Next comes a section—New Testament Outline of the Mediatrix (Lk 1:38; Lk 1:41; Jn 2:1)—with various subsection which I will consider succinctly.
Here is the intro to the section:
Mary’s role as Mediatrix with the Mediator in distributing the precious gifts of salvation[125] merited on the Cross is a gift given to the “Woman” at Calvary (cf. Jn 19:26). But her role as the Mediatrix of the graces of redemption is outlined and manifested in a gradual way in earlier passages of Sacred Scripture, where the Mother of Jesus acts as Mother and Intercessor in the Gospel mission of her Son, the Mediator of all grace and salvation.
Since we are back to an assertion being concluded by a citation of John 19:26 we will then again ask: what does “When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’” have to do with “Mary’s role as Mediatrix…given to the ‘Woman’ at Calvary”? Utterly nothing.
Knowing Mark Miravalle’s modis operandi, what he means by “manifested in a gradual way in earlier passages” is that he will embark upon an expedition which consists of pulling a verse here, a half a verse there and tie them together via assertions followed by contextually unrelated citations into a tapestry of that which the Bible never states.
Subsection: “Lk 1:38 – Mediatrix Of Christ: Source of All Graces”
To the angelic invitation of divine motherhood which will provide the world its Mediator, Mary responds, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). As Pope John Paul II explains,
“The first moment of submission to the one mediation ‘between God and man’ – the mediation of Jesus Christ – is the Virgin of Nazareth’s acceptance of motherhood.. ..Mary’s motherhood, completely pervaded by her spousal attitude as ‘handmaid of the Lord,’ constitutes the first and fundamental dimension of that mediation which the Church confesses and proclaims in her regard and ‘continually commends to the hearts of the faithful….’”1
Note that Luke 1:38 is being mis-interpreted as an “angelic invitation of divine motherhood.” This is due to the concept of Mary’s yes which is taken to mean that, as it where, Mary is responsible for our salvation because she is the one who agreed that the savior would be born of her.
Not so! Too much! Too far! How so!
Mark Miravalle writes that Mary “brought into the world the Uncreated Grace from which flows every grace” that Mary was “bringing to the lost world its Saviour” and that Mary “becomes ‘for the whole human race,’ as St. Irenaeus tells us, ‘the cause of our salvation.’”2
Furthermore, more to the point and more pointed still; let us consider the elucidation on this point by Tim Staples. Catholic Answer’s page on Tim Staples describes him as a “Catholic Apologist Extraordinaire!.” Tim Staples is Director of Apologetics and Evangelization for Catholic Answers, he spent “six years in formation for the priesthood, earning a degree in philosophy from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook, Pennsylvania. He then studied theology on a graduate level at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, for two years.”
During a radio debate with James White on the Bible Answer Man that was aired on July 6-7 and August 14, 2000 AD, Tim Staples stated,
Mary is so crucial because here we see Mary, a little fourteen year old girl, who God comes to and, we believe in essence, asks her permission to save the world.
John Paul II’s statement above is more sober and, at least on one level, more true to the text as he referenced Mary’s “Submission” and “acceptance of motherhood.” Why is this more accurate? Because the angel did not ask Mary anything, did not wait for an answer, did not ask (for God) her permission to save the world. Rather, “the angel said to her…‘you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus…’ Then Mary said to the angel…‘Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.’”
She heard God’s will and accepted it; what a blessed servant of the Lord and what a good example to us all.
In confirmation of my assessment consider the next statements by Mark Miravalle:
We see the beginning of Mary’s unique sharing in the salvific mediation of Christ at the Annunciation, where the free consent of the Virgin to be the Theotokos, the “God-bearer,”3 mediates to the world Jesus Christ, Saviour and Author of all grace.
It is in virtue of Mary’s yes that He who is the source and mediation of all the graces of redemption came to the human family.
Note that he has to traverse almost half a century (to 431 AD) in order to quote from the Council of Ephesus that Mary is the Theotokos/God-bearer (for the she is not God’s mother…yes she is because Jesus is God…but she is not the Trinity’s mother argument, please see Mary in Roman Catholicism, part 7 – Mother of God?).
I will stick to the words of the Bible and refer to Mary as “the mother of my Lord” (Luke 1:43).