Mary, Mother Most Powerful

M ARY is not only God’s beloved one, she is also His plenipotentiary – that is to say, she is an ambassador with full powers. God has entrusted her with all the interests of His divine Providence, of His mercy and of His justice. Hence, Mary’s unique power of intercession.

Mary’s Powerful Prayers

Have you ever stopped to think how powerful Mary’s prayers are with God? – She can obtain anything from Him – anything that is within God’s power to grant. This may sound exaggerated. Not in the least. I repeat it: Mary can obtain anything for her children from God.

First of all, let it be made clear that this does not cast any shadow on God’s infinite power and grandeur. When we say that Mary is all powerful in her intercession, we do not mean that she is independent of or even equal to God. This would be blasphemy. When God raised Mary to the highest dignity in his empire – her divine Motherhood – He did not diminish His own glory in the least. Quite the contrary, God’s glory shines forth in his saints.

King Solomon lost nothing of his absolute power for having his own mother, Bethsabee, sit at his right and for making her his associate in his kingdom. This noble gesture only added to the glory that has immortalized him in the eyes of men. Now, this is truer still of the sovereign grandeur of Christ with respect to Mary whom He has endowed with such powers of intercession.

He Is Most Powerful With Thee

I shall only repeat here what St. Bonaventure, the Seraphic Doctor, wrote in his Mirror of the Blessed Virgin. ”Behold, Mary, how great, how powerful is the Lord Who is with thee! And because He is a most powerful Lord, He is most powerfully with thee: therefore, art thou most powerful with Him, by Him, through Him, so that thou canst truly say, ‘My power is in Jerusalem’ “.

The great cardinal, St. Peter Damian, speaks even more forcefully when he says that ”When the Blessed Virgin presents herself before the throne of God, she does so not so much to pray as to command, since she is not looked upon as a servant but as a Sovereign Lady who is all powerful. ”

Mary’s Prayers and Petitions

Once again, may I remind you that this in no way eclipses the glory of the Sovereign King. Nor are we submitting the Creator to the creature. We are merely saying, with St. Louis de Montfort, that Mary’s ”prayers and petitions are so powerful with God that they always pass for commandments with His Majesty, Who never resists the prayer of His dear Mother, because she is always humble and conformed to His will.” {T.D, 27)

Is it not written in Holy Scripture, that God obeyed the voice of Josue when the latter commanded the sun to halt in its course? ”There was not before nor after so long a day, the Lord obeying the voice of a man, and fighting for Israel.” (Josue, X, 14). Did not Jesus, the Son of God, obey the commands of His Mother Mary while he was still on earth? And now that He is in heaven, is He not the same God? And is she not the same Mother of God?

Yes, Mary is the mother of the true Solomon, Jesus Christ, to says to her with even greater truth than Solomon to Bethsabee, his mother: ”My mother, ask; for I must not turn away thy face.” (III Kings, 2:20).

Mary’s Power of Intercession

I admit that all the prayers of all the saints are powerful to obtain for us graces and blessings from God. But there is such a world of difference between Mary’s power of intercession and that of all the saints together, that the famous theologian Suarez once said: Suppose – by a stretch of the imagination – that all the angels and saints in heaven got together to ask God for something while Our Blessed Mother asked for the contrary – God would hear her prayer in preference to that of all the saints. And the reason is obvious – she alone is the Mother. They are but servants.

The historian Plutarch in his Parallel Lives, reports that Caius Martius, surnamed Coriolanus, was unjustly banished from Rome despite the fact that he had more than once been heroic, in the service of his country. He took refute among the Volsci, Rome’s most bitter enemies. The latter made him their leader. He at once mustered a powerful army and marched on Rome.

For weeks he besieged the city. On the very eve of its fall, the Roman Senate dispatched to him his closest friends and relatives in an effort to appease his wrath and to recall him from exile. They even promised to restore him to his former dignity. But Coriolanus refused to listen to them. They then sent to him the priests and pontiffs, the flamens and other dignitaries of the Roman temples. These came arrayed in all the splendor and pomp of their office. They came to him in procession and prostrated themselves at his feet. But all in vain, for Coriolanus rejected all their offers.

A Mother’s Plea

Finally, when all had been tried, they decided to send his own mother, Veturia, to him. Plutarch tells us that she came to her son, her hair all disheveled, cast herself at his feet and pleaded with him in these terms: ”Let it be known to you, my son, that you will not go forth to take Rome by force before you pass over the body of the one who has brought you into this world. I shall be the first to be put to death. Are you so heartless as to commit such a crime?

“Do you wish to punish the ingratitude of the city of Rome, your own native land? Will you commit an injustice against your desolate mother? ”My son, which will you exercise: justice or mercy? – Mercy, yes. I am asking for it for myself and for your country. – Justice, yes. Is it not but just that you should spare the life of the one who has nursed you for so long”?

These touching words struck so deep into the heart of the general they moved him to tears. He rose from his seat, dropped his weapons, went over to his mother and raised her from the ground. After giving her the kiss of peace he promised her he would not invade Rome or devastate it.

Shortly after he marched triumphantly into the City, amid shouts of joy and jubilation. The mother’s plea had won the day.

Mary, Mother Most Powerful

My dear friends, have you committed any crime against Jesus Christ, the Lord of Hosts? Have you exiled Him shamefully from your heart through mortal sin? Surely then He has cause to march against you with His angelic troops to storm the gates of your soul and to wreak His vengeance on you.

True, it may be useful to send His friends, the saints, to plead for you. It may be wise to solicit the prayers of priests and religious and other servants of God. It will prove useful also to humble yourself and to take upon yourself all kinds of penances in reparation for your sins.

But the surest way – and there can be no doubt about this – is to win His Mother over to your side and to have her plead for you. For if Mary goes on ahead of you to meet Him; if she but says one word in your favor; if she exercises her motherly influence over Him, then for sure she will appease His wrath and prevent Him from condemning you for all eternity. Yes, through Mary’s intercession the sinner will obtain mercy and pardon, and the just man, perseverance in grace and life everlasting. Amen.

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