Today, I give you a taste of the Restoring God’s Foundation program, What follows, is a clip of one of the lessons about Our Blessed Mother in our Battle for Purity from the program.
Imagine being perfectly loved and affirmed by your mother, knowing that she always had your back and is always your advocate when going to your father. Imagine her always being tender and loving with ultimate compassion to pick up the pieces when you fall, both literally and figuratively. This “perfect” image of a mother is not just a fantasy or idea. She is real. She is your spiritual mother in heaven. The mother of your God and your Savior. She is our Blessed Mother Mary.
Our Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary is often forgotten when we look to battle our disordered sexual desires. After all, Mary is perfect. She is the Mother of God (Luke 1:43). She is a virgin. What does she know about the struggle for sexual purity?
The truth is that Mary is much more intimately aware of all sin than we may realize. The church teaches clearly that she is our Advocate, Mediatrix (mediator of grace) and Co-redemptrix. Let’s explore where each of these come from.
Co-redemptrix
A common misunderstanding is that the church is attempting to put Mary on equal ground with Christ. Nothing is further from the truth. The pre-fix “co” comes from the Latin term “cum” which means “with but not equal to”. Co-redemptrix therefore as applied to Mary refers to her exceptional cooperation with and under her divine son Jesus Christ, in the redemption of the human family, as manifested in Christian Scripture. With Mary’s free and active “fiat” to the invitation of the angel Gabriel to become the mother of Jesus, “Be it done unto me according to your word” (Lk. 1:38), she uniquely cooperated with the work of redemption by giving the divine Redeemer his body, which was the very instrument of human redemption. “We have been sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10), and the body of Jesus Christ is given to him through the free, active, and unique cooperation of the Virgin Mary. By virtue of giving flesh to the “Word made flesh” (Jn. 1:14), who in turn redeems humanity, the Virgin of Nazareth uniquely merits the title Co-redemptrix. In the words of the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta, “Of course Mary is the Co-redemptrix — she gave Jesus his body, and his body is what saved us.”
But the climax of Mary’s role as Co-redemptrix under her divine son takes place at the foot of the Cross, where the total suffering of the mother’s heart is obediently united to the suffering of the Son’s heart in fulfillment of the Father’s plan of redemption (Gal. 4:4). As the fruit of this redemptive suffering, Mary is given by the crucified Savior as the spiritual mother of all peoples: “Woman, behold your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘behold, your mother!” (Jn. 19:27). As described by Pope John Paul II, Mary was “spiritually crucified with her crucified son” at Calvary,
By Dr. Mark Miravalle
Professor of Theology and Mariology
Franciscan University of Steubenville
Because Mary’s enmity with Satan is complete, she is God’s perfect ally and the devil’s most hated enemy.
She fully cooperates with the redemptive plan of God through her ‘yes’ to God at the Annunciation, in Luke. That is especially highlighted and developed by John Paul II in his Marian Catechesis on January 24, 1996.
At the same time in the gospel of Luke, chapter two, we read of the prophecy of Simeon when he tells Our Lady her heart, too, shall be pierced. The Church has understood this to mean that Our Lady suffered spiritually what Christ suffered physically in his passion and death on the Cross. It is also important to note that Our Lady was present at the two most important events in the history of man, the Nativity and the Crucifixion.1
Quickly, but also important is the role of Our Lady at the wedding at Cana. When she makes the request of Our Lord, he says, “What is that to me and to thee. My time is not yet come.” This must really be understood as Christ saying, “Are you sure you want me to do this, this will bring me to the Cross.” Our Lady starts his walk to the Cross through her intercession for us. She offers her son and herself for the sake of mankind.”
Mediatrix
As Our Lady assisted in the attainment of the graces of the Crucifixion, so too, does she assist in the distribution of those graces. This is why the Church calls her the Mediatrix of all Grace.
A clarification of the scripture verse Timothy 2:5 “there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” is necessary here.
Regarding Mary, Christian Scripture also clearly reveals the secondary and subordinate participation of the Mother of Jesus in the one mediation of Jesus Christ. At the Annunciation, Mary’s free and active “yes” to the invitation of the angel mediates to the world Jesus Christ, the Re-deemer of the world and the Author of all graces (Lk. 1:38). For this unique participation in giving to the Redeemer his body and mediating the Source of all graces to the world, Mary can rightly be called both “Co-redemptrix” and “Mediatrix of all graces” as one who uniquely shares in the one mediation of Jesus Christ.
This unique Marian participation in Christ’s mediation, specific to the Redemption of Jesus Christ, is climaxed at Calvary. At the cross, her spiritual suffering united to the redemptive sacrifice of her Son, as the New Eve with the New Adam, leads to the universal spiritual fruits of the acquisition of the graces of redemption, which, in turn, leads to the gift of spiritual motherhood from the heart of the Crucified Christ to every human heart: “Behold your mother!” (Jn. 19:27). The Redeemer’s gift of his own mother as spiritual mother to all humanity leads to the spiritual nourishment by the Mother to her children in the order of grace. This constitutes the distribution of the graces of Calvary by Mary to her spiritual children as Mediatrix of all graces, which perpetually continues her unique sharing in the one saving mediation of Jesus Christ.
John Paul II explains the Catholic understanding of this unique Marian participation in the one mediation of Jesus Christ:
Mary entered, in a way all her own, into the one mediation “between God and men” which is the mediation of the man Christ Jesus…. We must say that through this fullness of grace and supernatural life, she was especially predisposed to cooperation with Christ, the one Mediator of human salvation. And such cooperation is precisely this mediation subordinated to the mediation of Christ. In Mary’s case we have a special and exceptional mediation.
