Based upon textual evidence from scripture very little is known about the life of
the Virgin of Nazareth. The Synoptics and the Johannine text introduce us to the life of
Mary through a series of events which culminate with her appearance at the foot of the
Cross. It is also understood that Mary speaks only seven times throughout the entire four
gospels. Other than these instances the life of Mary remains hidden. Nevertheless, the
virtues which she embodies are of inestimable value for the Church’s own spirituality. In
the little evidence that is presented in the gospels there are many spiritual themes that one
may notice in the life of the Virgin. Moreover, although various contributions have been
made toward man’s wonderment at the great Mother of God through ceaseless
theological reflections by the Church’s theologians, there still remains a necessity to
delve further into the mystery of the Virgin Mary’s life. Though this analysis does not
intend to contribute a greater or even more intellectual truth about the Blessed Mother,
rather it will expound upon the richness and truth of the Church’s spirituality, which is
most deeply Marian. Furthermore, through this analysis one will better perceive how the
theological virtues of faith, hope, and love share a deeply intimate link with the
obedience, suffering, and humility of Mary, who accordingly serves as the exemplary
figure in man’s spiritual journey towards perfection.
“Obedience of Faith”: the Foundation for Mary’s Spiritual Perfection
In his encyclical on the Blessed Virgin Mary, Redemptoris Mater, the late Roman
Pontiff John Paul II takes up the theme of Mary’s “faith” in his section entitled Blessed is
she who believed; however, he does not focus simply on her faith alone, but her
“obedience of faith.”1 For it is through Mary’s great faith in the word of God and her
1 Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater: Encyclical Letter on the Blessed Virgin Mary, para 13 (March 30, 1987).
2
obedience to His will that we all have the privilege of rejoicing with the words of the
Exsultet: O felix culpa quae talem et tantum meruit habere redemptorem.2 Nevertheless,
in order to reach a clearer understanding of Mary’s “obedience of faith,” we must make
the initial distinction between faith and obedience, and then demonstrate how they are
interrelated, and finally how they relate to the life of Mary. In the Catechism of the
Catholic Church we are told that the theological virtue of faith is that “by which we
believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us.”3 Parallel to faith is the
virtue of obedience, which is a firm trust and openness to the entirety of God’s revelation,
and a willingness to cooperate with God in all that He wishes to accomplish in and
through us. Further, obedience does not merely imply a notion of servility; rather, in the
case of Mary it springs forth from a surge of love, which is at the root of her assent to the
message of the angel: “Be it to me according to your word.” Obedience is considered
servitude only by those who do not understand the “spontaneity of love.”4 Mary’s
obedience to God’s will becomes ancillary to her faith which she expresses in her
unreserved surrender. Obedience, as further stated by the Catechism, implicitly demands
an offering of one’s self as Christ made an offering of himself for the sins of all. It is
then through her “obedience of faith” that we will witness Mary’s offering not only of
herself, but of the Son to whom she has given birth, who is to then become the Savior of
humanity. It is through this offering that the Church discovers in Mary her model in faith
and obedience to Jesus Christ. With this understanding of the interrelation between her
faith and obedience we can begin our exploration into the role and efficacy of these two
virtues in the life of the Virgin Mary, as it is communicated to us through the scriptures.
2 “O [happy fault] which merited so great and good a redeemer.” 3 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1814. 4 Sheen, Fulton J., The World’s First Love (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1952), 99.
