A Stone in the Church of God : Cephas, by Daniel Meynen, D.D.

1. In a previous work entitled The Eucharist: The Church in the Heart of Christ, I related what the Spirit of God allowed me to understand, in faith, concerning the sacrament of the Body of Christ, which is the mean or mediator of the corporeal order instituted by the Lord, in order that Mary, his Mother, might exercise her universal mediation. Since Mary is the spouse of the Pope, the Vicar of Christ on earth, I must also speak, for the sake of completeness, of the relation that exists between Christ-Eucharist and the Roman Pontiff, both of whom are, each in his own way, mediators of the corporeal order. This is the theme I propose to develop in the present work, always following in faith what the Lord communicates to me of his Light. This new book, like its contents, will thus relate directly to the previous one. For practical reasons, when it is necessary to refer to The Eucharist: The Church in the Heart of Christ, the abbreviation ECHC, followed by the number of the paragraph in question, or else followed by the page number (if it consists in a text that is not numbered), will be inserted at the proper place. In this way, one book closely linked to the other, these two books will constitute volumes one and two of a single work.

Simon Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, addresses Christ, the Son of God who was made flesh (John 1:14), and says to him, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. (Matt. 16:16) And what he says is what he is thinking at that moment in his mind: he has within himself an image of Christ, by way of spiritual knowledge. So, when he pronounces the words You are the Christ..., Peter is in spiritual union with Christ, by way of knowledge. But, before the occurence at Caesarea, and from their very first meeting, Christ himself had created a spiritual union, by that same way of knowledge, between himself and the future Apostle, by declaring, You are Simon, son of John. (John 1:42) However, at that starting point, Jesus gave Simon a new name: «You will be called Cephas» (this word means Rock). (ibid.) This means that Christ knows Simon spiritually by means of and through the intermediary of an appellation that is exclusively material, or corporeal, that of rock; which, in the Aramaic language, is translated as Cephas. By this fact, from its very origin, the union that the Lord created between himself and Simon Peter, while essentially spiritual, is and cannot fail to be at the same corporeal, and this mystically - that is, according to the order of Divine Will. And all this necessarily applies when Peter addresses Christ to tell him, You are the Christ, since, right after Peter's profession of faith, the Lord replies, to interiorly confirm him, You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church. (Matt. 16:18)

2. What is important to note here is that, by pronouncing the words You are the Christ..., Peter is not only in a spiritual, as well as corporeal, union with Christ, but is also, by virtue of the witness of Christ himself, in a spiritual union with the Father, He who, eternally, begets the Word of life (1 John 1:1). Indeed, after Peter had spoken, Christ said, It was not flesh and blood that have revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. (Matt. 16:17) Thus, when Peter speaks the words You are the Christ..., the Father is in him, speaking to him by mode of revelation, or of knowledge, one which is spiritual and interior. Now, while Christ-Man immediately receives from the Word, who is God in Person, all knowledge or revelation of a divine order, every other man - and thus Peter as well - can receive divine revelation only through the intermediary of Christ, the sole mediator between God and men. (1 Tim. 2:5) Moreover, it is for this reason that the spiritual union, by way of knowledge, between the Father and Peter is revealed to the latter by Christ in person. And finally, given that there exists between Christ and Peter - at the very moment when Peter pronounces the words You are the Christ... - a spiritual, as well as corporeal, union by way of knowledge or revelation, all of this allows us to say that there exists, between the Father and Peter, a spiritual union, by way of revelation, which is also and necessarily corporeal.

3. If, when Peter pronounces the words You are the Christ..., there exists a spiritual and corporeal union between the Father and Peter, and between Christ - who is the Son of God incarnate - and Peter, then there must also exist, at the same time, a spiritual and corporeal union between the Holy Spirit and Peter: if Peter is one with the Father and with the Son, then he must necessarily be one with the Spirit of the Father and the Son. This amounts to saying that there exists - in Christ and through his mediation - a union between the Most Holy Trinity and the Prince of the Apostles, a union which is, with respect to its mode (of the order of knowledge or revelation), both spiritual and corporeal; and that, by this very fact, the entire person of Peter, considered as body and soul in his union with Christ, manifests and entirely reveals the Most Holy Trinity, rendering it visible and knowable to the Church and to the World (and thus also to himself) through the public proclamation of his faith in the word of the Father, spoken without end in his Son, through the action of the Holy Spirit. This is what we may call the Trinitarian ministry of Peter in particular, and of the Pope in general. This is also the entire subject of our book, a subject which is wholly contained in the title which we have given it: A Stone in the Church of God: Cephas.

4. Cephas is the name given by Jesus to Simon, the Prince of the Apostles, a name which - because it means rock - is the verbal expression of the corporeal and spiritual union that exists between Christ and Simon Peter. And in this name Cephas resides the entire root and foundation of the Trinitarian ministry of Peter in particular, and of the Pope in general. Now, as to what concerns the corporeal union that exists between Christ and Peter, a union which is expressed by the word Cephas, it is properly and solely by means of Eucharistic communion that this corporeal union can, and truly does, exist; for on the one hand, since the human person is incommunicable, we cannot consider Christ here in his corporeal human appearance, as he is in via, and more precisely, as he is in his act of temporal elocution to Peter; and on the other hand, since the Eucharist considered as communion possesses, in itself, an aspect that is properly corporeal, permitting - in relation to the mediation of Mary (see ECHC, no. 103) - a corporeal union, of the mystical order, between Christ and the human person who receives communion. Thus, the trinitarian ministry of Peter is exercised fully and solely by means of corporeal and spiritual communion with Christ-Eucharist (see ECHC, no. 74).

5. However, we must absolutely not deny that, when Christ says to Simon You are Peter (or Cephas) (Matt. 16:18), this same Christ is present, facing Simon-Peter, in his human appearance and his physical body. Also, if the corporeal and spiritual union, expressed by the word Cephas, between Christ and Simon Peter finds its realization in Eucharistic communion, this cannot be - at the very moment when the word Cephas is spoken by Christ - according to the mode of act, but rather according to the mode of power, that is to say in a way that relates to a future time, and not the present, as is confirmed by the context in which the word Cephas is spoken: On this rock, I will build my Church (Matt. 16:18), and not I build; You will be called Cephas (John 1:42), and not you are called. By that very fact, insofar as the word Cephas is the verbal expression of the corporeal and spiritual union between Christ-Eucharist and Simon Peter, this same word Cephas signifies by itself and in itself, by the will of Christ - who is God - which this word exteriorly manifests, that the Prince of the Apostles is and must be, at the moment when Christ speaks to him, in power with respect to the sacramental act - corporeal and spiritual - of Eucharistic communion. But, given the exterior character of the word Cephas, considered in its essence as a spoken word; and, even more so, given the corporeal and material character of the word Cephas considered in its essential relation to the corporeal reality of the rock that this same word expresses; it must definitely be affirmed that the word Cephas, spoken by Christ to Simon Peter, cannot fail to signify and express, intrinsically, that Simon Peter is - with respect to the act of Eucharistic communion - in power, a power which is spiritually passive and corporeally active, and this in a manner that is indissociable and one, in virtue of the character - simple and one - of the human person, of which the word Cephas is the expression insofar as it is its name. This amounts to saying that, in telling Simon, You are Peter (or Cephas) (Matt. 16:18), Christ confers upon him the ministerial and priestly power relating to the act of Eucharistic communion, a power which is of the order of grace, since Christ had just said, Blessed are you, Simon. (Matt. 16:17)

6. Cephas is the verbal expression in virtue of which Simon Peter is able to communicate corporeally and spiritually of Christ-Eucharist. Now, given that what God says in Christ, who is the Word incarnate, He does (for it is written, He spoke, and it was done (Psalm 32:9 ; Psalm 148:5 - see ECHC, no. 37)), we must think and believe without any doubt that, by means and through the intermediary of the word Cephas, Christ - who is God - really, though mystically (see no. 1), realizes a corporeal and spiritual union between himself, considered in his Eucharist, and the person of Simon Peter. In other words, it seems clear that Cephas is the verbal expression in virtue of which Simon Peter is in the act of corporeal and spiritual communion with Christ-Eucharist. In consequence, given that the divine life, as it is revealed to us in Christ, and as it is communicated to us in the Eucharist, is, simultaneously and indissociably, in act and in power of communicating corporeally and spiritually of Christ-Eucharist.

7. In the context of the Trinitarian ministry of Peter, Cephas is the verbal expression of the corporeal and spiritual union between Christ-Eucharist and Simon Peter, a union that is at once in act as well as in power. Now, since the Eucharist is corporeally a food, and since all food is united in a manner that is absolutely simple and one - by the principle of life - to he who eats, one can say without hesitation that, in the act of corporeal and spiritual union between Christ-Eucharist and Simon Peter, the verbal expression Cephas, if it is attributed to Simon Peter, it must also necessarily be attributed to Christ-Eucharist, that is to say to Christ considered both as the Word of God and as food (see ECHC, no. 49). This is why Peter himself calls Christ the living stone (1 Peter 2:4), or the stone that, because it is food, gives life in a properly corporeal manner. Thus, Cephas cannot fail to be the verbal expression of the reciprocal corporeal union between Christ-Eucharist and Simon Peter: Cephas expresses at once both the corporeal and spiritual union of Christ - considered in the Eucharist - with Simon Peter, and the corporeal and spiritual union of Simon Peter with Christ-Eucharist.

8. While the word Cephas serves as a verbal expression of the reciprocal corporeal and spiritual union between Christ-Eucharist and Simon Peter, it also serves, similarly, as a verbal expression of the corporeal union between the Pope and the Church considered in the persons of the Cardinals in conclave, and in the whole of the People of God when recognizing the new Pontiff. Now, by the very fact that the Pope receives from the Church the name of Cephas, that is, the same name given to Simon Peter, the first Pope, it is permissible to say that the Pope, in exercising his ministry, is personally similar to Simon Peter, and this in virtue of the individual character of the human person, whose name is, intrinsically, the expression of the entire person. By this very fact, it is clear that the Pope, in the act of his election, is and must be united to Christ-Eucharist, both according to the mode of power in virtue of the action of the Church, who gives him the name of Cephas, and also - in a way that is one and indissociable (see no. 6) - according to the mode of act in virtue of the action of Christ, whom one must necessarily suppose to be acting here, as God, in a union with the Church that is simple and one, and this due to the same absolute indissociability of power and act with respect to the Eucharistic communion of the Pope in general, and of Peter in particular (see no. 6). Thus, one must clearly say that, when the Church gives the Pope the name of Cephas, she also and necessarily gives it to Christ considered in his Eucharist; the Pope and Christ-Eucharist thus being simply united with each other. But it belongs to the Pope, insofar as he ministerially resembles Simon Peter, to give Christ - in Eucharistic communion - the name of Cephas (see no. 7). In consequence, when the Church gives the name Cephas to the Pope, in giving it also to Christ-Eucharist, she acts like the Pope, and in his name. This amounts to saying that, when the Church gives the Pope the name of Cephas, the Pope himself also gives the Church the same name of Cephas, which is his own name. This is why Peter calls Christian believers living stones (1 Peter 2:5), just as he calls Christ, the living stone (1 Peter 2:4). By this very fact, Cephas is the verbal expression of the reciprocal corporeal and spiritual union between the Pope - similar, in terms of his ministry, to Simon Peter - and the Church: Cephas at all times expresses both the corporeal and spiritual union of the Church with Simon Peter (in the person of the Pope, Vicar of Christ), and the corporeal and spiritual union of Simon Peter with the Church.

9. From everything that has already been said, it is easy to conclude that, if Cephas is the verbal expression of the reciprocal corporeal and spiritual union between Christ-Eucharist and Simon Peter, and if this same appellation is the verbal expression of the mutual corporeal and spiritual union between Simon Peter and the Church, then by means of and through the intermediary of the verbal expression Cephas, the two aforementioned unions resemble each other simply, and by this very fact, Christ-Eucharist and the Church also resemble each other corporeally; that is, relative to the corporeal appellation Cephas, the Church is the body of Christ. (1 Cor. 12:27) And finally, as the appellation Cephas is nothing other than the proper name of the first Pope, and is thus that which expresses his personal being, it is beyond doubt that the person of Simon, as Peter or Cephas (that is, considered in the exercise of his Trinitarian ministry), is a mediator of the corporeal order, in a mystical manner (relative to the will of God manifested by Christ in person - see no. 1), between Christ-Eucharist (which supposes, intrinsically, the historical person of Christ), and the Church, in a fully reciprocal manner: from Christ-Eucharist to the Church, and from the Church to Christ-Eucharist. This is the entire meaning of the subtitle of our book: A Study on the Mediator of the Corporeal Order. This is also the accomplishment of what we had announced in our first volume, no. 4.

10. As we see in the episode at Caesarea, the Trinitarian ministry of Cephas is exercised, at once and indissociably, both by means of his material and organic body and by means of his spiritual soul sanctified by grace (see no. 3). That is, the Apostle Peter participates body and soul in the mystery of God, one and triune, revealed to mankind in Christ, and notably to him, Peter, during the episode at Caesarea. Now, it is beyond doubt that Peter, who is among those who - in Adam - have sinned (cf. Romans 5:12), cannot enter corporeally into participation in the Trinitarian mystery except insofar as his body is reunified by his resurrection, having thus become once again similar to the Trinity of Persons in one God (see ECHC, no.33). This is what the Lord himself had perfectly declared to Peter when He said to him, with respect to his Trinitarian ministry, It is not flesh and blood that have revealed this to you (Matt. 16:17), wanting to express in this way that it is impossible for the living body (containing the blood) of Peter to reveal by virtue of what it is: the image of God-Trinity, of whom it is the expression since the Creation, but an expression which, since the original sin, is disfigured and obscured. Thus, it is completely clear that the Trinitarian ministry of Cephas cannot be exercised in a fully corporeal manner (in a manifest and visible manner, fully corresponding to the notion of body) except at the end of time, at the Resurrection of the bodies of the dead.

But, given that Mary Mediatrix (because she is simply similar, in body and soul, to God-Trinity - see ECHC, nos. 32 and 33) is but one with the Most Holy Trinity when Cephas, at the end of time, corporeally reveals God one and triune, he cannot fail to also reveal Mary Mediatrix at the same time, and this in a fully corporeal manner. Now, in relation to the Divine Trinity (which Mary Mediatrix reveals by means of the act of Eucharistic communion - see ECHC, no. 26), this same Mary Mediatrix must be considered, intrinsically, to be the Spouse of the Roman Pontiff, and thus, the Spouse of Cephas (see ECHC, no. 69 and 74). So as, on the one hand, Mary Mediatrix is revealed corporeally by Cephas when he exercises his Trinitarian ministry of the corporeal order at the end of time; and as, on the other hand, a husband and wife are, intrinsically, one flesh (Gen. 2:24); it is thus clear that Cephas, insofar as he is mediator of the corporeal order at the end of time, reveals both Mary Mediatrix and himself (each one of them being the spouse of the other), and this, in the exercise in act of his Trinitarian ministry. By this very fact, Cephas, at the end of time, manifests openly, in a visible and material way, in the exercise of his Trinitarian ministry, the spousal union, of the mystical order, that exists between the Roman Pontiff and Mary Mediatrix.

11. But the Trinitarian ministerial action of Cephas, about which we have just spoken (see no. 10), has already been realized before the end of time, properly speaking: the mystical spousal union between the Pope and Mary Mediatrix has already received a certain material or corporeal - and thus visible and manifest - character through the publication of a book which discusses it, one written by us and entitled The Eucharist: The Church in the Heart of Christ (see, inter alia, no. 71). We can also say that what we have written concerning this spousal union between the Roman Pontiff and Mary Mediatrix is the Work of Cephas in person, and similarly, what we say in general about Mary Mediatrix herself, or about the Pope as Pope, is also his Work, since the spousal union relates to what is most intimate in the human person, and also since he who reveals what is most intimate in a person is the one who reveals what is the most common in that person, thus being the one who has penetrated all of that person's individuality.

Thus, in the first two chapters, the function of Mary Mediatrix, which intrinsically concerns the building up of the Church in Christ , will appear from the point of view of Cephas, that is to say possessing, in a manner that is simple and one, the Papal character: we shall see what Peter says about Mary Mediatrix as she papally exercises her mediation. In the following two chapters, the Trinitarian ministry of Cephas, which is intrinsically directed to the union of Christ-Eucharist and the Church, a union which gives birth to a new member of the Mystical Body of Christ, will be seen in an intimate and personal light, that of the Pope, Spouse of Mary in Christ: we will discover that what Peter says about himself when he Marianly exercises his Trinitarian ministry by means of the act of Eucharistic communion. And in the two final chapters, Cephas will reveal to us of what consists the activity of Mary Mediatrix in the bosom of the Divine Trinity: it consists in introducing him, the minister of the Eucharist, into the heart of the Three Divine Persons, in order for her to make him eternally her Spouse in Christ. Finally, in our conclusion, the proper function of the deacon will be clearly illuminated, in relation to the Trinitarian ministry of Cephas and the corporeal mediation of Mary.

12. This Work of Cephas, as a whole, deals with the sacramental act of Eucharistic communion (see ECHC, pp. 22 and 26). And the conclusion of our first volume was that this same act of Eucharistic communion intrinsically possesses an aspect which is properly corporeal (ECHC, no. 103). In that sense, the sacrament of the Eucharist considered as communion is the sacrament which permits a human being to obtain, through the grace of God, almighty and merciful, the anticipated reality of eternal salvation (see ECHC, nos. 92 to 95). In addition, it is in relation to the Trinitarian ministry of the last Pope that the Eucharist can be considered in the way we have just described (see ECHC, no. 75). Thus, it clearly seems that a thorough study - which is what we shall carry out in this book - of the mediator of the corporeal order, actualized in the corporeal person of the Pope, who exercises his ministry through the corporeal act of Eucharistic communion, must be placed - in its initial phase - within the proper context of the end of time, or even within that of the fullness of time (see no. 10).

13. After what we have just said, one could think, a priori, that the notion of fullness of time properly concerns the act of Eucharistic communion. If we consider that the notion of fullness of time signifies that time is full, for it touches the eternity of God and participates in the fullness of the Being who lacks for nothing at all, then the proposition stated above would be true (see ECHC, no.71). But if, more specifically, we place under the heading of fullness of time the fact that time is full because it has ended and there is no more time, then we must say without hesitation that the notion of fullness of time does not concern the act of Eucharistic communion at all. In fact, at the end of time, when there is no more time, the veil will be torn, God will appear in full view under his human appearance, in Christ, and all temporal signs will be abolished in the presence of the eternal reality. Now, without a sign, there would be no sacrament, and therefore no Eucharist. Thus, the notion of the fullness of time, which overlaps the notion of the end of time, does not and cannot concern the sacramental act of Eucharistic communion at all.

14. At the end of time, or in the fullness of time, we cannot make reference to the act of Eucharistic communion (see no. 13). By that very fact, the last Pope, at the end of time, must be considered to be completely incapable of exercising his Trinitarian ministry, due to lacking the means to exercise it. But since the last Pope is the Spouse of Mary in Christ (as has already been said - see no. 10), and since, by that very fact, he is - mystically (the body of the Pope and that of Mary being spiritualized - see ECHC, no.70) - but one body and soul with Mary Mediatrix, he never acts alone in the exercise of his Trinitarian ministry: Mary Mediatrix always acts conjointly and simultaneously with him. Furthermore, given that the last Pope is eternally saved - in relation to the mediation of Mary - both naturally (corporeally and spiritually) and supernaturally (see ECHC, nos. 70 and 75), and that the mediation of Mary is intrinsically governed by the rule of association, simple and one, between divine Revelation and human philosophy, an association whose working principle is human philosophy (see ECHC, nos. 39 and 40); one must certainly think and believe that, at the end of time, if the last Pope is active in a natural way (and this is precisely the case, since at that time he will be living), he is also and at the same time active in a supernatural way. Consequently, from the foregoing, it is entirely permissible to say that the last Pope, at the end of time, is and cannot fail to be in the act of mediation with respect to his own person, and this through and for Mary Mediatrix, his Spouse in Christ.

However, as we had already said earlier on, the last Pope, at the end of time, is incapable of exercising his Trinitarian ministry, due to lacking the means to do so. Therefore, we must finally conclude that, at the end of time, it is properly and solely Mary Mediatrix who exercises the Trinitarian ministry of the last Pope, her mystical Spouse; and also that, by this very fact, Mary Mediatrix, considered at the end of time as mediator of the corporeal order, carries out her mediation in a papal manner. This is what we have already stated (see no. 11); we shall look at this again later on.

15. Studying the mediator of the corporeal order considered in himself in the fullness of time (that is, at the end of time) amounts to considering Mary Mediatrix to be acting, insofar as she is a mediator of the corporeal order, in a papal manner (see no. 14). Now, Mary Mediatrix possesses, by the disposition of Divine Providence, two means through which to exercise her mediation: Holy Scripture, and the Holy Eucharist considered as communion. As we cannot make reference to the act of Eucharistic communion in the context of the fullness of time (see no. 13), Mary Mediatrix therefore uses only a single method in exercising her mediation: the book of life (Revelation 21:27), which is Holy Scripture. However, we know that the act of the proclamation of the Word of God consigned to writing, which is the act of the mediation of Mary accomplished by means of Holy Scripture, is necessarily achieved through the intermediary of the act of Eucharistic communion (refer to ECHC, no. 56). Consequently, given that the act of Eucharistic communion cannot be considered in the context of the fullness of time, and also given that, by this very fact, we can refer only to the reality which this same act of Eucharistic communion expresses and realizes sacramentally, namely the act of the Nativity of Christ (see ECHC, nos. 47 and 73 - see also no. 82); we must finally say without any doubt that Mary Mediatrix, if she exercises her mediation papally, can do so only in the act of the proclamation of Holy Scripture accomplished by means of the act of the Nativity of Christ.

