Mary precedes and accompanies us. The silent itinerary that she initiates with her Immaculate Conception – passing to the ‘yes’ of Nazareth which made her the Mother of God – finds in Calvary a particularly crucial moment. There also, accepting and attending the sacrifice of her Son, Mary is the dawn of Redemption; and it is there that Her Son gives her to us as Mother. ‘The Mother gazed with pity on the wounds of the Son, from whom she knew the redemption of the world would come’ (Saint Ambrose, De institutione virginis, no. 49). Crucified spiritually with her crucified Son, she contemplated with heroic charity the death of her God, ‘consenting to the immolation of this Victim which she herself had brought forth’(Lumen Gentium, no. 58). She fulfilled the will of the Father in our favor and welcomed all as children, in virtue of the testament of Christ: ‘Woman, behold your son’ (Jn 19:26). (John Paul II. Papal Discourse in Guayaquil- Ecuador, no. 5, January 31, 1985)

A great theological panorama now opens before us, proper to Catholic Doctrine, in which we see how the divine plan of salvation – offered to the world, by the only mediator, efficacious by virtue his own merit between God and men, Jesus Christ (cf. 1Tim 2:5; Heb 12: 24) – is brought about with human cooperation, marvelously associated to the divine work. And what human cooperation has been chosen, in the history of our Christian destiny, as the first, due to its function, dignity, efficacy – not merely instrumental and physical, but also as a predestined factor, free and perfectly docile – than that of Mary? (cf. Lumen Gentium, 56). (Paul VI. General audience, May 30, 1973)

‘The wills of Christ and of Mary were then united, so that both offered the same holocaust; she thereby producing with Him the one effect, the salvation of the world,’ At the death of Jesus, Mary united her will to that of her Son; so much so that both offered one and the same sacrifice; and therefore the holy Abbot says that both the Son and the Mother effected human redemption, and obtained salvation for men. (Saint Alphonsus de Liguori. The Glories of Mary, part II, discourse VI: On the purification of Mary)

Predestined from eternity by that decree of divine providence which determined the incarnation of the Word to be the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin was on this earth the virgin Mother of the Redeemer, and above all others and in a singular way the generous associate and humble handmaid of the Lord. She conceived, brought forth and nourished Christ. She presented Him to the Father in the temple, and was united with Him by compassion as He died on the Cross. In this singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the work of the Saviour in giving back supernatural life to souls. Wherefore she is our mother in the order of grace. (Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, no. 61, November 21, 1964)

The perfect example of this type of spiritual and apostolic life is the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Apostles, who while leading the life common to all here on earth, one filled with family concerns and labors, was always intimately united with her Son and in an entirely unique way cooperated in the work of the Savior. Having now been assumed into heaven, with her maternal charity she cares for these brothers of her Son who are still on their earthly pilgrimage and remain involved in dangers and difficulties until they are led into the happy fatherland. (cf. St. Pius X. Allocution to Association of French Catholic Youth on piety, knowledge and action, Sept. 25, 1904) (Vatican Council II. Decree Apostolicam actuositatem, no. 4, November 18, 1865)

By this companionship in sorrow and suffering already mentioned between the Mother and the Son, it has been allowed to the august Virgin to be the most powerful Mediatrix and advocate of the whole world with her Divine Son. […] Yet, since Mary carries it over all in holiness and union with Jesus Christ, and has been associated by Jesus Christ in the work of redemption, she merits for us de congruo, in the language of theologians, what Jesus Christ merits for us de condigno, and she is the supreme Minister of the distribution of graces. (Pius X. Encyclical Ad diem illum laetissimum, no. 13-14, February 2, 1904)

In the West St Bernard, who died in 1153, turns to Mary and comments on the presentation of Jesus in the temple: ‘Offer your Son, sacrosanct Virgin, and present the fruit of your womb to the Lord. For our reconciliation with all, offer the heavenly victim pleasing to God’ (Serm. 3 in Purif., 2: PL 183, 370). (John Paul II. General Audience, no. 3, October 25, 1995)

