Redemption and Coredemption in Relation to the "Fatima-Event" (Catholic Caucus)

Comprehensive theological analysis of the relationship between the "Fatima-event" and the mystery of Redemption-Coredemption is a most valuable research endeavor. It is an undertaking capable of generating understanding of all the "Fatima" happenings in light of the great, divine plan of the history of salvation, rooted in the mysteries of the Incarnation of the Word and of universal redemption.

What we can say straight away, though, is that the Redemption and the Coredemption—which constitute the greatest divine work, after Creation—run together like the two rails of one railway track, uniting the Redeemer and the Coredemptrix to one another, according to God’s plan, with a "close and indissoluble tie," as Lumen Gentium (LG) n. 53 says. It is a concept of unity and indissolubility that draws upon the phrase "uno eodemque decreto—with one and the same decree" in Pope Pius IX’s Bull Ineffabilis Deus, for the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, eternally predestined together with the Incarnate Word of God.

Regarding the concepts of redemption and coredemption and the dogmatic content of the same, we refer our hearers to the very many specialized theological treatises that deal with such (1). In this paper, we limit ourselves to offering the most succinct résumé of those fundamental points necessary to better establish the relation of redemption and coredemption to the contents of the message of the Immaculate Heart of Mary at Fatima.

If it is true that the Redemption—a divine work of justice to make reparation for the offense given to God, and a work of divine mercy to ransom mankind and obtain the forgiveness of its sins—is "the restoration of what we lost in Adam (2)," then it is also true that it has two phases: that of its execution and that of its completion, directed towards saving the descendants of Adam from eternal perdition in hell:

1. The objective redemption, accomplished by Christ, is that reparative and expiatory work which, motivated by divine justice and animated by mercy, cancels Adam’s transgression with all its spiritual and moral ruin, freeing man from the bonds of the devil and of sin, bringing about in him the renewal of the state of original justice and holiness, and uniting him to God with the reacquisition of divine, sanctifying grace, so as to enable him to avoid condemnation and eternal damnation in hell.

One could say, in fact, that redemption-salvation and perdition-hell are in direct contrast and opposition to one another. Redemption-salvation (with the coredemption) is effectively the undoing of hell through the reacquisition of redeeming grace, which is capable of saving each and every man from the dominion of Satan and of leading him back to the Father’s house in paradise. Perdition-hell, on the other hand, renders vain the whole work of Salvation for those who reject the redeeming grace merited for them by the Sacrifice of the Redeemer and Coredemptrix.

2. The subjective redemption, instead, consists in the work of the application and personal appropriation of the grace of the Redemption, which every individual man must obtain and put into effect for himself. This application and personal appropriation happens by means of faith and Baptism ("He who believes and is baptized will be saved"—Mk 16: 16), which introduce individual men into the spiritual kingdom of Christ (that is, the Church, the "mystical Body of Christ" ).

In effect, the Redemption, considered in its dynamics and fruitfulness of grace,

○ who is thereby rescued from the power of that infernal serpent who was the seducer and deceiver of mankind’s First Parents,

○ who is thereby liberated from that burden of our First Parents’ sin that makes men "children of wrath" (Eph 2: 3),

○ who is thereby returned to the state of divine filiation by means of sanctifying grace;

b) is the liberation of man from the debt of justice due to sin, by the forgiveness won for humanity by Christ at the cost of His Passion and Death:

c) is the divine work of just and due satisfaction to God, to whom—through Christ, "obedient unto death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2: 8)—is restored the honor denied Him by the rebellion and sin of our First Parents and of all men.

The fact is that the terrible reality of sin, which offends God, denying Him just honor and due praise, requires just reparation and expiation. The most perfect reparation and expiation is linked precisely to the mercy of Christ, who, notwithstanding the fact that He could have made reparation for everything with only a single sigh, chose to make reparation and expiate sin in the most painful and bloody manner (3);

○ beginning His sacerdotal redemptive mission from the act of the Incarnation in the immaculate womb of the Virgin Mary,

While it is true that God could have redeemed us even sparing Jesus His Passion and Death on the Cross, instead it happened thus, both by reason of the dignity of divine justice, which demands the complete reparation of offense to God, as well as by reason of the immensity of the merciful love of Jesus who, in this way, wished to show and give us the greatest love (cf. Jn 15: 13);

e) is the merit which Christ won through His bloody immolation offered in reparation for the offense to divine justice and by which He obtained the salvation of the whole of mankind from condemnation to hell. It is a merit that, if not formally infinite, is nevertheless quasi-infinite in virtue of the hypostatic union of the divine Person of the Word (who is infinite) and His assumed human nature (which is finite).

The Redemption worked by Christ is perfect with regard to the restoration of the whole human race by merit of the Redeemer. By means of the Redemption that He won for us, Christ reacquired all the divine grace that our First Parents, Adam and Eve, irretrievably lost for themselves and for all their natural offspring with their sin in the Garden of Eden (cf. Gen 3: 1–24).

The redemption is, instead, most perfect in regard to only one person, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Word Incarnate. She is the only one who was not freed from sin contracted by the law of adamitic descent, but rather preserved and made immune both from contracting original sin, and from the debt of original sin and every other shadow of sin. In this way, Our Lady was the most precious fruit and the greatest glory of the Word Incarnate in the fulfillment of His work as the most perfect Redeemer (4).

The most perfect Redemption of Mary, the Immaculate Conception, therefore, was willed by the One and Triune God, who decided to establish the law of "recirculation," as St. Irenaeus (one of the early Church Fathers) called it. Thus it happened that, just as the disastrous, grace-depriving fall of the sinner Adam with his co-sinner Eve into original sin, had interrupted the circulation of divine grace in their descendants, so the divine grace of the Redemption, won by the New Adam-Redeemer with the New Eve-Coredemptrix, set in motion the "recirculation" of divine grace in each of Adam and Eve’s descendants, restoring to them their lost, divine filiation.

Therefore, the sublime work of the "most perfect" Redemption of Mary—according to the penetrating intuition and the doctrine of Blessed John Duns Scotus—realized the supreme glory of the Word Incarnate-Redeemer. If He had not redeemed the Blessed Virgin in this way, He could never have been the "most perfect" Redeemer, and there would never have been that "most perfect" and prized fruit of the universal redemption which is the Immaculate Conception of the divine Mother (5).