16. The act of the proclamation of Holy Scripture in general is an act accomplished by the Church, acting conjointly with Christ, through the intermediary of Mary Mediatrix, and for her (refer to ECHC, nos. 51 and 52). In other words, in pronouncing the words of Holy Scripture together, Christ and the Church give birth to their common corporeal mediator, who is Mary Mediatrix (ibid.). By this very fact, there is established between Christ and the Church a corporeal union of the mystical order, that is to say in relation to the mediation of Mary (see ECHC, no. 23). However, given that all of this is realized by means of the words of Holy Scripture, words which must be considered as a food of the corporeal order (see ECHC, no. 49), it cannot be doubted that there is established between Christ and the Church a contact that is simple and one (see ECHC, no. 50). Thus, as Mary Mediatrix, during her mediation by means of Holy Scripture, must be considered solely in terms of her body (see ECHC, no. 32), and as, by that very fact, the union between Christ and the Church must be considered, fundamentally and principally, corporeal (although mystically so); we must conclude from the foregoing that the union between Christ and the Church, a union which gives birth to the corporeal mediator, Mary Mediatrix, is of the order of the spiritualized or simplified body.

17. When we examine this order of the spiritualized or simplified body in detail, we see that it refers to two distinct but mutually indissociable realities. First, in relation to the fact that the union of Christ and the Church in the act of the proclamation of Holy Scripture gives birth to their common corporeal mediator, who is Mary Mediatrix, given that the means used by Mary Mediatrix is that of Holy Scripture, and that this means is intrinsically composite and non-simple, and also given that this same means, because it is a means (or an intermediary), must fully concern Mary as mediator or intermediary of the corporeal order, it must be clearly said that this union between Christ and the Church cannot, under any circumstance, give birth to the spiritualized body of Mary Mediatrix, but rather solely to the body of Mary Mediatrix considered in a decomposed and fragmentary way, and according to a corporeal order that tends toward the infinitely small. In other words, during the proclamation of the multiple words of Holy Scripture, the conjoint and common action of Christ and the Church gives birth, mystically, to a simple corporeal element, infinitely small, which enters into the composition of the very body of Mary Mediatrix.

18. Secondly, in relation to the fact that the union of Christ and the Church in the act of the proclamation of Holy Scripture, while mystically giving birth to the body of Mary Mediatrix, also gives birth, at the same time and also mystically, to a new member of the Mystical Body of Christ, through and for Mary Mediatrix (refer to ECHC, nos. 51 and 52); given that the means used by the Church is the same as that used by Mary Mediatrix, namely that of Holy Scripture, but also given that this same means, because it is a means (or an intermediary), cannot under any circumstances concern the Church who is neither intermediary nor mediator, but rather one of the extremes of the mediation of Mary, we must say without any possible doubt that the union of Christ and the Church in the act of the proclamation of Holy Scripture, while giving mystical birth to a simple, infinitely small, corporeal element, one which enters into the composition of the body of Mary Mediatrix (see no. 17), it also gives birth, at the same time and in a mystical manner, to the spiritualized body of a new member of the Church, considered in all his or her personal individuality. This amounts to saying that, through Mary and for Mary, the building up of the Church is also realized in Mary, considered as a mediator of the corporeal order.

19. What we have just said is illustrated by a beautiful text by Saint Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort: One must perform one's actions in Mary. In order to truly understand this practice, one must know that the Most Blessed Virgin is the true terrestrial paradise of the new Adam, and that the former terrestrial paradise was only a figure of the new. Thus, in this terrestrial paradise, there are inexplicable riches, beauties, rarities, and delights which were left there by the new Adam, Jesus Christ. It is in this paradise that he stayed for nine months, worked his wonders, and displayed his riches with the magnificence of God. That most holy place consisted of a virgin and immaculate land, from which was formed and nourished the new Adam, without any stain or blemish, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, who inhabits it. (Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 261) One must remain in the beautiful interior of Mary with delight, rest there in peace, rely on that place with confidence, to hide there in assurance and to lose oneself there without reservation, in order that, in that virginal womb, one's soul might be fed with the milk of her grace and of her motherly mercy (...), in order that the soul might be formed in Jesus Christ and that Jesus Christ might be formed in it: for her womb is, as the Fathers say, the room of the divine sacraments where Jesus Christ and all the elect were formed: Homo et homo natus est in ea This man and that are born in her (Ps. 86:5). (ibid., no. 264)

20. In relation to the mediation of Mary by means of Holy Scripture, the joint and common union of Christ and the Church mystically gives birth, on the one hand, to a simple corporeal element which enters into the composition of the body of Mary Mediatrix, and on the other hand, to a new member of the Mystical Body of Christ considered in the spiritualization or simplification of this new member's body. Now, concerning this latter reality, given that a spiritualized or simplified body must be assimilated to a reality of the spiritual order, which is intrinsically characterized by simplicity and unity, it is altogether clear that the union which gives birth to a new member of the Church is also characterized by that same simplicity and unity. Consequently, by virtue of the simple and unique character enjoyed by Christ and the Church in the act of the proclamation of Holy Scripture through and for Mary Mediatrix, these two realities issuing from this union together form but one reality. In other words, by means of the words of Holy Scripture, the building up of the Church intrinsically realizes, mystically, a simple corporeal element which enters into the composition of the body of Mary Mediatrix, and thus, given the individual character of the human person, each of these new members of the Church mystically realizes a specific element in the body of Mary Mediatrix.

21. Within the context of the end of time, or of the fullness of time, a context which intrinsically requires the concept of the spiritualized or simplified body (with respect to the last Pope, the model of believers - refer to ECHC, nos. 70 and 75), one must think and believe, given all of the foregoing, that the totality of the members of the Mystical Body of Christ, a totality which is stable and definitive because of the absolute absence of time, mystically realizes as many simple elements of the body of Mary Mediatrix as are then persons chosen by God making up the Mystical Body of Christ. But, given that Mary Mediatrix - because she is the first of the faithful - possesses, from the beginning of the building of the Church, all of her body, and this in a fully natural manner; and also given that the mediation of Mary is intrinsically governed by the rule of association, simple and one, between divine Revelation and human philosophy, an association in which the basic reference is human philosophy (refer to ECHC, nos. 39 and 40); it is clear that, if Mary Mediatrix naturally possesses her whole body, then she also and necessarily must mystically possess that same body in its total and full integrality.

Thus, due to the stable and definitive character of the quantity of members of the Mystical Body of Christ considered at the end of time, or in the fullness of time, it is permissible to conclude, finally, that the quantity of simple corporeal elements, which enter into the composition of the body of Mary Mediatrix and are mystically realized by each of the members of the Mystical Body of Christ considered in its fullness, is the same, without any possible variation in number, as that which makes up the entire body of Mary Mediatrix, and this in a mystical manner, fully in relation to the mediation of Mary.

22. In the fullness of time, there is, in relation to the mediation of Mary by means of Holy Scripture, a mystical identification between the body of Mary Mediatrix and the totality of the members who make up the Mystical Body of Christ (see no. 21). Now, all of this intrinsically supposes that between Christ and the Church - the two extremes of the mediation of Mary - there exists a contact that is absolutely simple and one, and this in relation to the mediation of Mary by means of Holy Scripture (see no. 16). Thus, one must say without any doubt that between the body of Mary Mediatrix and the totality of the members of the Church, there is a simple identification, of the mystical order; that is to say in relation to the mediation of Mary. By this very fact, it is absolutely clear that, in the fullness of time, Mary Mediatrix, considered solely in terms of her body, must by considered as a simple believer - the model of all other believers - whose body is mystically realized through the totality of the members of the Church.

23. If we consider Mary Mediatrix as a simple believer, she is, like other believers for whom she is the model, in a union, simple and one, with Christ (see no. 16). Now, given that the simple union between Christ and the Church is accomplished by means of Holy Scripture (ibid.), and thus that, by this very fact, this simple union is fully in relation to the mediation of Mary, one must say that the union, simple and one, between Christ and Mary Mediatrix is realized through the intermediary of Mary Mediatrix herself, considered as a mediator of the corporeal order. This amounts to saying that, when Mary Mediatrix, in her simple union with Christ, is considered as one of the extremes of her mediation (these extremes being Christ and the Church - that is, the believers in Christ), this same Mary Mediatrix does not ever cease to be the middle term or intermediary of her mediation, and she must be considered as such. Now, in a mediation of the corporeal order (as in this case), when one of the extremes is also at the same time the middle term or intermediary, this means, without any doubt, that the other extreme is also - at the same time as the first extreme - the middle term or intermediary, and this in a fully corporeal manner.

Consequently, one may assert from all the foregoing that, if Mary Mediatrix, being, as a simple believer, one extreme of her mediation, is also necessarily a middle term or intermediary of this same mediation, then similarly Christ, while being the other extreme of the mediation of Mary, is also, and at the same time, a middle term or intermediary of this same mediation of Mary. In other words, in relation to the union, simple and one, between Christ and Mary Mediatrix, one must clearly say that there is a simple identification between the body of Christ and the body of Mary Mediatrix, and this in an altogether mystical manner, that is to say in relation to the mediation of Mary.

24. In conclusion, let us say that, since there is a simple identification between the body of Christ himself and the body of Mary Mediatrix, and since there is, at the same time, a simple identification between the body of Mary Mediatrix and the entirety of the members of the Mystical Body of Christ, then Christ himself, Mary Mediatrix, and the Church considered in all her fullness together make up but one body, and this in a mystical manner, fully in relation to the mediation of Mary, Mary being considered a mediator of the corporeal order. By this very fact, this allows us to clearly state that, if the building up of the Church in Christ - a building up which is the result of the union of Christ and the Church - is carried out in Mary Mediatrix when she exercises her mediation by means of Holy Scripture (see no. 18), then the building up of the Church in Christ is also necessarily carried out with Mary Mediatrix in the principal exercise of her mediation, that is to say in the realization of the act of the Nativity of Christ (see no. 15): that is the entire development of what we have sketched out in our Preliminaries (ECHC, no. 74).

Finally, one is still permitted to say, due to what has been said to this point, that, if Christ himself, Mary Mediatrix, and the Church in her fullness together make up but one body, then there must necessarily exist a verbal expression, and thus also a proper concept, by which this one body is named by our mouth after having been conceived in our spirit. Now, given that, in the context of the fullness of time, Mary Mediatrix must be considered as a simple believer (see no. 22), it is clear that the one body we are speaking of is, on one hand, that of Christ himself, and on the other hand, that of the Church considered in her fullness, and thus considered mystically as the full and complete integrality of the very body of Mary Mediatrix (see no. 21). Thus, we must finally think and believe that the verbal expression proper to this one body of Christ himself and of the Church in her fullness is nothing other than Cephas (cf. John 1:42), since this expression is applicable, corporeally, both to Christ and to the Church (see no. 9), and since this same expression is the only one that can be applied to them, as we shall see in the following pages, in order to be able to say without any possible doubt that Mary Mediatrix exercises her mediation papally.

25. In the fullness of time, in relation to the mediation of Mary, Christ himself, Mary Mediatrix, and the Church considered in the fullness of her members make up but one single body. Now, manifestly, as all this is in relation to the mediation of Mary by means of Holy Scripture (see no. 15), of the three elements that make up this one body, it is clear that Mary Mediatrix is the mediating element, and that Christ himself and the Church in her fullness are the two extremes that the mediating element unites together. Thus, we can say that Christ himself and the Church in the fullness of her members make up but one single body through the intermediary of Mary Mediatrix considered as mediator of the corporeal order. But to say that Christ himself and the Church in her fullness make up but a single body amounts to saying that Christ himself and the Church in her fullness are corporeally similar and identical, although in an altogether mystical way, that is, fully in relation to the mediation of Mary. In addition, given that Christ is the first-born among many brethren (Rom. 8:29), it is not Christ himself who is, intrinsically, corporeally similar to the Church in her fullness, but rather the Church in the fullness of her members who is corporeally similar to Christ himself, her model: it is in this sense that the Church in her fullness is mystically the body of Christ. (1 Cor. 12:27) Consequently, from what has already been said, one must conclude that, in relation to the three elements which make up a single and unique body, Mary Mediatrix is the mediating element of the corporeal order, who unites, on the one hand, Christ himself, and on the other hand, also Christ himself considered in his corporeal identity, of the mystical order, with the Church in the fullness of her members. In other words, Christ's own mediation considered in all its fullness - that is, the realization in act of the union, of the corporeal and mystical order, between Christ and the fullness of the members of the Church - is necessarily accomplished through the intermediary of Mary Mediatrix considered as mediator of the corporeal order, in the fullness of time.

26. As we have just seen, in the fullness of time, Christ's own mediation with respect to the Church in the fullness of her members is mystically accomplished through the intermediary of Mary (see no. 25). Now, Christ's mediation is realized, intrinsically, by means of and through the intermediary of the Humanity of Christ, the mediating element between God, in the Word, and the fullness of human persons chosen from all eternity to make up the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ. In addition, Christ-Man, insomuch as he makes up a single body with Mary Mediatrix and with the Church in the fullness of her members, must be considered, in relation to the mediation of Mary, not only as one of the extremes of this same mediation of Mary, but also, necessarily, as the mediating element, of the corporeal order, of this mediation (see no. 23). Consequently, we cannot fail to say, from what has already been said, that Christ's own mediation between God, in the Word, and the Church in her fullness is accomplished and is realized, in a primary manner, through the intermediary of Mary Mediatrix' own body, and in a secondary manner, through the intermediary of Christ's own body, and this, in an identification, simple and one, between body of Christ himself and the body of Mary Mediatrix, in the proper context of the fullness of time (see no. 23). Finally, this amounts to saying that, in the fullness of time, Christ's mediation and Mary's mediation are one. As the mediation of Mary is properly of the corporeal order, Christ's own mediation, in the fullness of time, is also properly of the corporeal order: it is through the intermediary of his body, as well as through that of his spiritual soul sanctified by grace, that Christ reveals to the Church and to the world the entire Mystery of the Holy Trinity. This is why, in the fullness of time, the following spiritual words of Christ find their full corporeal realization: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, but by me (...) He who has seen me, has seen the Father (...) Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. (John 14:6,9,11)

27. In the fullness of time - that is, at the end of time - the mediation of Christ and that of Mary will be but one in order to reveal to the Church and to the world, in a manner both corporeal and spiritual, the entire Mystery of the Holy Trinity (see no. 26 - see also ECHC, no. 33). Now, we cannot at all deny that Mary Mediatrix - since, contrary to Christ who is at once God and Man, this same Mary Mediatrix is only a human person and not divine - exercises her Trinitarian mediation, intrinsically, in her faith and through her faith in the Mystery which is not of her own nature. In addition, given that we are dealing with the mediation of Mary by means of Holy Scripture (see no. 15), and that, by this very fact, the faith in which and through which Mary Mediatrix exercises her mediation possesses, intrinsically, both an aspect that is properly spiritual - an aspect which fully relates to the subject who believes spiritually - and also an aspect that is properly corporeal - an aspect which fully relates to the object which is believed, and, thus, an aspect which fully relates to the body of the human person who believes spiritually - (refer to ECHC, no. 54), we must think and believe that, if Mary Mediatrix exercises, in faith and through faith, her Trinitarian mediation, then she does so in a way that is as much corporeal as spiritual, and this, relative to the virtue of faith in its relation to the Mystery of the Holy Trinity. However, we cannot fail to assert that, in the fullness of time, or at the end of time, the virtue of faith cannot exist with respect to the subject who believes (since we will then have a clear - unveiled - vision of God-Trinity), but rather and solely with respect to the object which is seen in and through this same virtue of faith. In other words, in the fullness of time, we cannot speak of the spiritual aspect of the virtue of faith, but only of its corporeal aspect, of the mystical order: that is to say, in full relation to the mediation of Mary. Consequently, insomuch as, in the fullness of time, it is one with the mediation proper to Christ, the Trinitarian mediation of Mary Mediatrix is exercised in and through her corporeal faith in the Mystery which she reveals to the Church and the world: it is through she who, spiritually and corporeally, believed in the fulfillment of the words which were addressed to her by the Lord (Luke 1:45), words which are none other than the multiple words of God written down in the Holy Scriptures, that the Mystery of God one and triune is corporeally (and also spiritually) manifested and revealed in Christ the Lord.

28. Through her faith, in its properly corporeal aspect, Mary Mediatrix - in her union with Christ Mediator - reveals to the Church and to the world, both corporeally and spiritually, all the Mystery of the Holy Trinity, and this in the proper context of the fullness of time (see no. 27). Now, this means that Mary Mediatrix, as mediator of the corporeal order, exercises her mediation insofar as she herself believes, in a corporeal and thus mystical manner, in God, one and triune, fully revealed in Christ in person. Or, to put it another way: Mary Mediatrix, while being the mediating element of her mediation, exercises this same mediation as an extreme - that is, as a simple believer, insofar as she is a believer - in Christ - in the Mystery of God one and triune. But, we have already seen that, when Mary is considered both as a mediating element and as an extreme (that is, as a simple believer), this same Mary Mediatrix is then, intrinsically, the human person whose body is mystically realized through the fullness of the members of the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ. Thus, we can clearly say that, in the fullness of time, Mary Mediatrix exercises her own mediation, which is one with the mediation of Christ himself, absolutely and exclusively to the extent that the body of this same Mary Mediatrix is considered in its simple identification, of the mystical order, with the fullness of the members of the Church. Finally, all this permits us to conclude that, if Mary Mediatrix, insomuch as she believes corporeally - in her union to Christ Mediator - in the Mystery of God one and triune, reveals corporeally (as well as spiritually), through the intermediary of her body considered as mediator of the corporeal order, all the Mystery of the Holy Trinity, then the Church in the fullness of her members also reveals, corporeally (and also spiritually), through the intermediary of the body of Mary Mediatrix to which she identifies herself in a mystical manner, the Mystery of God, one and triune, fully revealed in Christ.

By this very fact, in relation to the mediation of Mary which is one, in the fullness of time, with the mediation of Christ himself, there exists a mediation proper to the Church considered in the fullness of her members, a mediation which is also one with the mediation proper to Christ. It is thus that the following words of the Council of Vatican II are accomplished in fullness, which teach us that: the Church, in her apostolic work also, justly looks to her, who, conceived of the Holy Spirit, brought forth Christ, who was born of the Virgin that through the Church He may be born and may increase in the hearts of the faithful also. (Council of Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, no. 65)

29. In relation to the mediation of Mary by means of the Holy Scriptures, the Church in the fullness of her members exercises her mediation, in the fullness of time, by revealing corporeally - in a mystical manner - all the Mystery of the Holy Trinity (see no. 28). This means that, in a union, simple and one, with Christ, who is at once both God and Man, the Church in her fullness corporeally reveals the Trinitarian Mystery, in the fullness of time, by proclaiming the multiple words of God written materially, or corporeally, in the Holy Scriptures: at the end of time, the Church in the fullness of her members participates corporeally, in Christ, in the eternal act of the generation of the Word, the Word of God in the Holy Spirit, and this by means of the multiple words of God written in the Holy Scriptures. By that very fact, we can say that, in the fullness of time, the Church considered in the fullness of her members, and considered in terms of her body, as mediator of the corporeal order, is of the order of act a se - like the Most Holy Trinity itself - and this in a manner that is absolutely mystical - that is, in relation to the mediation of Mary by means of Holy Scripture. However, given that, in virtue of the rule of association, simple and one, between divine Revelation and human philosophy, a rule which intrinsically governs the exercise of the mediation of Mary (see ECHC, nos. 39 and 40), the identification, simple and one, between the Church in the fullness of her members and the body of Mary Mediatrix must be understood both in a mystical manner and in a natural and human manner (see no. 21), we must necessarily take into account the fact that, naturally, according to human philosophy, the body of one person in particular, and, in general, the Church in the fullness of her members considered in her simple identification with the very body of the person of Mary Mediatrix, is and must be of the order of act ab alio, since the body is informed by the spiritual soul which animates it (anima is the Latin word for soul). Thus, in virtue of the rule of association, simple and one, between divine Revelation and human philosophy, a rule whose basic reference is human philosophy, we must think and believe that the Church in her fullness, considered corporeally as mediator of the corporeal order, is, in the exercise of her Trinitarian mediation at the end of time, both of the order of act ab alio and of the order of act a se. Now, all this can be thought only if we admit that this other being, upon whom the action of the Church, considered corporeally in her fullness, depends, is and must be this same Church considered corporeally in the fullness of her members. In other words, in the exercise of her Trinitarian mediation at the end of time, the Church in her fullness, considered as mediator of the corporeal order, simply resembles the transcendent Being - that is, the Divine Trinity itself.

30. In virtue of all we have just said, it is clear that the Church considered in the fullness of her members, at the end of time, resembles and is identical to - in a manner that is simple and one - both the Divinity, one and triune, and Mary Mediatrix considered mystically according to her body, that is in relation to her mediation in her corporeal aspect. By this very fact, we can say that, in relation to the mediation of the Church, there exists a similitude, simple and one, between the Holy Trinity and Mary Mediatrix considered solely according to her body, something which we have already shown in our Preliminaries (ECHC, no. 32), and which has since been further explained and clarified. But, given that the similitude, simple and one, between the Church in her fullness and the body of Mary Mediatrix is fundamental and primary, and that, by that very fact, the similitude, simple and one, between the Church in her fullness and the Divine Trinity is secondary and mediate, we can also say that the relation of identity between the Divinity, one and triune, and the Church in her fullness modifies, necessarily and absolutely (in virtue of the notion of oneness and simplicity), the proper notion which characterizes the Church, in her fullness, in her relation of identity with Mary Mediatrix considered solely according to her body. Now, as, in the fullness of time, Mary Mediatrix considered solely according to her body must be considered as a reality that is properly of the corporeal order (see no. 17); and as, intrinsically, Mary Mediatrix considered solely according to her body is a mediator of the corporeal order, we see that the notion which fundamentally and principally characterizes the Church in her fullness, in virtue of her relation of identity with the body of Mary Mediatrix, is that of dimension, since this is the notion which permits the concept of mediator or of corporeal or material midpoint to have its full meaning (see ECHC, no. 52). In addition, it is also clear that the Divinity, one and triune, which is spirit (John 4:24) and is thus the transcendent spiritual being, completely incommensurable, without limit, and infinite, can only modify the notion of dimension by reducing it, necessarily, to absolute nonexistence. In consequence, from all that has said to this point, we must think and believe that the Church in her fullness considered, at the end of time, in similitude, simple and one, firstly with the body of Mary Mediatrix, and secondly with the Divinity one and triune, must be considered, absolutely and exclusively, as a reality, of the corporeal and material order, which does not intrinsically possess any dimension. In other words, in the fullness of time, the Church in her fullness must be considered as being, intrinsically, corporeally and materially, a mathematical point which, by definition, has no dimension.

