May 15 Mon

Why is Our Lady called the "pleading omnipotence"?
This is what Blessed Alvaro del Portillo said.

On May 12, we commemorated the feast of Blessed Alvaro del Portillo, the first successor of St. Josemaría Escrivá at the head of Opus Dei. He strongly encouraged us to have recourse to the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom he described as "the suppliant Omnipotence,” because she is powerful when she asks anything from her Son.

At a meeting in 1988, Blessed Alvaro del Portillo explained this special power of Mary, pointing out that, when she asks from God to grant her something, "Jesus cannot say no to his Mother.”

To give an example of this, Blessed Alvaro del Portillo reflected on the Gospel passage of the Wedding at Cana, in which Our Lady pointed out to her Son that the bride and groom had no wine. To this Jesus responded by implying that it was none of his business.

Blessed Alvaro, however, considered that Christ gave this answer "so that we may know how to understand the effectiveness, the power of the Mother of God." He then explained that Our Lady immediately commanded the servants to do what Jesus said.
"And that's what she keeps telling us, to do what Jesus asks of us. And Jesus worked his first miracle. And he will work so many miracles in our souls if we go to Mary," Blessed Alvaro emphasized.

Blessed Alvaro encouraged us to love the Mother of God very much, because "she is our good Mother we have in heaven, who obtains so many graces for us, so much grace from God.”

St. John Paul II, who attended the wake of Alvaro del Portillo at the death of his good friend, also referred to Mary as "suppliant omnipotence.” At the general audience of May 2, 1979, on the Mother of the Risen Christ, the Pontiff said: "The revelation of the divine power of the Son through the resurrection is at the same time a revelation of the 'suppliant omnipotence' (omnipotentia supplex) of Mary in relation to this Son.”