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If Mary is "Mediatrix of all Graces" is it possible to say the saints are "Mediators of certain graces", according to Catholicism?
E.g., the patron saint of finding lost things is a co-mediator who specifically dispenses the grace of finding lost things.
Mediation is a relative term. That is you can't mediate something from yourself to someone else per se. For example, Christ mediates between God and man (being Himself both).
Thus, any of us can mediate (go between or relay something/be the instrument of confering something to someone else):
1 Timothy 2:2
First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be offered on behalf of all men for kings and all those in authority, so that we may lead tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity.
Mary is said to be Mediatrix of all graces in a relative sense, since she is only said to mediate from Christ to the rest of us.
[That Mary is Mediatrix of all graces is not as yet Catholic dogma; and it is very much debated among Catholics—you may believe or not believe Mary is Mediatrix of all graces, although it would be prudent, seeing the consistency with which it has been taught, to consider it something worthy of belief—it has not been definitively settled by the Magisterium/teaching authority of the Church. This quasi dogma is closely linked to Mary's being Co-Redemptrix (see below), and so many who reject this her being Co-Mediatrix with Christ also reject the former.]
For example, Pope Leo XIII said:
...it be also affirmed that, by the will of God, Mary is the intermediary through whom is distributed unto us this immense treasure of mercies gathered by God, for mercy and truth were created by Jesus Christ. Thus as no man goes to the Father but by the Son, so no man goes to Christ but by his Mother. §
§ Leo XIII, Encyclical on the Rosary Octobri mense, September 21, 1891
But Blessed Pope Pius IX implies Mary is not exclusively the only Mediatrix, only that she is the ultimate, you could say, "among women":
...with her only-begotten Son,* is the most powerful Mediatrix and Conciliatrix in the whole world †
† Pius IX, Apostolic Constitution Ineffabilis Deus, December 8, 1854. [the same papal document defining the Immaculate Conception of Mary]
This is powerful stuff. Note that he is speaking objectively. Like how Abraham didn't know he was actually going to the Father but through the Son. You mustn't strictly be aware that God has thus arranged the economy of His grace, but accept it once known.
She doesn't breach or usurp Christ's ultimate Mediatorship a) because 'usurp' implies a certain violence or a hesistance or reluctance or unwillingness to share your perogative, which we do not know Christ does with Mary, and expect that for His blessed mother He loves her much indeed b) that she is Mediatrix does not imply she doesn't need the grace from God & c) nowhere is it implied she can 'go past' Christ to get grace from God the Father: thus she is only an instrument of Christ (in a more loving way than that sounds).
Mary is an aqueduct which God has chosen, freely, to channel His graces through. Simply out of love, and in His eternal wisdom.
In every way, yes. But they are not the exclusive mediators of any grace. Any more than Christ cannot chose to grant graces to anyone He wishes in an otherwise fashion than through His beloved mother, which we hold with a pious faith that He is not wont to do.
But yes, because if this is the case that God gives all His graces through Mary, then the saints may be the special mediators for certain graces, but only to a relative degree: no saint has a monopoly over one kind of God's graces.
This is closely linked and is very much analagous to the other doctrine of Mary's being Mediatrix with Christ, of all graces.
The core underlying link is that Mary is the Eve to Christ the New Adam:
Adam utlimately was responsible for the Fall.
Christ, called in Scripture "the Last Adam," was utlimately responsible for the Redemption.
Adam renames the Woman "Eve" ('Life') because "she was to be the mother of all the living," Christ, who exclusively called His mother "Woman," and named her "mother of all the living" in Christ: "behold thy mother" (Rev 12:1,5,17).
Etc.
But Eve did play a part in the Fall. She "instigated" it or in any event without her it might not have played out the same way. Thus Mary is viewed as a major part of God's plan in the Redmption. Mary "encourages" or "instigates" Christ's ministry and ultimate Redemption of mankind in asking Him to 'start the timer,' as it were, on His Passion and death by working His first miracle at Cana: Eve began the work of the first Adam, Mary began the work of the "Last Adam," Jesus Christ.
Scripture records that Mary also suffered by way of "sword" through her soul. Which doesn't sound very nice: that's because being hoyl and knowing that her Son was divinely holy, and innocent, nonetheless watched as His precious blood dripped down His unrecognisable body. And we believe that her sufferings God put into a kind of 'treasury', as all sufferings of good people do, wherefrom God can bestow them justly on others who said saints are willing that they should be bestowed.
Thus Mary's sufferings,though absolutely inferior and categorically separate from that of Jesus', may be, in a real way, the difference between some people getting graces for her sake than if she had not suffered. So she contributes for certain sinners a mini passion. Not to be diminished in reality, but, out of protection of the uniqueness and absolute superiority of Jesus' Passion, we ought to be very careful in speaking about.
Thus, they are kind of 'in it together' at the Garden, Adam and Eve. And there is a certain continuity with Christ and Mary, except Mary is not God or divine in any way, but she wants only what Christ wants and so to ask of Mary is to ask Christ. Because He won't refuse her anything nor do anything for her which would breach His justice. yet He is happier and more glad to fulfill the request of His mother as aparticularly exemplary "spiri[t] of the righteous made perfect".
The term Mediatrix in itself could refer to either the objective redemption (the once-for-all earning a title to grace for all men), to the subjective redemption (the distribution of this grace to individual men), or to both. It is most usual to use it to refer only to subjective redemption, i.e. , the process of giving out the fruits of the objective redemption, throughout all centuries. We must consider whether or not the term Mediatrix applies to all graces or only to some. We will ask also about the nature of the mediation: is it only by way of intercession, that is, does Mary simply pray to her Son that he may give us grace, or does God also use her as an instrument in distributing grace.
To begin, we can say without doubt that the title "Mediatrix" is justified, and applies to all graces for certain, by her cooperation in acquiring all graces on Calvary.
The Second Vatican Council (Lumen gentium ## 61-62), said:
... 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.
This motherhood of Mary in the economy of grace lasts without interruption, from the consent which she gave in faith at the annunciation, and which she unhesitatingly bore with under the cross, even to the perpetual consummation of all the elect. 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. This however it to be so understood that it takes nothing away, or adds nothing to the dignity and efficacy of Christ the one Mediator. For no creature can ever be put on the same level with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer...."
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