Did Mary lay her hands on all the Apostles in the Upper Room to pour out the Holy Spirit anointing?

Did Mary "lay hands" on the Apostles in the Upper Room?

SHORT ANSWER:

The short answer is YES! The Apostles needed the outouring of graces coming from the Holy Spirit the beloved Spouse of Mary the Mediatrix of all graces. She alone as the Soveregn Queen of the Apostles in the absence of Jesus the Eternal High Priest the King can "lay hands" and confer the graces because the Abba Father had willed it from the beginning.

Jesus At the Foot of the Cross entrusted all the Apostles represented by John the beloved and the other Mary's to the Woman.

Jesus before leaving the Apostles promised not to leave them orphan, and so Jesus at the Foot of the Cross gave all the Redeemed a Woman who will become their Mother and another Advocate, just like the Abba Father who entrusted His begotten Son to the chosen Woman, Jesus now in turn entrusted too all the adopted sons of the Abba Father to the chosen Woman.

Why? None among the Apostles knows how to invoke the Holy Spirit and none can confer the spritual seal or the outpouring of graces coming from the Holy Spirit because they were not yet "filled with the Holy Spirit".

EXPLANATION

The Confirmation Rites of the Holy Orders required the following;

1. The pouring of the "holy chrism or holy oils" or "anointing with oil" a physical mark which can be done by a consecrated Bishop. Note: In the vision of Blessed Emmerich, Jesus the Eternal High Priest was the one who anointed the Apostle with holy chrism, but not all the Apostle. Jesus instructed Peter and John to anoint other Apostle only after they received the outpouring of graces coming from the Holy Spirit. It seems to appear that the anointing of the Holy Spirit comes in sequence, to Peter and John first and the other Apostles was confer by Peter and John and the disciples was confer a little later after all the Apostles had been confirmed.

2. After the Apostles received from Jesus the anointing of holy chrism, Jesus did not lay hands to invoke the Holy Spirit to come down on them at that time but instead they were instructed to wait in the Upper Room. In the Upper Room, Mary is the only one who is already "filled with the Holy Spirit". Looking back how prophet Samuel anointed David, Mary as the Greatest Prophet can "lay Her hands too" because the "holy chrism" were already imposed, all that is wanting is the invocation prayer and the laying of hands to confer the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit. See Acts8:14-17, all the baptized were ready to be confirm but the "laying of hands" was still needed to confer the gifts.

St.Thomas Aquinas said, Jesus did not "lay hands" on the Apostles, and he is correct. Jesus did the "anointing of holy chrism" but the "laying of hands" was entrusted to Mary At the Foot of the Cross, saying to the Woman, Behold thy son.(John19:27)

3. All the graces merited by Christ was deposited thru the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart and Mary thru the power of the Holy Spirit can distribute and give all the graces in whatever measures or degrees as She want it because God the Father had willed that all graces must only be given thru Her Maternal Mediation. The Church acknowledged this as the Church honor Her the title of Mediatrix of all graces.

Mary is the one who lead the invocation prayer for the Holy Spirit to come down in the Upper Room (Acts1:14). just like the prayer of invocation She had made in the Annunciation which made the Holy Spirit to overshadow Her. None among the Apostles present in the Upper knows how to invoke the coming down of the Holy Spirit that's why Jesus entrusted the Apostles represented by John and the other Mary's to the Theotokos. St. John Paul II called this the Second Fiat. The First Fiat gave the chosen Woman the role of the Theotokos and the Second Fiat gave Her the new role as Mother of all the Redeem. In the Upper Room the birth of the Church needed a Mother and since Mary already accepted Her new role as the Mother of all the Apostles and Disciples or the Mary's at the Foot of the Cross, She must be present in the Upper Room to give birth to the Church.

Mary the chosen Woman to become the Theotokos gave birth to Jesus Christ the Head of the Church thru her pure and immaculate womb.

Mary the chosen Woman At the Foot of the Cross to become the Mother of all the Redeem gave birth to the Mystical Body of Christ the Church thru Her Sorrowful & Immaculate Heart.

Mary the chosen Woman is the Mother of the Head of the Church thru the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. Her presence and voice made St.Elizabeth and John the Baptist "filled with the Holy Spirit".

Mary the chosen Woman is the Mother of the Mystical Body of Christ the Church thru the outpouring of graces of the Holy Spirit. Mary's presence and prayers made all the Apostles and Disciples in the Upper Room "filled with the Holy Spirit".

Final Answer

The answer is YES, Mary is the one who lead the invocation prayer to the Holy Spirit and Mary thru Her hands is the one who made the outpouring of graces coming from the Holy Spirit to confer the spiritual seal for all the Apostles.

All the graces flowing thru Seven Sacraments of the Church merited by Christ like the Sacrament of Holy Orders vested in the Upper Room comes thru the "Materna Hands of Mary the Mediatrix of all graces.

