Mary Is the Sacrament of the Holy Spirit

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The Holy Spirit is not a woman.

That is an interesting way to begin the Rosary – right…

The Holy Spirit is not a woman because God is neither man nor woman. However, we can attribute specific characteristics to the mission of the Son and the Spirit. The Son became man and the Bridegroom. The Church is His Bride.

Likewise, we can attribute certain characteristics to the mission of the Holy Spirit. St. John Paul II in his letter Redemptoris Mater says the Holy Spirit fulfills a mission of maternal mediation to conceive and form Jesus first in Mary and then in us. So there is a real maternal quality to the mission of the Spirit.

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There is a profound similarity between the Holy Spirit and Mary.

The Holy Spirit fashioned Mary to be the perfect human expression of the Holy Spirit. According to the thought of St. Maximilian Kolbe, the Son became manifest in Jesus and the Spirit became manifest in Mary.

Now – Mary is not the Holy Spirit. “However,” as St Maximilian writes: “the union between the Holy Spirit and the Immaculata is so inexpressibly perfect that He conducts His activity through her only. Therefore, she is the mediatrix of all graces flowing from the Holy Spirit…In honoring the Immaculata, we honor in a special way the Holy Spirit.”

I had a chance to ask the greatest theologian on Mary, Fr. Rene Laurentin to tell me in one sentence how the Holy Spirit relates to Mary and he said: “What the Holy Spirit does as God, Mary does with Him: she participates with Him as His visible sign. Mary is the sensible visible presence of the Holy Spirit.”

One could ask: Why do Catholics make such a big deal about Mary. It is because it is the mission of the Holy Spirit to bring Jesus to us. And what the Holy Spirit does as God, he does so through Mary. Mary is the sign through which the Holy Spirit works.

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Mary is more than a sign. She is the sacrament of the Holy Spirit.

The Catechism 1131 defines the sacrament as having Three essential parts

1.  Sacraments are Efficacious signs

2.  Instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church

3.  By which divine life is dispensed to us.

Sacraments are efficacious signs. I don’t know about you but efficacious is a word that is not normally in my vocabulary.  

Efficacious signs do two things:

First - They make present what they signify.

Mary is the sign of the Holy Spirit, she is the perfect human expression of the Holy Spirit. But that is not all, Mary makes the Holy Spirit present to us.

Second – Efficacious signs make happen what they signify.

Mary makes the maternal mission of the Holy Spirit happen in us. When we turn to Mary, the Holy Spirit brings Jesus to us and forms Jesus within us. Mary is the sign that makes that happen.

When we consecrate ourselves to Mary or turn to her in prayer, as we do in the Rosary, the mission of the Holy Spirit to bring Jesus to us and form him within us takes place.

John Paul II: Rosarium Virginis Mariae

·       “The Rosary mystically transports us to Mary’s side as she is busy watching over the human growth of Christ in the home of Nazareth. This enables her to train us and to mold us with the same care, until Christ is fully formed in us (cf. Gal 4:19).” RVM 15

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Sacraments are instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church.

·       Mary as our spiritual mother was instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church when from the Cross Jesus looked down at the beloved disciple and proclaimed, “Behold, your mother.”[1]

God said, “Behold, your mother” and Mary receives the mission to make the maternal action of the Holy Spirit present in our lives.

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The third part of a sacrament is that they dispense the divine life to us.

It is the role of the Holy Spirit to bring the divine life of Jesus to us.  

On her own, Mary cannot do this. She cannot bring the divine life to us because she is not God. Only the Spirit can bring us the divine life of Jesus. But the Spirit chooses to do so with and in and through Mary.

A sacrament is a sign that signifies and makes present the grace proper to it. Mary signifies and makes present the maternal mission of the Spirit to form Jesus within us.

The early Church understood Mary as the visible sign of the mission of the Spirit that is why they turned to her to receive Jesus from the Holy Spirit as expressed in this powerful prayer by

St. Ildephonsus, 603-677, Spain

I beg you, holy Virgin, that I may have Jesus from the Holy Spirit, by whom you brought Jesus forth. May my soul receive Jesus through the Holy Spirit by whom your flesh conceived Jesus…May I love Jesus in the Holy Spirit in whom you adore Jesus as Lord and gaze upon Him as your Son. (Marialis Cultus 25)

If you want the Holy Spirit to

·       Bring Jesus to you

·       Form Jesus in you

·       So that Jesus will live through you

·       Then turn to Mary

Give yourself entirely to Mary

·       Belong totally to her

·       In this way we will belong to the Holy Spirit

·       And the Holy Spirit will form Jesus in you 

The more completely we belong to Mary

·       Depend on her from moment to moment

·       Living in relationship with her as a little child with its mother

·       The more the Holy Spirit can inspire, influence and Divinize us

• That is why we consecrate ourselves to Mary

[1] John 19:27