Catholic during the Great Apostasy

The authority of mothers over their sons is so great that, even if they are rulers with unlimited dominion over all persons in their land, mothers can never become subjects of their own sons.

It is true that the Lord Christ, now residing in Heaven, where He sits at the right hand of God the Father, as St. Thomas explains, even as a man, due to the hypostatic union with the Word of God, possesses supreme authority over all creatures, including the Most Holy Virgin. Yet it remains true that there was a time when the Savior, living on earth, deigned to humble Himself to such a degree that He submitted to Mary’s authority: *And He was subject to them* (1).

St. Ambrose even says that when the Lord Jesus chose Mary as His Mother, He thereby placed Himself under the obligation to obey Her.

Hence, according to Richard of St. Lawrence, while we say of other Saints that they are with God, Mary alone has attained such a privilege that not only is She subject to God’s will, but God Himself is subject to Her will: *But even the Lord is subject to Her will.*

And while, as the same author adds, it is said of other virgins that *They follow the Lamb wherever He goes* (2), of the Most Holy Virgin it can be said that the Lamb of God followed Her, for the Gospel of St. Luke states: *And He was subject to them.*

From this we infer that in Heaven, although Mary cannot command Her Son, Her requests are always those of a Mother, and thus undoubtedly capable of obtaining all that She asks for.

Mary, says St. Bonaventure, has the great privilege of being all-powerful before God as Her Son. Why? Precisely because, as we have mentioned and will elaborate further, Her requests are those of a Mother.

**The Omnipotence of Mary** 
Therefore, St. Peter Damian plainly states that the Most Holy Virgin can do all things: *To You, O Mother of God,* he writes, *has been given all power in heaven and on earth. Nothing is impossible for You, who can even console despairing sinners, inspiring them with hope for salvation.* He adds: *For You approach Your Son, who sits at the right hand of the Eternal Father; You approach this Altar of our reconciliation with God, with the authority and privileges of a Mother, for whom Your Son has such regard and so greatly desires to fulfill Your every wish that it seems as though You command rather than request, as though You were not a subject but a Queen.*

For the Savior wishes to honor His most beloved Mother, who so revered Him on earth, by fulfilling all Her wishes in Heaven as promptly as possible.

St. German expresses this similarly, saying: *O Mary! You are all-powerful in saving sinners; it is enough that You intercede for them, for You are the Mother of Life.*

St. Bernardine of Siena does not hesitate to say that *All things, even God, are subject to the Virgin’s command.* This means that God fulfills Her requests so unfailingly, as if they were commands.

Thus, St. Anselm exclaims: *O my Lady, God has so exalted You that He has made You all-powerful with Him.* That is, for Her faithful servants, She is capable of obtaining every possible grace, as Cosmas, Patriarch of Jerusalem, assures us, for *Your intercession is all-powerful* (3).

Indeed, Mary is all-powerful, says Richard of St. Lawrence, for according to all law, the King and Queen enjoy the same privileges. He adds: *The Mother has become all-powerful through the omnipotence of Her Son.*

So much so that, according to St. Antoninus, God has placed the Church not only under Mary’s protection but also under Her authority.

Since a mother should have the same authority as her son, Christ the Lord, being all-powerful, has also made the Most Holy Virgin all-powerful; yet it is undoubtedly true that the Son is all-powerful by His nature, while the Mother is so only by grace.

This is fulfilled in that whatever the Mother requests, the Son never denies Her, as was revealed to St. Bridget, who once heard Jesus say to Mary: *My Mother, You know how I love You; ask Me for whatever You wish, and every request of Yours will be granted.* The Savior Himself explained the reason, adding: *Since You never denied Me anything out of love for Me on earth, it is just that I now deny You nothing out of love for You in Heaven.*

Thus, we call Mary all-powerful, but in the sense applicable to a created being, which cannot possess attributes proper to Divinity alone: Mary is all-powerful in that through Her prayers She can obtain all things.

Rightly, then, O mighty Defender, does St. Bernard cry out to You: *If You will it, all things will come to pass.* To raise even the most despairing sinner to the heights of holiness depends on You.

St. Anselm says the same: *If You desire our salvation, it is impossible that we should not be saved.* From this, Blessed Albert the Great concludes that we should ask Mary to desire our salvation, for whatever She wills unfailingly comes to pass.

