The Fullness of God: Frithjof Schuon on Christianity

slide 4 of 17
Perhaps the most profound dimensions of Schuon’s writings on Christianity relate directly, or indirectly, to the Virgin Mary. She is intercessor:

…It is necessary to speak to God and ask for His help; this can be done through a celestial intermediary, in particular the Blessed Virgin. (from “Appendix: A Sampling of Letters and other Unpublished Materials”, p. 170)

But the Blessed Virgin is more than mediator; or to put in another way, she is mediator due to the profound Reality of her nature.

…How can one refuse to admit that the Holy Virgin has her prototype in God, not only as regards her humanity, but also as regards her femininity?…The Virgin is an aspect of Christ: she personifies the passive and receptive qualities of the divine Substance—she is the “soul” if Christ is the “spirit”—and this means that man cannot be integrated into Christ without first being integrated into the Virgin.… (from “Evidence and Mystery”, pp. 108, 127)

It is because she personifies, purely, the divine quality of Mercy that she is Intercessor (between us and Christ—Himself Intercessor to the Father) and also Co-Redemptress. She is indispensable to the Incarnation:

“God become man”: this is the mystery of Jesus, but it is also, and thereby, that of Mary; for humanly, Jesus is nothing that he did not inherit from his Mother… Thus the name of Mary is a prolongation of that of Jesus… If Christ is “the Way, the Truth and the Life”, the Blessed Virgin, who is made of the same substance, holds graces which facilitate access to these mysteries.… (from “Outline of the Christic Message”, p. 4)

“God became man so that man might become God”…This means in Vedantic terminology: Atma became Maya so that Maya might become Atma. This is the universal, hence esoteric, meaning of the saying. …Concerning the Blessed Virgin, it could be said on the contrary: Maya (Mary) became Atma (through the Immaculate Conception) so that Atma (the Word) might become Maya (through Christ’s human nature).…She too is an avataric phenomenon, in the sense that she embodies the feminine aspect of the Logos. (from “Appendix: A Sampling of Letters and other Unpublished Materials”, pp. 167, 170)

In her feminine hiddenness she eludes us. We can only, with her, make obeisance to what has been revealed.

…It can be said that the word Amen is a name of the Virgin… The whole soul of the Virgin is one great Amen; there is nothing in it which is not an acquiescence in the Will of God. (from “Some Observations”, p. 40)