Moreover, the "most perfect" Redemption of Mary has also given us the most complete restoration of God’s creative design and saving plan in the concrete sign of a first Adam and a first Eve—protagonists together in evil—ransomed by a second Adam and a second Eve—themselves protagonists together in good.

If it is true, in fact, that the first Adam and the first Eve were the cause of the downfall of the human race when they fell together into original sin, it is likewise true that the Second Adam (Christ) and the Second Eve (Mary) were the cause of the salvation of the human race when they worked together the universal redemption. The first and the second Adam were both primary and independent causes of the fall and the Redemption of the human race, respectively. The first and the second Eve, respectively, were instead, both secondary and dependent causes of the fall and the redemption of the human race.

In opposition, then, to the maleficent couple, Adam and Eve, who sinned in the Garden of Eden, God placed a beneficent couple, that of the Second Adam-Redeemer and the Second Eve- Coredemptrix: Christ and Mary, willed together by God "uno eodemque decreto" (as the Bull Ineffabilis Deus states) and ever united by a "close and indissoluble tie" (LG 53) in accomplishing the great work of universal restoration.

○ In the maleficent couple: there was the responsibility of Adam, as head of the human race, in whom all men sinned (cf. Rom 5: 12), in his role as primary and independent worker of the fall; and the responsibility of Eve as "mother of all living" (Gen 3: 20), in the role of dependent and secondary cooperatrix. Eve’s cooperation, dependent and secondary, was also active and immediate, both in her being the first to consent to sin and additionally, in causing Adam to sin;

○ In the beneficent couple: there was the responsibility of the New Adam, Christ, the new Head, in the role of sole, primary, absolute Redeemer in His work of universal salvation; and the responsibility of the New Eve, Mary, as new Mother of the Redeemed (cf. Jn 19: 26–27), in the role of Cooperatrix-Coredemptrix, in total subordination to the Redeemer, a co-cause only. Mary’s cooperation, in uniting Herself "to the person and work" of Her Redeemer Son (cf. LG 56), was not passive or mediate, but active and immediate, like that of Eve.

The Blessed Virgin Mary’s participation in the work of the universal redemption is qualified, first of all and above all, as a maternal, active, and immediate cooperation in the accomplishment of the Redemption in first act, or a maternal cooperation in the so-called objective redemption. It, therefore, enters entirely into the plan of God, who has willed the recirculation of divine life—that is, sanctifying grace—into the entire human race, using a New Adam Redeemer (Christ) and a New Eve Coredemptrix (Mary).

Mary’s maternal participation in the redemptive work began with the event of the redemptive Incarnation of the Word in the virginal womb of the Immaculate. It began, that is, with the "Fiat" Mary said to the Angel Gabriel, who announced to Her the mission of Her divine Maternity: She was to become the Mother of the Messiah who would be the Redeemer of the humanity assumed by Him in His reality as Son of God the Father and the Virgin Mary (cf. Lk 1: 26–38). Pope John Paul II expressed this same thought in the Apostolic Letter Salvifici doloris, affirming that "from the time of her secret conversation with the angel, she began to see in her mission as a mother her ‘destiny’ to share, in a singular and unrepeatable way, in the very mission of her Son… it was on Calvary that Mary’s suffering, beside the suffering of Jesus, reached an intensity which can hardly be imagined (7)."

Such a personal and maternal participation of Mary in the redemptive work therefore followed the entire walk of the earthly life of Her divine Redeemer-Son in the land of the Middle East, in an intimate and uninterrupted union between Mother and Son, as Vatican II also states with crystal clearness in many passages of Lumen Gentium:

○ "This union of the Mother with the Son in the work of Salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ’s virginal conception up to His death" (LG 57).

○ at the foot of the Cross, She stood "enduring with Her only begotten Son the intensity of His suffering, associated Herself with His sacrifice in Her mother’s heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this Victim which was born of Her" (LG 58).

○ finally, a presentation of the overall picture: "She conceived, brought forth, and nourished Christ; She presented Him to the Father in the temple, and shared Her Son’s sufferings as He died on the Cross. Thus, in a wholly singular way She cooperated by Her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the work of the Savior in restoring supernatural life to souls" (LG 61) (8).

In uninterrupted union with Her Son, therefore, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary—pre-redeemed, or preserved from sin, and "full of grace" (Lk 1: 28), in order to be the Coredemptrix with the Redeemer (Corredemptrix in Capite)—and She only, cooperated in the objective redemption of the human race, up to the fulfillment of this work on Calvary. It is also because of Her personal cooperation, in facto esse, that the liberation of the human race from the slavery of sin and from Satan took place, with the reacquisition of the divine grace lost by our First Parents. For this reason, we cannot ignore the fact that, day after day, Mary—offering with Her Son—paid a price of suffering beyond measure for all men, for all the redeemed to whom divine filiation was restored. This is the Marian Coredemption (9)

In this regard, the thought of Pope Pius XII, who teaches and confirms this great truth, is enlightening: "by God’s Will, in carrying out the work of human redemption the Blessed Virgin Mary was inseparably linked with Christ in such a manner that our salvation sprang from the love and the sufferings of Jesus Christ to which the love and sorrows of His Mother were intimately united. It is, then, entirely fitting that the Christian people… received the divine life from Christ through Mary (10)."

Clearly Christ’s redemptive suffering and Mary’s coredemptive suffering, from the time of the Incarnation, were directed towards purifying and gaining something that was not for themselves, but for a mankind fallen and sadly disfigured by the fault committed by the First Parents. As Cardinal Journet clearly explains, "Jesus’ sufferings were not intended to purify Himself, but to ransom the world; they did not purify Him; they redeemed the world. Nor were the Immaculate Virgin’s sufferings, like those of Her Son, for Her own purification. But the Virgin could unite Her sufferings to those Jesus bore for the salvation of men. In this sense, they were coredemptive (sufferings)(11)."

The clearest and most certain biblical-patristic basis for Marian coredemption is found in the reference to the first Eve who, alongside the first Adam, was the personal, direct, and immediate co-cause of original sin, which she committed together with Adam, the head, the one principally responsible for the fault that was the downfall of all his descendants (cf. Gen 3: 15).

