The Most Holy Trinity
In this week: The Most Holy Trinity from Rev Chris Doig, Mary Mediatrix, we look back at St Bede the Venerable and James Bundy discusses the other weeks anti-Catholicism in George Square.
SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLT TRINITY
As we are in the month of May – and one can never talk too much about Our Lady anyway – we we will look at the Holy Trinity from a Marian perspective. The day after we celebrate the Trinity this year is the feast of the Visitation, which is first rooted in Our Lady's Annunciation. Looking at that passage in the light of the Trinity we can see that all three divine persons are there: God the Father sends Gabriel to Mary to announce the good news and her mission to be the Mother of God. Next is mentioned the Spirit who will overshadow her and then she will conceive and bear a Son, whose name is to be Jesus. We can say that Mary was prepared since time began to be a dwelling place for the Holy Trinity (cf. Redemptoris Mater, 1; 8).
It is most fitting to think of Our Blessed Mother on this feast, because she was the first visited by the Trinity. She is the Mother of God, Mother of Christ and Spouse of the Holy Spirit. She is the model or, better, the image of what this divine life can do to the human person, what happens to human nature when it is taken up into God – not lost but repaired and perfected. Like the burning bush in the Exodus story that was burning but never consumed, so too Mary's humanity was not consumed but brought to life, now aglow with the fire of divine love. She now sits at her Son's right hand and enjoys the perfect union of love of the Trinity and she intercedes unceasingly for our eternal fulfilment (Lumen Gentium, 62); and so when we turn to her with a loving gaze, not towards some static picture, but a living image, she can impart divine grace and prepare our souls to live a life of communion with the divine persons, so that our body and soul can be a dwelling place for them.
The joy of this divine communion was infused into Mary at the Annunciation, and she received so much power and grace that it literally drove her out of Nazareth and she ran into the hills to see her cousin Elizabeth. In fact, her whole life was ordered to the Trinity. Together with her husband Joseph, Mary offered up her Son to Father in the temple, she remained with Jesus at the Cross and then she prepared the disciples to receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
A similar power was also given to the disciples on the mountain when Jesus told them to go out and baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:16-20). Participation in the divine life, then, must move us out of ourselves and towards the other. Yes, Mary spent a lot of time in prayer and contemplation but only so that she could be a greater person of communion, the Mother of God and Mother of us all.
So it is with us. By our baptism we are immersed into this great mystery of the Trinity, not quite in the same way as Our Lady but the process is the same. It is only through the free gift of grace that we are inserted into the divine life, to which we must respond with the same openness and docility as Mary - “let it be done unto me according to your word (Lk 1:36).” The more faithful we are to our baptismal promises, the more space the three persons have to dwell in us. This means that we will no longer hide in our tombs or endlessly wander through the desert. God the Father calls us to live in his house, the Son goes out to get us and show us the way and the Spirit leads us into the fulness of Truth.
Our whole being must be ordered towards this Truth, that we are made for God, and not just any God, but the One True God who is three persons, whose inner life has been revealed to us by the Son, Jesus Christ, and whose life has been impressed upon the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Reverend Chris Doig
Mediatrix of all Grace
Written by Alison Deighan
Image: "Icon of The Wedding at Cana"by lucia398 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Mediatrix of all Grace is one of the less understood and more controversial of Our Lady’s titles. Both within and outwith the Church, it is a title which can cause discomfort. Does it place too much emphasis on Mary, at the cost of neglecting Christ? Is it simply unnecessary, adding nothing when we have faith in Christ as our Redeemer?
Before we think about what the title means, and why it reflects authentic doctrine and devotion, it would be well to consider what the Church understands in saying that Christ is our Mediator. Mediation is one model for understanding how Christ saves us. Like other models (such as sacrifice, atonement and redemption) it casts true light on the mystery of salvation, but doesn’t exhaustively explain it. One of the key Scripture passages to help us understand Christ as Mediator is 1 Tim 2:5, which says, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.” The author of the book of Hebrews also uses the concept of mediation to describe how we are saved, describing Christ as “mediator of a new covenant, since those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred which redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant” (Heb 9:15). In thinking about these passages, we can see two related aspects of Christ’s mediation. Firstly, Christ can be a true mediator because, as St Augustine taught he is “God with the Father and because He is man with men.” He can stand as man before God and make mediation and intercession for us as he combines divinity and humanity in His own person. Secondly, his mediation is a matter of bridging the gap between God’s infinite goodness and man’s fallen sinfulness; the transgressions under the first covenant are purified by his perfect self-offering on the Cross which establishes a new covenant. This mediation wins the grace of sanctification for us (Heb 10:14); which is nothing other than God’s Spirit being poured into our hearts.