Reflecting on this supreme omnipotence of Mary, St. Peter Damian beseeches Her mercy: *Let Your natural inclination move You, let Your power move You; for the more powerful You are, the more merciful You ought to be.* As if to say:

*O most beloved Defender! Since You have a heart so merciful that You cannot behold the wretched without pitying their misery, and since You have such favor with God that You can save all whom You take under Your protection, deign to take us, however great our wretchedness, under Your defense, we who place all our hope in You. If our pleas are unworthy to move You, follow the impulse of Your own heart and use Your power; for the Creator has made You so powerful that the greater Your ability to bestow blessings, the more merciful and ready You are to aid us.*

That this most merciful Heavenly Mother is such, St. Bernard assures us, saying: *Mary is both immensely powerful and immensely merciful; Her love for us lacks neither pity nor power to aid us, as She continually proves through the effects of Her grace that we experience.*

**When She Speaks, Her Son Listens** 
From the moment Mary appeared on earth, Her primary task, after spreading God’s glory, was to aid the wretched. It is known that She already possessed the privilege that all Her requests were unfailingly granted, as evidenced by the event at the Wedding in Cana.

When the wine ran out, the Most Holy Virgin, taking pity on the distress of the wedding household, asked Her Divine Son to perform a miracle to aid the hosts, saying to Him: *They have no wine.* But Jesus replied: *Woman, what is that to Me and to You? My hour has not yet come* (4). As if to say: *O Woman! What is it to Me and to You that the wine is lacking? It is not fitting for Me to perform a miracle now, for the time has not yet come. The proper time will be when I begin to preach, and then I will need to confirm My teaching with miracles.*

Although it might seem that by this response the Savior refused His Mother’s request, let us note that Mary did not doubt the success of Her plea and acted as if She had received assurance that Her request would be granted: She instructed the servants at the feast to do whatever Her Son commanded, promising that He would aid them. And indeed, Jesus, to fulfill His Mother’s wish, ordered several large vessels to be filled with water, which He then turned into excellent wine.

But how is this to be explained? If the proper time for performing miracles was to come only when Jesus began to preach His doctrine, how could this first miracle precede God’s decrees in this regard?

I answer that nothing occurred contrary to divine decrees: indeed, in general, the time for performing miracles had not yet come; but from eternity, God had established another universal decree that whatever Mary requested would never be denied Her. Therefore, the Most Holy Virgin, aware of this privilege, was not at all troubled that, as it seemed, Christ rejected Her request, and She acted as if the grace had already been granted.

St. John Chrysostom interprets the words of Jesus, *Woman, what is that to Me and to You?* in this sense, saying that although the Savior responded thus, He nevertheless performed what She requested to honor His Mother.

St. Thomas confirms this interpretation, stating that through the words *My hour has not yet come,* the Son of God showed that He would have deferred the miracle if another had asked; but because His Mother requested it, He performed it immediately.

St. Cyril and St. Jerome hold the same opinion, as does Jansenius of Ghent, who says: *To honor His Mother, the Savior anticipated the time for performing miracles.* In short, there is no creature on earth or in heaven who can obtain as many graces for us poor sinners as this most loving Defender; for God wishes to honor Her not only as His most beloved servant but also as His true Mother.

This is precisely what William of Paris says, addressing Her: *No creature can so easily and abundantly obtain graces for us poor ones from Your Son as You, O our Helper! Through this, He undoubtedly wishes to honor You not only as His most faithful servant but also as His true Mother.* It is enough for Mary to speak, and Her Divine Son immediately grants what She requests.

God says to the Bride in the Song of Songs, who represents Mary: *You who dwell in the gardens, the friends listen; let Me hear your voice* (5). The friends mentioned here are the Saints, who, when they intercede for graces for those under their care, wait for their Queen to ask God for them, and then they receive them; for, as we showed in Chapter V, no grace is granted without Mary’s mediation.

**She Became Worthy of Reward** 
And how does Mary obtain graces?

As soon as She speaks: *Let Me hear your voice.* When She speaks, Her Son immediately listens.

Abbot William, interpreting this passage from the Song of Songs, imagines Jesus speaking thus to His Most Holy Mother: *You who dwell in the heavenly gardens, intercede with confidence for whomever You wish; for I cannot forget that I am Your Son and refuse anything to My Mother.*

And to obtain what She desires, another author citing this passage of Scripture adds, it is enough for Mary to utter a single word; for to be heard by Her Son is, for Her, to be granted.

According to Abbot Godfrey, although the Most Holy Virgin makes requests to obtain graces, She does so with a certain maternal authority, and therefore they are so powerful.

The Most Holy Virgin Mary, writes this holy Abbot, because Jesus is human and born of Her, can, by Her maternal authority, obtain all that She desires, and we should not doubt this.

