It is perhaps also worth mentioning
in this context that on several occasions the Life of the Virgin
identifies Mary as a “mediator,” a title that might suggest to advocates of her
coredemption the closely related notion of Mary’s unique role as “Mediatrix”
of divine Grace in conjunction with her son. According to this dogmatic
position, the Virgin Mary, because of her unique participation in the
redemptive process at the Crucifixion, also “shares in the one mediation of
Christ in distributing to the People of God the ‘gifts of eternal salvation’
obtained from the cross (cf. Jn 19.26). Because Mary is Coredemptrix with the
Redeemer, she is also Mediatrix of Grace with the Mediator” (Miravalle, Mary:
Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate, 29, emphasis in original). Yet inasmuch
as Mary’s elevation to Mediatrix is contingent on her alleged status as Coredemptrix,
it hardly seems possible from a historical perspective that the Life of the
Virgin envisions such an exalted position for the Virgin so that he could
be understood as distributing the Grace of redemption equally with her son. . .
. it is quite clear that the Life of the Virgin’s use of the term “mediator”
for Mary does not present her as directly involved in the distribution of
saving Grace to the faithful. Rather, in each instance where Mary is named a
mediator, either her intercession is explicitly invoked in conjunction with her
mediation or an intercessory meaning is clear from the context. Thus, while
Mary is envisioned as a uniquely positioned intercessor, her mediation is dependent
on her son’s concession to her pleas, and she does not distribute the Grace of
salvation equally with him. (Maximus the Confessor, The Life of the Virgin
[trans. Stephen J. Shoemaker; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012], 33-34 [RB: not just "equally" with him, but with him, too in the sense demanded by Catholic theology--cf. paragraphs 967-970 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, for e.g.])
Even in the following passage . .
. which perhaps comes closest to the idea of Mary as Mediatrix, it is
entirely clear that her role as mediator is connected with her intercession: “Now
a second mediator goes forth to the first mediator, a devout human being to the
incarnate God, a second offering of our nature to the Father after the first
one who was himself sacrificed one time on behalf of all, and she is ever
living to intercede on behalf of those who approach God through her.” Maximum
the Confessor, Life of the Virgin 128. The same is also true of Mary’s
role at the wedding at Cana, where the Life says that “the mediator of
all good things was a mediator of this miracle also.” Maximus the Confessor, Life
of the Virgin 68. Here again Mary’s role as mediator is determined by her
intercessions with her son that he do something for the bride and groom about
the lack of wine, rather than “distributing to the People of God the ‘gifts
of eternal salvation’ obtained from the cross.” (Ibid., 179 n. 120)
