Praise be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
Today is the memorial of St. Juan Diego, and the words that he heard from Our Lady of Guadalupe are perhaps the most consoling words ever recorded in any Marian apparition—at least in my opinion, they rank very high up there.
Our Lady of Guadalupe said to Juan Diego, “Listen, put it into your heart, my youngest and dearest son. Do not let your heart be disturbed. Do not fear anything that is sharp or hurtful. Am I not here, who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Are you not in the hollow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Do you need anything more? Let nothing else worry or disturb you.”   Am I not here, who am your mother? Do you need anything more? And the answer is, well, no, we don't need anything more because God will give us all other good things through Our Lady. That's from the Book of Wisdom 7:11. Those words from the Book of Wisdom are applied by the Church to Our Lady. God gives us all good things through her.
St. John XXIII puts it really well. He's one of the many popes that speak of this. He says, “The faithful can do nothing more fruitful and salutary than to win for themselves the most powerful patronage of the Immaculate Virgin, so that by this most sweet mother there may be open to them all the treasures of the divine redemption, and so they may have life and have it more abundantly. Did not the Lord will that we have everything through Mary?”  Our Lady of Guadalupe assured Juan Diego, St. Juan Diego, that she was truly his mother, the mother of all peoples, and a mother not only willing but able to help. Why willing? Because she's a mother. Why able? Because God gives us all good things through her.
So the spiritual motherhood of Our Lady is real because it's based on Our Lady's direct and active cooperation in redemption. She actually acquires graces, precious graces for us, and then distributes, transmits those graces to us. That's the role God has given her. He's really given her spiritual motherhood in our regard. She has something precious to give, and she gives it.
St. John Paul II says that recognition of her role as Mediatrix is implicit in the expression “Our Mother.” First she acquires, then she transmits. It's not just figurative or metaphorical motherhood; it's real.
St. John Paul II: Mary's motherhood in our regard does not only consist of an affective bond. Because of her merits and her intercession, she contributes effectively to our spiritual birth and to the development of the life of grace within us.
That's why we call her Mother of Grace and Mother of Life. It's not just an affective bond, the affection, so feelings. Of course we have feelings of love for Our Lady and she has feelings of love for us, but the bond of motherhood is more than that; it's effective. Our Lady actually does something, produces something, causes something, like a real mother, because she is a real mother.
Just as all that a baby needs to live, it really receives it from its mother—really. There's really a bond there, a dependency. So all that a soul needs to live, it really receives from God through Our Lady. There's a real dependency there; there's a real bond there. It's not just affective; it's effective.
Christ makes her merit grace for us together with Him, and He makes her mediate that grace to us after she obtains it. She's always in inseparable cooperation with God. Just as the conception of a child is an inseparable collaboration between a father and a mother, and biologically it cannot be any other way, so spiritually the regeneration, the rebirth of a soul to life, is the collaboration of Jesus and Mary, God and Our Lady. And it is that way, not by necessity, but because God does not want it any other way, and will not do it any other way. Although He could, He will not.
St. John Paul II explains how Our Lady—how Our Lord rather—made Our Lady's spiritual motherhood depend on her meriting grace for us in the redemption. That's the key moment. Our Lady actually, actively, directly gives life to us.
So John Paul II says, applied to Mary, the term cooperator acquires a specific meaning. The collaboration of Christians in salvation takes place after the Calvary event. Mary instead cooperated during the event itself, and in the role of mother. She alone was associated in this way with the redemptive sacrifice that merited the salvation of all mankind, in union with Christ, and in submission to Him. She collaborated in obtaining the grace of salvation for all humanity.
Again, Our Lord has given Our Lady an active, direct, and maternal role in our redemption. She acquires graces for us, and then she transmits them to us, a mother willing and able to help us.
In John Paul II, again, he's got a lot of awesome teachings. He says the gift of her universal spiritual motherhood stems precisely from this cooperation. Associated with Christ in the work of redemption, which includes the spiritual regeneration of humanity, she becomes mother of those reborn to new life. As a maternal mediatrix, Mary presents our desires and petitions to Christ and transmits the divine gifts to us, interceding continually on our behalf.
Again, there's a real transmission. Christ wants Our Lady, as a real mother, to transmit to us what she, together with Christ, obtains for us.
So the reality of Our Lady's spiritual motherhood is very important. That's why in Guadalupe, Our Lady reminds Juan Diego of it, and in very strong, consoling but very strong words. Our Lady appears because she wants him to know she is a mother and wants all of those people to know that she is their mother, to bring them to Christ.
And the Church, especially in the second half of the 20th century till this day, very much emphasizes Our Lady's spiritual motherhood, the reality of it.
St. Paul VI says, “The Blessed Virgin, after participating in the redeeming sacrifice of the Son, and in such an intimate way as to deserve to be proclaimed by Him the Mother of Mankind, now continues to fulfill from Heaven her maternal function. This is a most consoling truth, which, by the free consent of God All-Wise, is an integrating part of the mystery of human salvation. Therefore, it must be held as of faith by all Christians.”  It's almost a dogmatic statement right there by Paul VI. It's an integrating part of the mystery of human salvation. It must be held as of faith by all Christians.
So all Christians, from the first in time, John the Apostle, let's say, who symbolizes all of us, to the last, whoever that will be, all of them can experience Our Lady's motherhood. St. Juan Diego did, and so can we.
Again, why is it important? Back to John XXIII. Because the faithful can do nothing more fruitful and salutary than to win for themselves the most powerful patronage of the Immaculate Virgin, so that by means of this most sweet Mother there may be open to them all the treasures of the divine redemption. You want all the treasures? Well, there's nothing better than you can do than recognize Our Lady's maternal mediation, so that all of them may have life and have it more abundantly.
Didn't the Lord will that we have everything through Mary? Of course, He did.
That's why Our Lady asks, “Am I not here who am your mother? Do you need anything more?” No, we don't. Nothing more is necessary, for God will give us all good things together with Her, including Jesus Himself, for real and for sure. We need nothing more.
Praise be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.