Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces, in the Papal
Magisterium of Pope John Paul II
By Msgr. Arthur Burton Calkins
VIII. Mediatrix of All Graces
Did
John Paul II actually teach that Mary is the Mediatrix of all graces?
Remember that Father Calabuig had declared that this phrase is no longer
acceptable since, "although recurring in papal documents previous to the
Council, (it was) the object of dispute among theologians" and therefore
is to be avoided (63).Such a statement obviously betrays little respect
for the papal magisterium, but much for theologians, especially those
who question the magisterium. Did John Paul II heed this admonition? For
those who have not followed his reasoning closely, the answer might seem
to be "yes," but, in fact, it is "no." Clearly he did speak of Mary as
Mediatrix of all graces—in line with his predecessors and with a certain
frequency.
A.
Let us first review his explicit verbal references to Mary as Mediatrix
of all graces or of every grace.
1. On
1 December 1978 in his address to the General Council, Provincial
Superiors and Directors of the Italian Institutes of the Congregation of
St. Joseph (Giuseppini of St. Leonard Murialdo) he said:
We
cannot conclude without addressing the Blessed Virgin, so loved and
venerated by Murialdo, who had recourse to her as the Universal
Mediatrix of all grace. The thought of Mary returned continually in his
letters. In them he inculcated the recitation of the rosary, entrusted
his sons with spreading devotion to the Holy Virgin, and stated: ‘If one
wishes to do a little good among the young, one must instill love for
Mary in them.’ The beneficial work carried out by your Founder is the
best confirmation of this. So follow his example in this matter too
(64).
2. In
addressing young people on 30 August 1980 at Our Lady’s Shrine on Mount
Roio, he said:
I
conclude by entrusting you to the Virgin Mary, to whom St. Bernardine
was extremely devoted and whom, it can be said, he went proclaiming all
over Italy every day. Having lost his own mother, he chose Our Lady as
his mother and always lavished his affection on her and trusted
completely in her. He became the singer of Mary’s beauty, it can be
affirmed, and preaching her mediation with inspired love, he was not
afraid to state: ‘Every grace that is given to men proceeds from a
triple ordained cause: from God it passes to Christ, from Christ it
passes to the Virgin, from the Virgin it is given to us’ (Sermo VI in
festis B.V.M. de Annun. a. 1, c. 2).
Turn
to her every day with confidence and with love, and ask her for the
grace of the beauty of your soul and of your life, of what alone can
make you happy (65).
3. On
27 September 1982, he exhorted seminarians at the Basilica of Our Lady
of Graces in Brescia: "Entrust yourselves always with great confidence
to Mary Immaculate, dispenser of every grace, to whom this fine seminary
of yours is dedicated" (66).
4. In
his Angelus address of 17 January 1988, he said:
Another centre of Marian devotion worthy of mention is the Church
dedicated to Our Lady in Meadi, on the outskirts of Cairo, on the banks
of the Nile. The Church seems to have been built in the fifth century,
even if, in the course of the centuries and in modern times, it has been
modified and restored. It is entrusted to the Coptic-Orthodox
Christians, and many pilgrims continuously come to this sanctuary to
entrust their intentions to the Mediatrix of all graces (67).
5. In
his homily for Octave of Easter, 10 April 1988, in the Roman parish of
Mary, Mother of the Redeemer, he said:
In
this Marian Year, your parish, which is placed under the patronage of
Mary, Mother of the Redeemer, Redemptoris Mater, has an extra
reason for renewing and strengthening its own devotion towards her, the
Mediatrix of all graces, our Advocate with her Son Jesus
and the Help of Christians. Call upon her, honour her, draw close
to her. She will hear you and will obtain for you whatever good you
desire (68).
6. In
his reflection at the Shrine of Our Lady of Graces in Benevento on 2
July 1990, he stated:
With
loving intuition from ancient times you have been able to grasp the
mystery of Mary, as mediatrix of all graces, because she is the Mother
of the very Author of Grace, Jesus Christ. That is why the people
of Benevento throughout the ages have turned and continue to turn to
her, invoking her not only as ‘Our Lady of Graces,’ but often
also as ‘Our Lady of Grace’ (69).