By Dr. Mark Miravalle
Professor of Theology and Mariology
Franciscan University of Steubenville
She is Advocate against all evils and moral struggles
“The Blessed Virgin Mary is a spiritual bestowal and, like all Divine gifts, one which is ours because, and only because, “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” If there had been no Incarnation, there would have been no Mother of God. If the Blessed Trinity had decreed a means of Redemption for the human race other than the Cross, there would have been no Blessed Mother.” – Mark Aleisso, Catholicism.org
Because Christ is one Person in Whom are united Divine and human natures, He is the only fitting mediator between God and mankind.
This is the reason we call Our Lady the “Mediatrix of All Graces,” and not the “Mediatrix between God and men.” She is the “agent” in a spiritual process — the process whereby graces are transmitted from the Head of the Mystical Body (Christ) to the Members of that Body (individuals who comprise the Church).
This “agent” or advocate is where Mary is instrumental in all of our needs and desires for redemption and personal healing.
“While the prayers of those in heaven have, it is true, some claim on God’s watchful eye, Mary’s prayers place their assurance in a mother’s right. For that reason, when she approaches her Divine Son’s throne as Advocate she begs, as Handmaid she prays, but as Mother she commands.” — Pope Pius VII, Tanto Studio (1805).
What does all this mean to those fighting for sexual purity?
Let’s explore this over four topics.
1. She is Our Spiritual Mother who protects us
As we already know from previous lessons, porn use and the craving of it is the symptom of a deeper problem. And as we will discuss in later lessons, a large part of this problem, namely the emptiness, the loneliness and negative self-images we have are all false self-perceptions.
These self-perceptions are typically a result of the absence of proper Godly love, acceptance and affirmation from times earlier in our lives. Mostly in our formative years these are when events triggering these beliefs happen. The Catholic church teaches us that Our Lady is given to us as our own spiritual mother.
John 19:27 “Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother…”
On a spiritual level, we understand the new mother-son relationship between Mary and the beloved disciple to represent the new relationship between Mary and the entire Church. Just as the beloved disciple took Mary as his new mother, so too, do we all now have Mary as our spiritual mother.
We can turn to her for love that we did not get earlier in our lives. Our Blessed Mother is, as we just learned, our personal advocate to her son, Jesus. She is the most powerful intercessor in heaven, especially when we are seeking graces to help us be better children of God.
2. She has Power over Satan
Satan fears Mary as he knows she has a special place in our redemption and in his final destruction, (Genesis 3:15). Reflect on this quote by St John Vianney:
“If you invoke the Blessed Virgin when you are tempted, she will come at once to your help, and Satan will leave you.” – St John Vianney
3. We can connect with her through the Rosary
Pray the Rosary often, daily if possible. As many misunderstand, the Rosary is not something that the Catholic Church invented to worship Mary. It is truly the institution of scripture to honor the mother of God, request her prayers and intercession, and most of all point us to her son, Jesus.
The basis for the Rosary is reflected in the introduction scripture for this week’s lesson.
Because of the power our Blessed Mother has over the devil, a mental image that works for many is thinking of every Hail Mary that you pray is like punching the devil in the face. This image can help in representing the reality of the Blessed Mothers power when you invoke her intercession as your advocate.
4. We can Consecrate ourselves to Mary
“Consecration to Mary is consecration to the “perfect means” which Jesus chose to unite himself with us and vice versa. … We must confide ourselves to the Heart of Mary in view of our consecration to God. We offer ourselves to this divine consecration through Mary, for she points the way to the heart of Jesus.” – St Louis de Montfort.
Consecration goes back to the Old Testament. It takes place after a time of preparation. The most famous act of consecration is that of St. Louis De Montfort’s Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It takes place after reading a text and then completing a thirty-three day period of preparation. The theology of consecrating ourselves to Mary is fairly straightforward. She, above all creation, most perfectly imitated Our Lord. Due to her unique role in the plan of salvation, she, as our spiritual mother, has the ability to form our hearts to be like the heart of Christ.
However, she can most perfectly accomplish this to the degree that we give her permission. In consecrating ourselves to her, we give specific permission to help us live out our baptismal promises to the fullest degree. In surrendering ourselves to her, we open ourselves up to Union with Christ in the deepest possible way. The entire goal of consecration is Union with Christ, as that is the goal of all mankind. St. Louis De Montfort calls it the surest and quickest way to sanctity.
Consecration has been for many the beginning act of freedom from sexual sin, because it makes the soul much more spiritually aware, and it is often the first major step in the spiritual life for many people. It is the beginning because the benefits of the consecration bear fruit through the daily exercise of the act which brings them into direct contact with both Our Lady and Our Lord. In the consecration, Our Lady takes all aspects of our lives and directly intercedes for us. We become hers in a very deep way, so that she can then gift us to her son.
One of St Louis de Montfort’s most notable works regarding Marian devotions is contained in the books: Secret of the Rosary and True Devotion to Mary.
Another popular application for consecration is:
33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat In Preparation for Marian Consecration, by Michael E. Gaitley, MIC.
Consecrating ourselves to Mary, asks her to help keep us focused on her Son, Jesus, rather than on our selfish desires like pornography and other sins. Consecrating is giving ourselves entirely to her, to protect and carry us to her Son.
It is strongly encouraged to follow one of the above devotions and to complete a Consecration to Mary. This is a very powerful weapon in fighting the battle of sexual purity.
Practical Tip in Battle
When tempted by the way a woman is dressed, avert your eyes and quickly meditate on this thought: Every woman is a living icon of the Blessed Virgin. Treat her as such. If she is not dressed with respect to the icon that she is, pray for her!
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