The Transparency of Mary

[diggnitty]

I was reading in the catechism about Mary. It says that she is completely transparent to God. What does that mean? I have an idea of what that means but would like to bounce it off of some of you. Thanks.

P.S. I guess I see this as meaning that Jesus hears and sees ALL of our prayers and devotions to Mary as to Himself because she’s not standing in the way because of her humility and utter openness to her Son.

 

[Rebelecka]

Yup

 

[PhilotheaZ]

I was reading in the catechism about Mary. It says that she is completely transparent to God. What does that mean? I have an idea of what that means but would like to bounce it off of some of you. Thanks.

P.S. I guess I see this as meaning that Jesus hears and sees ALL of our prayers and devotions to Mary as to Himself because she’s not standing in the way because of her humility and utter openness to her Son.

I just looked up the article you cite (CCC #2674). I think your idea makes sense (that Jesus can see us through Mary).

Another possibility that occurs to me is that we can see Jesus through Mary (I guess it works both ways!). The following is from Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter on the Rosary, Rosarium Virginis Mariae (paragraph 16): “If Jesus, the one Mediator, is the Way of our prayer, then Mary, his purest and most transparent reflection, shows us the Way.”

So she “transparently” conveys our prayers to Jesus, but she also “transparently” reflects His image to us. She shows us Jesus.

I doubt that it was originally meant this way, but when I read the Magnificat (“My soul magnifies the Lord,” Luke 1:46), I sometimes like to think of Mary as a magnifying glass who reveals the greatness of God to us in clearer, greater detail. Whenever we praise Mary (as Elizabeth did in the scene of the Magnificat), Mary points to the greatness of God.

 

[PhilotheaZ]

I just found another reference that follows along these lines (an article by David MacDonald entitled Does “Co-redemptrix” or “Mediatrix” mean “Co-Savior”?, found online at davidmacd.com/catholic/mary_mediatrix_co-redemptrix.htm ):

Catholics believe Mary spells out her role in eternity in Luke 1:46-49

My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.

So her role is to magnify the Lord and rejoice in God her Saviour. She is to be humble (which she is). In order for a magnifying glass to magnify something, one must look through it at the object. The magnifying glass is not the thing that we are looking at. In fact, if we focus on the magnifying glass, we will not see the object that is magnified. In the same way Catholics look through Mary at Jesus. Catholics believe that is what Mary has asked. That is what Catholics call “Mediatrix.”