Intercession and Mighty Prayers of the Virgin Mary

The most sanctified Mary

The Virgin Mary is more than just a friend and a saint; she is the most sanctified.  Just as Angel Gabriel, when announcing the Lordly pregnancy to her, he referred to her as “highly favoured” (Luke: 1-28).

Being highly favoured means that before being chosen to have the honor of giving birth to God the Word, she was pure, chaste, virtuous, and so full of virtue that she overflows with it. It is a great and rare spiritual might for a young girl at the age of the Virgin Mary as she was little below thirteen years old at the time: “Many daughters have done well,
But you excel them all.” (Proverbs 31:29).

If such was her spiritual might while still a young girl, this fervency must have increased significantly while she contemplated the secret of incarnation as she bears the Christ – glory be to Him.  In addition, she continued to experience and to live through spiritual revelations and supreme manifestations.  Hence, her soul, her spirit, her mind and all of her being were occupied by them. The Bible says about her: “But Mary kept all these things and ponderedthemin her heart.” (Luke 2:19-51).

Our Lady the Virgin Mary was transformed due to being surrounded by such a fervent spiritual environment.  She was immersed in it, and she continued to be patient and to be attentive to every word pronounced by her Son, Master, and God, to whom she dedicated all her life to serve. Also her patient and continuous attention to all of His actions and all the stunning events that marked His life, the miracles and powers that enlightened Mary’s soul with even more humility and spiritual amazement, until she was living “by spirit” (Revelations 1:10). It is as if she was not living by flesh. It is probable that because of her deep occupation with spiritual matters that she could not tell anymore “whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know…”              (2 Cor 12:2).

Therefore, since the Virgin Mary is a human being with such spiritual might, who began serving while still a child, and being ‘highly favroured’, in addition to flourishing in spiritual fervency and might, we ask:  how can she not have a powerful intercession before God? How can her prayers not have a mighty weight?

If God Almighty decides that if there were fifty, forty, thirty, twenty, or even ten pure ones, then He would forgive the whole town for the sake of the pure ones who were in this place and not make them perish for the sake of the pure ones amongst them (Genesis 18: 23-32), so how can Virgin Mary who is “highly favoured” and has supreme sanctity not have a powerful intercession before God. Therefore, because of her prayers and pleadings, God has mercy on other humans whom she intercedes for.  Hence, God showers them with His mercy and He has patience on them.

The Queen, Mother of the King

Because of her spirituality and sanctity, God chose Virgin Mary from amongst all the women of the world (Luke 1:28-42) to be the chosen one (2John 1) where God’s Word shall come through. With her flesh and blood, she became the body with which the Divinity got united and from her God incarnated (1Timothy 3:16). What an honour above any other honour that a woman from our kin becomes a second heaven where God came in the flesh.  She became a heaven and therefore the Mother of God (Isaiah 7:14) and God sat on her knees, He who sits above the Cherub (1 Samuel 4:4), (2 Samuel 6:2), (Psalm 79:1).

With this elevated rank, this trait and might, she has a powerful intercession and her prayers must have special powers before God, above all other saints, as the angel had told her “…you have found favor with God” (Luke 1:30) and this blessing and rank cannot be obtained except by someone who had pleased the Lord with her pure life.

The intercession of St. Mary and the might of her prayers are not just due to her being the queen, mother of the King; but because of her genuine spiritual life and her sanctified life as she is “highly favored”, and highly sanctified.  That is why she found favour with God.

In addition to all this, it is also because of the efforts she exerted with and for the Christ, may He be glorified. When a woman cried at Christ’s feet, He said her numerous sins were forgiven because she loved a lot (Luke 7:47). The Virgin Mary the pure one, highly sanctified, loved the Lord so much and her love was not a mere spiritual feeling, but St. Mary exerted a lot of efforts for the Lord Jesus like nobody else. She carried Him in her body as a mother carries a child, she nursed Him, and she took care of Him until He flourished into a grown person (Luke 2:52). For Him, she endured degrading and suspicions about her purity. Even her fiancé Joseph the pure one was suspicious of her, however: “Then Joseph…being a justman,and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1: 19-20). She suffered with Him on their long journey throughout the four corners of the land of Egypt – from north to south while they were being chased by Herod from one place to another. After she returned to the land of Palestine, she endured the same fate with Him because of the annoyances of the Jews and their persecutions of Him (John 15:20). We can imagine the sufferings that the Virgin Mary endured, especially during the holy week when she experienced those dark and sad days with her Son. The religious and civilian trials He went through, His being sentenced to whipping, beating, and crucifixion. How she saw and followed Him through the stages of crucifixion, stage by stage; and how she felt as a mother, seeing Him falling under the cross’s load on three encounters, while the cruel chief of soldiers scolded His already severed back with whipping.  He then urged Him to get up, even when He was exhausted and sweat was dripping from Him like drops of blood before it mixes with mud; hence, His face looked smudged with mud. How did she feel as a mother while seeing Him who is more beautiful than any other human (Psalm 44:1) becoming void of any beauty or something to look at (Isaiah 53:2) She saw Him while nails were piercing His hands and feet. She saw Him on the cross saying He was thirsty (John 19:28) and they did not offer Him any water, instead they gave Him vinegar in a sponge (John 19:29). She saw the chief of soldiers stabbing Him with a knife in His side after which water and blood gushed out (John 19:34). Simeon the old man was right in saying when he saw the Christ carried by the hands of Virgin Mary when He was 40 days old, and he predicted the pains and the sufferings that she would experience with Christ, Lord, Saviour and Son “Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Childis destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against(yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:34-35). If the Bible had decided right from the beginning that God is fair and that because of His fairness: “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.” (Matthew 16:27) (Romans 2:6) and that “Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” (1Corinthiens 3:8) and exerting effort is a sign of love “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13), so Virgin Mary loved the Lord with a love that had no equal, first as a true saint and secondly as a mother, because there is no love like the love of a mother; thirdly she loved Him as a human who loves Christ and whose fate became tied to His. For His sake, she endured like no one else. With Him, she was more than a martyr, suffering since the beginning of His incarnation and even before.

She shared the pain of His torturing and His death. After His ascension to heavens, Jews kept cursing her, challenging her, and hating her. For these three causes to say the least, the Virgin Mary has an intercession before Christ the Lord that has no equal and she has more influence than any other person.

It is an honour beyond any other that the first miracle performed by the Christ, may He be glorified, in public was in response to the wishes of Virgin Mary although He did not want to perform a miracle at that timing. He however performed the first miracle, which marked the start of His public in service, and this was for the sake of Virgin Mary. He turned the water into wine at the wedding of Cana in Galilee (John 2:1-11).

When Mary, the sister of Lazarus poured perfume on Christ’s head, may He be glorified, He did not forget this and defended her before her persecutors “She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial.Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.” (Mark 14:8-9) (Matthew 26:10-13). It is very clear and evident that God shall never forget what Virgin Mary did for Him and the efforts she exerted. She did not pour perfume on His body, she poured her blood, and her whole heart – she gave up her whole life for Him. There is no doubt that she must be highly regarded and favoured by Him and that her payers are the mightiest ever.