7. On
18 September 1994, in his Angelus address in Lecce, he said:
From
the city of Lecce, honoured by the name of Civitas mariana, I
raise my prayer to you today, Most Holy Virgin. I do so among this
beloved people of Apulia, who venerate you with deep devotion and hail
you as the Mother of all Graces. You who go before us on the pilgrimage
of faith, accompany the Successor of Peter on today’s visit which is
a further step in the ‘Great Prayer for Italy …’
Watch
over each with assiduous care, and pour an abundance of your gifts on
all, O Queen without the stain of sin, O Mother of all Graces, O Virgin
Mary!(70)
8. On
28 June 1996, in his address to the General Chapter of the Mercedarian
Sisters of Charity, he prayed:
May
the Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ and of the Church, invoked with the
title ‘de las Mercedes,’ assist you and lead you to frequent encounters
with her divine Son in the Eucharistic mystery. May she, true Ark of the
New Covenant and Mediatrix of all graces, teach you to love him as she
loved him. May she also support you with her intercession in the various
apostolic works in which you are involved (71).
9. On
25 August 2001, the Holy Father introduced the Mass he was celebrating
for Polish pilgrims in this way:
‘When
the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman …’ (Gal
4:4). This saving mystery, in which God has assigned to the woman, Mary
of Nazareth, a role that cannot be replaced, is continually made present
in the Eucharist. When we celebrate the Holy Mass, the Mother of the Son
of God is in our midst and introduces us to the mystery of His
redemptive sacrifice. Thus, she is the mediatrix of all the grace
flowing from this sacrifice to the Church and to all the faithful
(72).
Of
these nine instances, only in the first and the second is the Pope
quoting someone else, St. Leonard Murialdo and St. Bernardine of Siena,
but we have every reason to believe that his quotations of these saints
were deliberate. In fact in the second case, later on the same day, 30
August 1980, in his address to priests, religious, and lay leaders at
the Basilica of St. Bernardine, he further stated:
Let
our service, dear brothers and sisters, which has the supreme aim of
making men convinced of the heavenly Father’s love, be entrusted
entirely to the Mother of God and our Mother, so greatly loved and
celebrated by our Saint, who has expressions of extraordinary tenderness
for her, admirably exalting her in her mission as bestower of grace
(73).
It
could also be pointed out that in the ninth text cited above the Pope
only states that Mary "is the mediatrix of all the grace flowing from
this sacrifice (of the Mass) to the Church and to all the faithful," but
if this is the case with the greatest source of grace possible in this
life, can we believe that this is less true through the other sacraments
and in other circumstances?
B.
Let us now consider references which speak of Our Lady as Mediatrix of
grace. These do not speak of all graces, but may be seen to imply them.
1. On
31 May 1980, in the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal in Paris, he prayed:
You
obtain from God, for us, all these graces which are symbolized by the
rays of light which radiate from your open hands. Provided only that we
venture to ask you for them, that we approach you with the confidence,
the boldness, the simplicity of a child. And it is in this way that you
lead us incessantly towards your divine Son (74).
2. On
23 October 1980, in addressing the Bishops of Korea on the "ad limina"
visit, he concluded thus:
And
even as we endeavour to fulfil our weighty pastoral responsibilities, we
are profoundly convinced that the destiny of God’s people is in the
power of his grace, which in turn is abundantly dispensed through
the hands of his Blessed Mother Mary. She has long presided over the
evangelization of your people and will continue to lead you all to
Christ Jesus her Son, and through him to the Father, to whom, in the
unity of the Holy Spirit, be praise and thanksgiving for ever and ever
(75).
3.
Commenting on the Gospel of the Visitation in the famous Servite Church
of the Annunciation in Florence on 19 October 1986, to a group of sick
people and volunteers, he said:
After
having accepted the extraordinary message, Mary sets out for the
mountain village where another woman finds herself in need …
Thus,
as the one who maternally inspires vocations and distributes graces, she
stands at the head of a host of volunteers, who for two thousand years
have formed the uninterrupted chain of Christian solidarity and service
to one’s neighbour (76).
4. In
his Apostolic Letter of 5 June 1987, on the occasion of the Sixth
Centenary of the "Baptism" of Lithuania, he wrote: "They (the faithful
on pilgrimage) entrust themselves to her who Christ on the Cross, in a
supreme act of love, gave us as Mother and Mediatrix of Grace" (77).5.
In his Apostolic Letter Spiritus Domini of 1 August 1987,
commemorating the bicentenary of the death of St. Alphonsus de’ Liguori,
the Pope wrote:
Devotion to Mary occupies a totally unique place for him (St. Alphonsus)
in the economy of salvation: Mary is the Mediatrix of grace and
Companion in redemption; for this reason she is Mother, Advocate and
Queen. In fact, Alphonsus did everything under her protection from the
beginning of his life until his death (78).
