, through her intercession, the thorn of sorrow may not be taken away right away, but Our Lady will share with you the pain and offer it up to God for the salvation of immortal souls.  Many graces are awaiting you if you only can entrust your life to Jesus, the Son of Mary.