Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Today we celebrate the feast, Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces.
This was a feast that was originally introduced by Pope Benedict XV in the year 1921
and had been celebrated on May 31st up until 1956
when, I believe it was Pope Pius XII who then established May 31st
as the feast of the queenship of Our Lady.
So after 1956,
the feast of Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces
was then celebrated on various dates according to different dioceses.
So for us that follow the seraphic calendar,
we celebrate it today, May 8th.
And so first of all, what is the meaning of Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces?
That is, all graces come to us through Mary.
God being the source of all grace
and Mary, by the will of God, established as the channel of all graces.
And this is it with respect to both acquiring the graces of salvation
and also distributing those graces once acquired.
And we see both of these aspects, that is, the acquiring of the graces
and also the distributing of these graces,
as mentioned in the second chapter.
mentioned in the second chapter.
Second Vatican Council.
In Lumen Gentium, paragraphs 61 and 62,
it says, with reference to acquiring the graces,
in suffering with him as he died on the cross,
she cooperated in the work of the Savior
in an altogether singular way,
by obedience, faith, hope, and burning love,
to restore supernatural life to souls.
As a result,
she is our mother in the order of grace.
And so Our Lady is our mother in the order of grace.
She's the mother of the mystical body, the Church,
in the order of grace.
She gave birth to the head of the mystical body
in joy and without any pain at Bethlehem.
And she gave birth to all of the members of the mystical body,
each and every one of us,
in sorrow and in pain at the foot of the cross on Calvary.
So Lumen Gentium goes on to talk then about
Our Lady's role in distributing these graces.
This motherhood of Mary in the economy of grace
lasts without interruption.
For after being assumed into heaven,
she has not put aside this saving function,
but by her manifold intercession,
she continues to win the gifts of eternal salvation for us.
By her motherly love,
she takes care of the brothers of her son
who are still in pilgrimage,
and in dangers and difficulties,
until they be led through to the happy fatherland.
For this reason,
the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church
under the titles of Advocate,
Auxiliatrix,
Adiutrix,
and Mediatrix.
And so,
in the name of the Blessed Virgin,
the Blessed Virgin.
And so,
just as Christ is the one mediator
between God and men,
the one mediator with the Father,
so Our Lady
is the one Mediatrix
with her Son.
As Christ chose to come to us through Mary,
so we must also go to Christ
through Mary.
The paragraph that I just read from
the Lumen Gentium
has in a footnote
a citation of Pope Leo XIII,
who in his turn
is citing Saint Bernardine of Siena,
who says,
Every grace that is communicated to this world
has a threefold course,
for by excellent order
it is dispensed from God to Christ,
from Christ to the Virgin,
and from the Virgin to us.
So from God to Christ,
Christ to the Virgin,
from the Virgin to us.
And this is basically the same thing we read
in the Collect of today's Mass,
where it says,
O Lord Jesus Christ,
our mediator with the Father,
who hast appointed the most blessed Virgin,
thy mother,
to be also our mother
and our Mediatrix with thee,
grant that whosoever shall approach thee
for some favor
may rejoice at obtaining all things through her.
And so this is what we rejoice in today,
the fact that we can and do
obtain all things
through our Blessed Mother.
In the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.