Dear St. Rita Families,
You have perhaps seen this past week’s document from the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith regarding titles of Our Lady – Mater Populi Fidelis. It was bound to make some waves in the Church due to its attempt to address certain titles of Mary that have entered into popular piety over the years. The two titles in particular that the document addresses are Mary as “Co-Redemptrix” and “Mediatrix of All Graces”. Both titles have a long history in the Church, and yet both titles also seem to have given rise to some confusion about the Mary’s role in salvation history vis-à-vis Christ’s.
Of course, it should go without saying to us Catholics that Mary’s role in our salvation cannot in any way usurp that of Christ’s. She Herself rejoices “in God my Savior” (Lk 1:47), and we know that she was created by God, though with particular graces for her very particular role. In a similar way, Peter was given graces for his very particular role in the Church, and his role as the Rock upon which Christ has built His Church often misunderstood or even attacked. And yet, Christ gives necessary roles to human persons in the foundation of His Church precisely because His own salvific work unites us to Himself and makes us “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pt 1:4). In other words, by His grace we share in His divinity, which enables us to carry out roles which are quite exalted. And even so, as Augustine says, “All is grace.” This, indeed, is the reason for which Jesus says, “Without me, you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). Divinity is not achievable by my own efforts, because the finite (me) cannot hope to attain to the infinite (God) without God.
That said, the new document indicates that “Given the necessity of explaining Mary’s subordinate role to Christ in the work of Redemption, it is always inappropriate to use the title ‘Co-Redemptrix’ to define Mary’s cooperation” (MPF 22, emphasis in original). While this will be difficult for some because of the place this title has assumed in popular piety, it is good to consider that this prudential judgment from the Vatican does not in any way change Mary’s role in the economy of salvation! It does not say that Mary has no role in salvation, but that her role is subordinate to Christ and that the title “Co-Redemptrix” can be confusing. The document also takes pains to situate Mary’s mediation (and thus the title “Mediatrix of All Graces”) in Christ’s One Mediatorship, though it does not use the same strong language regarding this second title.
In contrast to these two titles, the document indicates a strong preference towards speaking of Mary’s role as Mother, which, as you will see, includes the roles indicated by Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of All Graces. This again is very good, because it means that the difficulty in question is simply how to express Mary’s role and not a definition of Mary’s role as such. Consider that the salvific action of Christ is expressed in nuptial terms throughout Scripture: from wedding feasts (Mt 22) to Bridegroom (Jn 3:29) to “It is consummated” (Jn 19:30) when He dies on the Cross. Likewise, our Baptism is considered a new birth (cf. Jn 3:5), and the other Sacraments impart life in Christ. In other words, there is a direct link between familial language and Christ’s salvific work. To have a familial relationship with Mary, then, indicates that there is some role for her to play in the economy of salvation.
When a child is born, we rightly say that both father and mother played an important role in the process. If it right to say that Christ gives us new life by the gift of His life to His Bride, the Church, then we can say that He plays a fatherly role in our new birth. If the Church speaks of Mary as pre-eminent member of the Church, and also Mother of the Church and Mother of the individual believer, then her role is clearly extremely important. It cannot be surprising that a title such as Co-Redemptrix has entered popular piety, though it is good to see how the term “Mother” likewise can encompass a correctly understood meaning of the term Co-Redemptrix. There is something similar happening with the title “Mediatrix of All Graces”. Mary’s motherhood extends beyond our new birth at Baptism; it continues throughout our entire lives, as does our relationship with our earthly mother. Thus, graces coming to us through her intercession is in no way contrary to Christ’s role as the one Mediator between God and man (1 Tm 2:5). In other words, a correctly understood co-redemption and mediatorship for Mary are arguably included in the title “Mother”.
What is fascinating is that God desired to make two persons necessary for the establishment of new life. In theory, He didn’t have to do it that way. But He did do it that way because it more perfectly reflects Himself as Trinity. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, or from the Father through the Son; He is the love between the Father and the Son. One of the ways that that truth is translated into our human reality is the necessity of two people for the establishment of new life. So, it should not be surprising that God chose to give a woman, Mary, an extremely important and prominent role in our salvation – that of Mother![i]
In Christ,
Fr. Christensen
[i] It is too much for this note, but the realities of the Trinity, the family, and the Church are analogous. The family is called to be an “earthly trinity” – a communion of life and love that reflects the love of God’s Trinitarian Communion. The Church is what happens when the Son does “what He sees the Father doing” (Jn 5:19). He gives His whole self to the Church (personified in Mary!) who receives that love and reciprocates, giving new life through the Holy Spirit. And so, the Church is rightly called God’s Family.