The Holy Spirit and Mary, Part 3

In the first two posts in this series, we looked at the active relationship between the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Spirit, and the Blessed Virgin Mary, throughout the course of her earthy life, and the beginning of her eternal one in heavenly glory.  In this final post in this series, we will examine how Mary and the Spirit work together from heaven in the life of the Church today, for our salvation (our being saved from hell) and sanctification (our being made holy).

A lot of this post will comes from the writings of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, as explained by theologian Dwight Campbell.  Kolbe, like many other Saint and thinkers in the Catholic tradition over the years, pointed out that all grace comes from God to man through Mary.  If Jesus is the head of the body, and we are the body, she is the neck.  Traditionally, most have tied this reality into her role as Mother of God.  After all, if salvation comes through the merits of Christ, the god-man, then surely in her unique and dignified role as His Mother, she would have a role to play in their dispersion.   However, Kolbe instead thinks her role, not as Mother of God, but rather, as Spouse of the Holy Spirit is the real reason she is the mediator of all graces.  His basic thesis is this:

1) All grace comes to us from the Father through the merits of Jesus Christ, and is distributed by the Holy Spirit.

2) The Holy Spirit, in distributing all grace, works in and through Mary, because God wills it.

3) God wills it because, as we saw in the first post in this series, Jesus came through Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, so it would make sense, and be fitting, that all grace continue to come through Mary by the Holy Spirit.

4) If this point is true, then the reverse process must also be true.  Our graced return to God comes also by the way of the Holy Spirit, operating through Mary, through Christ, to the Father.

Kolbe agrees with the basic point of Mary being the Spouse of the Holy Spirit because of their close cooperation and union.  Kolbe believes, however, that the relationship between the two is even more intimate than that of a husband and wife in marriage.  He says: 

Among creatures made in God's image, the union brought about by married love is the most intimate of all. In a much more precise, more interior, more essential manner, the Holy Spirit lives in the soul of the Immaculata, in the depths of her very being.

So, in other words, the Holy Spirit is not just joined to Mary to become one.  Rather, the Holy Spirit lives in Mary and can do whatever he wants in there, no matter what, for she posits no obstacles.  At the same time, Mary lives in the Holy Spirit.  His will and that of Mary's are perfectly aligned.  Mary was immersed in the Spirit like someone being submerged in water (yet still able to live), and her body was aglow with the Spirit.  They were totally immersed in each other.   They were not just joined at the hip, not just joined at the soul, but truly living within each other.  He can do this in her, and her in him, because of her Immaculate Conception, which we noted in the first post in this series, and again in the four point summary above, was an activity and fruit of the Holy Spirit.

From this title of Mary, Kolbe designates another term that we can use to define the Holy Spirit, one which undeniably ties him to the Blessed Virgin.  While Mary is the created Immaculate Conception, he calls the Spirit the Uncreated, Eternal Immaculate Conception.  Kolbe says:

And who is the Holy Spirit? The flowering of the love of the Father and the Son. If the fruit of created love is a created conception, then the fruit of divine Love, that prototype of all created love, is necessarily a divine "conception." The Holy Spirit is, therefore, the "uncreated, eternal conception," the prototype of all the conceptions that multiply life throughout the whole universe.

To be called an Immaculate Conception, one must be conceived.  Thomas Aquinas notes that something is conceived either by an act of the intellect (how the Son proceeded from the Father), or by an act of the will, "an impulse or movement to an object".  The Spirit is conceived the second way, by an act of the will.  The Father loves the Son, and vice versa, and their movement toward each other, love, is a person in itself, the Holy Spirit, because Divine love is perfect, and so it must necessarily be personified.

Now read this next quote from Kolbe and see how closely it resembles the one above about the Holy Spirit, when it discusses him as the uncreated Immaculate Conception.

He [the Holy Spirit] makes her [Mary] fruitful from the very first instant of her existence, all during her life, and for all eternity. This eternal "Immaculate Conception" (which is the Holy Spirit) produces [conceives?] in an immaculate manner divine life itself in the womb (or depths) of Mary's soul, making her the Immaculate Conception, the human Immaculate Conception. And the virginal womb of Mary's body is kept sacred for him; there he conceives in time . . . the human life of the God-man

Mary, like the Holy Spirit, is also conceived also by divine love.  She, too, is the result of eternal, fruitful love. The only difference is her conception is not eternal; in other words, it is not always co-existent with the persons who were responsible for her creation.  Her conception happened at a particular moment in time.  She had a beginning. 

So, there we have it, Mary and the Spirit have a special, unique, intimate relationship from the beginning of her creation.  They are both immaculately conceived; one from eternity, one in time.  They live in each other.   Their work is intimately tied together and made fruitful by their likeness and therefore, attraction, toward each other. This work is the salvation and sanctification of the human race.  This work continues in the Church.  It makes no sense to say that they worked together to bring salvation to the human race during her and Jesus' earthly life, and now they have nothing to do with each other, or this work.  No, their love, and the fruit of their love continues. All the graces that flow from the Father now, through the Son, do so in the power of the Holy Spirit, who operates through Mary.

When we think of all the graces and fruits of the Holy Spirit that we have discussed, we can see now that Mary has a central role in their dispensation.  If we want to develop a closer relationship with the Holy Spirit, and receive those gifts and fruits more abundantly in our lives, developing a relationship with Mary is indispensable.  Many say if we want peace in the world, we should pray the Rosary daily.  After our explanation here, we can see why.  Peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.  What better way to receive an outpouring of that gift in ourselves, and throughout the world, than praying her prayer?

Before we close, I want to add one more thing.  Saint Maximilian Kolbe, who was the source of much of the thought that we discussed here tonight, was a priest who was martyred at Auschwitz during the Second World War.  He asked his life be taken in place of a Jewish man who had a family.  That man whose life was spared because of Kolbe was present at his canonization later in the 20th century.  Can we not see the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially fortitude, visible in the life of this Saint?  Kolbe is a shining example of how devotion to Mary leads to the gifts and fruits of the Spirit being alive in us.  The life and writings of this modern Saint are certainly worth more study and prayerful reflection.

Mary and the Holy Spirit are partners forever in the salvation and sanctification of the human race.  Let us revere her, worship him, and come to know and love them both deeply, and if we do that, we shall have peace, now and into eternity.

Joseph, spouse of the Mother of God, pray for us.