In perfect antithesis to Eve the sinner, the innocent New Eve, Mary Most Holy, with the innocent New Adam, Jesus Christ, the new Head of redeemed mankind, becomes Herself a personal, direct, and immediate co-cause of mankind’s restoration, cooperating in the redemptive work of Her divine Redeemer Son—"under Him with Him," as Vatican II specifies (LG 56)— to reacquire the divine grace lost and thus restore divine filiation to all of Adam’s offspring. For this reason—according to Jesus’ explicit words, "Behold your son… Behold your Mother" (Jn 19: 26–27), addressed to His Mother and to the Apostle John— mankind finds in Mary the new and truest "Mother of all living" (Gen 3: 20), who Vatican II specifically calls "Mother to us in the order of grace" (LG 61).

If we reflect upon this truth, the correlation of interdependent reciprocity, by which we can rightly affirm that Mary is our Mother because Coredemptrix, and Coredemptrix because our Mother,12 is immediately evident: "Quia Mater nostra, ideo Corredemptrix" (because our Mother, therefore Coredemptrix), "Quia Corredemptrix, ideo Mater nostra" (because Coredemptrix, therefore our Mother) (to which we can add, "Quia Immaculata, ideo Corredemptrix" (because Immaculate, therefore Coredemptrix))(13).

With the offering of Her daily sufferings, united to those of Christ, and above all with the offering of Her compassion submerged in Christ’s Passion on Calvary, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary has, therefore, cooperated in the fulfillment of the objective redemption, paying the price with the blood of Her Heart, as it were, and thus, also meriting in Christ and with Christ, the acquisition of redeeming grace for the whole human race. The Scotistic expression, "Maria in passione Filii sui summe meruit ex compassione" (Mary in the Passion of Her Son supremely merited by Her compassion), means, as Fr. Rosini explains, "that the two realities, the Passion of the Son and the compassion of the Mother—even if one, the compassion, is dependent upon the other, the Passion—are nevertheless so united to each other that they form a single and perfect Sacrifice for mankind. Therefore our reconciliation with God is not only the fruit of the Son but also of the Mother. Both of them offered a sacrifice, each in their particular way: Jesus in His Passion, Mary with Her participation in the same Passion (14)

Likewise, we know that the quasi-infinite merits of Christ the Redeemer are united with all of the merits of Mary the Coredemptrix. And the merits of Our Lady exceed the sum of all the other merits of the angels and saints, because they are merits of the One who, while being a descendant of Adam and Eve according to Her human nature, belongs to the order of the hypostatic union—"Source of grace," as Fr. Rosini (15) affirms— because of Her eternal predestination to the divine Maternity, "uno eodemque decreto," with the Incarnation of the Word, and because of Her Immaculate Conception ("gratia plena"—Lk 1: 26). Her dignity is therefore "quasi-infinite (16)."

Cardinal Journet’s explanation of the unity of the sufferings that Christ the Redeemer and Mary the Coredemptrix bore for us, is simple and profound: "Jesus, in fact, so loved His Mother that He made Her like unto Him, to the point of desiring to communicate something of the dignity of His own sufferings to Her maternal sufferings. He willed Her sufferings to be one with His and to be counted together with His in compensation for the iniquity of mankind (17)."

This is why Mary’s merit, considered in its constitutive value, cannot be limited to merit "de congruo," that is, a merit of simple "fittingness," which is characteristic of every angelic and human creature. Instead, it can be considered as merit "de condigno," though not absolute, but relative or secundum quid, with respect to the merit de condigno absoluto of Her Redeemer Son.

The merit "de condigno" (relative) is connected precisely to the essential fact of Mary’s belonging, by reason of Her divine maternity and Her Immaculate Conception (with Her "Fullness of grace"—Lk 1: 28), to the order of the hypostatic union, which elevates Her in dignity above all other angelic and human creatures.

An enlightening contribution, and one of great value, is from St. Bonaventure, who specifically qualifies the Blessed Virgin Mary’s merit as ‘de digno’ (cf. I Sent., d. 41, a. 1, q. 1; II Sent., d. 27, a. 2, qq. 2 and 3; III Sent., d. 4, a. 2, q. 2; d. 18, a. 1, q. 2), which is placed exactly at the center between the merit ‘de condigno absoluto’ exclusive to Christ, and the merit ‘de congruo’ that describes what is ordinary and common to the other types of merit.

As we have already said, it should be noted that ‘with merit "de digno," while the ontological inequality remains between the one who awards (the infinite God) and the one who is recompensed (Mary Most Holy, a finite creature), nevertheless the equality is expressed between the universal redemption and meritorious work of Mary’s "compassion," according to the intuition of Blessed John Duns Scotus (cf. Ordinatio IV, d. 1, q. 6, n. 12; III, d. 20, q. un, n. 9) (18).’

The phase of the redemption "in second act" is the so-called "distributive" or "dispensatory" phase, in which the grace of the redemption reaches individual souls in need of regeneration, to lead them to salvation, according to the plan of God, who wills "all men to be saved" (1 Tim 2: 4). And here, without interruption, Mary’s salvific mission passes from having acquired redeeming grace—as Coredemptrix united to the Redeemer ("under and with him": LG 56)—to applying and distributing it qua maternal Dispensatrix to individual men.

Mary’s maternal mediation, therefore, is coredemptive in the acquisition of universal redemptive grace, or in the realization of the objective redemption, and is dispensatory in the distribution of all graces that have restored and will restore supernatural life to individual souls until the end of time.

The strict relation of interdependence that exists between the coredemptive and the dispensatory mediation in Mary is quite clear. The second depends upon the first, as Pope Pius X explains very well in his Encyclical Letter Ad diem illum, affirming that "from this community of will and suffering between Christ and Mary, She most worthily merited to become the Reparatrix of the lost world," and because of this, She has become the "Dispensatrix of all …gifts (graces) (19)."

In a conclusive synthesis, one could say that the Immaculate, in the phase "in first act" of the redemptive work, has carried out Her maternal mission of universal Mediatrix qua Coredemptrix of salvation for the whole human race, while in the phase "in second act" She has performed and continues to carry out Her maternal mission of universal Mediatrix qua Dispensatrix of all graces and every single grace "ad personam," that is, to every individual favorably disposed to receive them in the Church through the Sacraments.

We know—in fact, it is obvious—that while the phase of the redemption "in first act" for the acquisition of divine grace concluded with the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ the Redeemer on earth, the phase of the redemption "in second act," the dispensatory mediation of the redeeming grace to individual men, must instead continue in the present, and will continue into the future until the last days and unto the last men in human history. The Blessed Virgin Mary, even after Her glorious Assumption into heaven, as Vatican II says, "did not lay aside this saving office, but by Her manifold intercession, continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By Her maternal charity, She cares for the brethren of Her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home" (LG 62).