3
In the Gospel of Luke we witness the beginning of a new dialogue between
heaven and earth through the event of the Annunciation. It is at the Annunciation that
Mary entrusts herself unreservedly to the will of God, with a “full submission of [her]
intellect and will,”5 thus manifesting her “obedience of faith” to the one who spoke to her
through the messenger. Mary’s “obedience of faith” evokes the great faith and obedience
with which Abraham in the Book of Genesis adheres to God’s call. Even amidst the
darkness and inscrutability of God’s ways both Abraham and Mary willingly hand
themselves over to the truth of God’s word. Like Abraham, Mary is called to hold fast to
a truth which has never before been expressed in the history of her people. Abraham
obeys the word and becomes the father of “a great nation” (Genesis 12:2); Mary as well
listens intently to God’s word and becomes the mother of his Son, and consequently
mother of the human race. To hold fast to God’s ways in the “luminous darkness,” says
Cardinal Ratzinger, “is thus a conformation to him,”6 which is a sign of Mary’s full
resignation to the Divine Author. In Mary’s fiat we clearly detect no guile whatsoever,
but rather the utmost innocence and humility of a soul pervaded through by grace and
overflowing with the intensity of God’s all-consuming love. For in Mary there is
“nothing…[that] masks or veils the peculiar power of God.”7 As one witnesses through
her fiat – “let it be to me according to your word” (Lk. 1:38) – Mary demonstrates that
faith is properly an act of submission. This act represents a “movement of offering and
consecration,” and at the same time, represents her total renunciation to the good will of
God. It is as though she is saying with all of her grace-filled being, “Here I am! Do with
5 Dei Verbum, 5. 6 Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal and Hans Urs von Balthasar, Mary: The Church at the Source, trans. Adrian Walker (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2005), 49. 7 Thurian, Max, Mary: Mother of the Lord, Figure of the Church (London: The Faith Press, 1963), 57.
4
me what you will.” This submission is surely one stemming from her anawim-poverty
and “marvelous purity.”8 Mary’s act of submission is most clearly seen in her humble
assent to the words of the angel: “I am the handmaid of the Lord” (Lk. 1:38). For it is
through her submission to God’s word that Mary enters the threshold of God’s plan of
salvation, and accepts her vocation in becoming the mother of the long-awaited Messiah.
She does not, however, accept this vocation for her own vain-glory, but as a task solely
for God, yet most importantly out of a profound love for all men. She also understands
that through her impoverished state her hands remain empty and that “it is God alone
who will fill them with Christ”9, who is the only acceptable offering to God and only
Intercessor between God and man. Explicating the words of her “Yes” to the birth of the
Son of God, Ratzinger states that, Mary “places her body, her entire self, at God’s
disposal as a place for his presence.”10 In her Yes, Mary’s will enters into perfect unison
with the will of her Son, which thus makes the Incarnation possible.
At the time of the Annunciation, Mary is living within the traditio of Israel; thus
she is conscious of the scriptures and all of God’s promises made through the prophets of
a Messiah that shall “save his people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21). Although Mary
possesses such knowledge she does not, however, possess a conscious knowledge of how
or in what way God intends to save His people, nor does she express any need or desire
to understand the details of His salvific intentions. Rather, she adheres to the words of
the angel with a simple yet daring spirit. In his encyclical, John Paul II suggests: “Could
she [have guessed], at the moment of the Annunciation, the vital significance of the
angel’s words? And how is one to understand that “kingdom” which “will have no
8 Ibid., 60. 9 Ibid., 102. 10 Ratzinger, op.cit., 49.
5
end”?”11 In the virginal depth of her faithful assent to the message, Mary accepts the
vocation to become mother of the Redeemer, and thus through her explicit consent she
accepts, in faith, all of the divine possibilities and conditions that God may impose upon
her life, including the life of the Savior. Hence, Mary’s assent even suggests “her
implicit consent to the Crucifixion.”12 Mary would soon become aware of these
conditions throughout the course of the Child’s life; however, her positive response to the
message meant that she was ready to surrender herself, to remain obedient at all costs.
This surrender on Mary’s part, however, as expressed in the Greek optative genoïto,
signifies “a joyous desire to,” and “never a resignation or a constraining submission
before something burdensome or painful.”13 Moreover, this “joyous desire” means that
Mary is willing to “collaborate with what God foresees for her,”14 namely, her joy and
eternal beatitude. Mary’s joy then at this particular moment is a result of her total
abandonment to the good will of God.