6. On
28 February 1992, in his address to participants in the World Congress
for Directors of Pilgrimage Shrines and Pilgrimage Leaders, he said:
I
entrust you and your ministry to the care of Mary, Mediatrix of divine
grace, Comfort of the afflicted, Star of the sea, Help of Christians,
Refuge of sinners, Mother of those who go on pilgrimage from this earth
to the eternal kingdom (79).
7. In
his message for the Fiftieth Anniversary of the end of the Second World
War in Europe of 8 May 1995, he wrote: "May Mary, the Mediatrix of
grace, ever watchful and concerned for all her children, obtain for all
humanity the precious gift of harmony and peace" (80).The Holy Father
quoted these very words again in writing to Bishop Albert Houssiau of
Liège, Belgium on 31 July 1999, on the occasion of the fiftieth
anniversary in recognition of Our Lady’s apparition at Banneux (81).
8. In
his Angelus address of 23 June 2002, Pope John Paul II declared that
"Beside the merciful Heart of Christ, we venerate the Immaculate
Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mediatrix of grace and of
salvation" (82).
C.
Let us also consider these beautiful papal texts which clearly imply
that Mary is the chosen vessel for the distribution of graces.
1. In
his Angelus address of 19 July 1987, he asked:
Who
is it that calls us? It is the mysterious presence of Mary. The
Immaculate Conception. The all Pure. The all Holy. The Full of Grace.
She was conceived completely immaculate, because, according to the
Angel’s greeting at the Annunciation, she is full of grace, totally free
from original sin and its consequences.
Mary
is thus an excellent and unique vehicle of Christ’s redemption. She is a
most privileged channel of his grace, a chosen path by means of which
grace comes to mankind with an extraordinary and marvellous abundance.
Where Mary is present, grace abounds and people are healed both in body
and soul (83).
2. In
his address of 22 February 1993, to the Bishops’ Conference of Ghana on
the "ad limina" visit, he made this beautiful statement:
In
your response to this challenge (the growth of sects and other new
religious movements), you will want to foster sound devotion to the
Blessed Virgin Mary, who is the ‘Image and Mother of the Church’ (cf.
Lumen Gentium, nn. 53, 63: Collectio Missarum de Beata Maria
Virgine, nn. 25-27). As the ‘Health of the Sick’ and ‘Fountain of
Salvation’ (ibid., 44, 31), she is the exemplar of the
Church as the Saviour’s chosen means for communicating his gifts of
grace and healing (84).
3. In
his Message of 8 September 1995, to the Ordinary General Chapter of the
Cistercian Order, he offered this profound exhortation, obviously fully
endorsing St. Bernard of Clairvaux, its original formulator:
From
this theological and spiritual approach there stems a deep and strong
devotion to Our Lady, of which Bernard is the distinguished master
and witness. ‘Do not forget,’ he teaches, ‘to make all that you decide
to offer pass through Mary, so that grace, by returning to its Author,
may take the same path that it took in its descent’ (Sermo in Nativ.,
V) (85).
4. In
his general audience address of 9 December 1998, he made this striking
statement about Mary’s intimate involvement in the outpouring of the
living water of the Holy Spirit:
From
the Cross the Saviour wished to pour out upon humanity rivers of living
water (cf. Jn 7:38), that is, the abundance of the Holy Spirit. But
he wanted this outpouring of grace to be linked to a mother’s face, his
Mother’s. Mary now appears as the new Eve, mother of the living, or the
Daughter of Zion, mother of all peoples. The gift of a universal
mother was included in the Messiah’s redeeming mission: ‘After this,
Jesus, knowing that all was now finished …,’ the Evangelist writes after
the two statements: ‘Woman, behold your son!’ and ‘Behold your mother!’
(Jn 19:26-28) (86).
With
just a few graceful allusions here, the Pope adroitly calls to mind
Mary’s role of Coredemptrix and Mediatrix of all graces beneath the
Cross.
5. In
the course of his pilgrimage to Poland, he made this statement during
his homily at the Liturgy of the Word in Sosnowiec on his pastoral visit
of 14 June 1999:
Shortly, we shall crown the famous image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
of Jaworzno, from Osiedle Stałego. This gesture has a special eloquence.
On the one hand, it is a sign of the working people of Zagłębie. Because
of their devotion to Mary, because they constantly entrust to her the
today and tomorrow of the Church, this faith is kept safe in the hearts
of workers, despite the many trials they have undergone, especially in
the last 50 years. On the other hand, this act of crowning is a
confirmation of the fact that the community of believers in Jaworze and
all of Zagłębie truly experiences the special presence of Mary,
thanks to whom human aspirations rise before God and divine grace
descends upon men (87).
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