These ecclesiastical writers in quoting the words by which at the beginning of the world God announced his merciful remedies prepared for the regeneration of mankind — words by which he crushed the audacity of the deceitful serpent and wondrously raised up the hope of our race, saying, ‘I will put enmities between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed’ (Gen 3:15) — taught that by this divine prophecy the merciful Redeemer of mankind, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, was clearly foretold: That his most Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, was prophetically indicated; and, at the same time, the very enmity of both against the evil one was significantly expressed. Hence, just as Christ, the Mediator between God and man, assumed human nature, blotted the handwriting of the decree that stood against us, and fastened it triumphantly to the cross, so the most holy Virgin, united with him by a most intimate and indissoluble bond, was, with him and through him, eternally at enmity with the evil serpent, and most completely triumphed over him, and thus crushed his head with her immaculate foot. (Pius IX. Apostolic Constitution Ineffablilis Deus, December 8, 1854)

And truly the Immaculate Virgin, chosen to be the Mother of God and thereby associated with Him in the work of man’s salvation, has a favour and power with her Son greater than any human or angelic creature has ever obtained, or ever can gain. (Leo XIII. Encyclical Supremi apostolatus, no. 2, September 1883)

Mary, as became the mother of our Lord, stood before the cross, when the Apostles fled and with pitiful eyes beheld the wounds of her Son. For she looked not on the death of the Hostage, but on the salvation of the world; and perhaps knowing that her Son’s death would bring this salvation, she who had been the habitation of the King, thought that by her death she might add to that universal gift. (Saint Ambrose quoted by Saint Thomas Aquinas. Cataena Aurea, Gospel of Saint John 19: 25-27)

She payed the price [of redemption] as a strong and loving woman – especially when Christ suffered on the cross to pay this price, with the intention of purifying, washing and redeeming us – the Most Holy Virgin was present, accepting and consenting to the divine plan. (Saint Bonaventure of Bagnoregio. Collations on the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, 6, 16)

Our most loving Mother was always, and in all, united to the will of God. ‘And therefore,’ says Saint Bonaventure, ‘when she saw the love of the Eternal Father towards men to be so great that, in order to save them, He willed the death of His Son; and on the other hand, seeing the love of the Son in wishing to die for us: in order to conform herself to this excessive love of both the Father and the Son towards the human race, she also with her entire will, offered, and consented to, the death of her Son, in order that we might be saved.’ (Saint Alphonsus de Liguori. The Glories of Mary, part I, ch. 1, sec.1: Hail Holy Queen)

Though these things are said of the Son, yet they have reference also to His mother, who takes each thing to herself, whether it be of danger or glory. He announces to her not only her prosperity, but her sorrows… (Saint Gregory of Nyssa quoted by St Thomas Aquinas. Catena Aurea, Gospel of Saint Luke 2: 33-35)

Mary’s supreme ‘yes’ is radiant with trusting hope in the mysterious future, begun with the death of her crucified Son. The words in which Jesus taught the disciples on his way to Jerusalem ‘that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again’ re-echo in her heart at the dramatic hour of Calvary, awakening expectation of and yearning for the Resurrection. Mary’s hope at the foot of the Cross contains a light stronger than the darkness that reigns in many hearts: in the presence of the redeeming Sacrifice, the hope of the Church and of humanity is born in Mary. (John Paul II. General audience, April 2, 1997)

A virgin, a tree and death were the symbols of our defeat…see then, now, how the same are the cause of our triumph…Instead of Eve, Mary; Instead of the tree of science of good and evil, the tree of the Cross; instead of the death of Adam, the death of the Savior. (Saint John Chrysostom. Paschal Homily 22)