In his Mariological teaching St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe has written a brilliant synthesis of the personal cooperation that each one of us can give to help our self and others, working in union with the Immaculate Mediatrix of all graces, especially if consecrated to Her: "Jesus Christ is the one Mediator between God and mankind; the Immaculate is the one Mediatrix between Jesus and mankind, and we are the blessed mediators between the Immaculate and souls scattered throughout the world (20)."

It is not difficult to understand, in the school of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, as elsewhere, that the coredemptive mediation is exclusive to Mary—because only She, the preredeemed and Immaculate, was able, with Her immense maternal sufferings, to participate in the redemptive work of the objective redemption. Others, instead, can participate only in Our Blessed Lady’s dispensatory mediation, cooperating with their sufferings and prayers, to obtain the application of redemptive graces to themselves and others.

It is extremely important to solidly grasp the value of this particular point, in order to avoid confusion, which could only harm this pure truth of faith concerning the difference between the active cooperation of every Christian in the fulfillment of the redemption and that of the divine Mother—always inherently safeguarding full harmony with the Catholic Church’s constant teaching on man’s cooperation in the work of Salvation. Unfortunately this point is grounds for sharp contrasts with the Protestantism of times past as well as today (cf. the Catechism of the Catholic Church, nn. 2006–2010, 2017, 2025).

On this subject, there is, among Pope John Paul II’s numerous catecheses, a Marian catechesis that teaches and explains this doctrine, analyzing the value of the term "cooperatrix," and specifying how it must be applied "differently" to the Mother of God, who cooperates in the redemption in first act, in comparison to every other Christian soul, who cooperates in the salvation of self and others only in second act.

Pope John Paul II, in fact, begins with the affirmation that, regarding the title of Coredemptrix, "some feared there might be a desire to put Mary on the same level as Christ," whereas, on the contrary, "the Church’s teaching makes a clear distinction between the Mother and the Son in the work of salvation, explaining the Blessed Virgin’s subordination, as co-operator, to the one Redeemer (21)."

The Pope then goes on to explain the difference between Mary’s cooperation and that of other Christians, clearly stating that "However, applied to Mary, the term ‘co-operator’ acquires a specific meaning. The collaboration of Christians in salvation takes place after the Calvary event, whose fruits they endeavor to spread by prayer and sacrifice. Mary, instead, co-operated during the event itself and in the role of mother; thus her cooperation embraces the whole of Christ’s saving work. She alone was associated in this way with the redemptive sacrifice that merited the salvation of all mankind. In union with Christ and in submission to him, she collaborated in obtaining the grace of salvation for all humanity… Mary is associated as a woman in the work of salvation. Having created man ‘male and female’ (cf. Gen 1: 27), the Lord also wants to place the New Eve beside the New Adam in the Redemption (22)."

On the basis of this clear teaching by Pope John Paul II, the application of the terms ‘coredeemer’ or ‘coredemptrix’ to anyone other than Mary would, strictly speaking, prove inaccurate. No one else could be such, in fact, because only the marian coredemption is connected to the objective redemption, that is, to the accomplishment of the universal redemption, during the course of the lives of Jesus and Mary on earth, consummated and crowned on Calvary by Christ’s immolation and Mary’s co-immolation.

And when St. Paul writes with force, ‘in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church’ (Col 1: 24), it must be made clear that he is speaking of the redemption that occurs in the second phase, that of the subjective redemption, the phase of the application of single graces to every person. It is an application that is obtained with the personal offerings of prayers and sacrifices, especially by the souls that better express, even in their bodies, Christ’s redemptive immolation and Mary’s coredemptive co-immolation. In fact, the martyrs, the victims, the stigmatists (St. Francis of Assisi, St. Veronica Giuliani, St. Gemma Galgani, St. Pio of Pietrelcina) are those who are closest to the divine Mother- Coredemptrix (23).

Moreover, a particular merit of not inconsiderable value is linked to the fact that Mary, specifically in being the Coredemptrix, most securely guarantees the truth that Jesus is really the Redeemer, the only universal Redeemer, absolute in His autonomy as principal and primary worker of the universal redemption.

Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner makes this same point very well in one of his articles, remarkable for its insight and profundity, in which he interprets the ancient Christological-Mariological expression "Mensura Christi Maria" (the measure of Christ is Mary) in the corresponding soteriological sense of "Mensura Redemptoris Corredemptrix" (the measure of the Redeemer is the Coredemptrix). "The Marian coredemption," he writes, "is the basis and guarantee of the reality of the Redemption worked by Christ and, at the same time, is the basis and guarantee of Mary’s universal mediation for each one of the redeemed. It is a maternity suffered and consummated on Calvary up to the point that ‘she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery’ (Rev 12: 2). It is precisely because Mary is Coredemptrix that Jesus is the one and absolute universal Redeemer. It is precisely because Mary is Coredemptrix that every redeemed person is, by grace, Her true, real (and not only adopted) child (24)."

Taking stock of the clear distinction between coredemptive mediation and dispensatory mediation, it is immediately evident that the effective participation to which we are all called, now and in the future, according to the economy of redemptive grace, is that corresponding to the plan of the dispensatory mediation of grace, and that alone.

The redemptive mediation, in fact, is proper and exclusive to the Redeemer, because it invests the entirety of the redemptive work which He accomplished "in first act" for the acquisition of redeeming grace. This redemptive work was accomplished from the first instant of the Incarnation of the Word in the virgin womb of the Immaculate at the Annunciation, up to the fulfillment of His reparative and expiatory mission, with His death on the Cross.

Equally, for Mary, the divine Mother, the coredemptive mediation was properly and exclusively "Hers," since She was Her Son’s direct and immediate "unique cooperator" in the battle against the infernal enemy—in the accomplishing of the work of Redemption "in first act" for the acquisition of divine grace. She shared the entire life of sacrifice of Her divine Son, begun with the Fiat at the Annunciation, and concluded on Calvary, where Jesus Himself solemnly proclaimed Her "Mother" of the new redeemed human race (cf. Jn 19: 26). Mary now has the maternal mission of dispensing to redeemed humanity the gift of the divine grace that saves and sanctifies every man (25)

Mary’s "maternal" mediation, as Pope John Paul II calls it in his Marian encyclical Redemptoris Mater (nn. 38ff ), is, therefore, ever operative on the part of the divine Mother Mary in respect to mankind, present and future. The dispensatory mediation— known also as mediation "in second act"—is, therefore, necessary until the end of time, to complete the redemption through the personal application of divine grace to every individual descendant of Adam in need of being regenerated to the life of grace and of being saved.