Moreover, it is due to this total abandonment to the will of God that Mary does
not withhold her joy, but, as the Evangelist Luke tells us, sets off “with haste [for] a city
of Judah [in] the hill country” (Lk. 1:39). The reason for her visit, as John Paul II states,
can be found in the Angel Gabriel’s message that “had made special mention of
Elizabeth, who in her old age had conceived a son by her husband, Zechariah, through the
power of God.”15 As Mary enters the house Elizabeth is touched by her greeting and
feels the infant leap in her womb, and filled with the Holy Spirit she greets Mary with a
11 Ibid. 12 Schillebeeckx, Edward, O.P., Mary:Mother of the Redemption, trans. N. D. Smith (New York, NY: Sheed and Ward, 1964), 87. 13 Potterie, Ignace de la, S.J., Mary in the Mystery of the Covenant, trans. Bertrand Buby, SM (New York, NY: Alba House, 1992), 35. 14 Ibid. 15 RM, 12.
6
loud cry: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Lk.
1:42). As is evident here through Elizabeth’s salutation, the Divine Infant in Mary’s
womb is already intervening in order to impart the Holy Spirit. Here already is the
prefiguring of Pentecost through Mary who is the instrument of that same Spirit.
Nevertheless, it is this Spirit that will serve as her pedagogue as the divine plan unravels
itself in, and through, and with her to the Crucifixion, Death, and Resurrection of her
Son. Further on, Elizabeth’s greeting continues the prominence of the angel’s words at
the Annunciation. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Elizabeth recognizes in the
presence of Mary someone greater as she humbly inquires, “and why is this granted me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk. 1:43). Echoing the words of King
David in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant,16 Elizabeth further reveals the mystery
of Mary’s role as the new Ark of the Covenant and mother of the new springtime of
humanity. Although all of Elizabeth’s words to her cousin bear great significance it is,
however, her final words that possess a fundamental importance: “And blessed is she
who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord”
(Lk. 1:45). As the Holy Father states, these words run parallel with the title “full of
grace,” as pronounced by the mouth of the angel. Further on he stresses that Elizabeth’s
words reveal the truth about Mary “who has become really present in the mystery of
Christ precisely because she ‘has believed.’”17 This title “full of grace,” or
kécharitôménê in the Greek, as heralded by the angel signifies Mary’s perfect holiness18
and the gift of God himself. Mary’s “obedience of faith,” as honored by Elizabeth during
16 2 Samuel 6:9 – “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” 17 Ibid. 18 The Byzantine tradition in the East and the medieval tradition in the West have seen in “kécharitôménê,” the indication of Mary’s perfect holiness. “Kécharitôménê” literally means, in Mary’s case, that she has been transformed by the grace of God (cf. Poterrie, 17-18).
7
the Visitation, shows how the Virgin of Nazareth responds to this gift. Furthermore,
Elizabeth’s words serve as a reminder to Mary, as a reiteration of the angel’s message,
but this time it is as though these words resonate into eternity, for just as Christ is the
Lamb slain before the foundation of the world (cf. 1 Pet. 1:19-20; Rev. 13:8), so also
Mary, though not in a co-eternal way with her Son, is the Virgin ever-pure, the ever-
blessed, and ever-blissful one since the foundation of the world (cf. Eph. 1:3-4).
It is this blissful experience of Mary’s faith that carries over to the Nativity of the
Divine Child. As Catholics who believe in the Real Presence, one can imagine and
imitate the feelings of the Virgin in the presence of the Child. As an artist in the presence
of a piece of work born of his own thought, so Mary’s admiration of the Child is a tribute
to God’s creative nature. In her arms Mary now bears witness to the first fruits of her
faith and obedience to the divine will at the Annunciation. It is through the virgin birth
that God wishes to “make us understand that his members should be reborn according to
the Spirit, of the Virgin Church,”19 as St. Augustine so beautifully states. St. Maximus
the Confessor elucidates this theme in his Commentary on the Our Father by saying:
“Christ always anew and on his own initiative is born in a mystical manner in the soul.
He becomes flesh in [the soul in] which he is born, he transforms it into a virgin
mother.”20
In other words, the Incarnation is repeated in the life of every believing
individual, and the soul of each Christian in a way becomes both virgin and mother, as
Mary was. Mary is, indeed, the model of this transformation and archetype of the
Christian soul. Hence, the fundamental attitude of the soul is, as von Balthasar claims,
19 St. Augustine, De sancta virginitate, 6. 20 St. Maximus the Confessor, Commentaire sur le Notre Père. Note: As footnoted in the work of Ignace de la Poterrie, 140.