…She […] who ‘in the name of the whole human race’ gave her consent ‘for a spiritual marriage between the Son of God and human nature.’ (S Th., III, q. 30, a. 1, c.) […] It was she, the second Eve, who, free from all sin, original or personal, and always more intimately united with her Son, offered Him on Golgotha to the Eternal Father for all the children of Adam, sin-stained by his unhappy fall, and her mother’s rights and her mother’s love were included in the holocaust. (Pius XII. Encyclical Mystici corporis Christi, no. 51, June 29, 1943)

…if Mary, in taking an active part in the work of salvation, was, by God’s design, associated with Jesus Christ, the source of salvation itself, in a manner comparable to that in which Eve was associated with Adam, the source of death, so that it may be stated that the work of our salvation was accomplished by a kind of ‘recapitulation,’ (S. Irenaeus, Adv. haer., V, 19, 1) in which a virgin was instrumental in the salvation of the human race, just as a virgin had been closely associated with its death; if, moreover, it can likewise be stated that this glorious Lady had been chosen Mother of Christ ‘in order that she might become a partner in the redemption of the human race’; (Pius XI, Auspicatus profecto) and if, in truth, ‘it was she who, free of the stain of actual and original sin, and ever most closely bound to her Son, on Golgotha offered that Son to the Eternal Father together with the complete sacrifice of her maternal rights and maternal love, like a new Eve, for all the sons of Adam, stained as they were by his lamentable fall,’ (Pius XII, Mystici Corporis.) then it may be legitimately concluded that as Christ, the new Adam, must be called a King not merely because He is Son of God, but also because He is our Redeemer, so, analogously, the Most Blessed Virgin is queen not only because she is Mother of God, but also because, as the new Eve, she was associated with the new Adam. (Pius XII. Encyclical Ad caeli reginam, no. 15, October 11, 1954)

Moreover it was not only the prerogative of the Most Holy Mother to have furnished the material of His flesh to the Only Son of God, Who was to be born with human members (S. Bede Ven. L. Iv. in Luc. xl.), of which material should be prepared the Victim for the salvation of men; but hers was also the office of tending and nourishing that Victim, and at the appointed time presenting Him for the sacrifice. Hence that uninterrupted community of life and labors of the Son and the Mother, so that of both might have been uttered the words of the Psalmist ‘My life is consumed in sorrow and my years in groans’ (Ps 30:11). When the supreme hour of the Son came, beside the Cross of Jesus there stood Mary His Mother, not merely occupied in contemplating the cruel spectacle, but rejoicing that her Only Son was offered for the salvation of mankind, and so entirely participating in His Passion, that if it had been possible she would have gladly borne all the torments that her Son bore (S. Bonav. I Sent d. 48, ad Litt. dub. 4). (Pius X. Encyclical Ad diem illum laetissimum, no. 12, February 2, 1904)

…when, at the foot of the altar, she offered up her whole self with her Child Jesus — then and thereafter she took her part in the laborious expiation made by her Son for the sins of the world. It is certain, therefore, that she suffered in the very depths of her soul with His most bitter sufferings and with His torments. (Leo XIII. Encyclical Iucunda Semper, no. 3, September 8, 1894)

After this manner the Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross, where she stood, in keeping with the divine plan (cf. Jn 19:25), grieving exceedingly with her only begotten Son, uniting herself with a maternal heart with His sacrifice, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this Victim which she herself had brought forth. (Vatican Council II, Lumen gentium, no. 58, November 21, 1964)

A disciple and friend of Saint Bernard, Arnold of Chartres, sheds light particularly on Mary’s offering in the sacrifice of Calvary. He distinguished in the Cross ‘two altars: one in Mary’s heart, the other in Christ’s body. Christ sacrificed his flesh, Mary her soul’. Mary sacrificed herself spiritually in deep communion with Christ, and implored the world’s salvation: ‘What the mother asks, the Son approves and the Father grants’ (cf. De septem verbis Domini in cruce, 3: PL 189, 1694) (John Paul II. General audience, no. 3, October 25, 1995)