In addition, the fruitfulness of the dispensatory aspect of Our Lady’s maternal mediation is, as we noted earlier, directly dependent upon the coredemptive maternal mediation, according to that precise, condensed aphorism which states: "Quia Corredemptrix, ideo Dispensatrix" (because Coredemptrix, therefore Dispensatrix). In effect, Mary Most Holy became the Mother-Dispensatrix of every grace, precisely because She was the Mother-Coredemptrix of all redeeming grace—a second Eve united subordinately to the second Adam in the accomplishment of universal redemption from the very act of the Incarnation up to the crucifixion and death of Christ. The coredemption is the foundation of Her title to the dispensation.

Now, a privileged area of activity of the Dispensatrix of grace during the two-thousand-or-so year journey of the Church through the history of mankind, has been that of the great Marian apparitions, in which the Blessed Virgin makes Herself visibly present "to bring graces of salvation and of holiness to fortunate, privileged souls, and to all those who listen to Her maternal exhortations."26 And among apparitions of Our Lady, first place undoubtedly goes to those at Fatima in Portugal, in 1917. Relating the thought of Pope Pius XII, Bishop Paul Hnilica, veritable apostle of Our Lady of Fatima, was able to state with good reason that "Fatima is the greatest intervention of God in the history of the Church and of mankind. It is the greatest intervention of Our Lady since the death of the apostles (27)."

It is precisely in this "Fatima-event"—now in the course of an international Mariological symposium—that we wish to discern and describe the presence of various aspects of the mystery of the Redemption and Coredemption. Proceeding in this way, the "Fatima-event" becomes for us and for all men a school of Marian soteriology, enriched by the abundance of theological and historical, ecclesiological and eschatological, ascetical-mystical and pastoral elements which it contains (28).

For more information on the specifically "coredemptive" dimension of the Fatima-event, we prefer to refer our hearers to the two more ample studies already cited above (29) Here we wish only to make a passing note of the highly significant, charismatic fact of the apparition of Our Lady of Dolors at the conclusion of the apparitions of Fatima, on 13 October 1917 (30), and of the last book written by Sr. Lucia of Fatima (31). In this work, the Fatima seer addresses the theme of Marian coredemption with remarkable simplicity and depth. Reflections of considerable value, even from the theological viewpoint, grace this work, in which Mary Most Holy is repeatedly presented as the universal "Coredemptrix," as well as "Distributrix" of all graces for the salvation of mankind.

Sr. Lucia’s unambiguous position on Marian coredemption in her last book—a work of great importance for its richness of content—has already been described: ‘On Sr. Lucia’s thought regarding faith in Mary Coredemptrix and in Her coredemptive mediation, it is sufficient to say that, in her limpid Marian catechesis, reviewing the mystery of Mary as divine Mother, Immaculate and Ever-Virgin, maternal Mediatrix and Distributrix of all graces, assumed in soul and body into heaven and there crowned Queen of the universe, loved by the faithful in the special devotion to Her Immaculate Heart and with the prayer of the Holy Rosary, she also gave us, in her last book, "a notable presence—running to several pages—of specific and explicit discussion of the truth of Marian Coredemption. Eight times, in fact, Sr. Lucia speaks of Mary Most Holy, the Coredemptrix, calling Her precisely, expressly and repeatedly, Coredemptrix (32)."

In his very recent book, the authoritative Vatican Secretary of State, Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, affirms that the book by Sr. Lucia of Fatima was edited by the Editrice Vaticana without ‘any need of corrections or censure’ on matters of doctrine or in anything else. In regard to Marian coredemption, the distinguished Cardinal acknowledges openly that ‘Sr. Lucia’s book was permeated, albeit soberly, by the proposition that Mary is "Coredemptrix" of the human race (33).’

If we reflect upon the dispensatory mediation, we can state immediately that Marian coredemption is a school for all who, according to the teaching of the Apostle St. Paul, desire to "complete" what is lacking in the Passion of Christ (cf. Col 1: 24). They desire, and are able to complete it precisely through participation in Mary’s dispensatory mediation of all graces. We might further say that, in this, the Coredemptrix acts as a kind of filter or fusion between the Redemption and the dispensatory mediation of redeeming grace. It is, above all, those "consecrated" to the Immaculate who are able to become little "intermediators" or "blessed mediators"—as St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, cited above, says—"between the Immaculate and souls dispersed throughout the world."

It should be remembered that Mary’s universal mediation— whether coredemptive or dispensatory—is the truest and most fruitful source of our personal mediation or intermediation. The Redemption worked by Christ is the primary and essential source of universal Marian coredemptive mediation. From Mary’s universal coredemptive mediation, directly derives Her universal dispensatory mediation. Finally, upon Her universal dispensatory mediation depends our personal participation in the dispensatory mediation, by which we obtain graces for ourselves and for others. There is an active circulation of grace, therefore, that involves both Mother and children in their journey of salvation towards Paradise. This explains the divine Mother’s desire to be present to Her children, even—albeit rarely—by way of apparitions, to guide them and sustain them along the way of salvation. This is precisely what happened at Fatima, in an extraordinary way.

The theme of subjective redemption rings out loud and clear in the "Fatima-event." It actually works for the salvation of mankind according to the level of participation of individual men (and even peoples), who are called to cooperate singly and personally in the divine plan of salvation—in union with the divine Mother-Dispensatrix—in order to obtain the application of sanctifying grace to themselves and others. "It is in this vein," wrote Sr. M. G. Iannelli, "that we find the mediation also of Blesseds Francisco and Jacinta, inserted into that maternal mediation of Mary of which Fatima has been one of the clearest and most powerful manifestations. United to the Mediatrix, these two little children participated in Her universal mediation, becoming instruments and messengers of grace and salvation for the whole world (34)."

The school of the Blessed Virgin at Fatima was directed in a special way to the three elect little shepherds. It developed from the start in terms of their participation in the dispensatory mediation of redeeming grace; or, in other words, it developed from the beginning along the lines of reparative sacrifice. This ties in with the exhortation of the Angel—the same one who would later set before the eyes of the shepherd children the divine Eucharist, the Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ— when he said, instructing them: "Make of everything you can a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended (35)."