31. To the extent that, in the fullness of time, the Church in the fullness of her members exercises her mediation, mystically (that is, in union with the mediation of Mary, which is one with the mediation of Christ - see no. 28), insofar as she is corporeally and materially a mathematical point, then, in virtue of her similitude, simple and one, with the Holy Trinity, the Church in her fullness reveals to the world this same Holy Trinity by means of and through the intermediary of the properly corporeal reality of the mathematical point: in other words, through the mediation proper to the Church, the Trinitarian spiritual Divinity appears in the material world under the properly corporeal form of the mathematical point. But if the Most Holy Trinity - which is one of the extremes of the mediation of the Church - is one, in a simple manner, with the Church - the mediating element - in her fullness, it follows absolutely from this that the entire world - which is the other extreme of the mediation of the Church - is also one with the Church in her fullness, in a manner that is completely simple and one. Thus, given that, corporeally (though mystically), the Church in the fullness of her members must be considered, in the fullness of time, as a mathematical point, it is clear that the entire world must thus be considered as a mathematical point when it is placed, by means of mystical mediation, in relation to the Holy Trinity, from which, as a creature, it emanates. This means that, when the Church considers in God, who is light (1 John 1:5), the entire world, the world mystically appears to her under the form of a point, without any dimension. The Patriarch of monks, Saint Benedict, was allowed to experience this one day; Saint Gregory the Great, in the Life of the Saint, recounts that Benedict, the man of God (...), in the middle of the night, saw a light which, spreading out from above, chased away all the shadows and shone with such splendor that this light, which had come forth from the darkness, surpassed the light of day. And an astounding thing then occurred in this vision. As he later recounted it, the entire world presented itself before his eyes as if everything in it had been gathered together under a single ray of sunshine; and Saint Gregory arrived at the following conclusion: For the soul that sees the Creator, all of creation becomes but a point. So little has it seen of the light of the Creator, that all of creation becomes little. (Saint Gregory the Great, Dialogues, Book II, no. 35)

32. To say that the mathematical point, insofar as it the mystical expression, of the corporeal order, of the Church considered in the fullness of her members, materially manifests in the world, by mode of similitude, simple and one, all of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity (see no. 31), presupposes, intrinsically, that the Church in her fullness is, at the end of time, in corporeal union - of the mystical order - with the Holy Trinity itself (see no. 29). Now, given that the mediation of the Church is one with Christ's own mediation (see no. 28), the corporeal union between the Most Holy Trinity and the Church necessarily includes the spiritual union between these same elements. In addition, the spiritual union between the Holy Trinity and each and every one of the human persons who make up the Church in her fullness necessitates the gift of divine grace, freely received and possessed by these same human persons who have thus become pleasing to God. Consequently, if, in the context of the mediation of the Church at the end of time, there exists a reality of the corporeal order simply similar to the Divinity, one and triune, which is uncreated Grace, then there must also necessarily exist a reality of the corporeal order which is similar, in a manner that is simple and one, to created grace, the gift of God to the human persons who make up the Church in her fullness. Now, given that divine grace is essentially spiritual, this same grace of God is absolutely one, in a simple manner, with each and every one of the human persons who make up the Church in her fullness. Also, from what has already been said, one can conclude that, at first sight, the reality of the corporeal order simply similar to divine grace is nothing other than that of the mathematical point considered as a mystical expression, of the corporeal order, of the Church in the fullness of her members.

33. However, based on what we have just said, one must absolutely take into account the fact that divine grace, because it is created, is a mean and an intermediary between the Most Holy Trinity and the Church in her fullness. Thus, in virtue of the fact that, necessarily, the grace of God possesses a similitude, simple and one, in a reality of the corporeal order (as we have said above - see no. 32), one must clearly think and believe that the reality of the corporeal order, simply similar to divine grace, is characterized, intrinsically, by the proper notion of the mediator of the corporeal order. Consequently, one can say without hesitation that the grace of God, in relation to the mediation of the Church at the end of time, finds its similitude, simple and one, in the reality, corporeal and material, of the mathematical point considered as mediator of the corporeal order. But then, in this case, one must admit without any possible question that the reality, of the corporeal order, which is simply similar to divine grace is nothing other than a mathematical point which, in its relation, simple and one, with divine grace, truly possesses - although mystically - a dimension, and this in virtue of the proper notion of the mediator of the corporeal order, whose very foundation is the concept of dimension and of measure (see no. 30). Now, mathematically, and thus naturally, the point has, by definition, no dimensions. In addition, as we are dealing with the mediation of the Church inasmuch as it is considered in its simple union with the Mary's own mediation; and as this same mediation of Mary is governed, intrinsically, by the rule of association, simple and one, between divine Revelation and human philosophy (see ECHC, nos. 39 and 40); we must necessarily consider that the mathematical point, which is simply similar to divine grace, both possesses a dimension - mystically - and does not possess any - naturally - both of these together and at the same time. Consequently, to reconcile all that we have just said, we must absolutely think and believe that the reality of the corporeal order simply similar to the grace of God, in relation to the mediation of the Church, is, intrinsically, that of the mathematical point circumscribed spatially by a sphere whose radius tends toward the infinitely small: in other words, divine grace finds its similitude, simple and one, of the corporeal order, in the volume called a sphere considered in its maximal - quasi-infinite - identity with the mathematical point.

34. What we have just said is admirably confirmed by the two following testimonies, in which the spiritual soul, sanctified by the grace of God and united simply to this same grace, is represented by a sphere or by a globe. The first of these testimonies is the continuation of the vision recounted above (see no. 31) which was bestowed upon Saint Benedict: While the venerable Father had his eyes fixed on the splendor of that dazzling light, he saw the soul of Germanus, the bishop of Capua, taken up into heaven by angels in the form of a sphere of fire. (Saint Gregory the Great, Dialogues, Book II, no. 35) The second testimony, one which we have cited in our first volume (no. 11), is that of the apparition of the Immaculate Virgin to Saint Catherine Labouré, in 1830. According to one of the seer's biographers, Our Lady held a ball in her hands, which represented the globe (...) Catherine herself had said (...): The Virgin offered the globe to Our Lord. It is impossible to put into words. It would be impossible for me to express. (René Laurentin, Vie authentique de Catherine Labouré (The True Life of Catherine Labouré), pp. 184 and 268) Finally, from all of these reflections on both uncreated Grace and created grace, it is permissible to conclude that, if the Church in the fullness of her members, considered directly in her relation with the Divinity, one and triune, must be considered mystically, at the end of time, as a mathematical point (see no. 30), then, in a parallel manner, when she is considered indirectly - by means of and through the intermediary of created grace - in her relation with the Divinity, one and triune, this same Church in her fullness - in virtue, on one hand, of the union, simple and one, between the grace of God and the spiritual soul of every human person, and on the other hand, of the simple inclusion, through the principle of life, of the soul in the body of every living human being - must be considered, just as mystically, as a sphere whose radius tends toward the infinitely small, and this in the proper context of the fullness of time.

35. Inasmuch as divine grace serves as a means and intermediary for the union between the Divinity, one and triune, and the Church considered in the fullness of her members, this same divine grace possesses, in relation to the mediation of the Church in the proper context of the fullness of time, a similitude, simple and one, in the corporeal and material reality of the sphere considered in its maximal identity with the mathematical point (see no. 33) Now, the grace of God, as a divine gift freely possessed by the Church considered in the fullness of her members, and thus, considered necessarily after the act of original sin, is and cannot fail to be a divine gift freely possessed by the Church inasmuch as she is composed, intrinsically (with the exception of the Immaculate Virgin Mary), of human beings who, in Adam, have all sinned (Rm. 5:12). Thus, in virtue of this priority - in time - of original sin with respect to the grace of God considered at the end of time, this same divine grace, before being a means and intermediary for the union of the Church to God, is - firstly and fundamentally - a remedy of the spiritual order serving, not to destroy, but to neutralize, the obstacle and hindrance produced by original sin with respect to the union of the Church to God. By this very fact, if the grace of God, considered as a means and intermediary for the purpose of the union of the Church to God, necessarily possesses a similitude, simple and one, in a corporeal and material reality, then it seems clear that, firstly and fundamentally (in the order of spiritual realities), this same grace of God, considered as the remedy to the obstacle - produced by original sin - preventing the union of the Church to God, must also possess, in relation to the mediation of the Church, a similitude, simple and one, in a corporeal and material reality, essentially different from that of the sphere considered in its maximal identity with the mathematical point.

36. As for this corporeal reality which is different from the sphere, a reality which is simply similar to divine grace, given that this same divine grace, though it must be considered here in terms of its function of neutralizing the obstacle produced by original sin, still remains, in an essential manner (as a divine good given to the human person), a means and intermediary, of divine origin and directed to God, permitting the union of the Church to the Divinity, one and triune, one must clearly say that it is a dimensional and spatial volume, a mediator of the corporeal order, containing within itself the mathematical point, insomuch as it is the mystical expression of the Church considered at the end of time in the fullness of her members, a mathematical point which is the center of the volume in question, and to which this same volume must be considered to be almost identical, if it were possible, just as is the case with the sphere (see no. 33). However, given that - in virtue of the function of grace in its neutralization of the obstacle produced by original sin, a function which is essentially different from that through which grace permits the union of the Church to God - one must think and believe that the volume we are discussing is, as we have already said, essentially different from that of the sphere. Now, the latter has, as one of the geometric properties that characterizes it, the property of having absolutely no planar surfaces and no angular points on its exterior surface. Consequently, from all that has been said to this point, it is permissible for one to say that the volume we are dealing with here is a regular prism, which intrinsically possesses planar surfaces (as well as angular points), and which - because its surfaces are regular - is the only one among the prisms (which can be regular or irregular) which can be nearly identical to the mathematical point which it contains within itself.

37. It remains for us to discover which type of regular prism we are referring to. In order to do this, let us return to the fundamental characteristic which links this volume to the mathematical point which is its center: this volume, which is dimensional and spatial, confers a certain dimension - tending towards the infinitely small - to the mathematical point, the center of this same volume (in virtue of the comparison between this volume and the sphere - see no. 36 - see also no. 33). This therefore permits us to say that the mathematical point, which is, intrinsically, at the center of the volume, is also, at the same time, found on the surface of this same volume. Now, given that this volume must be considered in its maximal identity with the mathematical point which is its center, that is to say that the dimensions of this volume must tend toward the infinitely small, it automatically follows that, if the mathematical point, the center of the volume, is also, at the same time, found on the surface of this same volume, it can only be at the center of each and every one of the multiple planar surfaces which make up this volume, since the distance between the center of each face of the volume and the center of this same volume - which is called the orthonormal distance - is the shortest distance. However, if we base ourselves on the mathematical principle which defines a point as being the intersection of two lines (or line segments) or the intersection of a line (or line segment) and a plane (or any other similar assimilable surface), one must clearly say that the mathematical point, when it is at the center of each of the faces of the volume, is necessarily characterized by the orthonormality of the shortest distance which links each face of the volume to the center of this same volume. Consequently, given that the orthonormal distance tends, intrinsically, towards the infinitely small (in virtue of the maximal identity, quasi-infinite, between the volume in question and the mathematical point which is its center), one must conclude, from all that precedes, that the orthonormality, which characterizes the mathematical point when it is on the surface of the volume, also necessarily characterizes this mathematical point when it is at the center of this same volume, and that, by this very fact, since we are dealing here with an orthonormality that is fully relative to each and every one of the orthonormal distances of the volume, this same volume must be a cube: that is, a regular prism with square faces, each of whose orthonormal distances is perpendicular to the orthonormal distance with respect to the contiguous face.

38. In the fullness of time, in relation to the mediation of the Church, if divine grace - in its function which permits the union of the Church to God - possesses a similitude, simple and one, of the corporeal order, in the proper reality of the sphere (see no. 33), then on the other hand, this same divine grace - in its function which neutralizes the obstacle, produced by original sin, that prevents the union of the Church to God - possesses a similitude, simple and one, of the corporeal order, in the proper reality of the cube (see nos. 36 and 37). Now, given that the function of grace, through which it neutralizes the obstacle produced by original sin which prevents the union of the Church to God, is first and fundamental - in the order of spiritual realities - with respect to the function of grace which permits the union of the Church to God, one must acknowledge that, spiritually speaking, the proper reality of the cube, in relation to the mediation of the Church at the end of time, is included in the proper reality of the sphere. However, contrary to what we have just said, given that the sphere and the cube about which we are speaking have, on the one hand, a diameter, and on the other, a side, which are completely identical to each other (since both tend towards the infinitely small), one must acknowledge that, corporeally speaking, the proper reality of the sphere, still in relation to the mediation of the Church at the end of time, is included in the proper reality of the cube. Consequently, with respect to the Church in the fullness of her members (who are living human persons, that is, considered as body and soul), given that this same Church in her fullness - in relation to divine grace in its function of permitting the union of the Church to God - finds its mystical expression in the proper reality of the sphere considered in its maximal identity with the mathematical point (see no. 34), one must think and believe, in virtue of all that has been said to this point, that the Church in the fullness of her members finds - in a manner that is simple and one (through the principle of life which unites the organic body and the spiritual soul) - her mystical expression in the proper reality of the cube considered, in like manner, in its maximal identity with the mathematical point.

39. What has just been said on the subject of the Church in her mystical expression, of the corporeal order, at the end of time is divinely confirmed by the following passage taken from the Apocalypse of Saint John: Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, and spoke to me, saying, Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb. And in the Spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God (...) And he who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its breadth; and he measured the city with his rod, twelve thousand stadia; its length and breadth and height are equal. (Revelation 21: 9-11, 15-16) The holy City, the celestial Jerusalem, thus has at the end of time, materially and corporeally, a cubic form. Moreover, the Old Testament had already announced the same shape. In addition to the vision of the Prophet Ezekiel (Ezek. 40:1-3; 42:15,20), which is very similar to that of Saint John, one must mention the proper shape of the Sanctuary - the Holy of Holies - in the Temple of Solomon, that Sanctuary which gave a solid form, as it were, to the very commands of the Lord to Moses, in the desert (see Exodus 26). Thus the Sanctuary of the Temple of Solomon was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high (1 Kings 6:20).

40. In concluding this chapter, as well as our analysis of the mediation of the Church in the fullness of time, let us say that - the proper mediation of the Church being one, in a simple manner, with the proper mediation of Mary, and thus, the proper characteristics of the former being at the same time those of the latter - Mary Mediatrix exercises her mediation - by means of the multiple words of God set down in the Holy Scriptures - in a cubic manner, that is, inasmuch as her body, which is one with the Church considered in the fullness of her members, is mystically a cube, including corporeally within itself a sphere, considered in its maximal identity, quasi-infinite, with a mathematical point. Now, it is manifest, from the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, that the Church in her fullness, that is, the holy City, the celestial Jerusalem, is mystically, at the end of time, a stone of cubic form: the holy city Jerusalem... its radiance like a most rare jewel... The wall was built of jasper.... The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every jewel... (Revelation 21:10,11,18,19) Thus, one must clearly say, in conclusion, that Mary Mediatrix exercises her mediation, in the fullness of time, insomuch as she is corporeally, as well as mystically, a cubic stone, and thus a cornerstone, just like Christ, a cornerstone chosen and precious (1 Peter 2:6): in short, Mary Mediatrix - as we have said (see no. 24) - papally exercises her mediation, and does so in the fullness of time.

41. Mary Mediatrix, at the end of time, papally exercises her mediation: the mediator of the corporeal order, considered in the person of Mary Mediatrix, exercises her mediation, in the fullness of time, insomuch as she is a cubic stone, or in other words, Cephas. This is what we have demonstrated, with a few details, in the preceding pages. Now, given that husband and wife are no longer two but one (Matt. 19:6), and that, by this very fact, the husband is in the wife, and the wife in the husband, it is manifest that, if Mary Mediatrix (who is the Wife of the last Pope - see no. 14) papally exercises her mediation, in a fully corporeal manner (though mystically - see no. 40), then the last Pope, Husband of Mary in Christ, carries out his Trinitarian ministry Marianly, in a manner that is both corporeal and mystical. But - as we shall demonstrate below - to the very extent that, in the fullness of time, the last Pope exercises his Trinitarian ministry Marianly, then, in virtue of the properly Marian aspect which characterizes the exercise of his ministry, this same last Pope (and in him, every Pope, who is Husband of Mary - refer to ECHC, nos. 69 and 70) carries out his Trinitarian ministry in an equally Marian manner in the time of grace, from the Incarnation of the Word until the final instant before the Parousia of Christ, as we have said at the beginning of this treatise (see no. 11).

42. As a matter of fact, to say that Mary Mediatrix, in the fullness of time, papally exercises her mediation permits one to say, by this very fact, that the last Pope, who, by and of himself, is incapable - at the end of time - to carry out his Trinitarian ministry, exercises this same ministry through and in the person of Mary Mediatrix (see no. 14): in the fullness of time, the last Pope carries out his Trinitarian ministry Marianly. Now, in virtue of the identity, simple and one, between the proper mediation of Christ and that of Mary Mediatrix (when both are considered in the fullness of time - see no. 26), if Mary Mediatrix papally exercises her mediation, then Christ himself also exercises his own mediation in a papal manner. By this very fact, one must think and believe that, in the fullness of time, the last Pope carries out his Trinitarian ministry through and in the person of Christ himself. But, as to the fact we have mentioned above, namely that the last Pope carries out his Trinitarian ministry through and in Mary Mediatrix, this fact cannot be conceived except in virtue of the spousal relation, of the mystical order, existing between the last Pope and Mary Mediatrix, a relation through which and according to which these two distinct persons - the last Pope and Mary Mediatrix - are corporeally but one. Consequently, one should be led to think and believe, a priori, that this other fact, which is that the last Pope carries out his Trinitarian ministry through and in the person of Christ himself, could not be conceived except in virtue of the spousal relation, of the mystical order, existing between Christ himself and the last Pope, a spousal relation which would thus be the proper model of the spousal relation which mystically unites - through divine grace - Christ and the Church considered in each and every one of her members (concerning this, see ECHC, no. 75).

43. However, given that all this is fully relative to the mediation of Mary (which is one with the proper mediation of Christ); and also given that the mediation of Mary is governed, intrinsically, by the rule of association, simple and one, between divine Revelation and human philosophy; it is clear that, if there is a mystical spousal relation between the last Pope and Mary Mediatrix, there is necessarily also a natural spousal relation between these two same persons: this means that, since Mary Mediatrix is naturally a woman, the last Pope is and must naturally be a man. Also, one must clearly say, in virtue of what has already been said, that the fact that the last Pope carries out his Trinitarian ministry through and in the person of Christ himself can in no case be conceived in virtue of the spousal relation, of the mystical order, existing between Christ himself and the last Pope, since both are naturally men and thus cannot be united by any natural spousal relation. Consequently, one can conclude that, if the last Pope, in the fullness of time, carries out his Trinitarian ministry through and in the person of Christ himself, this fact - which (as we have just said) cannot be conceived in terms of the spousal relation, of the mystical order (that is, of the order of grace), existing between the Christ himself and the last Pope - must be conceived, intrinsically, in terms of the sacramental relation - considered in the reality of the episcopal character (since character is the only sacramental reality that survives beyond time, and since the episcopal character is fully relative to the ministry of the Roman Pontiff) - necessarily existing between Christ himself and the last Pope, the Bishop of Rome.

44. According to what we have established above, it seems clear that, if Mary Mediatrix papally exercises her mediation in the fullness of time, then, on one hand, the last Pope, in the carrying out of his Trinitarian ministry, must be considered in his spousal relation, of the mystical order, with Mary Mediatrix, and on the other hand, the same last Pope must be considered in his priestly relation, of the sacramental order (in the reality of the episcopal character), with Christ himself. But, given that all this is founded on the identity, simple and one, between the proper mediation of Christ and that of Mary Mediatrix (see no. 42), what we have just said also permits one to say, conjointly and simultaneously, that, if Mary Mediatrix papally exercises her mediation in the fullness of time, then, on one hand, the last Pope (in carrying out his Trinitarian ministry) must be considered - by means of the mediation of Mary - in his spousal relation, of the mystical order, with Christ himself, and on the other hand, the same last Pope must be considered - by means of the mediation of Christ - in his priestly relation, of the sacramental order (in the reality of the episcopal character), with Mary Mediatrix. Consequently, one may firmly state that, in relation to the exercise in act of the mediation of Mary carried out papally at the end of time (in union, simple and one, with the proper mediation of Christ), the episcopal character sacramentally configures one both to Christ himself and to Mary Mediatrix in person, that is, both to Christ and to the Church considered in the fullness of her members (in virtue of the identity, simple and one, between the body of Mary Mediatrix and the Church in her fullness, an identity that is fundamental with respect to the union, simple and one, between the proper mediation of Christ and that of Mary - see no. 28); in short, the episcopal character sacramentally configures one both to Christ the Head and Christ the Body: it configures to Christ the Whole.

45. Finally, to the extent that the last Pope is united to Mary Mediatrix - not only in the order of grace, by means of the spousal union included simply in the mystical union (of a spousal type) existing between Christ and this same last Pope (see no. 44), but also in the sacramental order, by means of the episcopal character which configures one both to Christ and to Mary Mediatrix (ibidem) - one must think and believe without hesitation that the last Pope, and, in him, every Pope, exercises his Trinitarian ministry Marianly in the time of grace, ever since the Incarnation of the Word in Mary, because everything that is properly sacramental - in this case, the episcopal character - finds its existential origin in this same time of grace.

