Mary and distribution of graces if not omniscient?

[snowywinter]

I have been reading 33 Days to Morning Glory and had a few questions. I am a Roman Catholic looking to grow deeper in my faith and read that the Marian consecration was a beautiful way to do so. I love praying the rosary and asking the Virgin, as an intercessor, to pray for us.

However, this book has challenged my prior beliefs about the Virgin Mother and has confused me on what her role actually is. From my reading and Catholic upbringing I learned that the Virgin Mary is an intercessor in prayer as the saints are, and Jesus Christ the Son is our main intercessor with the God the Father.

The book says that we give the right to the Holy Mother the grace (merits) of our prayers and that she can distribute them however she wants.

1. How does she know who to distribute them to? She isn’t omniscient or omnipotent (only God is).
2. The book says that she would have the final word to who and what purpose the graces of our good works and prayers should be applied. Why does she have the final word? Wouldn’t God have the final word and she would act as a vehicle of distribution of those graces? Then why wouldn’t God then distribute the graces? Why go through her?
3. The book also says that she can determine who is in greater need of our prayers. How would she know this if she is not God? Wouldn’t God tell her and then she would distribute them?
4. The book says that she perfects the things we give her. When we offer things to God through Mary, how does this work?

Thank you in advance for responding to my questions!
Peace be with you!

 

[Tis_Bearself]

The book says that we give the right to the Holy Mother the grace (merits) of our prayers and that she can distribute them however she wants.

1. How does she know who to distribute them to? She isn’t omniscient or omnipotent (only God is).

God lets her know and also he entrusts her with this special mission. Mary’s will always conforms to the will of God. They are on the same page basically.
In some cases when a person consecrated to Mary would wish to pray for a particular person, or for their soul, then I have been taught by a holy priest that you simply make the request and God and Mary will grant it, unless the person somehow doesn’t need or can’t use the prayers (for instance, their soul is in hell and can’t be helped by prayers, or their soul is in heaven in which case the prayers are given to another deserving soul of God’s choice unless the person asking specifies a backup).

1. The book says that she would have the final word to who and what purpose the graces of our good works and prayers should be applied. Why does she have the final word? Wouldn’t God have the final word and she would act as a vehicle of distribution of those graces? Then why wouldn’t God then distribute the graces? Why go through her?

God wishes to work with Mary on this and permits her to have (name removed by moderator)ut, which always conforms to his will, and also enables Mary to act as the distributor of grace to her children on earth. God always has the final say but Mary never wants to do anything God doesn’t want so she is just his vehicle as you say. Sure, he could do it all himself, but he chooses to involve Mary just as he chose to involve her in the birth of Jesus. Obviously God didn’t need Mary for that - he chose her, he chose to use her in that way, and she agreed.

1. The book also says that she can determine who is in greater need of our prayers. How would she know this if she is not God? Wouldn’t God tell her and then she would distribute them?

God could tell her or he could just give her the ability to determine or know. Mothers tend to be pretty knowledgeable about what their children need.

1. The book says that she perfects the things we give her. When we offer things to God through Mary, how does this work?

When I offer a prayer or request to God, Mary takes it and presents it to God in the best way possible. It’s like if you left a present for the King at the palace door and then the Queen Mother picked it up and put it on a special gold plate and presented it to the King at just the right time when he was most receptive to it and said, “Here is a very special gift.”

 

[stpurl]

The last especially is beautifully put. Remember, all that Mary has (including, say, the gold plate) has come to her through her Son. It’s all absolutely perfect, divinely so.

Now with us, even our best offerings are tainted, if not at the very time offered, from before. IOW, we may have just gone to confession, communion, and are in a state of grace, but through our lives we have sinned and the temporal effects are still on our soul. And even our very ‘best’ efforts, in and of themselves, are just nothing compared to God.

But Mary, who enjoys the Beatific Vision and is perfectly united to God, completely conformed to His will, personally never sinful and as such the highest and most perfect creature made, takes from the graces He has given to her, perfect graces such as only heaven can see, and ‘embellishes’ our poor efforts with those graces. It isn’t that God wouldn’t be satisfied without them, but that He is even more satisfied WITH those graces.

The second of the great commandments is to love our neighbor as ourselves. Mary is our neighbor, we are hers, and in allowing her to use God’s graces to make our offering even more beautiful and gracious in God’s sight, we are fulfilling that second of the great commandments. To me, that is one of the best reasons for believing in the Catholic teaching of the communion of saints and the belief that they can help ‘work with us’ to give God’s glory, by doing so as ‘our neighbors’ and loving us as their own selves (and vice versa with us loving them).