Co-Mediatrix!!! What Gives?

When I was Protestant and studying the Catholic faith, I happened upon the word "co-mediatrix" in Scott Hahn's book Hail Holy Queen. Despite what you may think about my long-term papist leanings, this word sent me into a Zwinglian down-ward spiral. I was Martin Luther for at least four days after reading that book. With all the reformation furor I could muster, I marched around my house saying (to myself):

"Co-mediatrix! Mediatrix! Meeediiiaaatrix! Who do these Catholics think they are? There is one mediator between God and man and that is Jesus. I stand with Luther!"

Bible Abuse #259292:
"All Things To All People"

Setting aside the kill-joy of that closing remark, I was dogged in my opposition to Roman Catholic additions to Christian theology (what were in my mind) --as I would have put it (notice how I added "Roman": it is a Protestant way of making anything Catholic sound bad because the word "Roman" is so abused in their world. Don't tell them a book of the Bible is named "Roman(s)".) During one of my evenings of reformation solidarity, I went to my ecclesial community to lead people in song on my electric guitar (accompanied by band). The song was a Third Day version of a hymn which was kind of a Protestant war-cry for me. I would not stand for "co-mediatrix" for even a minute, and so I belted out the chorus imagining I was bringing down the Catholic religion with the reverberation of every power chord. Sound waves are powerful, you know.

If Luther could not do it, maybe I could on an Ibanez, S-series.

Q: How did I get over this theological pot hole?

A: I stopped and asked myself what "co" meant.

That was my real objection. Right? What does "co" mean, doesn't it mean "equal"? For starters, it is a latin pre-fix for "together". Unfortunately, the modern ear (which has been bastardized by abuses of the English language) hears "equal". However, you cannot get from "together" to "equal" without some serious bastardization. As examples, let us consider common words where we use the pre-fix "co":

Cooperation

Coordinate

In both of these examples, "co" simply implies that something is "together" with the root word. If someone is cooperating with me, I would not think they are being "equal" with me. In fact, their cooperation might imply just the opposite. The only time we think of the pre-fix "co" in terms of equality is when we say someone is "co-equal" or the "co-winner". In these cases, the root word does all the work, but somehow "co" gets the credit. Thus, in the case of an action, it is not necessary to imply equality nor is it natural to do so.

Why co-meeediiiatrix!!!! (emphasis is mine to demonstrate just how scary this word is to a Protestant ear--it was to mine) Il est très simple.

As an example (not proof-text), in 2 Corinthians 6:1, we are described as "co-laborers", "co-workers" or those "helping" him (not to mention the entire theme of "In Christ" throughout all of St. Paul's writings). What are we helping him do? Or rather, what is He doing that we are helping accomplish? Does Jesus need help washing His car? Building widgets? Walking little old ladies across the road? ("yes" to the last one) Of course not (almost). What is Jesus doing?

"For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus" -1 Timothy 2:5

"My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just" -1 John 2:1

Jesus is the One Mediator--tru dat. How does this work? Would not our participation in His mediation take away from His mediation? Not if our work as co-mediators is grounded in our union with Him. That is exactly what St. Paul goes on to talk about in 2 Corinthians--he revels before those in Corinth in the panoply of ways he has shared in the ministry of Christ (poverty, suffering, affliction, joy, etc.). What does this have to do with Mary as Co-Mediatrix?

"Don't worry. We have these in the youth hall."

For starters, Mary is the greatest of creatures. Why? Because she was Mother of the Word Incarnate, duh. When you spend your entire life ignoring the Mother of the Word Incarnate in a failed attempt of "giving Jesus all your attention" while sharing that attention with NASCAR, TLC, and Wii, then it makes sense that you would have no problem dismissing her importance in between games of NASCAR kart racing. The point is that if non-Catholic Christians can teach their children that "Father Abraham had many sons" and "Zaccheus was a wee little man, and a whee little man was he" while dragging Mary begrudgingly out at Christmas only to have her hit the curb as fast as an evangelical Christmas tree on December 27th, than there is going to be a Marian disconnect on a visceral level. Are you Protestant? Do you have no affections for Mary? That makes sense.

Having affections for Mary and her being co-Mediatrix are two different things. I get that. But, the minor objection(s) many times fuel the major objection, and in this case the minor objection is pure emotion--or rather the lack there of. Setting aside any callousness to Mary, we can see from the Biblical witness understood through the Tradition of the Church that Mary is truly the "New Eve". As such--qua creature--she is the greatest. She receives every possible reward we can receive first and in the greatest degree. Thus, she is--like us--a co-laborer with Christ. Her union with Christ allows her to participate in the ministry of mediation that you and I also enjoy in a much more diminished capacity. We give cups of cold water from our vantage. She does her work from hers.

This post is not a full-blown apologia for the title "co-mediatrix". You can read some great stuff to that effect here here, or here. You can also read Scott Hahn's book Hail Holy Queen, if and only if you can set aside your Marian callousness that has accumulated through years of NASCAR kart racing. My point was merely to peel back a few layers of what can appear, at first blush, a very scary onion. What I hope you see now, at the least, is that the title has both a Biblical and historical precedent, and can make much more sense in a world where the Blessed Virgin Mary is displayed like this all year:

Instead of like this (once a year):

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