Then, in the first apparition of the Blessed Virgin, on 13 May 1917, Our Lady Herself asked the three little shepherd seers: "Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?" And to their immediate response, "Yes, we are willing," She straightaway added: "Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort (36)."

The offering of oneself to the Lord, Divine Justice, the acceptance and enduring of every suffering, painful reparation for sins, the conversion of sinners, the divine nourishment of the Eucharist, the merciful assistance of divine grace: these are all elements of an entirely redemptive discourse or project, present even at the outset of the Fatima-event. Offence to God and sin require just reparation, and sinners require conversion to transform their "aversio a Deo" into "conversio ad Deum," and their "conversio ad creaturas" into "aversio a creaturis."

But who is able to cooperate efficaciously in this transformation? The answer to the question also comes to us from Fatima. Just as the three little shepherds responded to Our Lady’s invitation by offering themselves immediately and with generosity: "Yes, we want it," so are we all called to offer our cooperation out of love for God and the brethren. In the sacrifices we shall have to offer, we will be sustained and consoled by the grace of God, as Our Lady said to the three little shepherds: "the grace of God will be your comfort."

It is clear here that the call and mission of the shepherd children—as that of all men—to actively participate in the dispensatory mediation of grace in second act, translates, in concrete terms, into reparation which they offer—reparation fruitful of the graces of the Redemption and Coredemption already worked by Christ and Mary in first act.

Reparation, in fact, is the aspect of the redemption-coredemption in the Fatima-event that comes across before all others. It is the aspect that renders the dispensatory mediation of redeeming grace more fruitful and profitable. It is by means of reparation that every member of Christ, offering up prayers and sacrifices for the salvation of sinners, obtains redeeming graces from the Redeemer and Coredemptrix (37)

Historically, the Fatima-event took place during the years of the First World War (1914–1918), a war that terrorized and tore apart whole populations, bathing mankind in the blood of its horrendous massacres. War has been, and always will be, a chastisement of God upon the sins of men, who, instead of redeeming themselves by receiving the law and the grace of God that saves, rebel against God, trampling His law, profaning His divine grace and offending Him without reserve with their crimes and misdeeds.

At Fatima, Our Lady spoke clearly to the three little shepherds about the war that was being waged in Europe, predicting its end: "The war is going to end (38)." She also revealed the special importance of daily recitation of the Holy Rosary, a prayer particularly efficacious in obtaining from Her the grace of the end of the war. Our Lady Herself, in fact, expressly exhorted Lucia "to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only She can help you (39)."

How is it that mankind does not understand the importance and the power of the Holy Rosary for obtaining "peace" and defending "peace" against war and terrorism (40)?

Yet Our Lady explained and made quite clear the real link between "war" and the "sins" of men, prophesying with clarity that, the present World War having at last ended, if men "do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the pontificate of Pius XI (41)." In these prophetic words of Our Lady, we hear a perfect echo of the words that Jesus said to the paralytic at the pool of Bethsaida, after miraculously healing him: "See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you" (Jn 5: 14).

As a matter of fact, the predicted time passed exactly, and— sad to say—the prophetic words of Our Lady were promptly fulfilled: "God is preparing to punish the world for its crimes."42 The Second World War (1939–1945) raged for the punishment of sinful mankind. It was a war that covered humanity with blood, rending it asunder in a way that truly was "worse," with scarcely imaginable massacres of entire peoples and nations, culminating in the shocking horror of the detonation of two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Acknowledging the Second World War as a chastisement from God, who was driven to "punish the world for its crimes," does it not follow that it stands in history as a supreme disgrace to humanity?

With the Second World War, however, humanity would at last be forced to open its eyes and realize that "war" is only a tragic experience of hell on earth, for the punishment of the wickedness of men rebellious to God. In war, in a special way, "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth," to quote the Apostle Paul’s forceful words (Rom 1: 19). The flagrant injustice of those in Germany who, during the Second World War, created the extermination camps in which approximately ten million men lost their lives: was it not perhaps "without measure"? Even more dreadful was the injustice of the orchestrators of Soviet Russia’s "Gulag Archipelago (43)," in which, all said and done, during and after this very war, more than 200 million persons (!!) were killed. This is none other than the school of Satan, the "murderer from the beginning" (Jn 8: 44).

But the third part of the Secret of Fatima speaks to us once again of the hardheartedness of men who refuse to understand and thus render the Redemption, won for their eternal salvation, vain. In her description of the third part of the Secret, Sr. Lucia states that she saw ‘an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames which looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendor that Our Lady radiated towards him from Her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: "Penance, Penance, Penance!" ’ (44)

Here we find, first of all, another terrifying threat regarding the world, now in danger of being ‘set on fire’ by a sword resembling a cosmic avalanche of fire. But the intervention of the ‘right hand’ of Our Lady neutralizes the threatening fire, extinguishing it. This is the power of the maternal mediation of Mary Most Holy to save the world! She is always our Mother of Mercy, the true Salus mundi!

But this prodigious and providential intervention of Our Lady is nevertheless followed by the cry of the Angel, repeated three times ‘in a loud voice’: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!’ The Angel’s words clearly demand an answer, some correspondence on the part of the world, in danger of being engulfed in flames. And while it is true that the ‘right hand’ of Our Lady manages to neutralize the flaming sword, it is obvious that the scope of Our Lady’s intervention is to make it possible for men to actually do the just and required ‘penance’ for their sins, their rebellions, and their fatal estrangement from God.

Now, if men do not do this ‘penance’—and to anyone capable of seeing our hedonistic, consumerist, pansexual, etc., world for what it really is, it is evident that we are not doing it—what will happen to the world? This question seems to present us with the mystery of the future awaiting us: a future that could entail a truly punitive and purifying catastrophe for the whole of mankind, if we do not amend our ways in time and make reparation by means of ‘penance.’

Another still more primary and fundamental aspect of the Fatima-event in relation to redemption-coredemption is, undoubtedly, that connected with the presentation of the terrifying truth of faith which is hell, where the redeemed who do not wish to receive, or who culpably renounce the sanctifying grace obtained for them by the Divine Redeemer and the Mother-Coredemptrix, will be damned for all eternity.

If it is true that the Redemption and the Coredemption have obtained for the human race the grace of being saved from hell "in first act," it is also true that every man, "in second act," must appropriate to himself in the Church and through the Church the redeeming grace already obtained for him by the Redeemer and by the Coredemptrix. And this "second act" of redeeming grace applied or personalized to every individual man, is linked precisely to the work of the dispensatory mediation proper to Our Lady, whom the Lord Himself gave to us from on high on the Cross on Calvary as our "mother… in the order of grace" (LG 61).

