Ave Maria Meditations
MARIA MATER GRATIAE – MARY, MOTHER OF GRACE
“Not only is the admirable Heart of the Saviour’s Mother an ocean of grace, containing and almost infinitely surpassing all the graces of the Church, but it is also their source and origin. As the Eternal Father chose Mary from all eternity that through her we might receive him who is the first author and principle of all grace, so did God likwise choose her, that through his handmaid we might receive all the graces proceeding from that first source.
As God deigned to give us a Saviour only with the holy Virgin’s consent, so also did he eternally decree to grant any gift or grace only through Mary. “God wishes us to have everything through Mary’s hands,” says Saint Bernard. – “None is saved but through you, O holy Virgin,” says Saint Germanus of Constantinople. “None is delivered from evil but through you; through you alone do all receive the gifts and grace of God.”
Hence does the Church salute and invoke her as Mother of grace: Maria Mater gratiae. “It is no wonder”, exclaims Saint Bonaventure, “that the graces of all saints overflow in Mary as the rivers flow into the sea, for the grace of graces was to be communicated to the whole Church by her, according to the saying of Saint Augustine: ‘You are full of grace, O Mary, of the grace you found in the Bosom of God, which you were found worthy to spread all over the whole earth.”
Finally, Saint Bernard, Saint Fulgentius, Saint Bonaventure, and many other Fathers agree that it was necessary for the Mother of our Saviour to contain in herself all graces necessary and useful for her state, because every grace is given to people through her intercession.”
+ St John Eudes
