Does Mary "grant" graces?

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    Since Mary’s Assumption into Heaven no grace is conferred on man without her actual intercessory co-operation. (Sent. pia et probabilis.)
    **
    Theological opinions of lesser grades of certainty are called probable, more probable, well-founded (sententia probabilis, probabilior, bene fundata). Those which are regarded as being in agreement with the consciousness of Faith of the Church are called pious opinions (sententia pia).
    ** The least degree of certainty is possessed by the tolerated opinion (opimo tolerata), which is only weakly founded, but which is tolerated by the Church.

    This is what [some of ] you guys (eg. Fergal) believe, as far as I see.

    Just because a few popes may have alluded to this, does not mean that it is binding on all the faithful.

    I have this defined in a book called Fundaementals of Catholic Theology by Ludwig OTT, and he holds that it is sent. pia et probabilis.
 
I asked this question a few days ago. I have learned a great deal from these replies. I thank everyone. The “pia et probabilis” approach seems best to me at this point. I have a deep faith in Our Blessed Mother as chief mediatrix of the graces we receive. However, I cavil at the notion that ALL graces must be received through her. I believe, for example, that I can ask each Person of the Trinity, individually or collectively, for grace and divine aid of any sort. I stand ready to be enlightened if I’m in error.

C.F. O’Brien
 
Gottle of Geer said:
## The Church seems to have a blind spot when it comes to any thing Marian - hardly anything qualifies as an abuse.

Even the title of “Mary, Virgin Priest” was allowed for a good while - as were statues of her in priestly vestments.

The trouble, is, IMO, that human ingenuity can justify anything, or almost anything: unless something is really blatant, like the idea that we receive the Body of Mary in the Eucharist, it seems to be tolerated. Otherwise, Mary can be given almost every title of Christ, except “Creator”. She’s even been called “Saviouress”, “Mediatrix”, “Co-Redemptrix”, “divine”, “omnipotent”. In an atmosphere of this sort, where the distinctions between the Divine Persons & Mary are rather hazy, it’s not surprising that the Mariavites came into being; or that Maximilian Kolbe came up with the horrible statement that “Mary is the quasi-incarnation of the Holy Spirit”. Which Father - let us ignore the Bible, and pretend it does not exist - ever said anything like that ? It is downright blasphemy and heresy, utterly anti-Christian. It sounds like something said by one of the mediaeval dualist heresies.

See this thread: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=28444 and search with the word quasi

catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=6547

"In other writings the Polish friar attempts to describe Mary’s deep, intimate union with the Third Person of the Trinity from her conception, by calling Mary the “quasi-incarnation” of the Holy Spirit.13 He is careful to stress that this union “is not of the same order as the hypostatic union linking the human and divine natures in Christ”;14 for he repeated often that the Holy Spirit does not dwell in Mary in the same way in which the Eternal Word is present in the sacred humanity of Jesus.15 The notion of the Holy Spirit becoming “in some manner” (quasi) incarnate in Mary may at first seem to be an extreme idea. However, it is somewhat analogous to the statement by St. Louis de Montfort, that "God the Son wishes to form himself, and in a manner of speaking, become incarnate every day in his members through his dear Mother.“16 Along the same lines, St. Paul says: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).”
Does this mean that Our Lord was quasi-incarnate in St. Paul ? :rolleyes:

de Montfort is attributing to Mary that which is the work of the Holy Spirit. Defending one error by another is not convincing

With such ideas around, which have no basis on the NT, where the emphasis is on Christ, and not at all on his mother - whom St. Paul does not even name - it is no wonder that Mary has been treated as a sort of Gnostic entity, like Sophia the Divine Wisdom.

Thought about Mary seems to have a constant tendency to exaggeration, nonsense, and blasphemy. 😦 It’s unastonishing that many Protestants are not very favourably impressed by the claims of the CC - to say the least, when they come across these things. ##

I can understand your feelings, but I think you are not fully understanding the meaning behind some of the statements.

To call Mary a quasi incarnation of the Holy Spirit is simply using a metaphor to describe the way the life of Mary helps us to get an idea of what the Holy Spirit might be like if He were personified in the flesh. To me it is sort of like someone saying that a particular person is Christlike in their behaviour. I certainly don’t think Maxamilian Kolbe meant to define any theological dogma by his statement. It was more a poetic image.
 
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cfobrien:
I The “pia et probabilis” approach seems best to me at this point. I have a deep faith in Our Blessed Mother as chief mediatrix of the graces we receive. However, I cavil at the notion that ALL graces must be received through her. I believe, for example, that I can ask each Person of the Trinity, individually or collectively, for grace and divine aid of any sort. I stand ready to be enlightened if I’m in error.
I am with you 100% on what you have said her.

m.
 
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