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completely “feminine.”21 He further claims that the soul in its relationship with God is at
one and the same time virgin, mother and spouse. This Marian mystery, as von Balthasar
suggests, is “fundamental in the perspective of salvation; it is much more important than
the mystery of man.”22 Mary’s virginity as affirmed by Luke is indeed her virginitas
carnis, but more importantly this “virginity of the flesh” serves as a symbol of a virginity
that is more interior, more spiritual, namely, the “virginity of the heart.” Essentially, all
believers in their spiritual life are to become “virgins” modeled after the purity and
humility of the Virgin of Nazareth. Even those who do no longer partake of the
“virginity of the flesh” may still attain to the “virginity of the heart,” for the body is
merely the expression of man’s interior life. As an anonymous sixteenth century mystic
once put it: “Virginity is useless if in its turn and with all its gifts it does not permit itself
to rest in God.”23 In this case, the “virginity of the heart,” or as also known as the
“virginity of faith,” if it does not place itself in the possession of the Divine Author it no
longer becomes useful and does not bear fruit. So then, like Mary, the Christian is called
to cultivate the “soil” of his interior life so that the Father may bring forth His only Son in
that soul and, as a result of this “birthing” process, the soul as faithful recipient of His
Son is then able to bring Him forth also. For Jesus is the fullness and brilliance of all that
the Father is, and thus when Jesus is united to the soul it then “radiates and gleams with
him as a unique and pure splendor in the heart of the Father.”24 It is with this “unique
and pure splendor” that Mary’s soul radiates as she gives birth to God’s only Son, the All
in the humbled emptiness of her being.
21 Ignace de la Poterrie, 141. 22 Ibid. 23 Ibid. 24 Ibid.
9
Later, along her pilgrimage of faith, the words of the prophet Simeon confront
Mary, appearing at first as a threat to the words of the message of the Annunciation, but
rather serving as enlightenment to Mary’s faith, and posing an ever greater demand on
her assent to the mystery of the divine plan. These words of Simeon in the Temple –
“and a sword will pierce through your own soul” (Lk. 2:35) – ironically assume the form
of a second annunciation, and a further unveiling of the message as pronounced by the
angel. It is here where Mary’s pilgrimage of faith undergoes that interior illumination, in
which she learns that she will have to live her “obedience of faith in suffering at the side
of the suffering Savior,” and as a result of this “her motherhood will be mysterious and
sorrowful.”25 At the utterance of Simeon’s prophecy Mary experiences once again the
ecstasy that permeates her soul at the Annunciation, but this time the ecstasy is of the
pains of martyrdom reverberating through her soul, and then only into her flesh, which
“[echoes] to every scourge that [falls] on her Son’s back or pierced His Hands and
Feet.”26 Nevertheless, Mary’s faith, hope and love increase as she ponders the mystery
of the divine plan in her heart; for instead of attempting to seek greater clarity in
Simeon’s words, she accepts them as “sacred relics preserved and cherished for most
special veneration.”27 Surely Mary knows that any event in the Savior’s life cannot be
taken lightly, but she conceives in her mind and meditates day and night upon the
profundity of the eternal will of God and his will for man’s salvation, of which she is
most solicitous.
25 Ibid., 16. 26 Fulton J. Sheen, op. cit., 249. 27 Eudes, John, The Admirable Heart of Mary, trans. Charles di Targiani and Ruth Hauser (New York, NY: P.J. Kennedy & Sons, 1948), 186.
