All gifts, virtues, and graces of the Holy Ghost are administered by the hands of Mary to whomsoever she desires, when she desires, in the manner she desires, and to whatever degree she desires. Mary is the dispensatrix of all the graces God bestows. Every grace granted to man in this life has three successive steps: from God it comes to Christ, and from Christ to the Virgin, and from the Virgin it descends to us.
St. Bernardine of Siena, "On the Birth of the Blessed Virgin"
Further reading
This historical passage raises a question about Mary’s place in the Christian life of grace. In Mary: The Church at the Source, Joseph Ratzinger and Hans Urs von Balthasar explore Marian doctrine and devotion in relation to the Church and its faith in Christ.