Mary offered Her will to gave birth to the Will of the Father.

Mary offered Her immaculate body to gave birth to the Logos, who is the Head of the Church.

Mary offered Her sorrowful heart to gave birth to the Church, the mystical body of Christ whose soul is the Holy Spirit.

NOTE: All the citations from the Church Tradition, bibilical passages, and Catechism of the Catholic Church will be posted later to support all the statement I posted above.

Did Mary lay her hands on all the Apostles in the Upper Room to pour out the Holy Spirit anointing?

The bible is silent in the narration in the Book of Acts, but the gospel is not silent that a "mere greetings" of Mary like the "greetings" of Archangel Gabriel can confer the gifts of the Holy Spirit for a well disposed soul to be "filled with the Holy Spirit".

And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. (Luke 1:28 Douay-Rheims)

And it came about that Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice, and said, "Blessed among women are you, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" [Luke 1:41-43; NASB]

These two passages reveals that a "mere greetings" serves as an invocation to implore the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Let's look at what Mary, the other Mary's and the Apostles and brothers did in the Upper Room.

Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk[c] from the city. 13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.(Acts 1:12-14)

They are all joined together in prayer and the Holy Spirit poured out Her anointing and all are "filled by the Holy Spirit".

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:4)

This event happen again with Saul and Barnabas in Antioch, is this the "anointing" that Saul received to become a "Bishop" like the Apostles? Let us remember in the Book of Amos it says, God does nothing without the prophet.

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.(Acts13:1-3)

Even the name of Saul, after this event happen was now became Paul,

" Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.”(Acts1:9-11)

Saul was now called Paul and possessed a great power over demons, he can cast out with authority. The evil spirit now recognized the authority of St.Paul, in the Catholic Church only a Bishop can command the evil spirit in Exorcism Rites, and this power of the Bishop can be delegated to an appointed by priest under the authority of the Bishop.

" Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” (Acts 19:13-15)

Did Mary lay her hands on all the Apostles in the Upper Room to pour out the Holy Spirit anointing?

Mary's mere greeting confirm St. John the Baptist, much more the "laying of hands". Mary is not just a prophet but the Church honors Mary as the Queen of Prophets; Mary's presence and the prayer of all the other Mary's, Apostles and brothers united to Her in the Upper Room brings the outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that anointed all the Apostles.

King David was anointed by prophet Samuel, Jesus was anointed in the Baptism in the River Jordan withnessed by the great prophet St. John the Baptist, the anointing of Saul becoming Paul was in the presence of not just one prophet but prophets. How about the anointing of all the Apostles, how many prophet is needed? Only one is needed the Queen of all prophets. Mary is the Queen of Prophets and Her prayers and presence anointed all the Apostles into priesthood. Mary is both Queen of the Apostles and Priest.

See the The Loretto Litanies.

Truly, God does nothing without the prophet.

Amos 3:7 King James Version (KJV) "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets".

Mary was depicted in the art embracing St. Elizabeth, and we know that Mary gave birth to the Church in the Upper Room, Mary is the Mother of all the Apostles laying Her hands or embracing the Apostles in all probability did happen.

Did Mary lay her hands on all the Apostles in the Upper Room to pour out the Holy Spirit?

The short answer is no.

Neither Scripture nor Sacred Tradition or the teaching magisterium of the Church tell us that Mary did such a thing. Not even private revelations agree with this.

Here is how it transpired according to Acts 2: 1-13:

1When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. 2 And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind,* and it filled the entire house in which they were. 3 Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,* which parted and came to rest on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues,* as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. 5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. 6 At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his own native language? 9 We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, 11 both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.” 12 They were all astounded and bewildered, and said to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others said, scoffing, “They have had too much new wine.”

The real problem with this question is that it implies that the Mother of Jesus had the episcopal dignity with the power of laying her hands on the Holy Apostles. In fact the Church refutes this notion when Pope St. John Paul II wrote his apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotolis:

Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful.

To further this notion that Mary did no such thing, let us remember that not everything that Christ said or did is in the Gospels, just as the Apostle St. John stated John 21: 24-25:

This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

With this stated, let us see what Blessed Catherine Emmerich in her revelations says about Jesus anointing the Apostles Peter and John:

Then He instructed them upon the priesthood, the sacred unction, and the preparation of the Chrism and the Holy Oils. Three boxes, two with a mixture of balsam and oil, also some raw cotton, stood near the chalice case. They were so formed as to admit being placed one on the other. Jesus taught many secret things concerning them: how to mix the oint­ment, what parts of the body to anoint, and upon what occasions. I remember among other things Jesus' mentioning a certain case in which the Blessed Sacrament could not be administered. Perhaps it was something bearing reference to Extreme Unc­tion, though I do not now know clearly. He spoke of different kinds of anointing, among them that of kings. He said that even wicked kings who were anointed, possessed a certain interior and mysteri­ous power that was wanting to others. Then Jesus put some of the viscous ointment and oil into the empty box and mixed them together, but I cannot say whether it was at this moment or at the conse­cration of the bread and wine that the Lord blessed the oil.