The mission of the Salvation of the whole human race, which can be said to be that of Her "Son," and which is represented by St. John the Evangelist at the foot of the Cross on Calvary: "Behold your son" (Jn 19: 26)—this mission is proper to the Mother and universal Mediatrix. The salvation of Her every child from eternal damnation in hell is something that directly concerns the Mother and mediatrix of salvation. And to this end, Our Lady also desires to make men participators in Her dispensatory mediation—cooperators and instruments of salvation for themselves and for others—as She did paradigmatically at Fatima with the three little shepherd seers (45).

The terrifying vision of hell (in the apparition of 13 July 1917), which Sr. Lucia of Fatima described so well (46), cannot fail to remind us—distressingly—of the mystery of universal redemption brought about by the Redeemer and by the Coredemptrix: universal redemption rendered vain by hell, into which souls fall on account of a lack of the application of redeeming grace to them as individual persons, because of their indisposition in respect to its reception. The want of application of redeeming grace is, in reality, always culpable—that is, it is linked to the personal non-reception of, or to the refusal of grace on the part of men. Whoever does not wish to be saved from hell and, therefore, does not reject sin in order to receive sanctifying redeeming grace, will receive hell, where he will have to endure both separation from God and incredible agony for all eternity, as a just punishment.

Now, the dispensatory maternal mediation of grace, which is proper to the Blessed Virgin as "our Mother," is directed, above all, towards saving such souls from hell. But Our Lady also makes all those who generously desire to pray and offer sacrifices, participators in Her dispensatory mediation, in order to cooperate in the salvation of others. This is precisely what is indicated in Her serious words of appeal, said with anguish to the three little shepherds of Fatima: "Many souls go to hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them (47)"

According to these grave words of Our Lady, "many" souls go to hell because of a lack of Christians committed to praying and sacrificing themselves generously for their salvation. Prayer and sacrifice are, in effect, the means at everyone’s disposal for obtaining the dispensation of redeeming grace for the salvation of "the souls of poor sinners" from eternal damnation—to use Our Lady’s maternal words—as Sr. Lucia specifies—spoken "so kindly and so sadly (48)."

In light of this, we can appreciate the exceptional value of what was, in fact, the most eloquent testimony given by the three little shepherd seers of Fatima, namely their very lives, full of sacrifice and untiring prayer. Their life of prayer and sacrifice— which strengthened immeasurably in the wake of the terrifying experience of the vision of hell, standing at the feet of Our Lady in the Cova da Iria—was their response to Our Lady’s maternal appeal, Her sorrowful request, for generous commitment to the task of saving "the souls of poor sinners." The three little shepherd seers were in reality three little "mediators" who obtained the grace of salvation for many souls.

Accounts of the generous efforts made by the three little shepherds in this regard, make truly moving reading. Pure and ingenuous, they were committed to pray as much as possible, especially the Rosary, and they did all they could to offer every sacrifice, little or great, to make amends to God for the offenses committed against Him, and to convert sinners and, thus, save their souls from hell. They were little children, and yet their generosity was gigantic! Their lives are a school of virtue for all of us. We, for our part, must neither reject it nor ignore it, mindful of the great truth that "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins" (Heb 9: 22). The beatification of the two younger children, Francisco and Jacinta, and of that of Sr. Lucia in the near future, is the magisterium’s loftiest guarantee of their holiness and of their generous participation in the dispensatory mediation of Our Lady, so very fruitful of graces (49).

To make us still more aware of the gravity of our common commitment to cooperate in saving souls from hell—in saving them, that is, from supreme eternal ruin—Our Lady revealed to the three little shepherds, immediately after the dreadful vision of hell, a new and marvelous design of God—ever just and merciful—for attaining salvation: "You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart (50)."

This gift of our just and merciful God is most generous and magnificent. He wishes to give us the most powerful and salutary devotion, that is, the devotion with the ability to save souls from falling into hell: devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. What immense and transcendent, salvific power God has given to the Heart of His and our divine Mother, and to our devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary!

With gratitude without measure, we reflect that the just and merciful God, in order to protect us against the maximum danger, namely eternal perdition in hell, has desired to bestow upon us the supreme maternal protection: the Immaculate Heart of His and our Mother. One could also consider that the most powerful, direct opposition to the harrowing reality of hell is precisely that posed by the Immaculate Heart of the Coredemptrix, by the Heart of the Mother and Mediatrix of every grace, by the Heart of the Omnipotent Supplicant, by the one who crushes the head of the serpent (cf. Gen 3: 15), by the one against whom the "great red dragon" can do nothing (Rev 12: 3), by Her who is "terrible as an army with banners" (Cant 6: 10—Douay-Rheims Vers.).

We can say that the Lord Himself bears out this interpretation of the direct and immediate opposition between the redemption-coredemption and hell—eternal damnation: It is the Lord who, precisely to "save" souls from eternal loss in hell, "wishes to establish in the world devotion to (Mary’s) Immaculate Heart." The Lord, therefore, grants to the Immaculate Heart of Mary participation in the salvific power of the Redeemer, who cannot be other than united with Her in Her maternal mission as universal Coredemptrix.

The Immaculate Heart of Mary is the Heart of the intrepid Virgin, of the invincible Warrioress, of the heroic Coredemptrix, of the Queen of Martyrs, of the Mother omnipotent by grace. And it is precisely to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in the economy of the "Fatima-event," that is entrusted the final outcome of every undertaking in view of ultimate salvation, that is, the conclusive outcome known as the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, to use Our Lady’s own words (in the apparition at Fatima on 13 July 1917) (51).

These considerations enable us to grasp the importance of striving to avoid, or at least make reparation for, every offence against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Let us remember Our Lady’s exhortation to the three shepherd children: "Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially whenever you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary (52).’ "

The tremendous fervor of little Jacinta in this regard, which led her to take advantage of every difficult moment to offer it "in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary," is edifying indeed (53).

Moreover, we must not forget Our Lady’s request for the five Confessions and Communions of reparation on the first Saturdays of five consecutive months, accompanied by the recitation of a Rosary and 15 minutes of meditation, which we are to offer to console Her Immaculate Heart, lacerated and pierced by the sins of men. Jesus Himself, in fact, said to Sr. Lucia: "Have compassion on the Heart of your most holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them."54 The Immaculate, for Her part, invited us to consider the same reality: "Look, my daughter, at my Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude." Promising salvation to souls who embrace this reparative devotion to Her Immaculate Heart, She guaranteed that they "will be loved by God" and will be "like flowers placed by me to adorn His throne (55)."

