The Influence of Mary Mediatrix



	When the foundations of the interior life are considered, we cannot discuss the action of Christ, the universal Mediator, on His mystical body without also speaking of the influence of Mary Mediatrix (…). Many people delude themselves maintaining that they reach union with God without having continual recourse to our Lord, who is the way, the truth, and the life. Another error consists in wishing to go to our Lord without going first to Mary, whom the Church calls on a special feast day the Mediatrix of all Graces. (…) Without going as far as this deviation, there are Catholics who do not see the necessity of having recourse to Mary clearly enough so that they may attain intimacy with the Savior. Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort even spoke of “doctors who know the Mother of God only in a speculative, dry, sterile, and indifferent manner; who fear that devotion to the Blessed Virgin is abused, and that injury is done to our Lord by honoring His holy Mother too greatly (…).” They seem to believe that Mary is a hindrance to reaching divine union. According to Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, we lack humility if we neglect the mediators whom God has given us because of our frailty. Intimacy with our Lord in prayer is truly facilitated by a real and profound devotion to Mary. By Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., The Three Ages of the Interior Life 1938.