After that I saw Jesus anointing Peter and John, on whose hands, at the institution of the Blessed Sacrament, He had poured the water that had flowed over His own, and who had drunk from the chalice in His hand.

From the center of the table, where He was stand­ing, Jesus stepped a little to one side and imposed hands upon Peter and John, first on their shoulders and then on their head. During this action, they joined their hands and crossed their thumbs. As they bowed low before Him (and I am not sure that they did not kneel) the Lord anointed the thumb and forefinger of each of their hands with Chrism, and made the Sign of the Cross with it on their head.

He told them that this anointing would remain with them to the end of the world. James the Less, Andrew, James the Greater, and Bartholomew, were likewise consecrated. I saw too that the Lord twisted cross­wise over Peter's breast the narrow scarf that he wore around his neck, but that on the others He drew it across the breast over the right shoulder and under the left arm. Still I do not remember clearly whether this took place at the institution of the Blessed Sacrament, or not till the anointing.

Then I saw—but how, I cannot say—that Jesus at this anointing communicated to the Apostles something essential, something supernatural. He told them also that after they should have received the Holy Ghost they were to consecrate bread and wine for the first time, and anoint the other Apostles. At these words of Jesus, I saw at a glance Peter and John, on the day of Pentecost and before the great Baptism, imposing hands upon the other Apostles, and eight days later upon several of the disciples. I saw also that John, after the Resurrection, gave the Most Blessed Sacrament to the Blessed Virgin for the first time. This event used to be commemo­rated by the Apostles as a feast. The Church no longer keeps it, but in the Church Triumphant I see the day still celebrated. In the first days after Pen­tecost, I saw only Peter and John consecrating the Most Blessed Sacrament; but later the others also consecrated.

Typical Catholic art, whether in paintings or icons show the Virgin Mary receiving the Holy Spirit at the same time of the Apostles. This would naturally be a greater outpouring of graces added to to innumerable graces that Mary had already received.

While the Holy Apostles were generally ignorant of the Holy Ghost, the Immaculate Mary knew Him intimately. Mary had already experienced the descent of the Holy Ghost at her Immaculate Conception since at that moment she was not merely preserved from all sin, but also filled with grace and the Holy Spirit. She was perfectly possessed by the Holy Ghost from the first moment of her existence. This is why Saint Francis of Assisi and other great saints have called Mary “Spouse of the Holy Spirit.” The analogy of matrimony is the strongest and best way to signify a union of two persons in their mission. Although not carnally married, the Holy Spirit and Mary are united perfectly in their mission. She never sins. She only desires the will of the Holy Spirit.

Moreover, the Holy Ghost overshadowed her in a powerful way at the virginal conception of Christ our Lord. Her whole life, then, was a communication with the Holy Ghost and she profoundly understood the mystery of the Holy Trinity – far better than the Council Fathers of Nicea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon. She is the greatest theologian.

In the nine days between the Ascension and Pentecost (this was the first novena), Mary was praying that the Apostles might come to know Him whom she already knew. While the Apostles prayed and waited without knowledge, Mary prayed with knowledge of the Paraclete.

This was the birthday of the Catholic Church, which is the mystical Body of Christ. As the Holy Ghost overshadowed the Blessed Virgin at the Annunciation and conceived Christ the Head in the womb of Mary, so now the Holy Ghost mystically conceives the Body of Christ. The Litany of Loretto refers to Our Lady as the “Mother of the Church” and this is precisely why. The Holy Spirit inspired Saint Luke to include these details for our benefit. There is a textual parallel between the the union of Mary and the Holy Ghost at the Incarnation of Christ and Mary and the Holy Ghost at the Birth of the Church on Pentecost.

Could God the Son have become incarnate without Mary? Yes.

Could God the Son have performed His first miracle at Cana without Mary? Yes.

Could God the Son have died on the cross for sins without Mary standing below in her desolation? Yes.

Could God the Son have sent the Holy Ghost on Pentecost without the present of Mary? Yes.

Yet God chose to accomplish these great redemptive mysteries with Mary. It was His free choice. He did not have to do things this way, but He did. If God desires to include her, who are we to exclude her? - The Spirit and the Bride: Mary’s Role at Pentecost

Addendum:

Priests may administer the sacrament of confirmation with the permission of their local ordinary. It is quite common to see priests confirm adults at the Easter Vigil. Thus the sacrament of confirmation although reserved to bishops may be delegated to priests.