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From Lumen Gentium (http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html):
53. The Virgin Mary, who at the message of the angel received the Word of God in her heart and in her body and gave Life to the world, is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and Mother of the Redeemer. Redeemed by reason of the merits of her Son and united to Him by a close and indissoluble tie, she is endowed with the high office and dignity of being the Mother of the Son of God, by which account she is also the beloved daughter of the Father and the temple of the Holy Spirit. Because of this gift of sublime grace she far surpasses all creatures, both in heaven and on earth. At the same time, however, because she belongs to the offspring of Adam she is one with all those who are to be saved. She is "the mother of the members of Christ . . . having cooperated by charity that faithful might be born in the Church, who are members of that Head." Wherefore she is hailed as a pre-eminent and singular member of the Church, and as its type and excellent exemplar in faith and charity. The Catholic Church, taught by the Holy Spirit, honors her with filial affection and piety as a most beloved mother. [...]
56. The Father of mercies willed that the incarnation should be preceded by the acceptance of her who was predestined to be the mother of His Son, so that just as a woman contributed to death, so also a woman should contribute to life. That is true in outstanding fashion of the mother of Jesus, who gave to the world Him who is Life itself and who renews all things, and who was enriched by God with the gifts which befit such a role. It is no wonder therefore that the usage prevailed among the Fathers whereby they called the mother of God entirely holy and free from all stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature. Adorned from the first instant of her conception with the radiance of an entirely unique holiness, the Virgin of Nazareth is greeted, on God's command, by an angel messenger as "full of grace", and to the heavenly messenger she replies: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word". Thus Mary, a daughter of Adam, consenting to the divine Word, became the mother of Jesus, the one and only Mediator. Embracing God's salvific will with a full heart and impeded by no sin, she devoted herself totally as a handmaid of the Lord to the person and work of her Son, under Him and with Him, by the grace of almighty God, serving the mystery of redemption. Rightly therefore the holy Fathers see her as used by God not merely in a passive way, but as freely cooperating in the work of human salvation through faith and obedience. For, as St. Irenaeus says, she "being obedient, became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race." [S. Irenaeus, Adv. Hacr. III, 22, 4: PG 7, 9S9 A] Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert in their preaching, "The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience; what the virgin Eve bound through her unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosened by her faith." Comparing Mary with Eve, they call her "the Mother of the living," and still more often they say: "death through Eve, life through Mary." [...]
60. There is but one Mediator as we know from the words of the apostle, "for there is one God and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a redemption for all". The maternal duty of Mary toward men in no wise obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows His power. For all the salvific influence of the Blessed Virgin on men originates, not from some inner necessity, but from the divine pleasure. It flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on His mediation, depends entirely on it and draws all its power from it. In no way does it impede, but rather does it foster the immediate union of the faithful with Christ.
61. 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 Savior in giving back supernatural life to souls. Wherefore she is our mother in the order of grace.
62. This maternity of Mary in the order of grace began with the consent which she gave in faith at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, and lasts until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this salvific duty, but by her constant intercession continued to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and cultics, until they are led into the happiness of their true home. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, and Mediatrix. This, however, is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator.
For no creature could ever be counted as equal with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer. Just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by the ministers and by the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is really communicated in different ways to His creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source.
The Church does not hesitate to profess this subordinate role of Mary. It knows it through unfailing experience of it and commends it to the hearts of the faithful, so that encouraged by this maternal help they may the more intimately adhere to the Mediator and Redeemer.
63. By reason of the gift and role of divine maternity, by which she is united with her Son, the Redeemer, and with His singular graces and functions, the Blessed Virgin is also intimately united with the Church. As St. Ambrose taught, the Mother of God is a type of the Church in the order of faith, charity and perfect union with Christ. For in the mystery of the Church, which is itself rightly called mother and virgin, the Blessed Virgin stands out in eminent and singular fashion as exemplar both of virgin and mother. By her belief and obedience, not knowing man but overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, as the new Eve she brought forth on earth the very Son of the Father, showing an undefiled faith, not in the word of the ancient serpent, but in that of God's messenger. The Son whom she brought forth is He whom God placed as the first-born among many brethren, namely the faithful, in whose birth and education she cooperates with a maternal love.
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Jordan Aumann. Spiritual Theology. London: Continuum, 2006. 61-65. Also, cf. Antonio Royo Marin. The Theology of Christian Perfection. Trans. by J. Aumann. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 2011. 211-214.
Mary is not only the Mother of Christ, and therefore the Mother of God; she is also the Mother and Mediatrix of grace, and therefore the Mother of the Church, the Mystical Body and of the people of God. It is Mary's spiritual maternity that we wish to stress [here], that we can best appreciate Mary's role in our spiritual life. [...]
She is our Mother, and she became such at the very moment that she uttered her fiat and the Word became flesh, although it was not solemnly ratified until that sublime moment when Jesus said from the cross: "Behold thy son....Behold thy Mother." Thus, Mary's divine maternity is necessarily linked to her spiritual maternity as Mother of grace, which follows as a logical consequence from the fact that she is Mother of Christ. [...]
Through grace, every Christian is a member of Christ and, by that very fact, is also a child of Mary. The spiritual maternity of Mary is linked by logical necessity to the dogma of the Mystical Body. This indicates also that Mary's spiritual motherhood is not something added by extrinsic denomination to her divine maternity; rather, both maternities are one and simultaneous. [...]
Here is a synthesis of [St. Louis Mary de Montfort's] teaching: All Christians are called to perfection and sanctity; to reach perfection it is necessary to practice and perfect the virtues; to practice the virtues we need the help of God's grace; to obtain God's grace it is necessary to receive it through Mary. The reasons for the last statement are as follows: (1) of all God's creatures, only Mary found grace before God, both for herself and for others; (2) Mary gave birth to the Author of grace and is therefore called the Mother of grace; (3) in giving Mary his only begotten Son, the eternal Father gave Mary all graces; (4) God appointed Mary as dispenser of grace, and by reason of this office she gives grace to whom she wishes and when she wishes; (5) as in the natural order a child must have a father and a mother, so in the order of grace the Christian has God as the father and Mary as the mother; (6) since Mary formed the Head of the Mystical Body, she should also form the members; (7) Mary was and still remains the spouse of the Holy Spirit; (8) as in the natural order the child is nourished by its mother, in the supernatural order Mary nourishes and strengthens her children; and (9) he who finds Mary, finds Jesus, who is with her always.
[...] We receive grace through Mary as Mediatrix and co-Redemptrix. Pope Benedict XV asserted that the Blessed Virgin, "in conjunction with Christ, redeemed the human race." Therefore, in some unique way, Mary our Mother merited grace for us. [...]
We again turn to St. Louis Mary de Montfort to learn the characteristics of true devotion to our heavenly Mother. First, our devotion should be interior; that is, it should be firmly established in the mind and heart. Secondly, it should be tender; that is, full of the confidence of a child in a loving mother. Thirdly, it should be holy; that is, it should prompt souls to avoid sin and to imitate her virtues. Fourthly, it should be constant; that is, it should strengthen the soul in good so that it will not abandon its spiritual practices. Fifthly, it should be disinterested; that is, it should enable the soul to rise above self and self-centered interest to seek God alone and his glory.
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