In Paradise, Adam and Eve lived the sacred nuptials sealed by the Most High. Concord reigned between them, with the promise of fruitfulness and dominion over creation (cf. Gn 1:27-28). Created in God’s image, man and woman were united in one flesh in a state of innocence (cf. Gn 2:24-25).
However, original sin disrupted this first order. Guilt brought strife to the first couple, whose posterity would be born amidst suffering. At the same time, they divorced themselves from the Creator, fleeing from His presence (cf. Gn 3:8).
The remedy for this first sin had to be in keeping with its gravity: the Incarnation of the Word of God. However, this was not enough. Considering the conjugal context of the sin, it was necessary to remedy it within a family, the only one worthy of the adjective holy. Mary, already betrothed to Joseph, was chosen to cooperate in the hypostatic and redemptive order. Moreover, it was fitting that the loss of innocence and the fecundity corrupted by Eve be repaired by a Virgin-Mother. Finally, in order to restore the link with the Creator, it was necessary that a nuptial relationship with Him take place, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, who would cover the one called “full of grace” with His shadow and bring forth the Son of God (cf. Lk 1:28,35).
Like every marriage, this union with the Paraclete is indissoluble. Thus the Blessed Virgin was the most faithful Spouse of the Holy Spirit not only at the time of the Incarnation but for all time, including during the education of her Divine Son and at the consummation of His redemptive Passion. Pentecost was like a wedding anniversary, whose “fireworks” radiated from Her to the Apostles and then to the whole world.
Mary will be perpetually called blessed for the begetting and nurturing not only of Jesus – “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that You sucked!” (Lk 11:27) – but also of the spiritual offspring born of Her down through the ages. Thus, as universal Mediatrix and in union with the “Spirit of all grace”, the Mother of the Saviour continues to participate in the generation of God’s children through Baptism and in their formation through the Sacrament of Confirmation and the infusion of the sevenfold gifts.
Nevertheless, iniquity has become so universal in our days that we seem to live in a situation analogous to that of our first parents after the Fall. Therefore, the only solution for humanity consists in a remedy after the manner of the Redemption, together with a new influx of the Consoler Spirit: “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rm 5:20).
In this vein, many private revelations point to a restoration of society prior to the end of time: the Reign of Mary. Msgr. João Scognamiglio Clá Dias, EP comments that in this era of a great return of graces, “men will partake to a very high degree in the love that unites the Divine Holy Spirit to Our Lady.” And St. Louis Grignion de Montfort adds: “When that time comes wonderful things will happen on earth. The Holy Spirit, finding His dear Spouse present again in souls, will come down into them with great power. He will fill them with His gifts, especially wisdom, by which they will produce wonders of grace.”
All of this will be accomplished through Mary’s perpetual and spousal fidelity to the Divine Paraclete. ◊
