All Powerful Intercessor

All Powerful Intercessor

W HENCE comes Mary’s powerful intercession with God: The Church and the saints, tell us that it springs from two sources She is the Mother of God. She is the Mediatrix of all grace.

Today we want to discuss the first of these sources. Mary was privileged to call the Son of God by the dear name of ”My Son”.  By giving to the Son of God His Humanity, the Humanity in which He was to suffer and die on the Cross in order to redeem mankind, Mary, so to speak, made Him her debtor. In fact, God has never ceased to grant her anything she ever asked for our salvation. That is why when Mary asks for a certain grace, we should not imagine that she has to petition like a humble servant. ”Oh no, no,” St. Peter Damian once said, ”she disposes and commands like a Sovereign God considers her requests as commands.”

My Son, Have Mercy

Whenever she wishes to obtain favor for her dear ones, she presents herself to God with that virginal modesty of sovereign humility which is characteristic of her, saying to Him;  ”My Son, have mercy on such and such one”!  The Almighty on hearing Mary call Him, ”My Son, ” is so greatly pleased that He affectionately bows to her and grants her whatever her heart desires.

Moreover, the gift of the Sacred Humanity which Mary made to the Son God is incomparably greater than any gift ever granted to any human being. This Sacred Humanity surpasses in holiness, in dignity and in excellence ever thing that is in heaven and on earth, God alone excepted.

After such a gift one can readily understand why Mary is able to make any and every request to her Son and that He, in turn, is ever ready to lavish His graces upon her. St. Methodius expresses this very beautifully in a prayer which he himself composed: ”Do not fear, do not hesitate, O Mary, to ask for anything you desire. You have a right to ask something of God since He owes it to you. He is indebted to you because you have given Him His Sacred Humanity. This is more precious than anything you could ask for in our favor.

And if He should consent and bring back to you all the sinners of the world, it would be not so much a gift as an exchange which does not have as much value as that which you gave Him; for is not the Sacred Humanity which you gave Him of much greater value than all the sinners of the world”?

Her Wishes Meet No Opposition Even On the Part of God

St. Alphonsus Liguori teaches the same doctrine in his ”Glories of Mary.” He reminds us that the authority of mothers over their sons is so great, that even if a son is raised to royal dignity and thereby becomes absolute monarch of all his kingdom, he must never treat his own mother as he would one of his subjects. The same Doctor of the Church adds, it is true that Jesus Christ is seated in heaven at the right hand of His Father and that He consequently exercises supreme authority over all creatures, not excepting the Virgin Mary. But it is also true that there was a time when Our Lord, being here on earth, wished to humble Himself to the point of submitting Himself to Mary, as St. Luke tells us.

St. Ambrose goes even further and says that since Jesus Christ has deigned to make His Mother, He took it upon Himself to render her filial obedience. Richard of St. Lawrence points out that just as we can truthfully say that all the other saints were subject to God’s commands, so we can say with just as much truth that Mary was favored with a much greater privilege. Not only as she subject to God’s will but she saw God Himself submit to her will. And the same author concludes, that although the other virgins were satisfied with ”following the Lamb where He goeth” (Apoc. XIV, 4). We can say that the Lamb of God followed Mary, here below, by obeying her with the most entire submission.

God has Placed the Church Under Mary’s Protection

St. Bernardine is not afraid to affirm that everything is submitted to the empire of the Virgin even God Himself because her wishes meet no opposition even on the part of God. Thus God hears Mary’s prayers as though they were commands.

St. Louis De Montfort sums it all up when he says, ”When we read in the writings of St. Bernard, St. Bernardine, St. Bonaventure and others, that in heaven and on earth everything, even God Himself, is subject to the Blessed Virgin. They mean that the authority which God has been well pleased to give her is so great that it seems as if she had the same power as God. And her prayers and petitions are so powerful with God. They always pass as commandments with His Majesty. God never resists the prayer of His dear Mother because she is always humble and conformed to His will”.  (T.D. #27).

St. Peter Damian adds that Jesus received so much honor from His Mother while He was on earth. He wishes in turn to honor her by granting all that she desires or asks.

No one, says Richard of St. Lawrence, should be surprised that Mary is all powerful. Because the Queen ought to enjoy all the privileges of the King. Since the Son and the Mother have the same authority, the Mother is all powerful.  This is true because of the fact that the Son is all powerful.

That is why St. Anthony teaches that God has placed the Church under Mary’s protection. He has placed it under the scepter and the empire of Mary.

God Never Resists the Prayer of His Dear Mother

We must always remember that while Jesus is all powerful because, by nature, He is God.  Mary’s power is the result of grace which God has bestowed upon her. St. Alphonsus tells us we must always remember this when we say that nothing Mary asks is ever refused by her Divine Son.

St. Bridgit, in her revelations, tells how one day she heard Jesus conversing with His Mother. ”My Mother, you know My love for you; ask whatever you will. It is impossible for Me to refuse your prayer. You refused Me nothing on earth and I in turn will refuse you nothing in heaven”.  It is as though He said to His Mother –  ”When you lived on earth there was nothing you did that was not done for love of Me, and now how can I in heaven refuse to grant a single one of your requests”?

If then we proclaim that Mary is all powerful it is only in the way that is becoming to a creature of God. No creature can possess a divine attribute. Thus the Blessed Virgin is all powerful in that she obtains all that she wishes.