As Pope Benedict continues his treatment of this sometimes confusing and difficult topic of Purgatory, he offers a consoling and hopeful explanation of what this purifying fire of Christ might be like.  He writes:

Some recent theologians are of the opinion that the fire which both burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Saviour. The encounter with him is the decisive act of judgement. Before his gaze all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us, transforms and frees us, allowing us to become truly ourselves. (SS 47)

Perhaps our first thought of what encountering the gaze of Christ at our judgment might be like is something frightening to us.  We might think of a disappointed, disapproving gaze, similar to what we may experience from others in our lives when they are not pleased with something we have done.  Let us recall, however, that when admitted to Purgatory, we have died in the state of friendship with the Lord.  We are not His enemies.  Rather, who we encounter is the God who is love.  Therefore, His gaze, thought it may be penetrating and perhaps painful, is a gaze of love and a gaze of mercy.  Of this gaze, the pope continues:

His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an undeniably painful transformation “as through fire”. But it is a blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally of God. (ibid.)

An image from the Gospel comes to mind as I reflect on the effect of the gaze of Christ.  It comes in the context of the Passion after Jesus had been arrested.  Jesus had told Peter that before the cock crowed the following morning, he will have denied Him three times.  Though Peter insisted that he would remain faithful, when faced with the prospect of suffering persecution for his association with Jesus, he indeed denied the Lord three times.  In Luke’s Gospel, the moment after this third denial is described in this way: “Just as he was saying this, the cock crowed, and the Lord turned and looked at Peter; and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.’ He went out and began to weep bitterly.” (Lk 22:60b-62)

The look of Jesus on Peter was not a look of condemnation or ridicule, but a look of mercy, a look of love, which penetrated Peter’s heart, melting away the falsehood of his own strength, his thinking he would remain faithful to the Lord in the face of trial.  The gaze of Jesus helps to burn that pride away so that Peter can begin again from a place of humility and trust in the Lord, giving him the strength to continue following the Lord.  It was a painful experience for Peter, but it was transformative, and one that would prepare him to love Christ more.

When we go to confession, we would do well to pause and consider the love with which Jesus looks upon us, purifying our hearts with His gaze and words of mercy, giving us the strength we need to begin again and follow Him with greater humility and trust in His grace.

I was recently asked about the Vatican’s November 4 publication about Mary, the Mother of God. This document, called Mater Populi Fidelis, was published from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. I was asked, “Did this change the Church’s teaching about Mary? Can we still ask for her intercession in the same way?”

The short answer to those questions is “No, this did not change Church teaching,” and “Yes, you can still ask for her intercession like before.” Instead of changing a teaching, the document made a clarification about two proposed titles for the Blessed Mother: Co-redemptrix, and Mediatrix of all graces. The rest of this article will be a fuller (but still brief) explanation of what this document said. 

This document comes as a response to a (decades-long) request from theologians that these two titles would be approved as dogma by the Church. This approval would look much like the dogmatic proclamations of the title “Mary, Mother of God” at the Council of Ephesus in 431 or the title “Immaculate Conception” in 1854. The two titles in question, then, had been proposed as additional titles to be given this dogmatic affirmation – they have been used by saints and theologians historically and have found some use among more contemporary theologians. 

The primary difficulty with both terms – Co-redemptrix and Mediatrix – is the difficulty in precisely defining what they truly mean. In a very indirect sense, both are true. Mary cooperates in salvation history by giving the “Yes,” that brings about the birth of Christ. From Jesus comes redemption and all grace. In this sense, Mary is both a cooperator in God’s redemptive work and one through whom God’s greatest blessings have come into the world. 

In a more direct sense, however, both titles take on a meaning that is not true. Only Jesus Christ is the redeemer of the world. Mary certainly cooperated in God’s work, but Jesus redeemed us, not Mary. Because of this ambiguity, this title is forbidden from being used. The document states, “…it is always inappropriate to use the title ‘Co-redemptrix’ to define Mary’s cooperation. This title risks obscuring Christ’s unique salvific mediation…” (22). 

While the title “Mediatrix” is not forbidden from being used, it is more strictly defined. Again, Christ himself is shown to be the one unique “mediator” between God and man. This term, however, the document calls “inclusive,” meaning that Jesus does draw others into the work of mediation in a way he does not draw them into his work of redemption. The document quotes Pope St. John Paul II in his own Marian document Redemptoris Mater, when he writes that Mary “puts herself ‘in the middle,’ that is to say, she acts as a mediatrix not as an outsider, but in her position as mother. She knows that, as such, she can point out to her Son the needs of mankind.” Therefore, while she can be said to be a “mediatrix” (Latin for mediator), she cannot be said to be mediatrix of all graces. God can give grace apart from her, and he chooses to give some (and many) graces through her intercession.

Although the document, Mater Populi Fidelis, refuses to accept these two terms as dogma, it does offer a beautiful reflection on the motherhood of Mary. This motherhood embraces Mary’s cooperation in the redemptive work of Christ and reveals to us how exactly she acts as a mediator of Grace from the Trinity to us. Through her faith, she becomes the mother of the redeemer and our mother. It is in a motherly way that she acts as a mediator – taking away nothing from the priestly mediation of her son. We may go to her with confidence as our mother and trust in her unfailing intercession.

Mary, mother of the Church, pray for us!