When we think about these two aspects of Christ’s mediation, we can see how Mary participates in both. First of all, by God’s good plan, it was through her humanity, and through her consent as the obedient handmaid of the Lord that the Word became man and can bridge the gap between humanity and divinity. Secondly, Christ’s self-offering throughout his earthly life, and above all on the Cross, was one in which Mary gladly co-operated, associating herself with the works of his redemption. The doctrine of Mary as mediatrix or dispentrix of all grace is a long-established one in the Church. It is associated particularly with St Bernard who said in a Christmas sermon that “God wished us to have nothing that would not pass through the hands of Mary” – an idea which draws on the unity of God’s plan. As the coming of Christ in the incarnation was through Mary, so his coming through the Spirit into our hearts by grace is through her intercession. At the Second Vatican Council in the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, Mary is recognised under the title of Mediatrix due to her unique association in the salvific work of her Son:
In a wholly singular way, she co-operated by obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the work of the Saviour in restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason, she is mother to us in the order of grace… By her intercession she still brings us gifts of eternal salvation and is invoked as Advocate, Helper, Benefactress and Mediatrix.” (LG 61-62).
This passage shows that the title of Mary as Mediatrix of all Graces reflects both Mary’s unique co-operation in bringing about the grace of our redemption, as Mother and first and best disciple of her Son, and also her continuing role in bringing about the life of grace in souls, which is a participation in the intercession and mediation of Christ. If we think of grace most simply as communion with the Trinity through the presence of the Holy Spirit in the soul, then we can see Mary as Mediatrix or Mother of Grace insofar as her co-operation in salvation, and her motherly intercession for each one of us are means by which God has chosen to bring us into union of life with Him. As St Augustine expresses it, “She is clearly the mother of the members of Christ as … since she has by her charity joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church, who are members of its head.”
When we honour Mary as Mediatrix of all Grace, we in no way detract from the mediation of Christ, which is different in kind from that of his Mother. Christ is the one cause of our salvation, whereas although by divine providence, Mary is chosen to play a unique role in salvation history, including as Mediatrix, her mediation is not essential for our salvation the way that Christ’s is, and depends entirely on her Son. In the same way that our prayer does not change God’s will, but rather that He ordains to use our prayers as a means by which we can become willing co-workers with his plan, so Mary’s co-operation in her Son’s mission and mediation adds nothing necessary to the perfect mediation of Christ, but is an expression of God’s will to make Mary pre-eminently, but each Christian too, a partner in his great plan of salvation.
To honour Mary under the title of Mediatrix should encourage us to devotion to her and prayer for her intercession. There are many Scripture passages which present Mary to us as Mediatrix, and which can inspire meditation and prayer; I will mention a few of them here. In the Old Testament, the figure of the Queen Mother of the King of Israel can be seen as a prefiguration of Mary, and King Solomon’s words to his mother Bathsheba as foreshadowing the intercessory power of Mary’s prayers: “Make your request Mother, for I shall not refuse you” (1 Kings 2:20). In the New Testament, Mary’s simple request to her Son at the wedding feast of Cana, “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3), and Jesus’ generous, abundant response shows us the power of her intercession. On a deeper level, it also tells us of Mary’s role as co-operator in the Passion of Christ and in our redemption, as John’s account of the wedding feast at Cana is full of symbolic significance, with the new wine symbolising the blood of Christ shed on the Cross, the Eucharist, and the new wine at the eternal marriage feast of the Lamb. Mary’s presence and intercession at the scene speaks to us of her significance in salvation history, and the efficacy of her prayers. Finally, we have just celebrated Pentecost, and in St Luke’s Pentecost account in Acts 2, we can see Mary, praying at the heart of the Church for the gift of the Holy Spirit, both as our Mother in the order of grace, and as the perfect image of the Church, through which the gift of the Holy Spirit flows to us sacramentally.
Catholicism in Scotland: Through the lens of George Square
Written by James Bundy
Growing up in Scotland, I have been used to anti-Catholic comments being made regularly without any consequences. I have been called a paedophile on the basis of my faith. I have been told that I do not have the ability to think for myself because “Rome does all my thinking”. I have been told to “go back to Ireland where the fenians belong”.
"St Bede the Venerable" by Lawrence OP is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Written by Oxford Medievalist Eleanor Parker
25 May was the feast of one of the greatest historians Britain has ever produced, the Venerable Bede, who died in 735. A saint and scholar whose works were read throughout Europe, Bede has done more than any other medieval writer to shape our understanding of British history in the early Middle Ages.
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From Eric and the Team