“The rainbow is a symbol of the peace and reconciliation which the blessed Virgin, our Mediatrix, effected between God and man.”
St. Anthony of Padua, b. 1195- d. 1231
Last week, the Church celebrated the feast of St. Anthony of Padua. His life and writings testify to his deep love, and devotion, to the Blessed Virgin Mary. One aspect of Marian devotion that St. Anthony spoke of is her mediation between man and God. The Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate documented the Marian devotion of St. Anthony, and spoke specifically about his references to her mediation, when they wrote:
“This most merciful Mother has been chosen by God to distribute all His grace to poor sinners. Why is this? Certainly Her ‘Fiat’ at the annunciation permitted Christ to take on His sacred flesh in Her womb; it is, after all, through Her that God is with us in Christ Jesus. But Her ‘Fiat’ continued throughout Her entire life culminating in Her assent to God’s holy will on blood-stained Calvary. The holy doctor, as previously quoted, compares our Lady to an olive, and in that sermon he makes special mention of Her agony at the foot of the cross. ‘It could be said that She was ‘red as an olive’ in the Passion of Her Son, when ‘Her Heart was pierced with a sword'(Lk. 2:35).’ The sorrowful Mother participated in His redemptive suffering, especially when His side was pierced by the lance, and is often called our Co-Redemptrix with the Redeemer. ‘The Blessed Virgin Mary therefore, our Mediatrix, established peace between God and the sinner.’ It is through the humble Mary that God has reconciled us to Himself in Christ Jesus and therefore She is rightly called the Mediatrix of all graces. Commenting on the rainbow which God set in the sky after the flood (cf. Gn 9), the saint proclaims, ‘The rainbow is a symbol of the peace and reconciliation which the blessed Virgin, our Mediatrix, effected between God and man.’ And it is thus that he prays, ‘Our Lady, our only hope, we are asking You to illumine our souls with the brilliance of Your grace… that we may be worthy of His glory.'” source
Yes, we pray as St. Anthony did to Our Lady: “Our Lady, our only hope, we are asking You to illumine our souls with the brilliance of Your grace… that we may be worthy of His glory.”
•SCF