46. As Mary is the first of all of Christ's faithful, and thus their model, the fact that the Pope exercises his Trinitarian ministry Marianly in the time of grace must be understood in the sense that he carries out this same ministry in a primary manner, inasmuch as he is the first of all priests, whether they be of the first or second order (see ECHC, no. 46). But if the Roman Pontiff is the first of all priests, he is also therefore their model as Vicar of Christ, so that this title, which is proper to the Pope, can also be attributed to each bishop, to each priest, and even to each of the baptized (in relation to the common priesthood of the faithful): Every bishop is a Vicar of Christ for the Church in his care. The Pope is Vicar of Christ for the Church of Rome and, through her, for every Church in communion with her (...) But if we use this title to suggest the special dignity of the Bishop of Rome, we cannot do so without evoking at the same time the dignity of the entire episcopal College, to which it is very tightly linked, as well as that of each bishop, each priest and each of the baptized. (H.H. John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, p. 37) Consequently, it is completely permissible to say that, in the time of grace, each bishop, each priest, as Vicar of Christ, exercises his priestly ministry Marianly.

47. The Pope, who is the Vicar of Christ par excellence, carries out his Trinitarian ministry, in the time of grace, in a Marian manner (that is, in relation to the mediation of Mary), by means of the act of Eucharistic communion (see no. 4 - see also ECHC, no. 74). This means that, in the exercise of his ministry, the Pope communicates of the Eucharist Marianly. But, given that the act of Eucharistic communion is nothing other than the sacramental realization of the act of the Nativity of Christ (read ECHC, nos. 47 and 73), which is the first and fundamental act of the mediation of Mary (refer to ECHC, nos. 45 and 82), the Marian character of the Eucharistic communion of the Roman Pontiff is and cannot fail to be the specific character of the act of the Nativity of Christ considered in its relation, simple and one, (since it is sacramental) with the act of Eucharistic communion as such. Now, as the mutual relation which exists between the act of the Nativity of Christ and that of Eucharistic communion is properly of the corporeal order (see ECHC, no. 48), it is easy to see that the specific character of the act of the Nativity of Christ lies in the fact that the Lord Christ corporeally comes out from Mary, his Mother, who brings him into the world. Thus, if the Pope, as Vicar of Christ, communicates of Christ-Eucharist Marianly, this means that, through and in this sacramental action, Christ enters into the person of the Roman Pontiff, and comes out from him, indissociably and simultaneously, and this in a corporeal and mystical manner, that is, in relation to the mediation of Mary. In other words, and by this very fact, every Vicar of Christ who, in the proper exercise of his ministry, communicates of Christ-Eucharist, corporeally sends Christ - the Word of Life incarnate - into the world, thus mystically giving this same Christ existence and life on earth, in whatever human person happens thus to be the Vicar of Christ: the act of Eucharistic communion ministerially accomplished, in a Marian manner, by every Vicar of Christ sacramentally produces the growth of the Church, the universal Vicar of Christ.

48. To the extent that the Church sacramentally builds herself up through the Eucharistic communion of the Vicar of Christ acting Marianly in the time of grace, it seems clear that the sacramentum Ecclesiae, that is, the Church-Sacrament (refer to ECHC, no. 57), is truly realized, but in the most excellent possible manner, through the Eucharistic communion of Cephas, acting Marianly, as the first of all the Popes, and thus, as the first among priests par excellence. Now, in relation to the act of Eucharistic communion, Cephas, the first Pope, can only act Marianly if he exercises his Trinitarian ministry in a properly corporeal manner - though mystically - in relation to the mediation of Mary (see no. 47). But, we have already noted that Cephas can only corporeally exercise his Trinitarian ministry at the end of time, at the time of the Resurrection of the Bodies of the dead (see no. 10). Consequently, given, on one hand, that Cephas truly lived at the time of Pentecost, during the birth of the Church; and on the other hand, given that this same Cephas, who - like all of the Popes - is the Husband of Mary in Christ, truly exercised his Trinitarian ministry, in a corporeal and Marian manner, by means of the act of Eucharistic communion; one must think and believe, in order to be able to conciliate everything we have said to this point, that Cephas, the first Pope, exercises his Trinitarian ministry Marianly - and thus corporeally - by means of the act of Eucharistic communion, from the time of Pentecost until the time of the Resurrection of the Bodies of the dead.

49. However, since Cephas died some thirty years after Pentecost (around the year 67), one can only entertain the thought that he continues to corporeally exercise his Trinitarian ministry by means of Eucharistic communion if one supposes that he acts, intrinsically, through a person who is interposed, through the intermediary of someone who speaks and works in his name. As every Pope is called and declares himself to be the successor of Peter, it is clear that it is through the intermediary of the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, that Cephas continues to corporeally exercise his Trinitarian ministry by means of Eucharistic communion. By this very fact, it is just as clear that the building up of the sacramentum Ecclesiae is realized, intrinsically, through and in the act of Eucharistic communion of the Vicar of Christ, acting, not only Marianly, but also in a manner that is properly Petrine, in relation to the very person of Cephas. All of this then permits one to say that, in relation to the Marian ministry of the Vicar of Christ, the realization of the sacramentum Ecclesiae cannot fail to be founded on the living Tradition of the Church.

50. Now, here is what is said by the living Tradition of the Council of Vatican II: ...the priest alone can complete the building up of the Body in the eucharistic sacrifice. Thus are fulfilled the words of God, spoken through His prophet: 'From the rising of the sun until the going down thereof my name is great among the gentiles, and in every place a clean oblation is sacrificed and offered up in my name'. (Mal. 1:11) In this way the Church both prays and labors in order that the entire world may become the People of God, the Body of the Lord and the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and that in Christ, the Head of all, all honor and glory may be rendered to the Creator and Father of the Universe. (Lumen Gentium, no. 17) From this beautiful text, we see that two sacraments cooperate in the building up of what we have called the sacramentum Ecclesiae: these are the sacraments of Holy Orders and of the Eucharist.

This is what had already been taught by the Council of Trent, although a little less clearly, that is, by seeing the building up of the Mystical Body of Christ only in the remission of the venial sins committed daily by the faithful: «In Coena novissima, qua nocte tradebatur (1 Cor. 11:23), ut dilectae sponsae suae Ecclesiae visibile (sicut hominum natura exigit) relinqueret sacrificium (...) quo (Sacrificii Crucis) salutaris virtus in remissionem eorum, quae a nobis quotidie committuntur, peccatorum applicaretur: sacerdotem secundum ordinem Melchisedech se in aeternum (Ps. 109:4) constitutum declarans, (Deus et Dominus noster) corpus et sanguinem suum sub speciebus panis et vini Deo Patri obtulit ac sub earundem rerum symbolis Apostolis (quos tunc Novi Testamenti sacerdotes constituebat), ut sumerent, tradidit, et eisdem eorumque in sacerdotio successoribus, ut offerrent, praecepit per haec verba: Hoc facite in meam commemorationem, etc. (Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24), uti semper catholica Ecclesia intellexit et docuit.» (Session XXII, ch. 1 - Denzinger. no. 1740) At the Last Supper, on the night he was delivered up, (our Lord and God) wanted to leave to the Church, his beloved spouse, a visible sacrifice, as human nature requires,... (a sacrifice) whose salutary virtue would apply to the redemption of the sins we commit each day. Declaring that he was constituted a priest of the order of Melchizedek of all eternity (Ps. 109:4), he offered to God the Father his body and blood under the species of bread and wine and, under these same signs, he distributed them to the Apostles for them to eat, and he then established these Apostles as priests of the New Testament; to them and to their successors in the priesthood, he gave the order to offer them with these words: Do this in memory of me (Luke 22:19), as the Church has always understood and taught. (Council of Trent, Session XXII, ch. 1 - Dumeige, no. 766)

51. Thus, the sacraments of Holy Orders and the Eucharist are directed to the building up of the sacramentum Ecclesiae. However, it is the Eucharist which is the sacrament that principally contributes toward this common end, and the sacrament of Holy Orders is at the service of the Eucharist: I reaffirm the tight link between the priest and the Eucharist, as the Church teaches us, and I reaffirm with conviction, and also with an intimate joy of the soul, that the priest is above all the man of the Eucharist: the servant and the minister of Christ in this sacrament, in which - according to the Council, which summarizes the doctrine of the early Fathers and Doctors - is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church (Presbyterorum ordinis, no. 5); each priest is the servant and minister of the Paschal mystery accomplished on the cross and relived on the altar for the redemption of the world, at every level, in every part of his work. (H.H. Pope John Paul II, Address of May 12, 1993) Saint Thomas Aquinas expressed this briefly as follows: «Ordinatur omnis ordo ad Eucharistiae sacramentum.» The sacrament of Order, in all its degrees, was instituted for the sacrament of the Eucharist. (St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, Supp. IIIae, q. 40, a. 5, corp.)

52. If we go back to the origin of these two sacraments, we see that Holy Orders and the Eucharist were instituted by the Lord when he pronounced these words: Hoc facite in meam commemorationem Do this in memory of me. (Luke 22:19) This flows from the fact that, by these words, Christ taught us the means by which the sacrament of the Church is realized and built up. Indeed, Saint Paul, who cites these words of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:24-25), explains them very clearly: For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. (1 Cor. 11:26) Thus, the Lord's command: Hoc facite in meam commemorationem is nothing other than the command to proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. The Council of Trent, moreover, teaches us the same parallel: «Salvator noster, discessurus ex hoc mundo ad Patrem, sacramentum hoc instituit (...), et in illius sumptione colere nos sui memoriam (1 Cor. 11:24) praecepit suamque annuntiare mortem, donec ipse ad iudicandum mundum veniat (cf. 1 Cor. 11:26)» (Session XIII, ch. 2 - Denzinger, no. 1638) Our Savior, when he was about to leave this world to go to his Father, instituted this sacrament... (and) he ordered us, when we received it, to celebrate his memory and to proclaim his death until he returns in person to judge the world. (1 Cor. 11:24,26) (Council of Trent, Session XIII, Ch. 2 - Dumeige, no. 737) In accordance with Christ's command, we must therefore proclaim his death: in other words, we must proclaim our faith in the mission that Christ received from his Father, the mission of manifesting the love of God for men, this love being so great that the very Son of God died on the Cross out of love for all sinners: He loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal. 2:20) Now, to proclaim our faith in the mission of Christ is to proclaim that we are Christ's faithful, according to what the Lord said to his Father about the Apostles: They recognized it for truth that I came from thee, and believed that you did send me. (John 17:8) To proclaim the Lord's death is thus to proclaim that we are Christ's faithful: the Church.

53. But as we are dealing here with a sacramental action, namely communion with the Body and Blood of Christ (see no. 52, where we cite the Council of Trent), when we proclaim that we are the Church, we realize what we proclaim; and thus, truly, the Church builds herself. By these words Hoc facite in meam commemorationem, Christ thus taught us the command and the means for the building up of the Church. One must however specify that, these words having been addressed only to the Apostles, the Church builds herself up through the communion of the bishop, the successor of the Apostles, or through the communion of the priest in union with his bishop; for Christ had given to the Apostles alone the order to proclaim his mission to the entire world: Christ, whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world, (John 10:36), has through His apostles, made their successors, the bishops, partakers of His consecration and His mission. (Council of Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, no. 28) Thus, during Eucharistic celebration, the sacramentum Ecclesiae realizes itself and builds itself up through the communion of the celebrant with the Body and the Blood of Christ (see no. 47): «Unitas corporis mystici est fructus corporis veri percepti.» The unity of the Mystical Body (of Christ) is the fruit produced by the reception of his true body. (St. Thomas, IIIa, q. 82, a. 9, ad 2)

Our conclusion is the same as for the consecration of the bread: all we need to do is to read it directly: «Similiter (= accepto calice gratias egit) et calicem... dicens: Hic est calix novum testamentum in sanguine meo, qui pro vobis fundetur.» Likewise, he took the cup {= He took a cup, gave thanks (Luke 22:17)}... saying: This is the cup of the new testament, in my blood which is to be shed for you... (Luke 22:20) Saint Paul adds: «Hoc facite quotiescumque bibetis in meam commemorationem.» Whenever you drink it, do this for a commemoration of me. (1 Cor. 11:25) This is even more evident in Saint Mark, where the words of the consecration of the wine are related after they all drank. It is thus clear that they have reference to gratias agens (Mark 14:23-24).

56. In our analysis of the historical facts of the Last Supper, we have established the existence of three distinct actions of the Lord: the consecration of the bread and wine, the breaking of the bread and the mixing of some water into the wine, and the communion with the Body and the Blood of Christ. Also, it is among these three actions that we must place the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem, in order to understand their entire meaning and theological value. But it is truly only between two actions - that of the consecration of the bread and wine, and that of the communion in the Body and the Blood of Christ - that we must situate the words Hoc facite in meam commemorationem in order to find their full meaning, for, to the extent that these same words are understood to be those which are at the origin of the two sacraments of Holy Orders and of the Eucharist (see no. 52), the actions of breaking the bread and of mixing some water into the wine, which cannot be considered essential to the celebration of the Eucharist (as we shall see), have only an indirect - to the exclusion of any direct mode - relation to the words Hoc facite in meam commemorationem.

57. Indeed, Saint Thomas clearly teaches us that, although double according to the species under which it exists, the sacrament of the Eucharist forms a whole in itself, considered always under both species: «Hoc sacramentum multa quidem est materialiter, sed unum formaliter, et perfective.» If this sacrament is plural in its material aspect, it is one in form and perfection. (St. Thomas, IIIa, q. 73, a. 2, corp.) Moreover, this witness confirms the conclusion to which we had previously come to, namely that, in virtue of the fundamental relation that exists between the Eucharist considered as communion and the exercise in act of the mediation of Mary (which is governed, intrinsically, by the rule of association, simple and one, between divine Revelation and the philosophy of human life), one must consider the Blood of Christ, sacramentally present under the appearance of wine, as being included in the Body of Christ, sacramentally present under the appearance of bread, the Body and Blood of Christ being but one in their simple relation with the body and the soul of the living human person (see ECHC, no. 92 - see also nos. 93 and 94). Now, if the breaking of the bread is truly a sacramental action, it consists in the breaking of the consecrated Host; on the contrary, concerning the mixing of water into the wine, at that point it is still wine, and not the Blood of Christ, which is 'cut' or 'broken' by means of a material element, namely water. Consequently, neither the breaking of the bread nor the mixing of water into the wine can be considered to be an essential act of the Eucharistic celebration.

58. Concerning this subject, we can cite the following texts by Saint Thomas. The first relates to the breaking of the bread; it must be understood in light of the principle according to which not everything that concerns the Mystical Body of Christ can necessarily be attributed to the Eucharist (since in the Church - the Body of Christ - there exists members who possess the grace of God solely by means of faith, to the exclusion of the sacramental mode), while, on the contrary, in relation to the mediation of Mary (and this is what is being discussed here), everything that concerns the Eucharist is attributed fully to the Mystical Body of Christ.

Here is the first text: «Dicendum est quod fractio hostiae consecratae, et quod una sola pars mittatur in calicem, respicit corpus mysticum; sicut admixtio quae significat populum, et ideo horum praetermissio non facit imperfectionem sacrificii, ut propter hoc sit necesse aliquid reiterare circa celebrationem hujus sacramenti.» It must be said that we break the consecrated host and place only part of it in the chalice in order to signify the Mystical Body, just as we add water to signify the people. This is why the omission of these things does not render the sacrifice imperfect, and consequently such an omission does not require the repetition of any part of the celebration of this sacrament. (St. Thomas, IIIa, q. 83, a. 6, ad 6)

The second text speaks of the water that is added to the wine during the offertory of the Mass: «Si vero post consecrationis verba perceperit, quod aqua desit, debet nihilorminus procedere, quia impositio aquae, ut supra dictum est (q. 74, a. 7), non est de necessitate sacramenti (...) Nullo autem modo debet aqua vino jam consecrato misceri, quia sequeretur corruptio sacramenti pro aliqua parte, ut supra dictum est.» (q. 77, a. 8) If, after these words of the consecration, the priest notices that there is no water, he must nevertheless proceed, because, as we have said (q. 74, a. 7), the addition of water is not necessary for the validity of the sacrament (...) One may never add water to the wine after it is consecrated, because this would result in a partial alteration of the sacrament, as we have already observed (q. 77, a. 8). (St. Thomas, IIIa, q. 83, a. 6, ad 4)

Thus, it is completely clear that the action of the breaking of the bread, and that of mixing water into the wine, must be considered to be non-essential elements of the Eucharistic celebration. However, as, obviously, it cannot be that the Lord Jesus, during the Last Supper, did anything at all that was useless or superfluous, the action of the breaking of the bread, and that of the mixing water into the wine, if they are not essential to the celebration of the Eucharist, must nonetheless be considered to be of great importance. One could even say that, in relation to the Eucharistic celebration, they constitute superabundance, and that, as such, it is through them that this same Eucharistic celebration can be considered in its most mysterious depth and in its quasi-inaccessible sublimity. We will speak on this again later, from a different angle, in another context: that of our next book.

59. According to the documents we have produced above (see no. 52), there is no doubt that, according to Tradition and Scripture, the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem must be placed in a full and complete relation, in a direct manner, with the sacramental act of Eucharistic communion. But, no one would deny that the act of communion depends fully, and in every way, upon the act of consecration, which precedes it in time, that is, in a manner that is fully relative to the notion of memory, or of memorial. Thus, while being fully and directly relative to the act of communion, the words Hoc facite... are fully, though indirectly, relative to the act of consecration. Now, we have just seen that, according to the analysis of the historical facts of the Last Supper, the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem were spoken between the two sacramental actions we have just mentioned: the consecration of the bread and wine, and communion with the Body and the Blood of Christ. Consequently, as every being which finds its reason for existence between two other beings, and which is fully relative to each of these two other beings, is the mediator between these two beings, one must clearly say that the words Hoc facite... are a mediator, or intermediary, according to the full acceptation of the word, between the act of consecration and that of communion.

60. The fact that the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem are an intermediary, or a mediator, between the consecration of the bread and wine, and communion with the Body and Blood of Christ, is a fact that, while we live it in each Eucharistic Liturgy, is recorded in writing, materially, in the Bible. It is, moreover, the analysis of the scriptural passages relating to the Last Supper which was the basis for, and at the origin of, this statement. One can therefore go so far as to say that, with respect to the acts of consecration and communion, both considered in their material and written codification, the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem are a mediator of the corporeal order, and this in the proper and exclusive context of Holy Scripture.

61. But we have already established that Holy Scripture is the solely material, or corporeal, means placed by Divine Providence at the disposal of Mary Mediatrix for the exercise of her mediation (see ECHC, no. 31). Similarly, we have shown why these same Holy Scriptures, inasmuch as they are words of God recorded in writing, must be considered to be a food of the properly corporeal order (in a mystical manner, that is, fully relative to the mediation of Mary - refer to ECHC, no. 49). Also, since a food is made, intrinsically, in order to be eaten, and since the person who eats and the food itself become one by the simple principle of life which unites them, it is clear that, when we, the Church, read the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem in the Holy Scriptures (and thus through the intermediary of Mary Mediatrix), we must think and believe without any doubt that the words Hoc facite..., if they are a mediator of the corporeal order, then they are so in the same manner and according to the same conception as that which is intrinsically proper to Mary Mediatrix in person, which has been described in our Preliminaries (ECHC, no. 52). Consequently, it is completely permissible to say that, the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem being fully relative to the building up of the sacramentum Ecclesiae (see no. 52), the existence and action of the Church-Sacrament depends fully and in every way upon the act of the consecration of the bread and wine, and upon the act of communion with the Body and the Blood of Christ, and this in virtue of the very notion of the mediator of the corporeal order, of which we have just spoken.

62. By means of the words Hoc facite in meam commemorationem, we have just established that the essential elements which permit the realization in act of the sacramentum Ecclesiae are the consecration of the bread and wine, and communion with the Body and Blood of Christ, during the celebration of the Eucharist. Now, the latter is, and is nothing but, the realization in act of the sacramentum Ecclesiae: if we grant, after having demonstrated it, that the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem, while being at the origin of the sacraments of Holy Orders and the Eucharist, are at the same time the expression of the means by which the sacrament of the Church is realized and built up (see nos. 52 and 53), we have implicitly admitted the fact that, by means of the words Hoc facite in meam commemorationem, the sacramentum Ecclesiae, on one hand, and the sacraments of Holy Orders and the Eucharist (considered in relation to the act of the consecration and that of communion), on the other hand, are each dependent on the other in a full and entire manner. Consequently, in virtue of and by means of the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem, and in full and complete reference to these same words understood in a Marian manner, and thus in relation to the eucharistic ministry of the Vicar of Christ exercised Marianly, we can clearly say, in conclusion, that the essential elements of the Eucharistic celebration are the act of the consecration of the bread and wine, and that of communion with the Body and the Blood of Christ.

63. The entire subject of our book consists in the study of the Trinitarian ministry of Peter in particular, and of the Pope in general (see no. 3): in the pages of this volume, the reader has already been able to see, and will later on see again in detail, what Cephas says about himself in the exercise of his ministry (see no. 11). Now, given that the Vicar of Christ exercises his Trinitarian ministry Marianly in the time of grace (see nos. 41 and 45), it is properly in and by the sacramental act of Eucharistic communion that the Pope acts ministerially for Mary Mediatrix, his Wife in Christ (see no. 4 - see also ECHC, no. 74). But, when the Vicar of Christ unites himself, in a Marian manner, to Christ-Eucharist, truly, in a properly sacramental way, the Church is built up, and grows in Christ (see nos. 47 and 48). Thus, it seems clear that the study of the Marian and Trinitarian ministry of Cephas fully relates to research proper, research dealing with the sacramental building up of the Mystical Body of Christ. We have already turned our discussion in this direction in the preceding pages: we shall continue in the same direction throughout the present chapter.