10
Another event in which Mary’s faith undergoes illumination is at the finding of
the Child Jesus in the Temple at Jerusalem. After having left Jerusalem and becoming
aware of the Child’s mysterious disappearance, Mary and Joseph anxiously retrace their
steps in search for the divine Child. Mary and Joseph search frantically for the Child
only to find him three days later speaking with the elders of the Temple, as they gaze
upon the eternal Wisdom of God in this youthful Child. Not only was there a physical
loss of the Child during these three days, but also a spiritual trial which Mary’s faith
endures. This experience not only serves as a precursor to the three years in which Mary
retreats into the background during Jesus’ public ministry, but also to the Triduum of His
Passion, Death and Resurrection. As Mary and Joseph enter the Temple, finding the
Child seated amongst the elders, Mary exhaustedly asks the Child, “Son, why have you
treated us so?”, only to receive a further revelation of the Child’s intent to fulfill His
Father’s Will and redemptive mission: “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know
that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Lk. 2:49). As scripture relates in this scene, no
further words issue forth from Mary’s mouth, instead she keeps these words and ponders
them in her heart. For Mary it is something that can only be understood interiorly. Her
reason can grasp words, but she is unable to grasp the Word. For, indeed, “no one knows
the Son except the Father” (Mt. 11:27). Mary, then, as John Paul II explicitly states, to
whom the mystery of his divine sonship had been revealed, lives in intimacy with this
mystery [only] through faith. It is then by living under the same roof, and faithfully
persevering in her union with her Son, that she [advances] in her pilgrimage of faith.28
The Word, in His response to Mary in the Temple, elevates her from the abysmal depths
of human reason, and fixes her gaze upon the transcendent plane of the Divine Mind.
28 RM, 17.
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Hence, the Light of this unfathomable Reason becomes too great for her to comprehend;
nonetheless, her faith does not waver under the grief of this experience, but intensifies by
the grace of the one speaking to her: the Incarnate Word of God, Emmanuel – God with
us.
It is only a matter of years that Mary will again experience what she did at the
prophecy of Simeon in the Temple, but since that initial experience her soul has
undergone tremendous interior illumination. At the Wedding Feast of Cana Mary
approaches her Son and communicates in her one voice the need of those present at the
celebration by saying, “They have no wine” (Jn. 2:3). It is then that Jesus replies to his
mother with seeming abruptness, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has
not yet come” (Jn. 2:4). Though these words appear to place a distance between Jesus
and his mother, in no way do they diminish Mary’s role as his mother, but rather they
serve as further revelation, in that, she recognizes that with whom she is placing this
request is not merely her Son, but also her Lord and Master. Furthermore, the use of the
word “woman” in this passage signifies the first official recognition by Jesus, the New
Adam, of Mary as the New Eve, which he will also emphasize later at the foot of the
Cross. Mary’s imperturbable faith, however, presses her onward as she relays to the
servants of the house, “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn. 2:5); thus bringing about a
“symbolic anticipation of her Son’s Eucharist, a foreshadowing of the…multiplication of
the loaves.”29 Further, in this event we also see Jesus fulfilling his mother’s request by
commanding the servants to fill the earthen pots with water. These water-filled vessels
serve as a symbol not only of Mary, but also the Church, who is transformed through the
miracle of the Incarnation into the Body of Christ. For the Incarnation serves as the
29 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and Hans Urs von Balthasar, op. cit., 108.
12
beginning of an already eternally fulfilled redemption. This miracle of Jesus points us
further to Calvary where we witness the gushing forth and mingling of water and blood
from his side, representing the union between humanity and divinity, as it has already
been revealed in the very being of the Virgin Mary.
Furthermore, it is not until the Wedding Feast at Cana where we observe Mary’s
retreat from the limelight, and experience the unveiling of Emmanuel – God with us –
marking thus the beginning of His public ministry. In the Gospel of Mark we witness
Jesus entering a home and preaching to a crowd that has formed about him. After a while
it is said that “his (Jesus) mother and his brethren came; and standing outside they sent to
him and called him” (Mk. 3:31). It is here where Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, in his work
entitled Mary: Mirror of the Church, notes a small, yet significant detail about this scene
by pointing out that, “Mary, his mother, had to beg even for the right to see him and talk
with him.”30 Mary remains thus outside with his “brethren” waiting for others to go in
and call to Jesus. As the servants go in calling to Jesus they say to him, “Your mother
and your brethren are outside, asking for you,” but Jesus starkly replies, “Who are my
mother and my brethren…whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and
mother” (Mk. 3:33, 35). Cantalamessa further suggests that one could easily sense the
humiliation and suffering that these words cause her; nevertheless, we understand that
although she may not have known it, these words were of praise rather than reproach, but
for Mary they represent the bitterness of rejection. It is at this point where Mary, in the
depths of her soul, expresses interiorly what her Son later cries out from the Cross saying:
“Eli, Eli, la’ma sabach-tha-ni.” For just as Jesus has no place to rest his head at the
30 Cantalamessa, Raniero, Mary: Mirror of the Church, trans. Frances Lonergan Villa (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1992), 83.
