Q&A: Did Mary Have Help?

You’re not the first to pin-point TD #44 as especially difficult. Saint Louis de Montfort is speaking about the primacy of Mary, i.e., her predestination together with the incarnation of the Divine Word, to be His Mother. Popes and Councils all have all taught this truth. E.g., . . . “the revered Mother of God from all eternity joined in a hidden way with Jesus Christ, in one and the same decree of predestination” (Pius XII) and Vatican II: “The Blessed Virgin was eternally predestined in conjunction with the divine Word, to be the Mother of God.”

Mary’s primacy in creation (i.e., “without the help of any other creature”) depends of course on that of Christ. And Paul declares that Jesus is “Head of the body, the Church. He is the beginning, the first born from the dead, so that the primacy may be His in everything” (Col 1:18). Now the repeated papal and conciliar insistence of her predestination with Christ in one and the same decree makes us understand that Our Lady, always sub- ordinate to Christ, shares in this primacy. In that foundational, eternal decree of Divine Providence, the Incarnation of the Word – the first object of divine predestination – we find Mary His Mother. We may therefore speak of Our Lady’s absolute and universal primacy in Christ, although – and this cannot be repeated often enough – always infinitely subordinate to Him. We may also speak about a primacy of excellence or Mary, as Vatican II does: “Because of this gift of sublime grace, she far surpasses all other creatures both in heaven and on earth.”

In no way is Montfort saying that Our Lady did not learn from others, like her mother and father, from her Jewish background, from her relationships, etc. He is not referring to that point. Rather, he is talking about the primacy of excellence of Mary over all creatures and her absolute and universal primacy in Christ and totally dependent upon Him. In other terms, the predestination of the Word together with His Mother, is the first of what may be called the “decrees” of God.

Look at the beauty of the sky, at the wonders of creation with its seas and mountains, gaze at the innocence of an infant, try to imagine the magnitude of the cosmos … it all speaks of Jesus for everything was created to praise His Glory. He is before all else that is. He is the King. But in that same foundational decree which predestines the Incarnation of the Word, is also found, intrinsic to it by God’s Will, the predestination of the Mother of the Word, Mary. She, in Christ and with Christ, always infinitely subordinate to Him, enjoys the primacy of all creatures.

In that sense, Saint Louis de Montfort can say: “Mary alone found grace before God without the help of any other creature. All those who have since found grace before God have found it only through her.”