64. Insofar as it is exercised Marianly, the Trinitarian ministry of Cephas is accomplished in and by the act of Eucharistic communion, an act which obtains for the Church her own building up in Christ. But, considered Marianly, the Trinitarian ministry of Cephas is and cannot fail to be governed, intrinsically, by the rule of association, simple and one, between divine Revelation and human philosophy: that is, the rule proper to the mediation of Mary (see ECHC, nos. 39 and 40). Thus, in relation to the Trinitarian and Marian ministry of Cephas, the act of Eucharistic communion is governed, intrinsically, by this same rule of association, simple and one, between divine Revelation and human philosophy. Now, with respect to the person of the Roman Pontiff who receives communion for the purpose of building up the sacramentum Ecclesiae, Christ-Eucharist enters into this person, if we consider human philosophy, and he exits this same person, if we consider divine Revelation: Christ-Eucharist naturally enters into and supernaturally exits from the person of Cephas (see no. 47). But the act of exiting fully relates to the act of the Nativity of Christ, of which communion is the sacramental realization. In addition, in relation to the act of the Nativity, the act of exiting must be understood, intrinsically, in a completely natural manner, according to human philosophy. Thus, naturally speaking, on the plane of human philosophy, the act of the Nativity of Christ and that of Eucharistic communion are opposed to each other.

Now, in virtue of the rule of association, simple and one, between divine Revelation and human philosophy, a rule which governs, intrinsically, both the act of the Nativity of Christ and that of Eucharistic communion, one must say without any doubt whatsoever that these two same acts of the Nativity of Christ and of Eucharistic communion are supernaturally opposed to each other on the plane of divine Revelation. Consequently, as to the act of the Nativity of Christ, one must think and believe, with respect to the person of Mary Mediatrix, that Christ exits this person, if we consider human philosophy, and that he enters this same person, if we consider divine Revelation: Christ supernaturally enters Mary, his Mother, when he naturally exits her. Finally, as the act of the Nativity of Christ, as a reality, is the model of the act of Eucharistic communion, all that we have just said on the subject of the act of the Nativity allows a perfect and total comprehension of the act of communion, inasmuch as it, in relation to Trinitarian ministry of Cephas, obtains for the Church her building up in Christ.

65. In and by the act of his Nativity, Christ naturally exits from Mary Mediatrix, his Mother, and he supernaturally enters into this same person, all this understood corporeally, and thus mystically. This means that, naturally, through Mary, Christ is brought into the world, and that he thus enters into the world in a natural manner while, in a supernatural manner, he enters into Mary Mediatrix, his Mother. Now, concerning the fact that Christ enters into the world, this confers upon Christ a caracter that is public, or even communicable. On the other hand, concerning the fact that Christ enters into Mary Mediatrix, who is a person, and who, by this very fact, is completely incommunicable, this confers upon Christ a character that is personal, and thus, incommunicable. Thus, in virtue of the rule of association, simple and one, between divine Revelation and human philosophy, a rule which intrinsically governs the act of the Nativity of Christ, one must absolutely think and believe that, in and by the act of his Nativity, Christ enjoys at all times both the character of comunicability and that of incommunicability. But, when Christ, in virtue of his Nativity, supernaturally enters into Mary Mediatrix, his Mother, he becomes but one body with her, and this in a completely mystical manner, in relation to the mediation of Mary. Consequently, it is completely acceptable to say that, in and by the act of the Nativity of Christ, Mary Mediatrix, being mystically but one body with Christ, her Son, enjoys at once both the character of communicability and that of incommunicability. Now, all this cannot be understood unless one supposes that there is a corporeal identity, of the mystical order, between Mary Mediatrix and the Church considered in the fullness of her members at the end of time (concerning this, see no. 21): it is only in this way that the person of Mary Mediatrix is at the same time both communicable and incommunicable. Finally, from all that has been said up to this point, one can conclude that, in her relation with the act of Eucharistic communion obtaining for the Church her building up in Christ, the act of the Nativity of Christ must be understood in the proper context of the fullness of time: that is, in the context in which Christ, Mary Mediatrix, and the Church in the fullness of her members are but one body, in a mystical manner (see no. 24).

66. The principal part of what we have said concerning the act of the Nativity of Christ (see nos. 64 and 65) can be found in the analysis of this Mystery as it was perceived, in faith, by Father M.L. Guérard des Lauriers, O.P. He says, speaking first of the fact that, mystically, in the act of the Nativity, Christ and Mary his Mother are but one body: The eternal presence of the body of Jesus in the body of Mary is founded on the fact that the body of the Mother is wholly relative to the body of the Child. Our everyday experience allows us at least to perceive something of this mystery. When we enter into a relation with a reality distinct from ourselves, we observe that this reality becomes present to us to a greater or lesser degree. And we can easily see that this greater or lesser presence depends on the degree of intimacy of the relation we have with it. The love that a mother has for her child makes her child present within her; he is present in her heart, in her mind. These things can be analysed; they cover a mystery, but one concerning which common sense is not deceived. (Mary, no. 33, pp. 64-65 - mimeographed text, Pontcalec, 1965) Continuing in the same vein, referring only to the time of grace, but also to the fullness of time, he declares: In this perspective, one must thus say that the moment when the body of Jesus physically left the body of Mary inaugurates a new presence of his body within Her body; a greater presence than that which existed before the parturition because it is founded divinely and not humanly, a presence which by its very nature is eternal. And if the Blessed Virgin did not physically perceive these things with her body - which, aside from privilege, is reserved to the universe of Glory - She enjoyed, at least in her faith, this new and greater presence. So, it would be wrong to suppose that the virginal parturition would be morally accompanied by a rupture which was physically excluded. The joy of Christmas is without shadow for the Blessed Virgin. The body of her Child, which she gives and abandons to the world in order to save it, does not abandon her; this body is conserved by her in a greater manner, mirabiliori modo, divinely. (ibidem, no. 33, p. 65)

67. What allows us to understand the building up of the Mystical Body of Christ, in relation to the Trinitarian ministry of Cephas, is the act of the Nativity of Christ considered in the fullness of time, when Christ himself, Mary Mediatrix, and the Church in the fullness of her members will be but one body (see nos. 64 and 65). Now, given that the act of the Nativity of Christ is, intrinsically, the principal act in which and by which the mediation of Mary is exercised (see ECHC, no. 45), it is clear that the building up of the Church, in the time of grace, by means of the act of Eucharistic communion, is necessarily accomplished in a Marian manner, in the way proper to the mediator of the corporeal order. But, what is important to note here is that we are not speaking of the act of the Nativity of Christ considered in time, but rather of this same act considered in the fullness of time: an act of the time of grace - Eucharistic communion - must intrinsically be put in relation to an act of the fullness of time: the Nativity of Christ. Thus, the Marian character which the realization in act of the sacramentum Ecclesiae enjoys necessarily introduces into this sacramental action the proper notion of the fullness of time, by mode of anticipation, and this, given the temporal character of the act in question.

68. If we anticipate the end of time, in a mystical manner (in relation to the mediation of Mary), what we have said up to this point concerning the building up of the Church, that is, the formation of Christ in us, finds a perfect summary in the following words, which must then be understood in their fullness: Only when Christ is formed in us will the mystery of Christmas be fulfilled in us (Gal. 4:19). (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 526) But as for what concerns the anticipation of the fullness of time - understood as the end of time - in the realization of the sacrament of the Church, the Apostle Saint Paul (who has just been cited) provides a clear and precise confirmation for it in his commentary on the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem. We have already quoted what he says (see no. 52), but we shall place it once again before the reader's eyes: For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. (1 Cor. 11:26) Finally, our entire thesis is entirely confirmed (since it has already been implicitly affirmed) by the fact that these words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem must be understood in a Marian manner (see nos. 61 and 62). Indeed, the proper notion of the fullness of time, in relation to the building up of the Church in Christ, lies in the fact that, mystically, at the end of time, Christ himself, Mary Mediatrix, and the Church in the fullness of her members are but one body (see no. 24).

Consequently, if we admit the anticipation of the end of time in the realization in act of the sacramentum Ecclesiae, one must say without question of the words Hoc facite in meam commemorationem that, if, in the time of grace, they are those of Christ himself during the Last Supper, and if they are those of the Church, in the person of Cephas, during the Eucharistic liturgy, then, in the fullness of time, these same words are those of Mary Mediatrix, a fact that according to which and in virtue of which we cannot fail to declare that the words in question must be considered as being purely Marian.

69. If we wish to perfectly understand in what consists the building up of the sacramentum Ecclesiae, in relation to the Trinitarian ministry of Cephas, we must consider it in a Marian manner, and by this very fact, in its relation to the end of time, by mode of anticipation (see no. 67). More precisely, inasmuch as the words Hoc facite in meam commemorationem divinely express the proper nature of the means by which the sacrament of the Church is realized and is built up (see no. 52), we must consider these same words Hoc facite... as being those of Mary Mediatrix (see no. 68). Now, as we have seen, it is apparent that the words Hoc facite in meam commemorationem cannot be those of Mary Mediatrix except to the extent that this same Mary Mediatrix, being in the fullness of time but one body with Christ himself and the Church in the fullness of her members, is considered as the mediator of the corporeal order between Christ and the Church in her fullness, that is, to the extent that Christ and the Church in the fullness of her members are united with each other for Mary Mediatrix. Consequently, from what has already been said, it is permissible for one to say clearly say that, if the words Hoc facite in meam commemorationem are those of Mary Mediatrix, this must absolutely and necessarily be in a final manner, according to the order of intention. By this very fact, if we wish to know the full and complete sense of the words Hoc facite..., and through this, to know in what consists the building up of the sacramentum Ecclesiae, this can only be done by considering these same words as belonging to Mary Mediatrix who, in the fullness of time, is but one body with Christ and the Church in the fullness of her members.

70. Let us consider Mary Mediatrix speaking the words of the Lord: Hoc facite in meam commemorationem. We are here in the fullness of time: Mary Mediatrix is thus but one body with the Church in the fullness of her members. Thus, Mary Mediatrix, who speaks the words Hoc facite..., is none other than the Church in her fullness who speaks these same words, in union, simple and one, with Christ himself (see no. 16). But, by means of the words of the Holy Scriptures in general, and the words Hoc facite... in particular, the union, simple and one, between Christ and the Church in her fullness gives birth, in the fullness of time, to the whole body, full and entire, of Mary Mediatrix herself (see nos. 20 and 21). Consequently, from what has already been said, it must be absolutely said that, in speaking the words Hoc facite in meam commemorationem in union, simple and one, with Christ, Mary Mediatrix gives birth, mystically (in relation to the exercise of her mediation), to her own entire body. In other words, in this act of elocution, simple and one, of the words of the Holy Scriptures, the existence of the body of Mary Mediatrix depends wholly on the corporeal action of this same person. Now, for each human being, and thus for Mary Mediatrix, action depends wholly on the existence of the human being. Thus, in the simple act accomplished by Mary Mediatrix when she speaks, with Christ, the words Hoc facite..., this same Mary Mediatrix appears to be a being for whom existence is confused with action, and this in a manner that is simple and one, in virtue of the simple character of the act in question. Given that the being whose existence is simply confused with its action is none other than the Being par excellence - that is, God - Mary Mediatrix, when she speaks the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem, must be declared to be a creature who resembles God (cf. Gen. 5:1).

71. What we have just said concerning the similitude between God and Mary Mediatrix is something of which we had already spoken previously (see no. 30 - also consult ECHC, no. 32). But here we must go further. Thus, as, on one hand, there exists but one and only God; and as, on the other hand, Mary Mediatrix absolutely cannot confuse in herself her existence and her action without the intervention of the mental faculty called the memory (since, in every creature, existence is anterior to action - although, in the fullness of time, the interval of time between existence and action tends, ceaselessly and ever increasingly, towards the infinitely small); it follows that, when Mary Mediatrix proclaims, in union with Christ, the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15), the words Hoc facite in meam commemorationem, if she resembles God, she is so necessarily by mode of memory, or of remembering, and thus, by this very fact, she is a representation or a simple copy of God: Mary Mediatrix is truly a creature in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). As all of the elect of God, that is, all men eternally conceived in the divine Spirit by mode of election, are in Mary Mediatrix (see nos. 18 and 21), what has been said is confirmed by the Psalmist who, adressing God, cries out: What is man that you remember him? (Ps. 8:5), a sentence which can only be understood if man, who is conceived by the Spirit of God, resembles God by mode of memory, since God has no memory, being eternal. Finally, taking into account everything that has been said to this point, it is simple to conclude that, in order to obtain a perfect understanding of the sacramentum Ecclesiae, in relation to the Trinitarian ministry of Cephas, one must consider the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem according to the proper mode of memory, in the way it characterizes Mary Mediatrix in the exercise of her mediation by means of the Holy Scriptures, in the fullness of time.

72. Understood by mode of memory, the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem must properly be attributed to Mary Mediatrix in person (see no. 71). This means at first glance that, in virtue of the fact that the mode of memory, of which we are speaking here, relates originally to Mary Mediatrix herself, the two acts, those of the consecration and of communion, to which the words Hoc facite... fully relate (see no. 59), if these two acts concern, intrinsically, Christ with respect to the sacrament of the Eucharist, on the other hand, they concern, according to the proper mode of memory, Mary Mediatrix with respect to the sacramentum Ecclesiae, of which the words Hoc facite... are the divine expression. We would thus have to admit to a certain presence and a certain action of Mary in the Mass, a presence and an action that relate both to the sacramental aspect and to the sacrificial aspect of the Eucharistic celebration: In order to better situate the role of Mary in the Mass, let us compare this role to that of Christ (...) If the Virgin is present in one sense in the Mass, she is so insomuch as she is united to Christ, insomuch as she is the first and the most perfect of the members of his Mystical Body of which the Eucharist is the sacrament (...) Mary's part in the Mass depends on her part in the redeeming sacrifice. At Mass, as at the Cross, she is neither the priest nor the victim: she communicates of the Priest, who is also the Victim, in the most perfect spirit of a priest and victim. (R. Laurentin, Our Lady and the Mass at the service of the Peace of Christ, pp. 57 to 61)

73. If we analyze in greater detail this mode of memory which, with regard to Mary Mediatrix, characterizes the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem, it should be mentioned that memory is of the spiritual order, if we base ourselves on the similitude existing between God and Man by mode of memory (see no. 71). From this flows the fact that the two acts of consecration and communion, to which the words Hoc facite... fully relate (as we have just mentioned - see no. 72), must be understood in a spiritual manner: the act of consecration is the act in which and by which Christ truly offers himself in sacrifice to his Father, but in a spiritual and unbloody manner, for it is sacramental; the act of communion is the act in which and by which the Church carries out the Eucharistic memorial - that is, the anamnesis - which is the spiritual communion of the Church, by mode of memory, and the preparation for sacramental communion, the culmination and result of spiritual communion. From this we see that, if the essential elements of the Eucharistic celebration, and thus those of the realization of the sacramentum Ecclesiae, are the acts of consecration and of communion (see no. 62), this must therefore refer more precisely to the sacramental act of consecration, actualizing the unique sacrifice of Christ, and to the sacramental act of communion, culminating and concluding the Eucharistic memorial of the Church. This is why Saint Thomas Aquinas says (without truly speaking of the two essential elements): In missa duo est considerare, scilicet ipsum sacramentum, quod est principale ; et orationes, quae in missa fiunt pro vivis et mortuis. Two things are to be considered in the Mass: the sacrament itself, which is the most important, and the prayers said at Mass for the living and the dead. (St. Thomas, IIIa, q. 82, a. 6, corp.)

74. Keeping in mind the proper notion of memory, that is, taking into account the fact that memory links the past with the present, one must say that, if Mary Mediatrix proclaims, by mode of memory, the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem, she does so in relation to the notion of time, which can be defined as the distance between two moments of life. Thus, Mary Mediatrix proclaims the words Hoc facite... in the time between the instant of consecration and that of sacramental communion. But what must be noted here is that in order to remember a past instant in the present, memory had to have been active in the past instant, recording and memorizing this same past instant. Thus, one must take into account the fact that memory, in order to be able to link the past to the present, must be considered as being in full relation with both the past and the present. Since, with respect to the notion of time, the past is intrinsically distinct from the present, it is clear from the foregoing that memory truly serves as an intermediary between the past and the present. Finally, given that memory is, and cannot fail to be, necessarily spiritual (in virtue of its modal relation with divinity - see no. 73), it must be clearly said that memory is the spiritual human faculty which serves as the mediator between the past and the present, uniting the two in the eternal present of God. Consequently, when Mary Mediatrix pronounces the words Hoc facite in meam commemorationem, between the instant of consecration and that of sacramental communion, one must absolutely think and believe that she truly acts as mediatrix of the time between consecration and sacramental communion, and does so in relation to the mode of memory as we see it. All of this permits us to say with certainty that, when the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem are pronounced by Mary Mediatrix, by mode of memory, they are pronounced - mystically, in relation to the mediation of Mary - at the precise midpoint of the time between the instant of consecration and that of sacramental communion.

75. Taking into account what has been said above concerning the words Hoc facite in meam commemorationem - given, on one hand, that these same words are pronounced, not in an instant, but rather during a certain amount of time; and given, on the other hand, that the midpoint of the time between the consecration and sacramental communion is fully and solely founded on the proper notion of memory - one must also say, finally, that the words Hoc facite in meam commemorationem are pronounced by Mary Mediatrix mystically, and by mode of memory, so that the precise midpoint of the time that exists between the consecration and sacramental communion is situated precisely between the end of the words Hoc facite and the beginning of the words in meam commemorationem. It is here, in what we have said, that is found the final and complete (see no. 69) meaning of the words Hoc facite in meam commemorationem; as well as that in which consists the entire realization in act of the sacramentum Ecclesiae, in relation to the Trinitarian and Marian ministry of Cephas. In other words, it must be fundamentally stated, in a mystical manner, that the words Hoc facite are pronounced in a time which is necessarily closer to the act of the consecration than to the act of communion; and that the words in meam commemorationem are pronounced in a time which is necessarily closer to the act of communion than to the act of the consecration.

76. Although, as a mediator of the corporeal order, the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem concern both the act of consecration and that of communion (see no. 59), it is manifest - in virtue of what we have just established - that, temporally, only the words Hoc facite pertain to the act of consecration, and only the words in meam commemorationem pertain to the act of communion. Now, this means that it is properly with respect to the act of communion that the words Hoc facite in meam commemorationem must be understood by mode of memory. Thus, the fact of properly attributing the words Hoc facite to the act of consecration, and the words in meam commemorationem to the act of communion, has for a consequence that all the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem, which the mode of memory characterizes absolutely and necessarily, must be considered to directly relate to the act of communion, and to indirectly relate to the act of consecration, as we have already shown above (see no. 59). Finally, given that the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem are the divine expression of the means by which the sacramentum Ecclesiae is realized and built up (see no. 52), all that has been said to this point allows us to clearly say that it is directly in and by the act of Eucharistic communion, and indirectly in and by the act of the consecration of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, that the Church-Sacrament can exist and grow in Christ, in relation to the Trinitarian and Marian ministry of Cephas.

77. Insofar as the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem are at the origin of the sacraments of Holy Orders and of the Eucharist (concerning this, see nos. 50 and 52); and to the extent that the sacrament of Holy Orders is at the service of the sacrament of the Eucharist (see no. 51); it seems clear - based on what we have just concluded - that the words Hoc facite are the expression of the sacrament of Holy Orders, directed to the act of the consecration of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ; and that the words in meam commemorationem are the expression of the sacrament of Holy Orders directed to the building up of the sacramentum Ecclesiae through the act of communion with the Body and Blood of Christ. Now, concerning the words Hoc facite, we can say that, through this expression, Christ transmitted to the Apostles - and thus, to Cephas - and to their successors, the Bishops, the Order to reactualize his sacrifice, which he had just accomplished through the consecration of the bread and wine into his Body and Blood. Now, Christ offered himself as a sacrifice for the Redemption of the world only under the very Order of his Father, in order to accomplish his Will: this sacrificial action is nothing other than the carrying out of a divine Command. Thus, by the words Hoc facite, Christ gave the Apostles the Order to carry out an action that is properly divine, that is, he gave them the very Order he had received from his Father.

78. In relation to the divine Command transmitted by Christ to the Apostles and their successors, it is manifest - since these same Apostles and all who succeed them are but men - that they cannot carry out this divine Command except in the name of Christ, who alone is God and Man: thus they act in persona Christi (St. Thomas, IIIa, q. 82, a. 7, ad 3). By this very fact, the power that the Apostles, and their successors the Bishops, enjoy in order to carry out the Order of Christ expressed by the words Hoc facite is necessarily a divine power. Now, as the action which corresponds to this power is nothing other than the accomplishment of the Will of the Father in and by the Son, one may say that this power is the very omnipotence of the Holy Spirit; in other words, it is the omnipotence that emanates from the divine Person who, on one hand, proceeds from the Father and the Son by mode of will, but who, on the other hand, is also, at the same time, he who proceeds from the Father through the Son, if we consider that, in the sacrificial Act of redemption, accomplished through the eternal Spirit (Heb. 9:14), the Son does not carry out, by mode of will, his own Command, but rather that of the Father, from whom this same Command originally emanates. Indeed, the Most Blessed Eucharist contains... Christ himself,... by the action of the Holy Spirit through his very flesh vital and vitalizing, giving life to men who are thus invited and encouraged to offer themselves, together with him. (Council of Vatican II, Presbyterorum Ordinis, no. 5) Thus, the words of the Lord Hoc facite are fully the expression of the Order of the Father to his eternal Son, an Order resting upon Christ with the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, and an Order directed to an action that is absolutely and exclusively divine: that in which the sacrifice of Christ is reactualized by the consecration of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.

