10. The Blessed Virgin Mary: Humility and the Coming of Christ

"Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word." - Luke 1:38

After the prophets have warned, corrected, and promised, Scripture brings the reader to the Blessed Virgin Mary. She stands at the threshold of the New Testament as the humble daughter of Israel through whom the promised Savior comes. God does not send His Son into the world in disorder. He prepares a mother.

Mary is not an interruption in Scripture. She belongs to the whole line of promise: the woman promised against the serpent, the daughter of Sion, the faithful remnant, the ark of God's presence, and the Virgin who conceives and bears the Emmanuel. To know Christ rightly, the beginner must learn who His Mother is and why her obedience matters.

In Nazareth, God sent the angel Gabriel to a virgin named Mary, espoused to Joseph of the house of David. The angel greeted her: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women."[1] Mary was troubled by the greeting, and the angel told her not to fear.

Gabriel announced that she would conceive and bear a Son, and that His name would be Jesus. He would be great, the Son of the Most High, and He would receive the throne of David. His kingdom would have no end.[2] Mary asked how this would be, since she knew not man. The angel answered that the Holy Ghost would come upon her and that the power of the Most High would overshadow her.[3]

Mary answered with perfect humility and obedience: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word."[4] At that moment, the Word took flesh in her womb. The long promises of Scripture entered their fulfillment.

At the beginning, after Adam and Eve sinned, God promised enmity between the serpent and the woman, between the serpent's seed and her seed.[5] This first promise points forward to the victory of Christ and, in Catholic reading, to the Woman joined to His victory in her subordinate and immaculate place.

The prophets also prepare the reader. Isaias says: "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel."[6] Emmanuel means God with us. The Redeemer will not arrive as a mere teacher from outside. He will be born.

Mary stands where promise becomes flesh. She is the Virgin Mother through whom the Son of God enters the world. Her place is unique because her Son is unique.

The angel calls Mary "full of grace."[7] This greeting teaches that God has filled her with grace in a singular way. The Church confesses that Mary was preserved from original sin from the first instant of her conception, by the merits of Christ her Son. This is called the Immaculate Conception.

For beginners, the point should be understood simply. Mary is not holy apart from Christ. She is holy because of Christ, in the most perfect way, by a grace given in advance from His merits. God prepared a pure Mother for His Son.

This does not diminish Christ. It magnifies His saving power. The Redeemer can not only cleanse after sin; He can also preserve from sin. Mary is the first and most perfect fruit of His redemption.

Mary's answer is the model of obedient faith: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord."[8] She does not demand control over the mystery. She does not place herself at the center. She receives God's word and gives herself to His will.

This is the opposite of Eve's disobedience. Eve listened to the serpent and took what God had forbidden. Mary listens to the angel and receives what God gives. Eve's disobedience stands near the beginning of ruin. Mary's obedience stands at the beginning of the visible coming of redemption.

The beginner should notice Mary's humility. She is exalted because she is lowly before God. She is great because she belongs wholly to Him.

Mary is truly the Mother of Jesus. Jesus is truly God the Son made man. Therefore Mary is rightly called Mother of God, not because she is the source of His divinity, but because the Child she bears is one divine Person, the Son of God, with a true human nature.

This title protects the truth about Christ. If Mary is only mother of a human person separate from the Son of God, then Christ is divided. The Church rejects that error. The Child in Mary's womb is the Word made flesh.[9]

For a beginner, this is very important. Mary always leads to Christ when she is understood rightly. Her title Mother of God is a confession about who Jesus is.

Mary is espoused to Joseph, a just man of the house of David.[10] Joseph is not the natural father of Christ, but he is truly placed by God as guardian, protector, and legal father in the household. Through Joseph, the Davidic line is publicly present around the Child.

This shows again that God loves order. The Incarnation is not surrounded by confusion. There is a mother, a guardian father, a household, a name, a lineage, obedience, and hidden life.

The beginner should learn that holiness does not despise ordinary duties. Mary and Joseph live the highest mystery in humility, chastity, obedience, and household faithfulness.

After the Annunciation, Mary visits Elizabeth. Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Ghost, blesses Mary and the fruit of her womb.[11] Mary then sings the Magnificat: "My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."[12]

Mary does not magnify herself. She magnifies the Lord. She rejoices in God her Savior. She teaches the soul how to receive grace without pride. The more God does in her, the more she gives glory to Him.

The Magnificat also shows that God's mercy is not sentimental weakness. He exalts the humble, fills the hungry, scatters the proud, and puts down the mighty from their seat.[13] Mary rejoices in the holy order of God's mercy and justice.

The soul must learn humility. Mary receives God by lowliness, not by self-importance.

The soul must learn obedience. Her answer, "be it done to me according to thy word," is the form of faithful surrender.

The soul must learn reverence for Christ. The Child conceived in Mary is the Son of God made man.

The soul must learn Marian devotion rightly. To honor Mary is to honor what God has done in her and through her. True devotion to Mary leads the soul to Christ, to purity, to obedience, and to hatred of sin.

The Blessed Virgin Mary stands at the coming of Christ with perfect humility. She is full of grace, the obedient handmaid, the Virgin Mother, the new Eve, and the Mother of God because her Son is God made man.

The beginner should not pass over Mary as a secondary ornament. God placed her at the threshold of the Incarnation. Through her yes, the promised Redeemer comes. To learn Mary rightly is to learn how the soul should receive Christ: with faith, purity, humility, and obedience.