Sacrament of the Spirit
One
Mary as “Sacrament” of the Holy Spirit
A few years ago, I was at the monastery of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Niepokalanów in Poland, and I was speaking with Fr. Gregorz Bartosik (the foremost theologian on Kolbe, the Holy Spirit, and Mary). We were having a great conversation about Kolbe’s understanding of the relationship between the Holy Spirit and Mary, all the points we have been meditating on the past few days in this Rosary meditation, when I suggested the idea of Mary as the sacrament of the Holy Spirit. He became visibly excited, moved forward in his chair, and said, “That is exactly how Kolbe understood it.”
Fr. Johann Roten, member of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, thinks this is one of the best ways to describe the relationship between the Holy Spirit and Mary. Not like the Seven Sacraments, rather, like the Catechism (775) says of the Church. The Church…is like a sacrament, a sign and instrument of communion with God and unity among all men.
Mary is a visible and effective sign of the Holy Spirit's presence and maternal mission.
Two
What is a Sacrament
To really grasp what we mean when we say Mary is the sacrament of the Holy Spirit, we need to understand the definition of a sacrament. The Catechism defines a sacrament as, “An efficacious sign of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us” (CCC 1131).
A sacrament has three parts: Sacraments are efficacious signs, Sacraments are instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, and Sacraments dispense the divine life, grace, to us.
Let’s take the first one: Sacraments are efficacious signs. That means they are signs that make present what they signify, make happen what they signify. Mary is the human sign, the perfect human expression of the Spirit through whom the Holy Spirit becomes present and active in our lives. As our spiritual mother, Mary is the one through whom the Holy Spirit carries out a maternal mission of forming Christ within us. Therefore, when we turn to Mary, we experience the Holy Spirit.
As John Paul II said, “As the bond with Mary grows deeper, so the action of the Spirit in our life grows more fruitful.”
Three
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 Jesus looked down from the Cross at the beloved disciple and proclaimed, “Behold, your mother.”
When Jesus breathed the Spirit on Mary at the Cross, she received the mission to make the maternal mission of the Holy Spirit present in our lives.
So, now, when we turn to Mary, we experience the maternal mission of the Holy Spirit to form Jesus in us.
Four
A sacrament is a sign that dispenses divine life to us.
The Son gives his life through the Liturgy and sacraments. The Holy Spirit disposes us to receive Jesus. The Spirit does this through Mary. On her own, Mary cannot do this. Only the Spirit can give us the capacity to receive the Son. And the Spirit disposes us to receive Jesus through Mary.
This is how Mary distributes all grace, by disposing us to receive the Son. If a sacrament is a sign that signifies and makes present the grace proper to it, then Mary signifies and makes present the Spirit to form Jesus within us. Mary is the sacrament of the Holy Spirit.
We may find a certain confirmation in this idea when Cardinal Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict VXI, defined the role of Mary as “the place of passage of all graces, that is therefore the supra-sacrament.”
Five
Conclusion
We can now answer the question that began this entire journey: If the Holy Spirit gives the life of Christ…forms the life of Christ…and directs the life of Christ…then why do we need Mary? Because the Holy Spirit has chosen to carry out His hidden, maternal mission through her. Mary is the perfect human expression of the Spirit. She is the sacrament of the Holy Spirit, the personal way the Spirit comes to us.
As Maximilian Kolbe said, “The Blessed Virgin Mary exists so that the Holy Spirit is better known.” And, “By looking at her, we see the Holy Spirit.”
This leads to a decisive conclusion: If we want the Holy Spirit to act powerfully in our lives…if we want the Spirit to form Christ within us…then we must go to Him in the way He has chosen to come through Mary. Therefore, the more we belong to Mary, the more the Holy Spirit lives and acts in us. The more we entrust ourselves to her, the more perfectly Christ is formed in us.
As a resolution, we are called to live three things: Consecration to Mary, giving ourselves unconditionally to the Holy Spirit through Mary. Develop a personal friendship with Mary, turning to her constantly, speaking with her, relying on her as our Mother. To sit at the School of Mary every day in the Rosary, allowing the Holy Spirit, through her, to form Christ in us day by day