Divine Mercy: The Heart of the Gospel

Mary: Mediatrix of Mercy 173 Therefore, we can rightly say that the Blessed Virgin Mary shares like no other creature, angel or saint, in the one mediation o f Jesus Christ, and thus is rightly and uniquely referred to as the “Mediatrix” {Lumen Gentium, no. 62). Mary in a way all her own — beyond all other creatures — participates in 1Tim 2:5, because o f her unique co-redemp- tive participation in the acquisition o f grace, with and under Jesus, as the New Eve, that consequently results in her unique mediatorial task in the distribution o f the graces of Calvary. John Paul explains in Redemptoris Mater. Mary entered, in a way all her own, into the one mediation ‘between God and men’ which is the mediation o f the man Christ Jesus (cf. 1 Tim 2:5) ... we must say that through this fullness of grace and supernatural life she was especially predisposed to coop­ eration with Christ, the one Mediator of human salvation. And such cooperation is precisely this mediation subordinated to the media­ tion o f C h r is t ... In Mary’s case we have a special and exceptional mediation...9 In sum, it is abundantly clear from the magisterial teachings of the Church that Our Lady is the Co-redemptrix who uniquely shares in the one mediation of Christ in acquiring the fruits o f the Redemption, and as a result she uniquely participates in that selfsame perfect mediation o f Christ as Mediatrix o f the graces o f Redemption; and that this theo­ logically constitutes the basis for her universal role as “Mediatrix of Mercy;” and as “Advocate” (or principal Intercessor) for all God’s people (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 62). What then o f the prophetic dimension o f the title, “Mediatrix of Mercy?” How does the private revelation o f Divine Mercy and the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart o f Mary, prophesied at Fatima, unite in this one title: “Mediatrix of Mercy?” What does this title say to us at this point o f human history? I would suggest that these two great movements, the Triumph of the Divine Mercy and the Triumph o f the Immaculate Heart, which are not man-made but heaven-made, have a supernatural complementarity. Let us examine a few examples. Firstly, let us look at the theology o f the prayer that we find in both o f these movements. Note the similarity in theology between the following prayers given at Fatima and to Blessed Faustina.