Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces

Brian has recently insisted that "all Mariology must resolve into Christology." I agree, but my ecclesial commitments demand from me a substantial degree of fundamental trust that seemingly mariolotrous titles – Queen of Heaven, Coredepmtrix, Mediatrix of All Graces, Dispensatrix of Heavenly Graces, etc. – actually are Christological inferences, even if I do not understand them.

    Let me guarantee you: I do not understand them. But I would like to try.

    The Mother of God is said to be the mediatrix of all graces in two senses: the subjective and the objective. Subjectively, she is seen to mediate the actual appropriation of grace by individuals, the totality of whom have already been objectively saved by the work of the Incarnate God, to whose presence Mary consented. The subjective dimension does not yet make sense to me, so I will have to leave it for another day.

    The objective dimension, though, is merely good Christology and soteriology. "Dead in our transgressions," we are only raised to life "with Christ" (Eph. 2:5). Our spiritual life is dependent on the work of Christ: God would not be present to us without the work of the absolutely unique and unparalleled mediation of the Incarnate Word (1 Tim. 2:5). That is to say, we would not have God's grace without the Incarnation. The stress here is on the humanity of Christ, for if the Son of God had remained God alone, eschewing our humanity, we would be ungraced and unsaved. We would be ungraced and unsaved were it not for the human flesh of Jesus Christ. That flesh grounds and is the presence of God for us. Insofar as all grace is merely (merely!) the presence of God, the flesh of Christ grounds and is all grace we receive.

    Mary's role here becomes more obvious. Christ would have had no flesh had it not been knit for him in that Virgin's womb. In the most concrete sense, then, all grace comes through Mary: the grace-flesh of Christ comes to us only through Mary's virginal cervix. Mary's physical body mediates to us the grace which saves the whole world. Furthermore, God's offer to Mary depends on her obedient fiat. In her obedience, therefore, Mary has won for humanity that fruit whose loss is mediated to us through the disobedience of Eve. I would not at all be able to say "yes" to the redemptive mystery of Christ were it not for Mary's own prior "yes." None of us would. The possibility of all obedience comes only through the obedience of this handmaid of the Lord. Mary mediates all grace to us both physically and spiritually only because she is the Mother of God. Mary's mediation of all grace is, therefore, the reverse side of a Christological fact: we are graced only by the Word become flesh.

    Hail Mary, Mother of God, Mediatrix of All Graces!