Mary Mediatrix of All Grace

We hear of the Lipa, Batangas apparitions at a Carmelite Monastery when Our Lady described herself as the Mediatrix of all grace. That was in 1984. With Jesus and under Jesus she holds an intercessory role to help us, poor and sinful mortals, reach our final destination and goal, the heavenly kingdom with God our Father, and His beloved Son Our Lord Jesus Christ. This title as Mediatrix is not contradictory but rather correlative to her many other approved titles which you find in her litany, for example, Mother of God, Mother of the Church, Mother of divine grace, Virgin most powerful, Virgin most merciful, Mother of our Creator, Health of the sick, Help of Christians, Queen conceived without original sin, Queen of all saints… The early Fathers of the church, throughout their writings, saw in Mary the new Eve, which was mentioned in the Book of Genesis (3:15), and who was to be closely united in the work of Redemption with the new Adam, Christ, and as the first Eve was in truth the cause of the spiritual death for all humanity, so Mary is the cause of the supernatural life for the human race.

In May 3-7, 2005 a good number of Cardinals, Bishops, and prominent theologians gathered in Fatima, Portugal to attend the Symposium on Mary as Unique Cooperator in the Redemption. The Symposium was sponsored and directed by Cardinal Telephore Toppo, Cardinal Luis Aponte Martinez, Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, C.S.S.R., Cardinal Edouard Gagnon, P.S.S., Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, Cardinal Ernesto Corripio Ahumada. The topics included Mary’s role as Mediatrix, co-redemptrix and advocate.

Certainly, it is not contrary to God’s plan that a creature, close to the Lord in holiness of life, would be instrumental in man’s salvation. That was also clearly stated by the late Pope John II in his book: Crossing the Threshold of Hope (page 221). “On this universal level, if victory comes it will be brought by Mary. Christ wil conquer through her, because He wants the Church’c victories now and in the future to be linked to her”. In fact the implication of the very last instruction of Jesus before His heavenly Ascension is that everyone of us (as one body of Christ, cf. 1Cor. 12) under guidance of the Church do our utmost in proclaiming and living the message of Jesus Christ. And if the principle is true-contra factum non valet argumentum (translate: You don’t argue against facts), as He had promised He will provide signs and wonders to accompany the work of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ. You can only go over and invistigate the history of the Catholic Church and the many recognized saints of Christianity to see how the Lord gives His signs and miracles. “And he said to them, Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, he who does not believe will be condemned. These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of toungues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick who will recover.’ (Mk. 16:16-20).