79. By these other words: in meam commemorationem, Christ transmitted to the Apostles - and thus, to Cephas - as well as to their successors, the Bishops, his personal Order, the Order to remember him, in order that, through communion with his Body and his Blood, the Church - his Mystical Body - might be built up and grow in him. Now, as it seems apparent from the words in meam commemorationem, the personal Order of Christ is conferred by mode of memory: it is through the intermediary of the proper vocable of memory that Christ has transmitted to the Apostles his personal Order. Thus, this is a properly human Command, personal to Christ, conferred by mode of memory. However, this personal Order of Christ, though human, remains part of the truly sacramental - and thus divine - domain, fully directed to the building up of the sacramentum Ecclesiae. Indeed, if the personal Order of Christ is conferred by mode of memory, this means that this same Order has been recorded in the proper memory of Christ, and that, by this very fact, this personal Order of Christ relates properly to a past time, with respect to the present time in which Christ utters the words in meam commemorationem. But, since the words in meam commemorationem are grammatically attached to these other words: Hoc facite, it is completely clear that the words Hoc facite in meam commemorationem are, all of them together, united in the human spirit of Christ when he interiorly conceives them, through grace, in the past, before uttering them, in the present, with his mouth. Thus, from the foregoing, one must think and believe without hesitation that the personal Order of Christ, which is recorded in the memory of this same Christ, is and cannot fail to be the divine Order transmitted to the Apostles through the intermediary of the words Hoc facite, a divine Order considered not in itself (that which fully relates to these same words Hoc facite), but truly considered according to the mode of memory (that which fully relates to the words in meam commemorationem).

Finally, as we are dealing here with the Order of Christ, which is truly personal to him (in virtue of the words in meam); and as the mode of memory is, intrinsically, the mode in virtue of which God the Creator and the human person are simply similar to each other (see no. 71); one must admit without question that the personal Order of Christ is a properly human Order which, because it is simply similar to the Order of the Father to his Son transmitted to the Apostles by mode of memory, is and will always remain part of the sacramental and divine domain. Moreover, all of this is confirmed by the following extract from the sacerdotal prayer of Christ to his Father: As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth. (John 17:18-19)

80. To the extent that the words of the Lord in meam commemorationem refer, intrinsically, to the act of sacramental communion (see no. 76), the personal Order of Christ, as a properly human Order, originally finds its meaning and signification in these others words: Take, eat... Drink of it, all of you... (Matt. 26:26-27) The latter words - which, by themselves, express the personal Order of Christ concerning communion with his Body and Blood, present under the form of food or drink - can therefore be regarded as the expression of the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders, and, by this very fact, of the sacrament of the Eucharist, to which the sacrament of Holy Orders is directed; or, in short, of the Eucharistic celebration, culminating in communion (H.H. John Paul II, Address of the November 11, 1992). But, from all of this flows the fact that the personal Order of Christ, which is a properly human Order, must be considered both spiritually - with regard to the words of the Lord in meam commemorationem - and corporeally - with regard to the parallel words: Take, eat... Drink of it, all of you... Consequently, in virtue of the foregoing, it is absolutely permissible to affirm that the power that the Apostles and their successors the Bishops enjoy in order to carry out the personal Order of Christ is necessarily a human power that is both spiritual and corporeal. Now, it is manifest that the power of the spiritual order which is directed to the act of Eucharistic communion is not human, but rather divine: grace. So the power necessary to the carrying out of the personal Order of Christ is corporeal and is nothing but corporeal, because it is human.

Since we have seen in our Preliminaries (ECHC, no. 26) that, in order to be able to corporeally communicate of the Body and Blood of Christ, the one and only means required - inasmuch as mediator of the corporeal order - is Mary Mediatrix in person, it is absolutely clear that the corporeal power necessary to the carrying out of the personal Order of Christ is nothing other than that of Mary Mediatrix, the powerful Virgin of the Nativity (refer to ECHC, no. 45). Finally, to conclude this commentary on the words in meam commemorationem, we shall say that these same words are fully the expression of the personal Order of Christ directed toward a properly human and mystical - because it is corporeal (with regard to the mediation of Mary) - action: that of Eucharistic communion, the means through which is built up the Mystical Body of Christ, through Mary, with Mary, in Mary, and for Mary.

81. Taking into account all that has been stated in this book concerning the words of the Lord Hoc facite in meam commemorationem, we can say definitively and affirm clearly that the episcopal character, if, in its relational essence, it configures one to Christ-Total (which is Mary Mediatrix - see nos. 44 and 45), then, in its constitutive essence, it is a power, of the sacramental and divine order, allowing - by mode of nutrition, in the act of Eucharistic communion - the absolute and total fullness of Christ to be made present, considered as both Head and Body, together and inseparably, and this in a still invisible manner, mysteriously anticipating the visible and manifest mode of the Revelation of God on the last Day. And, to conclude this study of the Trinitarian and Marian ministry of Cephas, let us go over again in our memory the words of the Lord we have just analyzed, and contemplate them.

Let us imagine that, paraphrasing these words, Christ would say to us: Consecrate this bread and this wine as you have seen me do: I will change this bread into my Body, and this wine into my Blood. Thus, you will proclaim my painful death on the Cross and you will remember what I did for you, and to what extent I loved you during my mortal life: love me and offer yourselves with me. Remember also that I am risen from the dead and that I am in Heaven, seated at my Father's right hand. There, in heavenly glory, my glorious wounds shine with a bright clarity which brings eternal happiness to the angels and to the elect. There, my sacrifice appears glorious and from my Heart overflows an infinite wealth of graces to satisfy the elect of Heaven, relieve the souls of Purgatory, and flood the earth in order to purify it further of its stains and to lift it to the firmament. Remember also that I am your food and your life, and that I desire to live in you in order that you might also live in me, both here below and in Heaven for eternity, participating in the wedding feast of the Lamb. Remember also that I await you up there; that I come down upon the altar, veiled under the appearances of bread and wine, in order to find you and to take you with me to the abode of the blessed. Also, remember that I must return soon, no longer hidden, but in the light of Day, in glory, to judge the living and the dead. Remember... Remember...

82. On the Order of the Lord himself, the Pope, and thus Cephas, Marianly exercises his Trinitarian ministry by communicating of Christ-Eucharist, thus sacramentally anticipating the divine Revelation of the end of time: this summarizes the preceding pages. In this way, utilizing the means that is the Eucharist considered as communion - placed by Divine Providence at the disposal of Mary Mediatrix to reveal the entire Mystery of the Holy Trinity, the Roman Pontiff truly realizes his salvation - though in a sacramental way - through Mary, with Mary, in Mary, and for Mary, his Wife in Christ (on this subject, see no. 12). In other words, configured to Mary Mediatrix, in Christ-Total, through the episcopal character, the Pope, by the grace of God, unites himself to Christ-Eucharist by mode of the relation of spousal union (see nos. 44 and 45); and thus, this makes it possible to affirm without any doubt that, with regard to the mediation of Mary, Christ and the Church, represented sacramentally and mystically through the Pope, are Spouses to each other. As Mary is the first of all the faithful, and their model in Christ, all this supposes, intrinsically, that the Wife of the Pope is first and fundamentally the Wife of the Word incarnate, her Son according to the flesh, and thus, the Wife of the entire Divine Trinity.

83. Thus, as we had said (see no. 11), we are led, in the logic of the things, to consider Mary Mediatrix in her action in the bosom of the Three divine Persons. Now, with regard to the act of communion Eucharistic accomplished by the Pope in general, and by Cephas in particular, Mary Mediatrix must be considered solely according to her body, as a mediator of the properly corporeal order (see no. 80): one must consider Mary Mediatrix as an intermediary between Christ and the Church, serving as a midpoint between the two extremes of her mediation (on this subject, consult ECHC, no. 52). But here, Mary Mediatrix is considered to be fundamentally one member - though the first - of the faithful among all the others (see no. 82). Thus, Mary Mediatrix, while being the midpoint of her mediation, is also, at the same time, one of the extremes of this same mediation, with regard to the notion of the mediator of the properly corporeal order, all of this can be understood only insofar as the middle term and each of the two extremes of the mediation of Mary become simply and absolutely confused with each other. Consequently, there is a corporeal identity, of a mystical order, between the two extremes of the mediation of Mary, when Mary is regarded as a simple believer (on this subject, see no. 23), and such is the case here.

84. Mystically, there is a corporeal identity between Christ and Mary Mediatrix. Now, with regard to the act of Eucharistic communion, which is what we are considering here (see no. 83), Christ is he who, through Mary Mediatrix, reveals the entire Trinitarian Mystery, he is the one who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation (Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum, no. 2) Thus, one may say that Mary Mediatrix is also, though mystically, the fullness of all Revelation, as she herself declared: I am the VIRGIN OF REVELATION. (Apparition of April 12, 1947, at Rome - cf. Msgr Fausto Rossi, the Virgin of Revelation, p. 18) But, on the one hand, the proper notion of Revelation finds its perfect expression in the fact that the Father communicates to the world his Word, which he begets, inasmuch as Son, in the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit: Revelation is the act of divine Trinitarian Life ad extra (refer to ECHC, no. 36); on the other hand, Mary Mediatrix, considered in her personal dimension, is solely human, and not divine, as opposed to Christ, who is himself both God and Man. Consequently, one may say that Mary Mediatrix - if she is, in her corporeal mystical identity with Christ, the fullness of all Revelation - is nothing other than the human expression of the entire Holy Trinity: the whole of the person of Mary Mediatrix, considered body and soul (as mediator and member of the faithful), realizes in herself the entire Mystery of the Divine Trinity, in everything of the latter that is communicable in Christ. By this very fact, it should be clearly said that there exists between the Most Holy Trinity and the person of Mary Mediatrix a total and perfect similitude: Mary Mediatrix, considered body and soul, is truly similar to God-Trinity (see nos. 30 and 70 - to also see ECHC, no. 56).

85. In Christ and by his mediation, Mary Mediatrix is similar to the Divine Trinity, which she reflects to the world, in her body and soul. Now, one can go so far as to affirm that, in the person of Christ, the Divinity of the Word and the Humanity assumed by him are simply united to each other by the type of spousal union: Sponsus atque sponsa, Dominus noster est in corpore Deus. It is as husband and wife that our Lord is God in a body. (Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Homily on Saint Matthew, C. 27, no. 4 - PL 9, 1059) In addition, as any spousal union supposes a reciprocal exchange, by mode of gift, between the husband and wife, it is right to say that between the Word and his Humanity there is a gift of one to the other, or even that the divine Word is in the Humanity of Christ, and that Christ-Man is in the Divinity of the Word: 'O admirabile commercium!': 'O admirable exchange.' (...) It is above all the night of the Birth of the Lord which proclaims it. 'God was made man in order that man could become God'. (H.H. John Paul II, Discourse of December 21, 1993) Consequently, one must think and believe that, in virtue of the corporeal identity - of a mystical order - between Christ and Mary Mediatrix, there is a spousal union between the Most Holy Trinity and Mary Mediatrix, a spousal union that supposes, intrinsically, that the entire Divine Trinity is in Mary Mediatrix, and that the latter is in the Divine Trinity.

86. If, as wife, Mary Mediatrix is in the Most Holy Trinity, this permits us to say that there is really and indissolubly - in virtue of the bond of spousal union - a human, and thus non-divine, presence in the Most Holy Trinity, a human presence which serves as a mean and intermediary in the communication of God-Trinity to men, by mode of Revelation. Now, although the humanity of Christ is - apart from sin - perfectly similar to our own humanity, nevertheless the human person of Mary Mediatrix is more perfectly similar to each and every human person who makes up the Church, since, on the one hand, Christ is the perfect Man whose faith - considered solely in its corporeal aspect (on this subject, see no. 27), rather than its spiritual aspect - is praised throughout the Holy Scriptures (cf. Gal. 3:22; Eph. 3:12); and on the other hand, Mary Mediatrix is the perfect Woman who lived of faith, like us: The Council says that Mary figured profoundly in the history of salvation and in a certain way unites and mirrors within herself the central truths of the faith. (Lumen Gentium, no. 65) Among all believers, she is like a mirror in which are reflected in the most profound and limpid way the mighty works of God (Acts 2:11). (H.H. John Paul II, Encyclical Redemptoris Mater, no. 25) Therefore, even more than the humanity of Christ himself, it is the human person of Mary Mediatrix that we must consider as the most perfectly adequate mean with regard to the fact of Trinitarian Revelation: Mary Mediatrix is she who must serve as a point of comparison and an obligatory passageway for all knowledge of the Trinitarian Mystery.

87. If it is true to say that Mary Mediatrix is perfectly similar to us because, like us, she lived in faith, it would, at first sight, seem to be just as true to affirm that Mary Mediatrix differs from us as much as Christ does ever since the precise moment when she left this earth to enter, body and soul, into the glory of Paradise, that is, ever since the moment of her Assumption to Heaven. Now, in reality, this is not the case. Indeed, in virtue of the corporeal identity, of a mystical order, between Christ and Mary Mediatrix when the latter is considered as a simple believer (see no. 83), it is completely permissible to think and say that, at his Ascension into Heaven, Christ, true God and true Man, had also, in addition to his own humanity - in an absolutely real, though mystical, manner - introduced into celestial glory all that the very person of Mary Mediatrix possesses that is communicable by way of mediation. In other words, while she remained on earth with the Apostles (cf. Acts 1:14), and thus, while she remained a human person who was a member of the Church and who lived interiorly in faith, Mary Mediatrix already participated in celestial glory if one considers her as mediator of the corporeal order, that is, as truly being present and acting in Christ and the Church, the extremes of her mediation, which give her being and action (refer to ECHC, no. 52).

88. Moreover, this anticipation - through the mediation of Christ - of the Assumption of Mary during the Ascension of her Son is attested by the Tradition of the Church. Thus, an ancient author writes: All the disciples, as well as the blessed Virgin, having arrived at the Mount of Olives, Jesus showed himself to them with a face that was gentle and shining with an extraordinary light (...) Mary, as the mother, had the honor of kissing the wound of his heart, into which she truly would have wished to enter, in order to rise up, if she could, with her Son to heaven. (Venerable Father Louis du Pont, Meditations, Part V, XVIIIth Meditation - p. 585) - (Concerning Father Louis du Pont, see ECHC, no. 15) And another author, of the nineteenth century, declares: The soul of the blessed Virgin would have liked to have followed Jesus constantly, and until the end, rising up into Heaven (...) Considering the ascension of her Son, whether in an accidental light of glory, or merely in the brightness of a supereminent faith, doubled by the most elevated science with which the Holy Spirit can furnish a simple creature here below, Mary, through the excellence of her religion and the ardor of her charity, gave to her alone more honor and more joy to Jesus in this mystery, than he received from that almost infinite host of angels and saints who rose up with him (...) This spiritual ascension of the Blessed Virgin produced the flowering in her of all the seeds that God had sown there throughout her life, and especially during the Passion. It was like an anticipated glorification of all of her interior, and the prelude of her Assumption. (Msgr. L.-Charles Gay, Entretiens sur les mystères du Saint Rosaire (Discussions on the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary), Volume II, pp. 264 - 265)

But, finally, all that has just been said finds its confirmation in the passage from the Scriptures which affirms: This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven (Acts 1:11), since the mode of the Ascension - which is thus that of the Parousia - is properly corporeal and mystical (the mystery residing in the fact that the last Day is known only by the Father - cf. Matt. 24:36), and since, at the end of time, Christ and Mary Mediatrix (as well as the Church in the fullness of her members) are mystically but one body (see no. 24).

89. Consequently, in virtue of the foregoing, there is no doubt that Mary Mediatrix is more perfectly similar than Christ is to each and every one of the faithful who make up the Church, from Pentecost until the end of time, since, from before Pentecost, Mary participated both body and soul - mystically - in the glory of Heaven, and since, by this very fact, the life of faith of Mary Mediatrix - considered as a supereminent and absolutely unique member of the Church, an admirable model and example for the Church in faith and charity (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, no. 53) - comprised by itself and in itself the glorious Mystery of her Assumption into Heaven.

It is thus truly through the intermediary and by way of the human person of Mary Mediatrix, the Spouse of the Most Holy Trinity, that we must go, in Christ, to the heart of the Divinity in order to contemplate the Life of the Three consubstantial Persons, in the act of Eucharistic communion, understood in terms of its proper characteristics (always implicitly admitted): the fullness of time, or the end of time, by mode of anticipation (see no. 67), and, by this very fact, the rule of association, simple and one, between divine Revelation and human philosophy (refer to ECHC, nos. 39 and 40), a rule in which the basic reference is human philosophy.

90. By the Will of God, manifested and realized by the Mystery of the Ascension of Christ, who is the God-Man, the human presence united to and remaining indissolubly associated with, in a manner that is simple and one, the Divine Trinity, is the person of Mary Mediatrix, his Wife in Christ: through the mediation of Christ himself, it is Mary Mediatrix who is, by divine will, our intermediary, or our mediator before the Most Holy Trinity insofar as the latter is communicated to us by mode of Revelation (see no. 89). By this very fact, the Divine Trinity introduces in itself - because this is what it wanted when it wished to reveal itself to the world - an element that is human, non-divine, whose essential and fundamental characteristic is to be a mediator, that is, a means of unification. As Mary Mediatrix, in the exercise of her mediation, must be considered as a mediator of a corporeal order, it is clear that, in wanting to reveal itself to us, mankind, the Most Holy Trinity introduced into itself, through the human person of Mary Mediatrix, the entire notion of the corporeal mediator, a notion which, in virtue of the spousal union between the Divine Trinity and Mary Mediatrix, is absolutely and indissolubly united, in a way that is simple and one, with the entire communicable and knowable quintessence of the Mystery of the Three divine Persons.

91. The notion of mediator of the corporeal order is introduced and inserted, as an indissociable element, into the Most Holy Trinity, through the very person of Mary Mediatrix. Now, the latter, if she is the one who is in the Divine Trinity, is also at the same time She who, as a wife, is the human person who is a member of the Church in whom dwells the entire Most Holy Trinity, in Christ (see no. 85). Moreover, it is insofar as Mary Mediatrix exercises her mediation on behalf of her own person that the Most Holy Trinity is in Mary Mediatrix by mode of Revelation (refer to ECHC, no. 26). Thus it follows that the notion of the mediator of the corporeal order is introduced into the Trinitarian Mystery through the person of Mary Mediatrix if she is considered in terms of her mediation on behalf of her own person. By this very fact, we must consider Mary Mediatrix to be the human person who, in Christ, reveals to herself the entire Trinitarian Mystery, if we wish to thus understand all of the very essence of the notion of the mediator of the corporeal order in its intimate and connected relation with the Divine Trinity.

92. To consider Mary Mediatrix as mediator of the corporeal order intrinsically supposes that the human person of Mary - though still made up of a body and a soul - is considered only according to her material and organic body (see no. 83 - see ECHC, no. 52). So, if Mary Mediatrix exercises her mediation on her own behalf in order to receive from God-Trinity, in Christ, his very Life by mode of Revelation, it must be affirmed without hesitation that the person of Mary Mediatrix, considered only according to her body, is reduced - mystically (according to the order of her mediation) - to a simple point (see no. 30), a geometric locality considered mathematically to be the exact center, and thus the precise midpoint, of the entire material body which enters into the composition of the human person of Mary Mediatrix, and which, if it is considered in itself (that is, independently of the soul which informs it), is a set of multiple infinitely small elements which are mathematically called points. Consequently, in virtue of the corporeal identity, of a mystical order, between Christ and Mary Mediatrix (see no. 83), when the latter is regarded as simple believer (which fully corresponds to the case we are discussing), Christ-Man must, he too, be considered to be mystically reduced to a corporeal and material point, a point which, first, is necessarily different from that to which Mary Mediatrix is mystically reduced, since Christ and Mary Mediatrix are essentially different people; and second, is that for which the distance that separates it from the point to which Mary Mediatrix is mystically reduced tends towards the infinitely small, since Christ and Mary Mediatrix both realize but one mediation (cf. 1 Tm. 2:5). Now, on the one hand, if - as we have seen - the mediating element (Mary Mediatrix) is mystically reduced to a point, considered mathematically; and on the other hand, if - similarly - one of the extremes of the mediation (Christ) is, he too, mystically reduced to a mathematical point different from the former; it follows that, geometrically speaking (as must be the case here), the other extreme of the mediation, namely the Church, must also necessarily be reduced to a mathematical point, in order that three points in question, that is, the midpoint and the two extreme points, might together constitute a line segment whose length tends towards the infinitely small.

93. In the exercise of her corporeal mediation on her own behalf, Mary Mediatrix considered solely according to her body, as well as the body of Christ himself and the body of each and every person who makes up the Church, must be mystically regarded as a mathematical point. Now, in order to be able to act (as is the case here, since we are discussing the exercise of the mediation of Mary on her own behalf), Mary Mediatrix necessarily needs the corporeal organ of the head: if it is possible for a human person to act without making use of an arm or a leg (such as when either of them is cut off), on the other hand, no one can act without his head. Moreover, there is no doubt that the central point, or the geometrical center of the human body - no matter whose body it is - is not one of the elements of the head, but rather of the body, or whatever is not the head. Thus, it is clear that Mary Mediatrix cannot act by herself if, mystically, her body is considered to be a mathematical point. But, given, first, that there is a corporeal identity, of a mystical order, between Christ and Mary Mediatrix considered as simple believer (see no. 83); and secondly, that, by this very fact, Christ himself must similarly be regarded as a point that is mathematically in relation to and in union with the point to which the body of Mary Mediatrix is reduced (see no. 92); one can conclude, from all the foregoing, that it is Christ in person who, through his mediation, allows Mary Mediatrix to act and to exercise her own corporeal mediation, and this absolutely and exclusively to the extent that the body of this same Christ is mystically considered to be reduced to each and every one of the points or infinitely small elements which make up the head of Mary Mediatrix. Now, since the two extremes of the mediation of Mary are indissociable from each other and symmetrically - for mathematically - correspond to each other, we must also necessarily affirm, along with what we have just said with regard to Christ, that the Church, considered in each and every one of her members, allows - in her union with Christ-Mediator - Mary Mediatrix to act and to exercise her mediation as a mediator of the corporeal order, and this, absolutely and exclusively to the extent that the body of each and every member of the Church is mystically considered to be intrinsically reduced, first, to each and every one the points or infinitely small elements which make up the feet of Mary Mediatrix, and secondly, by extension, to all the points which make up all that is not the head of Mary Mediatrix.