In her last book entitled ‘Calls’ from the Message of Fatima (56), Sr. Lucia has written some truly marvelous things on the Immaculate Heart of Mary. According to Sr. Lucia, Mary’s Immaculate Heart is the birth place of the redemption and of the redeeming Heart of Christ, because ‘God began the work of our redemption in the Heart of Mary,’ and for this reason ‘Christ’s heart-beats are those of the heart of Mary…; it was from Mary that Christ received the Body and Blood that are to be poured out and offered up for the salvation of the world. Hence, Mary, made one with Christ, is the co-Redemptrix of the human race. With Christ in Her womb, with Jesus Christ in her arms, with Christ at Nazareth and in His public life; with Jesus Christ, She climbed the hill of Calvary, she suffered and agonized with Him, receiving into her Immaculate Heart the last sufferings of Christ, His last words, His last agony and the last drops of His Blood, in order to offer them to the Father (57).’

Here, the Redemption worked by Christ and Marian coredemption are wholly united in one co-immolation, begun as early as the Annunciation with the Virgin Mary’s Fiat mihi,58 and continued in the Temple of Jerusalem, at the Presentation of the Child Jesus, when, as Sr. Lucia writes, ‘Mary does not simply offer her Son, she offers herself with Christ, because Jesus had received His body and blood from her; thus she offers herself in and with Christ to God, co-Redemptrix, with Christ, of humanity.’59 And, finally, in the last phase of Christ’s public life, Mary Most Holy travelled together with Him ‘the narrow way of life, the rugged road to Calvary; with Him she agonized, receiving in her heart the wounds of the nails, the piercing of the lance and the insults of the hostile crowd… in order to accomplish the mission which He had entrusted to her as co-Redemptrix with Christ of all human beings (60).’

In the complete, historical-theological picture of the Fatima event according to Sr. Lucia, redemption and coredemption together—in union and continuity with the Blessed Eucharist, presented to the three little shepherds from the beginning with the first apparition of the Angel in 1916—comprise one sole immolation for us. They are so closely united as to become, in fact, inseparable, indissoluble—an inseparability that would seem to appear even at the level of a sort of physical-mystical biogenesis between the Son Jesus and the Mother Mary, and between the Eucharist and the Immaculate.

Sr. Lucia explains this well when she writes: "it is the body received from Mary that, in Christ, becomes a victim offered up for the salvation of mankind; it is the blood received from Mary that circulates in Christ’s veins and which pours out from His divine Heart; it is this same body and this same blood, received from Mary, that are given to us, under the appearances of bread and wine, as our daily food, to strengthen within us the life of grace, and so continue in us, members of the Mystical Body of Christ, His redemptive work for the salvation of each and all to the extent to which each one clings to Christ and co-operates with Christ (61)."

This brief paragraph is just one example of Sr. Lucia’s many, marvelously concise reflections on objective redemption and coredemption (or redemption and coredemption in first act), in which these are presented as, shall we say, the "genetic matrices" of subjective redemption and coredemption (that in second act), also known as the dispensatory mediation of grace.

But the Fatima-event also teaches us that we can all be called to associate ourselves with and participate in the work of the dispensatory mediation of Mary Most Holy, along the lines indicated in the totality of the Fatima message. "The facts of Fatima," writes Sr. M. G. Iannelli, "show not only the reality of this mediation, but also its extraordinary power, upon which the Lord makes the end of the war and the peace depend, as well as the triumph of the Kingdom of God in the world through the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (62)."

An important aspect, therefore, of the mystery of redemption-coredemption set before us by the Fatima-event is the "ladder" of our participation in the realization of the mystery of Redemption, according to a divine and hierarchical plan embracing all of us which sets out from the Most Holy Trinity to work through Mary to bring about the redemptive Incarnation of the Word. The Word, then, desires to reach all men and associate them to Himself by way of personal, active participation in their own salvation and in that of others.

This, in fact, is precisely what Sr. Lucia expresses in the following, truly impressive words: "Thus, having led us to offer to the Most Holy Trinity the merits of Jesus Christ and those of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who is the Mother of Christ and of His Mystical Body, the message then goes on to ask us to also contribute to the prayers and sacrifices of all of us who are members of that one same Body of Christ received from Mary, made divine in the Word, offered on the Cross, present in the Eucharist, constantly growing in the members of the Church (63)."

This wonderful, concluding synthesis by the Fatima seer, Sr. Lucia, demonstrates the Fatima-event as one of the richest and most interesting chapters in the Marian theology of history, or in Marian soteriology. We see it disclosing the key features of God’s saving plan, which comes from the Most Holy Trinity and returns to the Most Holy Trinity through the redemptive Incarnation of the Word, the "most perfect" Redeemer, in the virgin womb of the Immaculate, Spouse of the Holy Spirit. She is the one, "most perfect," pre-redeemed member of the human family, that She might be our Mother-Coredemptrix.

Our appraisal of the Fatima-event allows us to conclude that the dispensatory aspect of the redemption-coredemption, inserted into the history of the entire world until the end of time, is faithfully extended from the altar of the Cross on Mt. Calvary, through every altar upon which the Eucharistic Sacrifice is celebrated, to save all men "of good will" (Lk 2: 14) from eternal damnation in hell, and lead them to the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen—So may it be.

This article was excerpted from Mary at the Foot of the Cross – VIII: Coredemption as Key to a Correct Understanding of Redemption, Academy of the Immaculate, 2008.

Fatima: the School of the Blessed Virgin
For more information on the specifically "coredemptive" dimension of the Fatima-event, we prefer to refer our hearers to the two more ample studies already cited above (29) Here we wish only to make a passing note of the highly significant, charismatic fact of the apparition of Our Lady of Dolors at the conclusion of the apparitions of Fatima, on 13 October 1917 (30), and of the last book written by Sr. Lucia of Fatima (31). In this work, the Fatima seer addresses the theme of Marian coredemption with remarkable simplicity and depth. Reflections of considerable value, even from the theological viewpoint, grace this work, in which Mary Most Holy is repeatedly presented as the universal "Coredemptrix," as well as "Distributrix" of all graces for the salvation of mankind.

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