One sigh from Mary, writes Father Justin Miechowita, carries more weight before God than the prayers of all the Saints combined. This was once confessed by the devil himself, through the mouth of a possessed person, at the command of St. Dominic, who was exorcising him, as Father Paciucchelli describes.

St. Antoninus says that the requests of the Most Holy Virgin, being those of a Mother, have something of a commanding nature; thus, it is impossible for Mary not to be heard when She prays.

For this reason, St. German addresses Her, which should encourage us to commend ourselves to this powerful Protector: *O Mary,* he cries, *because You enjoy a Mother’s authority before God, You obtain forgiveness even for the greatest sinners; for the Savior, always regarding You as His true Mother, cannot reject any of Your requests.*

Once, St. Bridget heard the Blessed in Heaven say to their Most Holy Queen: *O blessed Lady! What is there that You cannot do? For whatever You will, it is done at once.* (…)

*How could it be,* exclaims St. Augustine, *that it is not fitting to the perfection of our Lord to honor His Mother in this way, when He Himself declared that He came into the world not to abolish but to fulfill the Commandments of God, which, among others, enjoin honor for parents?*

St. George, Archbishop of Nicomedia, even claims that Jesus, by fulfilling all His Mother’s requests, repays, as it were, a debt of gratitude to Her who, by Her consent, endowed Him with human nature.

St. Methodius the Martyr expresses the same, addressing Mary: *Rejoice and be glad, O my Lady! For You have the Son as Your debtor, to whom all are debtors. For we all owe God everything we possess, since whatever we have, we owe to Him. But toward You, God Himself deigned to become a debtor by taking human flesh from You.*

There is no doubt, writes St. Augustine, that She who was worthy to provide the price for those to be redeemed can aid the redeemed more than all other Saints.

Since Mary was worthy to give flesh to the Word of God and thereby prepared the price of our redemption, that we might be delivered from eternal death, She can help us attain salvation more than anyone else.

St. Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, living in the time of St. Jerome, writes: *The Son delights in being asked by His Mother; for He wishes to grant all that He gives to people at Her request, thereby acknowledging the benefit He owes Her for receiving human flesh from Her.*

Thus, in its rites, the Greek Church sings to the Most Holy Virgin: *Therefore, O Mary, Mother of God, You can save us by Your prayers, supported by the authority of Your motherhood.*

Let us conclude with the words of St. Bonaventure, who, reflecting on the great gift the Creator gave to humanity by providing Mary as their Defender, addresses Her thus:

*O, without doubt, the marvelous kindness of our God, who, for those who have sinned against Him, gave You, O Lady, as a Defender, that You might obtain from Your Son whatever You wish for us. O marvelous and ineffable mercy of our God toward us, who, lest we flee from Him, overly fearing His judgment for our sins, deigned to appoint His own Mother and the Dispenser of His graces as our Defender.*

**PRAYER** 
Most Holy Mother of God! I will address You with the words of St. Bernard: *Speak, O Lady! For Your Son will listen, and whatever You ask, You will obtain.* Speak, then, O Mary, our Defender, speak for us wretched sinners. Remember that You have received such great power and such exalted dignity not only for Yourself but also for us. If the Creator Himself deigned to become Your debtor by receiving humanity from You, it was so that You might, according to Your will, distribute the treasures of divine mercy to poor sinners. We are Your servants, we have dedicated ourselves to Your special service, for I trust that I too am among them; we glory in the hope that we live under Your protection. Since You are benevolent to all, even to those who do not know You or render You no honor, and, what is more, to those who offend and blaspheme against You—how much more can we expect from Your goodness, which seeks out the wretched to aid them, we who honor You, who love You, and who have placed all our trust in You!

We are great sinners; but God has endowed You with mercy and power surpassing our iniquities. You can and desire to save us, and we hope for this all the more, the more unworthy we feel to glorify and praise You in heaven when we attain it through Your mediation.

O Mother of mercy! We present to You our souls, once washed and adorned with the Blood of Christ the Lord, but later horribly disfigured by sin; we present them to You, that You may deign to undertake their renewed purification. Obtain for us sincere amendment, divine love, perseverance in virtue, and heaven. We ask great things of You, but what of it? Can You not obtain all things? Would this be too much for the love with which God loves You? It is enough for You to open Your mouth and pray to Your Divine Son; He denies You nothing.

Pray for us, O Mary, pray for us; pray, and You will surely be heard, and we shall unfailingly be saved.

*GLORIES OF MARY by St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church. Krakow, 1887, pp. 160–174.*

**Footnotes:** 
1) Luke 2:51. 
2) Revelation 14:4. 
3) Hymn 6. 
4) John 2:3. 
5) Song of Songs 8:13.