94. The action of Mary Mediatrix, considered as mediator of the corporeal order in the exercise of her mediation on behalf of herself, fully and absolutely depends on the mystical reduction of Christ and the Church, respectively, to the head and the body of Mary Mediatrix (see no. 93). By this very fact, the mystical reduction of which we have just spoken cannot be the result of an action of Mary Mediatrix herself. Consequently, this same mystical reduction is necessarily the result of an action accomplished by every element that is not the middle or the geometrical center, that is, in practice, concretely, through the extreme elements of the mediation of Mary considered as mediator of the corporeal order. In other words, the corporeal existence - of the mystical order - of Mary Mediatrix fully and absolutely depends on the joint and simultaneous action of the person of Christ and of each and every person who makes up the Church (see nos. 20 and 21).

Now, as extremes of the mediation of Mary, Christ and the Church cannot act together and simultaneously except in virtue of a personal action of Mary Mediatrix, to whom it is proper, as a mediator, to unite the extremes of her mediation: Ad mediatoris officium proprie pertinet conjungere, et unire eos, inter quos est mediator, nam extrema uniuntur in medio. It properly belongs to the office of the mediator to join and to unite those between whom he interposes his mediation; for the extremes are united in the middle point. (St. Thomas, IIIa, q. 26, a. 1, corp.) In other words, within the framework of the exercise of the mediation of Mary, the joint and simultaneous action of Christ and the Church depends totally and absolutely on the action on Mary Mediatrix. But, on the one hand, as we have just seen that the corporeal existence of Mary Mediatrix fully and absolutely depends on the joint and simultaneous action of Christ and the Church; and on the other hand, as the corporeal action of any human person depends absolutely and in every way on his corporeal existence; it is clear that the action of Mary Mediatrix considered as mediator of the corporeal order depends fully and absolutely on the joint and simultaneous action of Christ and the Church.

95. By means and at the very heart of the Mystery of Mary Mediatrix, the Mystery by which and in which the body of Mary Mediatrix receives existence in virtue of the reduction of Christ and the Church, respectively, to the head and the body (or all that is not the head) of Mary Mediatrix, the three persons of Christ, Mary Mediatrix, and the Church act together and simultaneously - in the proper context of the mediation of Mary - and this, in an absolutely and fully dependent way for each person with respect to the others. Now, in virtue of this same Mystery of Mary Mediatrix, or the Mystery of the mediator of the corporeal order, each of the persons of Christ, Mary Mediatrix, and the Church exists according to a corporeal mode that is different from that of the two others: Christ exists corporeally as head, Mary Mediatrix exists corporeally as complete human body, and the Church exists corporeally as body, that is, as all that is not the head. Thus, while acting - mystically - conjointly and in full dependence with respect to the other persons, each of the persons of Christ, Mary Mediatrix, and the Church acts in a way that is essentially different from that of the two others, since, when applied to human persons, the three corporeal concepts of the head, the complete human body, and the body (or all that is not the head) mystically possess the character of incommunicability proper to the person as such. All this finds its archetype in the Most Holy Trinity, and it is thus, understood mystically as the mediator of the corporeal order, that Mary Mediatrix is the Wife of the Divine Trinity.

96. The existence of Mary Mediatrix, considered as mediator of the corporeal order, depends fully and in every way on the joint and simultaneous action of Christ and the Church, and, at the same time, the action of Christ and the Church depends fully and in every way on the action of Mary Mediatrix (the latter action itself necessarily depending on the existence of Mary Mediatrix), all this understood in a mystical way, that is, in a way that completely relates to the mediation of Mary (see no. 94). Now, as we have just stated (which summarizes and condenses all the foregoing) directly flows from the fact that, mystically, there is a corporeal identity between the person of Christ and the person of Mary Mediatrix (see no. 83). Thus, taking into account this fundamental datum, we are permitted to say that the existence of the person of Christ, considered according to his body, depends fully and in every way on the action of this same person of Christ. Now, humanly speaking (which is the case here, since we are discussing the human body of the person of Christ), it is properly action which depends in all and absolutely on the existence of he who acts. Moreover, as Christ is, in a single person or individuality, God and man; and as, in God, being and action are simply confused with each other; we can conclude, from the foregoing, that the person of Christ considered in his humanity truly - though mystically - possesses an existence which simply becomes confused with his action. In other words, on the proper relation of being, as on that of action, Christ as a man is simply similar to Christ considered in his divinity: it is this similitude that we have mentioned above, according to the testimony of Saint Hilary of Poitiers, and which consists in the spousal union between the divinity of the Word and the humanity assumed by it (see no. 85).

97. In the order of the mediation of Mary, and in direct relation with this same mediation, Christ-Man exists and acts as God, whom he personally is as the Word or Son of the Father. But, as we have just pointed out (see no. 96), the action of Christ-Man depends, fully and in every way, on the action and ultimately on the existence of Mary Mediatrix. Thus, we absolutely should not hesitate to say that the very existence of God - not considered directly in itself, that is, insofar as it belongs to the Divinity considered ad intra, but rather considered through and in Christ-Mediator, and thus insofar as it is communicable and communicated ad extra by way of the humanity of Christ - depends absolutely and in every way on the existence of the human person of Mary Mediatrix. However, as what we have just mystically concluded is philosophically unthinkable (since philosophy affirms the opposite), and as Mary Mediatrix, insomuch as Wife, is simply similar to the Divine Trinity, the only solution that would make it possible to reconcile philosophy and mysticism in this specific case is to say that, by means of the humanity of Christ, the existence of God in the person of the Word fully depends on the existence on Mary Mediatrix, as the Husband depends on the Wife; and reciprocally, the existence of Mary Mediatrix, as a creature, fully depends on the existence of God (who created all things through his Word - cf. Ps. 32:6), as the Wife depends on the Husband. Finally, all of this amounts to saying that Mary Mediatrix, who is, in a general manner, the Wife of the Most Holy Trinity, is, in a particular manner, the Wife of the Word, of the Son of the Father, of He whose Mother she is according to the flesh.

98. In a particular manner, Mary Mediatrix is the Wife of the Word, her Son according to humanity. Now, as mediator of the corporeal order, Mary Mediatrix must - intrinsically - be considered to be corporeally in the Most Holy Trinity. Thus, the notion of Mary the Wife of the Word fully relates to the mystery of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven, a mystery that was anticipated and inaugurated on the day of the Ascension of Christ (see nos. 87 and 88), and thus, by this very fact, a mystery that prophesies and announces the last Judgement (cf. Acts 1:11). This is what Venerable Father Louis du Pont (see ECHC, no. 15) confirms, saying: Let us picture how Jesus welcomed his Mother, and the incomparable joy with which he filled her; let us imagine that we could see the accomplishment of the words of the Wife: He will place his left hand under my head, and his right hand will embrace me. (Cant. 2:6; 8:3) (Meditations, Volume IV, Part V, XXXVth Meditation - p. 78) It was necessary for the blessed Virgin to preserve until the day of judgement, and in every age, the quality of being the Mother of God, which does not befit her soul alone, but rather her soul and body joined together. Also, it was desirable that she be able to carry out in heaven the office of mother and advocate of men, and appease the anger of her Son against them, by showing him her breasts, just as the Son calms the anger of the Father by showing him his wounds. Finally, as the first Adam had in the terrestrial paradise a helper and companion similar to him (Gen. 2:18) with respect to natural qualities, the second Adam also wanted one in heaven, who resembled him with respect to the glory of the body and the soul. (Meditations, Volume IV, Part V, XXXVIth Meditation - pp. 89 and 90)

99. Mary Mediatrix, in a particular way, is the Wife of the Word, her Son. Now, the latter, as the Image of the Father (cf. Col. 1:15), is perfectly and simply similar to He who begets him from all eternity, and this in virtue of the very fact that he is begotten or conceived by the Father as Word: Filius procedit ut Verbum, de cujus ratione est similitudo speciei ad id, a quo procedit. The Son proceeds as the Word: this is explained by the fact that it is in the nature of a mental word to resemble its principle. (St. Thomas, Ia, q. 35, a. 2, corp.) Thus, it is permissible to say that, if Mary Mediatrix is the Wife of the Word, then she is also necessarily the Wife of the Father, and this, in a way that fully relates to the act of the generation of the Son by the Father. This is what Father S.-M. Giraud, Missionnary of Our Lady of Salette, a French theologian who lived at the end of XIXth century, said: Mary has a relation of operation with the Father. As the Father eternally begets his Son, Mary begets in time this same Son. The operation is the same, under conditions whose characters are essentially, absolutely different. There is in Mary a virtue capable of begetting a God, an incarnate God; this wholly divine virtue is similar to that of the Father. It is quite true to say of the august Virgin (this is the very language of faith), that she begets a divine Person, but a divine Person made man. Now, from this it follows that between the Father and the Virgin there is a union of an absolutely ineffable and incomprehensible sublimity, a kind of identity, says Saint Peter Damian (PL 144, 738). Mary is the Wife of the Father. This title, which is of a rigorously truth, expresses the relation of operation. (Prêtre et Hostie (Priest and Host), Vol. II, p. 582)

100. Within the Divine Trinity, Mary Mediatrix is, in a particular manner, the Wife of the Father and the Wife of the Son. As spousal union is a union that is simple and one, Mary Mediatrix thus realizes in her person, in the very Trinity, a sort of union between the Father and the Son, a union that not of a divine type, but rather of a human type, that is, a type which relates to the nature of the person of Mary Mediatrix. Now, it is properly the person of the Holy Spirit who, consubstantially with the Father and the Son, realizes the vital union of the entire Divine Trinity: indeed, the holy liturgy affirms that the Son lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit. (Conclusion of the Collect prayer) Therefore, since - the Holy Spirit being God - the union of the Father and the Son is perfectly and fully realized through the person of the Holy Spirit (so that nothing else can be added to this essentially divine union), one must necessarily conclude, from the foregoing, that, if Mary Mediatrix realizes a certain union, of a human type, between the Father and the Son, she can do so only in union with the Holy Spirit and in him. Lastly, as we are discussing here a vital union, and as every vital union is a union that is simple and one, it is clear that the Holy Spirit and Mary Mediatrix realize the vital union of the Father and the Son in a common simple relation with each other, a relation which, by the very fact, renders the Holy Spirit and Mary Mediatrix simply similar to each other, and thus each other's Husband and Wife.

101. Mary Mediatrix is, in a particular way, the Wife of the Holy Spirit. As this spousal union is directly founded on the notion of divine life, the testimony which best clarifies this same union can be none other than the following, which discusses Mary full of grace in her Immaculate Conception: Creatures, according to the natural law given to them by God, perfect themselves, assimilate themselves to him, return to him; and intelligent creatures love him in a conscious way, and by this love they unite themselves to him more and more, and return to him. The creature most completely filled with this love, filled with the divinity, is the Immaculate, she who is without any stain of sin, who is in no way separated from the will of God. In an inexpressible way, united in the Holy Spirit as his wife, but in a sense that is incomparably more perfect than this word can express in creation. What is this union? It is above all interior, a union of her essence with the essence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in her, lives in her and this from the first instant of her existence, always and forever (...) In a way that is much more precise, more interior, more essential, the most holy Spirit lives in the soul of the Immaculate, in her being, and makes her fruitful, and this from the very first moment of her existence, throughout her life, always. (Saint Maximilian Kolbe, On the Immaculate Conception, February 17, 1941, in The Immaculate Reveals the Holy Spirit, p. 49)

102. To summarize what we have just established in this chapter, let us say that, the Spouse of the Divine Trinity, Mary Mediatrix is, in a particular manner, the Wife of the Father, the Wife of the Son, and the Wife of the Holy Spirit, but, first and fundamentally (as had been said - see no. 82), this same human person is mystically the Wife (see no. 97), or the Woman (John 2:4; 19:26) of He of whom She is the Mother. However, although all that we have just said must be held to be certain and true, one must also take into account the following (which will be demonstated in the next and final chapter): among the three aforesaid relations of spousal union, only that which concerns the Holy Spirit and Mary Mediatrix is, properly speaking, a relation of spousal union, the two others being such only in an improper way. It is therefore appropriate to acclaim Mary in the following manner: I greet you, Daughter of God the Father! I greet you, Mother of the Son of God! I greet you, mystical wife of the Holy Spirit! I greet you, temple of the Most Holy Trinity! (H.H. John Paul II, Homily of the Mass of August 15, 1995)

103. Mary, one of the faithful, and first among them, is the mediatrix with respect to her own person: we must consider the very person of Mary Mediatrix to be the intermediary and middle term between the Most Holy Trinity - that is, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - and Mary herself. Now, with respect to the relation of spousal union between the Word, the Image of the Father, and Mary Mediatrix, and, thus, also with respect to the relation of spousal union between the Father and same human person of Mary Mediatrix, the latter - considered as middle term or intermediary - must be considered only according to her body: it is by means of the corporeal identity, of the mystical order, between Christ and Mary Mediatrix, that the latter is the Spouse of the Word within the Divine Trinity (see nos. 96 and 97). Consequently, as on one hand, that which is only corporeal and material is, intrinsically, composite and non-simple; and as on the other hand, any spousal union is a simple and unique union between the two spouses who, for this reason, are similar to each other; it is clear that the relation of spousal union between the Father and Mary Mediatrix, as well as that between the Word and this same human person, are both improperly termed thus: one cannot say that Mary Mediatrix is truly the Spouse of the Father and Spouse of the Son except insofar as the body of Mary Mediatrix is simplified or spiritualized. Now, this is precisely the case with respect to the relation of spousal union between the Holy Spirit and Mary Mediatrix, as we shall see.

104. We have shown, in the preceding chapter, that Mary Mediatrix is not only perfectly similar to the Most Holy Trinity (see no. 84), but that she is, as the Spouse of Christ, simply similar to the Trinity (see nos. 85 and 86), Mary Mediatrix being considered here only according to her body, that is, as mediator of the corporeal order (see no. 95), all of which are things that Holy Tradition expressly confirms in declaring Mary Mediatrix the Spouse of the Father (see no. 99), the Spouse of the Son (see nos. 97 and 98), and the Spouse of the Holy Spirit (see nos. 100 and 101). But we have just clearly established that Mary Mediatrix can be called the Spouse of the Father and Spouse of the Son only in a completely improper manner (see no. 103). Thus, there is no doubt that the relation of spousal union between the Holy Trinity and Mary Mediatrix contains within it, in a strict and proper way, only the relation of spousal union between the Holy Spirit and this same human person. Now, any spousal union, no matter which one, is necessarily unknowable, since it is incommunicable in itself and by itself, not in virtue of any lack of power on the part of the agents of this union, but rather due to the essentially intimate character of the very relation of spousal union, which must, eternally and always, remain the absolute secret of the two spouses, a secret which is the unique guarantor of the fidelity of the union in question. Consequently, if we wish to study the relation of spousal union between Holy Spirit and Mary Mediatrix (in order to know if this union is veritable), we have no choice but to analyze the relation of spousal union between the Most Holy Trinity and Mary Mediatrix, this same relation of spousal union containing within it the relation of spousal union between the Holy Spirit and Mary Mediatrix, as we have just said.

105. To show that Mary Mediatrix is truly - according to the full meaning of the term - the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, we must analyze the relation of spousal union between the Divine Trinity and Mary Mediatrix, this relation being considered the one and only point of reference in this matter (see no. 104). Now, as Husband and Wife, the Most Holy Trinity and Mary Mediatrix are simply similar to each other. Moreover, though we must always consider Mary Mediatrix to be a living human person composed of a body and a soul (so that she is thus similar to the Divine Trinity - see no. 84, which refers to ECHC, no. 56), we have amply shown that it is when Mary Mediatrix, as mediator of the corporeal order, is considered solely according to her body that this same human person is perfectly and adequately similar to the Trinitarian Mystery (see nos. 92 to 95; also consult ECHC, no. 32). Consequently, as God is essentially spiritual, one must conclude, from the foregoing, that - as Husband and Wife - that which is solely spiritual is simply similar to that which is solely corporeal, an identity which can be understood only if it is admitted that, in a mystical way - that is, in a manner that fully relates to the mediation of Mary - the body of Mary Mediatrix is spiritualized or simplified.

106. According to the relation of spousal union between the Most Holy Trinity and Mary Mediatrix, the latter is considered solely according to hers body, which then is simplified or spiritualized (see no. 105). Now, as mediator of the corporeal order, it is necessary to consider Mary Mediatrix as a simple member of the faithful, that is, as a mediator for her own person, revealing to herself the entire Trinitarian Mystery (see no. 91). It thus follows that, within the framework of the relation of spousal union between the Divine Trinity and Mary Mediatrix, the simplified or spiritualized body of Mary Mediatrix is the intermediary and middle term between the Most Holy Trinity and Mary Mediatrix herself. Thus, in virtue of fact that the relation of spousal union between the Divine Trinity and Mary Mediatrix serves as a reference for the relation of spousal union between the Holy Spirit and Mary Mediatrix (see no. 104), one may say that the simplified or spiritualized body of Mary Mediatrix is the intermediary mean of spousal union between the Holy Spirit and Mary Mediatrix. By this very fact, it is absolutely clear that the spousal union between the Holy Spirit and Mary Mediatrix is fully veritable, since the contact that exists between the two Spouses is truly - though mystically - simple and one, while being naturally multiple, for it is corporeal. This is why His Holiness Pope John Paul II declared, speaking of Mary: The Holy Spirit had already come down upon her, and she became his faithful spouse at the Annunciation. (Encyclical Redemptoris Mater, no. 26)

107. By the fact that her body is spiritualized or simplified, Mary Mediatrix is truly - in the full meaning of the term - the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, a notion that is fully contained within that of Mary Mediatrix Spouse of the Divine Trinity. Now, as we have said above (see no. 106), though it is mystically simplified or spiritualized, the body of Mary Mediatrix remains as it is with regard to its order, that is, organic and material. Thus one must consider here the body of Mary Mediatrix to be mystically reduced to a mathematical point, which is absolutely the simplest corporeal expression of the material world, for it is that which is immediately mearest to the spiritual world (with regard to this mystical reduction of the body of Mary Mediatrix, see no. 92). By this very fact, it is not directly the simplified or spiritualized body of Mary Mediatrix that is the intermediary or middle term between the Divine Trinity and the person of Mary Mediatrix, but rather a simple mathematical point to which this same body of Mary Mediatrix is mystically reduced. But, since this mathematical point is essentially characterized by the middle or intermediate position; and since, by this very fact, the existence of this mathematical point, as mediator of a corporeal order, depends fully and in every way on the common action of the extremes of the mediation in question (no. 94), these extremes being, on the one hand, the Most Holy Trinity acting corporeally by means of the Humanity of Christ (as Spouse of the Word - see no. 96), and on the other hand, the human person of Mary Mediatrix considered solely according to her body; it is easy to conclude, from all the foregoing, that the mathematical point, to which the body of Mary Mediatrix is mystically reduced by mode of simplification or spiritualization, is not only the intermediate or middle point between the Divine Trinity and Mary Mediatrix which, through the intermediary of this same point, unite themselves to each other spousally (that is, in a manner that is simple and one), but it is also, at the same time, the middle point of each of the two terms of the aforesaid mediation: it is the midpoint of the Divine Trinity, and it is the middle point of the human person of Mary Mediatrix considered as mediator of the corporeal order.

108. The middle point, of the mystical order, which is the intermediary between the Most Holy Trinity and Mary Mediatrix, is also, intrinsically, the midpoint of the two extremes that it unites in a way that is simple and one (see no. 107). Now, as this middle point is nothing other than the mystical expression of the person of Mary Mediatrix considered as mediator of the corporeal order, and as this same middle point, in allowing the spousal union of the Most Holy Trinity and Mary Mediatrix, also - intrinsically - allows the spousal union between the Holy Spirit and this same human person, one can clearly affirm, finally, that it is properly the Holy Spirit and Mary Mediatrix, taken together and not unjoined, who constitute the middle point of the Most Holy Trinity and Mary Mediatrix. This amounts to saying that, in the order of the mediation of Mary, to which belongs the revelation of all of the Trinitarian Mystery, the Holy Spirit, as the Spouse of Mary in Christ, must be regarded as the middle point of the Most Holy Trinity; and that, by this very fact, Mary Mediatrix, as the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, must be regarded as the middle point or intermediary between the two other persons of the Divine Trinity, namely the Father and the Son. But, with regard to the latter assertion, since the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are a single God (who is the absolutely simple Being par excellence), all that we have just said can be reduced to this: Mary Mediatrix, considered as mediator of the corporeal order, is the human Person who, with her body (and also with her soul), fully participates - in her spousal union with the Holy Spirit - in the eternal generation of the Word through the Father. Here we find the action that we are studying (see no. 83): that of Mary Mediatrix - the Spouse of Cephas - at the heart of the Three divine Persons. And this leads us to the consideration of two consequences of the aforesaid action, a consideration that will conclude this chapter, and which shall thus prepare for the conclusion of our book.

