Review
We have already examined three of St. Maximilian’s ‘provocative’ titles of Our Lady. We acknowledge that Catholics are not accustomed to hearing these particular titles, even though they are deeply rooted in Scripture and Tradition. When understood in their proper context, including their analogical use, they are in fact not provocative, but rather imbued with deep piety and filial love and honor for Our Mother and Queen. Let us now examine the three remaining titles and conclude with some practical applications.
Fourth Title: “Quasi-part of the Trinity”
St. Maximilian says that Mary, by divine decree, is “inserted into the Trinity” due to Her unique relationship with each of the members of the Trinity. She is Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, and Spouse of the Holy Ghost. Amongst human relations, these are the strongest relationships a woman can have with a man: her father, her husband, and her son. Our Blessed Mother has analogous relationships with each Person of the Blessed Trinity. These lead to an indescribably intimate union between Our Lady and the Blessed Trinity.
Here we do well to note that all of the blessed saints in Heaven partake in the divine life of the Holy Trinity. This begins at Baptism, when by the power of the Holy Ghost we are made members of the Mystical Body of Christ and become adopted sons of the Father. Again, we recall that St. Athanasius taught: “[Jesus] indeed, assumed humanity that we might become God.”[i] This concept of man’s ‘divinization’ (or apotheosis in Greek) is taught by many of the Church Fathers, including St. Justin Martyr, St. Irenaeus, St. Clement of Alexandria, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Basil the Great, St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. Augustine, and St. Maximus the Confessor. Yet what is true for all the baptized who attain eternal beatitude is realized in an infinitely more perfect and complete manner in the Blessed Virgin Mary.
These comments by Kolbe are very much in line with the writings, not only of ancient Christian writers, but also of later saints. Saint Peter Damian, Doctor of the Church, said, “God dwells in the Blessed Virgin, with whom He has the identity of one nature.” St. Louis de Montfort insists, “Jesus is altogether in Mary and Mary altogether in Jesus; or rather, She exists no more, but Jesus alone is in Her.” St. John Eudes explains, “Jesus remained and will remain in Mary’s heart forever.”
Here is a diagram that St. Maximilian Kolbe drew of Mary being inserted into the Holy Trinity:[ii]
Fifth Title: “Quasi-Incarnation of the Holy Ghost”
In the unveiling of the Trinity to the world, each Person is revealed by another person. The Father is manifested by the Son; we also say, the Son reveals the Father. The Son is manifested by the Holy Ghost. The Father sent the Son (Jn 5:36) and the Son sent the Holy Ghost from the Father (Jn 15:26). It is by the power of the Holy Ghost that Christ becomes present in the Holy Eucharist (the epiclesis); the Holy Ghost inspires and interprets the Scriptures (the Son is the Word of God); and the Holy Ghost forms Christians in the Mystical Body of Christ. Yet who manifests the Holy Ghost?
There is no incarnation of the Holy Ghost. The only Person of the Trinity who assumes a human nature is God the Son. However, if the Holy Ghost were to assume a human form, He would find his most perfect resemblance in the Blessed Virgin Mary. Of all creation (angels, men, animals, plants, inanimate beings), it is Our Lady who most closely embodies the Holy Ghost in a physical form.
St. Maximilian and the saints point to Mary as the ‘avatar’ (a kind of bodily representation) of the Holy Ghost. St. Peter Damian said, “Mary is the finest gold with which the throne is clothed, because God puts on the Virgin and in the Virgin He is put on in a way that could not possibly be better.” St. Augustine called Mary, “the living mold of God.” St. Louis de Montfort teaches: “We must to everything through Mary, that is, we must obey Her always and be led in all things by Her spirit, which is the Holy Spirit of God” (emphasis added, True Devotion, #258).
In simple layman’s terms, we can simply say that if you want to know what the Holy Spirit looks like, you can get a good idea by looking at the words and actions of Mary.
Here is a diagram that St. Maximilian Kolbe drew of Mary’s mediatory character in virtue of Her Immaculate Conception and espousal to the Holy Ghost:[iii]
Sixth Title: “Transubstantiated into the Holy Ghost”
Now, think for a moment about demonic possession. The devil acts and speaks freely within the body of the possessed person. If a person actively gives himself over to the devil, then the devil’s possession is all the more total and complete.
On the other hand, Christians are called to invite the Holy Ghost into their souls. Think of all the devotions in which we pray “Come, Holy Ghost…” His power (breath) is to move us similar to how a boat’s sails catch and move according to the wind. The holier one is, the more one allows the Holy Ghost to govern and move all his affections, desires, powers, and operations.
The Blessed Virgin Mary always and continually invites the Holy Ghost so perfectly and completely into Her soul that She is ‘possessed’ by the Holy Ghost. She is divinized to an infinitely higher level than anyone is capable of attaining. As hyperdulia is due to Mary alone among the saints, you could say that Mary is hyper-divinized.
St. Alphonsus said,
“[A]s children are, morally speaking, regarded as one with their parents, so that their properties and honors are in common, it follows, says St. Peter Damian, that God, dwelt in Mary in an especial way, and was singularly identified with Her, making Himself one and the same thing with Her.”
Throughout the history of the Church, many titles of God have been also given to Our Lady. The Eastern Liturgy calls Mary the “All-Holy One.” St. Cosmos of Jerusalem calls Mary “Omnipotent.” The Salve Regina calls Our Lady titles that St. Paul in his epistles refers to Our Lord, “our Life, our Hope.” How can Our Lady share divine titles with God? The answer can be found in the Summa Theologia where St. Thomas Aquinas says God is the only absolute infinite, but that Mary possesses a “relative infinity.” Our Lady has an incommensurability that all of creation added together could not equal.
In connection to this principle, St. Louis de Montfort writes the following in True Devotion to Mary: “God the Holy Ghost, who does not produce any Divine Person, became fruitful through Mary whom He espoused. (#20) This does not mean that the Blessed Virgin confers on the Holy Ghost a fruitfulness which He does not already possess … but it does mean that the Holy Ghost chose to make use of our Blessed Lady … in order to become actively fruitful in producing Jesus Christ and His members in Her and by Her. This is a mystery of grace unknown even to many of the most learned and spiritual Christians.” (#20-21)
To be concluded tomorrow: Part IV, “Let Us Be Marian Maximalists.”
ENDNOTES
[i] On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius. Translated and edited by a religious of C.S.M.V. (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, Crestwood, New York, 1996). Paragraph 54, page 93.
[ii] Reproduced from St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, Martyr of Charity: Pneumatologist; His Theology of the Holy Spirit by Fr. Peter Damian Fehlnder, F.I. (Academy of the Immaculate, New Bedford, MA, 2004), page 118.
[iii] Ibid. page 119.