I think the easy way to consider this question is to begin by asking another one:
Without Mary, are we saved?
Obviously, in a philisophical sense (as opposed to even a theological one), you certainly could argue that Mary is unecessary TODAY for your salvation, at this moment-- to borrow one of the sayings from my favorite bumper sticker-- “Jesus Saves.” Mary, by herself, cannot save anything-- she is, after all, only human.
But the rub comes when you think on it in the historical context of Jesus’ life as a MAN. He was born. This one act…to fulfill His (i.e., God’s) prophecy, to create the new covenant, was an absolute necessity: He was to come to us as a man. Thus, aside from the human nature of Christ, and by the natural order established by God (you are born from woman), there is only one other human actor necessary for His very human existence, and defacto, our very salvation: a woman, Mary.
This is not to elevate the person of Mary to or equate her with deity. It is rather a recognition of an indisputable fact-- theologically, historically, and biblically-- that, through God’s own plan as He outlined in the Old Testament and as He fulfilled in the New, without Mary, we are not saved, we cannot be saved and we can never be saved. At the very least (we can drop the other theological issues for the purposes of this post), without her womb, without the birth, without Jesus being fully human-- and as God chose it to be (i.e., it HAPPENED this way by God’s-- and notably Mary’s-- choice, so we may as well leave the “could have” arguments at the door)…there can be no crucifixion. Mary’s humanity, her free will, her willingness to accept God (“thy will be done”), gave us all the Gift of the Son…and the hope, though not assurance, of salvation. (sorry, had to get one dig on sola fide while I could). You could add an additional question here, one that scares me just thinking about it: what if Mary had said “no”?
We then come to your question: can Mary be Mediatrix? I add the “can” in there because that is as far as the Church has officially gone in discussing the issue. With that caveat, if, as the Catholic Church teaches, calvary occurs for eternity (importantly, not “over and over,” but all the time, in all moments, once and for all, redeeming you yesterday, today and tomorrow), He is also born for eternity. Meaning that the person of Mary…again, the only other human being that was necessary (once again, as an issue of historical fact) for the existence of Christ and the possibility of the crucifixion (as outlined above he had to be born in order to die for us)…well, in a very simple and imminently full sense (she is, after all, full of grace…not just a little, nor is she simply in possession of grace…she is FULL of grace), she can be, and perhaps even must be, the Mediatrix of all graces.
I’m ebarrassed to admit that, in writing this, I’ve actually helped myself understand this issue better. I don’t know if anyone else understands me, but I did…
Thank you very much for your post.
For Him.
G.
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