109. The act of the generation of the Word being essentially spiritual (since God is spirit - cf. John 4:24), the participation of Mary Mediatrix in this same act by means of her body necessarily brings to this spiritual and divine act a corporeal and human dimension that it does not and absolutely cannot have from the reality of its existential essence. This allows us to say that Mary Mediatrix, inasmuch as the Spouse of the Divine Trinity in the act of the generation of the Word, provides the Most Holy Trinity with a certain complement, actualized and realized through and in her body, considered in its simplification or its spiritualization. Thus, with regard to the corporeal aspect of her mediation, one may say, without fear, that Mary Mediatrix is the complement of the Holy Trinity (refer to ECHC, nos. 19 and 20). This is what an author from a previous century, Father Louis-François d'Argentan (1615-1680), a capuchin, considers true and very catholic, saying: We know very well that God is quite sufficient to himself, and that he can be neither increased, nor enriched, nor perfected by the feeble nothingness of all his creatures (...) Nevertheless we find that the very ancient Patriarch of Jerusalem, Saint Hesichius, writing on the greatness of the Blessed Virgin, praised her in a way that seems to imply that she had been necessary to God; for he calls her Totius Trinitatis complementum, the accomplishment or the final perfection of all the Holy Trinity. (Theological and Spiritual Conferences on the Greatness of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of God, pp. 17 and 18 of the Edition of Avignon, 1755)

110. The author we have just quoted - Father Louis-François d'Argentan - argues, with respect to the three divine Persons, the notion of Mary Mediatrix complement of the Divine Trinity. With regard to the Father, Mary completes in Him the Most Holy Trinity by the fact that, in the Incarnation of the Word, she accomplishes temporally his divine will, which is nothing other than the mode in virtue of which the Holy Spirit - the Spouse of Mary - eternally proceeds. This is what he declares in the following way: It is this admirable accomplishment that the Father receives through the Blessed Virgin, when she is predestined to accomplish the ineffable Mystery of the Incarnation of the Word: for the Father who could produce him in himself only with his understanding, and by a natural necessity, reproduces him a second time in her, by his will, and by a decree of his freedom (...) Who would not acknowledge that the Blessed Virgin can thus be regarded, with regard to the Father, as the perfect accomplishment of the Trinity? (ibid, pp. 18-19)

111. With regard to the Son, or the Word of the Father, Mary Mediatrix completes in Him the Divine Trinity by giving a corporeal and human dimension to He who, as Word, is eternally begotten by the the Father in a essentially spiritual manner. Thus, Father Louis-François d'Argentan affirms: Since therefore the most blessed Virgin is predestined to be as the exterior mouth of the Father who produces for us his divine Word exteriorly; since it is she who gives him a Body, and who rendered him visible and sensible; and since she gave birth to him a second time, to give him all the accomplishment that a word can have, which is to be uttered exteriorly after having been conceived interiorly: who does not see that one can call her, with respect to the second Person, as well as to the first, the accomplishment of the most Holy Trinity? (ibid, p. 19)

112. Lastly, with regard to the Holy Spirit, Mary Mediatrix completes in Him the Most Holy Trinity just as a Wife completes her Husband, with whom she is but one, the two of them thus dependant upon each other with respect to the act of generation. This is what Father Louis-François d'Argentan explains in the following way: This is even more palpable with regard to the third Person, who is the Holy Spirit (...) Since therefore the most Holy Virgin is predestined to produce a divine Person through the operation of the Holy Spirit, as the Gospel explicitly says, quod enim in ea natum est de Spiritu Sancto est (the child that she conceived is of the Holy Spirit) (Matt. 1:20); and since she causes to appear in him, by the production of a divine Person, that glorious fecundity that he does not have in the Divinity: does it not seem that she gives him in this an admirable accomplishment, and that one can truly call her, with respect to the Holy Spirit, as well as with respect to the Father and of the Son, the universal accomplishment of the most Holy Trinity? (ibid, pp. 19-20)

113. The Spouse of the Holy Spirit, and the one who is similar to him, Mary Mediatrix, is OLON TES TRIADOS TO PLEROMA, the total complement of the Trinity (Saint Hesychius of Jerusalem, Homily II on Mary Mother of God - PG 93, 1461). The living Tradition of the Church affirms this to us down to our day (see ECHC, nos. 19 and 20, where we quote Saint Maximilian Kolbe). And the Holy Scriptures confirm it. Indeed, the Holy Spirit, to which Mary Mediatrix, as a Spouse, is similar, is, with regard to Mary the total complement of the Trinity, the middle point of the Most Holy Trinity (see no. 108). Now, if we take this affirmation in itself, not taking into account the deposit of the faith in the Holy Trinity, it would lead us to admit an eventual death of the Divine Trinity, and thus of God himself, since, if the Holy Spirit is the middle point of the Most Holy Trinity, then the Three divine Persons must be considered to be unequal with each other, which cannot be. But we believe, according to the Tradition of the Church, that the Holy Spirit, far from bringing death to the Divine Trinity, and thus to himself, is the divine Person who gives Life (Credo). Consequently, one can and must admit that the Holy Spirit is the middle point of the Holy Trinity, however without this fact, of a mystical order, resulting in any death of the Divine Trinity (and thus the death of the Holy Spirit himself) in virtue of a possible inequality between the Three divine Persons.

114. Consequently, and by that very fact, Mary Mediatrix, in her similitude (as Spouse and total complement of the Trinity) with the Holy Spirit, is the human person who, by a free decision of God, cannot die, and who, in fact, during her Assumption to Heaven, by no means passed through death. And of all this makes it possible to say that the fact of Mary Mediatrix being the total complement of the Trinity is confirmed by the following passage of Saint Paul, who affirms: We who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up (...) on the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. (1 Th. 4:17) Thus, on the Day of the second coming of Christ, Mary Mediatrix will be the unequalled model of those who, without passing through death, will go, alive, to join the Lord. This is the first consequence of the action of Mary Mediatrix in the bosom of the Three divine Persons.

115. The second consequence is related to the first. Because Mary Mediatrix, being she who is never dead and who can never die, is the unique model of those who, at the end of time, will not die, she is and cannot fail to be the first and the only Spouse of the Holy Spirit, and thus the first and the only Spouse of the Holy Trinity, in Christ, so that there can never be any other than She, as a person. Now, at the end of time, the last Pope, because he is eternally saved (see no. 14), must be considered to be mystically united to Christ in a spousal manner (see nos. 44 and 45 - see also no. 82), just as the Church in general, for whom this same last Pope (and in him every Pope, and thus Cephas) is the model, insofar as he is saved in Christ (on this subject, see ECHC, no. 75): Christ, Redeemer of the world and of humanity, is the Bridegroom of the Church and of all of those who belong to it: The bridegroom is with them (cf. Matt. 9:15). One duty of the Pope is to profess this truth and to render it present to the Church in Rome as well as to the entire Church, to all humanity, and to the whole world. (H.H. John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, pp. 37 and 38) Consequently, one must think and believe without hesitation that Mary Mediatrix, the one and only Bride of Christ and of the Divine Trinity, is the human person who is and cannot fail to be the intermediator and mediatrix between Christ and the last Pope, when they are considered mystically in their relation of spousal union.

116. However, given that, in a general manner, the husband and wife are no longer two, but one flesh (Matt. 19:6); and that, by this very fact, Christ and the last Pope form, as husband and wife, but a single body; all of the foregoing makes it possible to affirm that, spousally, Christ (and in him the Most Holy Trinity), Mary Mediatrix, and the last Pope (and in him every Pope, and thus Cephas) all form but a single body. But, as, first and fundamentally, Christ and Mary Mediatrix spousally form but one flesh (Matt. 19:6), one must finally admit, as something that is absolutely clear and certain, in virtue of what has just been said, and according to the testimony of the living Tradition of the Church, that the last Pope, and thus Cephas, spousally forms but a single body with Mary Mediatrix, the first and only Bride of Christ and of the Divine Trinity: the Spouse of the Holy Spirit is also necessarily the Spouse of Cephas in Christ.

117. According to the testimony of the Tradition of the Church, Mary Mediatrix is the Spouse of the Pope: this is the second consequence of the action of this same human person in the bosom of the Three divine Persons. In other words, what we had said in our first volume (see ECHC, no. 69) finds itself confirmed here by the living Tradition of the Church with regard to the fact that Mary Mediatrix is the Spouse of the Most Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Indeed, one of the authors we had previously cited (see no. 99), expressly declares: That we Priests might truly become Jesus Christ in perfection and in fullness (...): that is the inexpressible ambition that consumes the Heart of Mary, and that is her immense love, very strong, very gentle, always active, always present, (...) the love of a Mother, a Sovereign, a Friend, a Sister, a Spouse (may these words surprise no one), love without end, without any possible name in our human language, for our sacerdotal souls! (Father S. M. Giraud, Priest and Host, Volume II, p. 609) And he bases all of this mainly on the teaching of Saint Albert the Great, a spiritual lover of Wisdom and of Mary: Bl. Albert the Great, explaining these words from the Book of Proverbs, which he applies to Mary: I was ordained, from the beginning (8:23), has the divine Virgin say: (...) I was ordained a Bishop, because of my pastoral solicitude for all the Churches; and finally, [I was ordained] the Sovereign Pontiff, for I am the Mother of all, and, more than the Vicar of Jesus Christ, I have sovereign power on earth and in Heaven, in Purgatory and even in hell. (Biblia Mariana, super Lib. Proverb.) (Father S. M. Giraud, Priest and Host, Volume II, pp. 598-599)

119. This study of the mediator of a corporeal order, considered in relation to the Trinitarian ministry of Cephas in particular, and of the Pope in general, has led us to think and believe that, mystically, according to the order of her mediation, Mary is the human person who is ever and eternally alive in God-Trinity. But if the Wife of the Pope remains alive always, throughout the life of the Church, until the end of time, and for all eternity, it would a priori be necessary that the same be true for her Husband, Cephas, with whom She mystically forms but one body (cf. Gen. 2:24). Now, in virtue of the fact that Cephas - who can only exercise his Trinitarian ministry at the end of time - truly acts, in a mystical manner (in relation to the mediation of Mary), in each and every one of his Successors as Bishop of Rome, one may say that, in this sense, Cephas, who is the Husband of Mary in Christ, continues to live in the Church since the election of Saint Linus, his first Successor, and until the Day of eternity, that of the second coming of Christ to Earth.

121. Indeed, considered sacramentally, Cephas is Bishop - that is, he is configured to Christ-Total, who is Mary Mediatrix - by the episcopal character. As Mary Mediatrix is the Wife of Cephas, the episcopal character, and therefore every character relating to the sacrament of Holy Orders, possesses a spousal dimension. Now, the character that is imprinted on the soul of he who sacramentally receives it is, intrinsically, a divine mark that allows God to act in the Church, and thus in the world, in a properly sacramental manner. Thus, as Mary Mediatrix is, divinely, the Spouse of the Most Holy Trinity, the spousal dimension of the episcopal character is necessarily Trinitarian, that is, it relates, at once and at the same time, to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. But given that all this is founded on the relation of spousal union between Cephas and Mary Mediatrix, it is clear that the spousal dimension of the episcopal character fundamentally relates to the Word of God incarnate, Christ, who is a rock like Cephas.

122. Nevertheless, since the relation of spousal union between Christ and Mary Mediatrix depends on the relation of spousal union between the Holy Spirit and this same human person (the latter relation being the only one that is properly spousal), one must think and believe that the spousal dimension of the episcopal character relates just as much to the Holy Spirit as to Christ, who, for this reason, called the Holy Spirit another Paraclete (John 14:16), that is, a second Paraclete, similar to the first: Christ himself. But, given that the episcopal character, considered in itself, is directly ordained to the act of Eucharistic communion accomplished Marianly; and that this same act of communion depends fully and in every way on the act of the consecration, one can affirm without any doubt that the episcopal character, considered in its spousal dimension relative to Christ, is ordained to the act of Eucharistic communion, and that the same episcopal character, considered in its spousal dimension relative to the Holy Spirit, is ordained to the act of the consecration of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.

123. As the Holy Spirit, in the order of Revelation through the mediation of Mary, must be held to be the middle point of the Divine Trinity; and as, on one hand, no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him (Matt. 11:27), and on the other hand, the incarnate Word, the Son of the Father, personally carried out the act of the consecration of the bread and wine into his Body and his Blood between the act of the mixing of some water into the wine (a mixing that was simply united, in a mystical manner, to the breaking of the bread) and that of sacramental communion with his Body and his Blood; it must also be said, in relation to all the foregoing, that the episcopal character, considered in its spousal dimension relative to the Father, is ordained to the act that consists in mixing some water into the wine, during the offertory of the Mass.

124. Considered in its Trinitarian spousal dimension, the episcopal character is ordained to the three principal acts of the Eucharistic liturgy, those that the Lord himself carried out during the Last Supper: the mixing of some water into the wine (along with the breaking of the bread), the consecration of the bread and wine, and the communion with his Body and his Blood. But the episcopal character is intrinsically ordained to the act of Eucharistic communion. In addition, there is no doubt that the sacerdotal, or presbyteral, character is intrinsically ordained to the act of the consecration of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. Consequently, given that the sacrament of Holy Orders comprises three distinct orders - the episcopate, the presbyterate, and the diaconate - one must absolutely think and believe that, if the episcopal character possesses a spousal dimension relative to Christ, then the presbyteral character participates in the spousal dimension relative to the Holy Spirit, which is proper to the episcopal character, and the diaconal character participates in the spousal dimension relative to the Father, which is also proper to the episcopal character. By this very fact, considered in this way, the diaconal character clearly appears to be intrinsically ordained to the act that takes place during the preparation of the offerings and which consists in the mixing of a few drops of water into the wine that is destined to be consecrated.

125. What has just been said seems sufficient to allow us to affirm that, between the instant of the death of one Pope and that when his Successeur has accepted to be the Vicar of Christ, the Father can reveal his Son, and thus the entire Holy Trinity, by means and through the intermediary of this sacramental means: the diaconal character. However, as every character of the sacramental order remains eternally imprinted on the soul of he who receives the sacrament in question, the diaconate is and cannot fail to be in a close relation to the Trinitarian ministry exercised by the Pope inasmuch as a living human person. It is through the consideration of this relation that we propose to close our work.

126. The Pope is the supreme Head of the entire Church: he is the Successor of Peter and the Vicar of Christ, that is to say that he is the minister and servant of He who is the head of the body, the Church (Col. 1:18), as well as the living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious. (1 Peter 2:4) This means that, as the Servant of the servants of God, and thus as a deacon (since this word means servant), the Pope realizes in his person the highest degree of the sacrament or mystery of Holy Orders, considered not as a strictly sacramental reality, but rather as a mystical expression of the hierarchy that exists in the Church, following the example and on the model of the order that harmonizes with each other all creatures, both spiritual and corporeal, with respect to their Creator, who is God; all this being understood in relation to the mediation of Mary, the Wife of the Pope and of Cephas, a mediation that is intrinsically governed by the rule of association, simple and one, between divine Revelation and human philosophy, inasmuch as the latter is there basic reference of said association.

Speaking of the sacrament, or of the mystery of Holy Orders in general, Saint Thomas Aquinas opines in this sense when he says: Deus sua opera in sui similitudinem producere voluit, quantum possibile fuit, ut perfecta essent, et per ea cognosci posset: et ideo ut in suis operibus repraesentaretur, non solum secundum quod in se est, sed etiam secundum quod aliis influit, hanc legem naturalem imposuit omnibus, ut ultima per media reducerentur, et perficerentur, et media per prima (...): et ideo ut ista pulchritudo Ecclesiae non deesset, posuit ordinem in ea, ut quidam aliis sacramenta traderent, suo modo Deo in hoc assimilati, quasi Deo cooperantes; sicut et in corpore naturali quaedam membra aliis influunt. God wanted to realize as much similitude as possible between himself and his works in order that his works might be perfect and that, through them, he might be known. So, in order to manifest in his works not only the perfections of his essence, but also those of his action on creatures, he imposed on all beings this natural law: inferior beings will be led and brought to their perfection by intermediary beings; and these in turn by superior beings (...) In order that harmony might not be lacking in the Church, he established an order in her: some dispense the sacraments to others, being, in this, assimilated to God in their own way, collaborating, as it were, with God; just as in a natural body some members influence others. (St. Thomas, Supp. IIIae, q. 34, a. 1, corp.)

127. The Pope is the minister of the Church who possesses the most elevated Order in the hierarchy: the papal Order, as we have just described it. But, as the Successor of Peter, who was an Apostle, the Pope is necessarily also a Bishop. Thus, besides the papal Order, the Pope also possesses, conjointly, the episcopal Order. Now, the episcopal Order is intrinsically ordained to the building up of the sacramentum Ecclesiae: In his function as the operator of the sacred mysteries, the bishop is the builder of the Church as communion in Christ. (H.H. John Paul II, Address of November 11, 1992) Additionally, on one hand, as ordinatur omnis ordo ad Eucharistiae sacramentum the sacrament of Order, in all its degrees, was instituted for the sacrament of the Eucharist (St. Thomas, Supp. IIIae, q. 40, a. 5, corp.); and, on the other hand, as the Pope, although essentially similar and equal to any other bishop if he is considered according to his episcopal Order, is nonetheless absolutely superior to each and every one of the bishops in virtue of his papal Order, and this, in a properly personal manner, since it is by his name, an expression of the entire person, that Christ established Peter as the head of the Apostolic College, saying to him: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church (Matt. 16:18); thus, we can say that the papal Order is ordained to the building up of a reality that is essentially similar to the sacramentum Ecclesiae, but which is superior to it according to a properly personal relation. Finally, given that the papal Order is of the domain of ministerial grace, and that the episcopal Order is of the domain of the sacraments that imprint a character, one may conclude, from the foregoing, that if the episcopal Order is ordained to the building up of the Church considered according to the sacraments strictly speaking - that is, the Church being built up by the act of Eucharistic communion, accomplished in faith and charity, and thus the Church called, for this reason, sacramentum Ecclesiae, or Church-Sacrament - then the papal Order, for its part, is ordained to the building up of the Church considered from the point of view of grace - that is, the Church being built up in virtue of a simple action of the Spirit of God and of the spirit of man, and called, for this reason, Church-Spirit, or Church according to grace.

Now, with respect to the sacramental reality, no matter which, according to Saint Thomas, the matter of the sacrament corresponds to the body of the human person for whom the sacramental reality is destined, and the form or words of the sacrament similarly correspond to the soul of this same human person: Possunt considerari sacramenta ex parte hominis, qui sanctificatur, qui componitur ex anima, et corpore, cui proportionatur sacramentalis medicina, quae per rem visibilem corpus tangit, et per verbum ab anima creditur; unde Augustinus super illud Joan. 15: 'Jam vos mundi estis propter sermonem', etc., dicit (tract. 80 in Joan. a med.): 'Unde est ista tanta virtus aquae, ut corpus tangat, et cor abluat, nisi faciente verbo, non quia dicitur, sed quia creditur?' One may consider the sacraments in relation to the man who is to be sanctified. Man is composed of a soul and a body, to which is perfectly adapted the sacramental remedy, which touches the body through what is visible, and becomes an object of faith for the soul through the word. So, concerning the text: Already you are pure because of the word... (John 15:3), Saint Augustine declares: From where does water get so great a virtue that it touches the body and cleanses the heart? Does this virtue not come from the word, which operates not because it is spoken, but because it is believed? (St. Thomas, IIIa, q. 60, a. 6, corp.)

By this very fact, in a text dealing with the Eucharist, the same Doctor implicitly teaches the fact - the conclusion of our first volume (see ECHC, no. 103) - that the sacrament of the Eucharist is different from the others, the latter being purely spiritual, whereas the former is both spiritual and material or corporeal: In sacramento Eucharistiae id quod est res, et sacramentum, est in ipsa materia; id autem quod est res tantum, est in suscipiente, scilicet gratia, quae confertur: in baptismo autem utrumque est in suscipiente, scilicet et character, qui est res, et sacramentum, et gratia remissionis peccatorum, quae est res tantum. Et eadem ratio est de aliis sacramentis. In the sacrament of the Eucharist, that which is res et sacramentum is in the matter itself, but that which is res tantum, that is, the grace that is conferred, is in the one who receives the Eucharist. In baptism, on the contrary, both are in the one who receives the sacrament: the character, which is res et sacramentum, and the grace of the remission of sins, which is res tantum. One finds the same structure in the other sacraments. (St. Thomas, IIIa, q. 73, a. 1, ad 3) Thus, in Eucharistic communion, through which the Church-Sacrament is built up, both the Christ-Eucharist that is received and the human person of the Bishop representing the Church are characterized by the spiritual note and by the corporeal note, both at the same time and in an absolutely indissociable manner. Finally, given that the Order of Christ, expressed by the words Take and eat... Drink of it, all of you..., and ordained to the act of Eucharistic communion, essentially possesses both a spiritual and a corporeal aspect, one may conclude, from the foregoing, that the reality built up by the act of Eucharistic communion, that is, the Church-Sacrament, is also characterized, intrinsically, both by the spiritual note and the corporeal note.

129. Under the proper relation of the human person, the Church-Sacrament is fully included and comprised in the Church-Spirit (see no. 128 - at the beginning), and on the contrary, although under the same relation, the Church-Spirit is fully included and comprised in the Church-Sacrament (see no. 128 - at the end). Also, to the extent that there personally exists but a single Church of Christ in Mary Mediatrix, one could believe that there is an absolute identity between the Church-Spirit and the Church-Sacrament. However, as on one hand, ministerial grace, the foundation of the power of the papal Order in virtue of which the Church-Spirit is built up, and on the other hand, the episcopal character, the source of the power in virtue of which the Church-Sacrament is built up, are both essentially distinct realities, there is absolutely no identity or equality, pure and simple, between the Church-Spirit and the Church-Sacrament, but rather a mutual and complementary equilibrium between them.

130. By this very fact, if we consider the person of the Roman Pontiff, not in himself, but rather as fully belonging - as the Successor of Peter mystically united to Cephas - to both the Church-Spirit and the Church-Sacrament, then, in virtue of all the foregoing, one must certainly think and believe that the papal Order and the episcopal Order - to the extent that they are actualized in the person of the Pope - balance each other in a reciprocal and complementary manner. But, given that the papal Order fully relates to Christ in person, reciprocal and complementary equilibrium existing between the papal Order and the episcopal Order can truly exist only to the extent that the episcopal Order is considered in its spousal dimension in relation to the Father. From this, our conclusion, which is that, ministerially, the Pope and the Deacon are solidary with each other, by way of complementary equilibrium; and, also, every Pope, and thus Cephas, is always in a natural or supernatural relation with his Successor.

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