13
beginning of his ministry, so also Mary has no place to rest her heart.31 Nonetheless,
Mary remains silent throughout the rest of her Son’s ministry. This silence, however, is
not one of sadness or withdrawal, but a silence that is found only in the inner self where
God alone can hear. The fact that Mary keeps silent does not signify that all things are at
all easy for her, but that she, too, has to overcome struggles, difficulties, and darkness.
Later on in her Son’s ministry, it is recorded by Luke that a woman in the crowd
cries out to Jesus saying: “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you
sucked!”, but Jesus immediately exclaims, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word
of God and keep it!” (Lk. 11:27-28). Even if Mary were present to hear such words she
would not be able to dwell on them long enough to understand that both of these
exclamations point to her, for she is the pure vessel in whom the Word of God took flesh,
and it is she who heard the word and kept it, pondering it in her heart. Throughout the
ministry of Jesus, Mary does not hold on to her rights as the mother of the Messiah, but
rather she deprives herself and appears “before all as a woman just like any other
woman.”32 This spiritual poverty, as Mary undertakes, consists in accepting a total
deprivation of privileges, even in acknowledging her role as the mother of the Messiah.
This deprivation further includes “forgetting oneself – or better, in being unable to recall
the past, no matter how much one tries – and straining forward only toward God and
living in pure hope.”33 It is here where Mary enters, as St. John of the Cross calls it, “the
dark night of the memory,”34 and in speaking of this he explicitly mentions the Blessed
Virgin. This is precisely that radical spiritual poverty of which St. Paul speaks,
31 Ibid., 84. 32 Ibid. 33 Ibid., 85. 34 Ibid.
14
“forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,” pressing onward
in our “upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14). This is why one of the most
important things that Jesus teaches his mother during his ministry is self-denial. Mary,
nevertheless, willingly follows her Son with a similar urgency to fulfill the Father’s will.
Just as Jesus outstretches his arms on the Cross accomplishing what is most pleasing to
his Father, so also Mary stretches out her maternal arms to those who fall under the shade
of the “tree of life.” Nearing the pinnacle of her faith in following her Son, Mary is thus
able to say with greater conviction than St. Paul, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ”
(1 Cor. 11:1).
Finally, it is not until her presence at the foot of the Cross that Mary’s faith and
obedience to God’s call achieves its supreme integrity. It is also at Calvary where Mary
witnesses in her suffering Son, Lord and Savior his suspension between heaven and earth,
healing the rift between humanity and divinity. This experience of suffering for Mary
penetrates her very being as a test of her faith in her Son’s messianic mission, and in His
nature as the Holy One of God. It is through this sword of bitterness and pain that the
Word of God will reveal to her the thoughts of her heart, which she ponders throughout
her life at Nazareth. Furthermore, as Mary arrives at the pinnacle of her physical and
spiritual suffering she will soon experience the victory of her faith, and understand the
significance of Simeon’s prophetic utterance at the Presentation. Hence, as a believer, it
will be necessary for Mary to accept the sacrifice of her Son in faith, and undergo the
temptation of doubt. Essentially, Mary is faced with the task of reconciling God’s
promise of a “kingdom without end,” and the necessity of suffering within the divine
plan. Here then is where one must journey with Mary, by searching into the mystery of
suffering in God’s plan of salvation and how the theological virtue of hope aids in
15
increasing Mary’s faith and understanding. For as Christ “learned obedience through
what he suffered” (Heb. 5:8-9), so also does Mary’s “obedience of faith” acquire greater
strength through her solidarity with her Son on Calvary.
Hope in the Midst of Suffering: Mary’s Ascent towards Spiritual Maturity
Let us now consider Mary’s experience of suffering and the hope with which she
proceeds in her pilgrimage of faith and journey towards spiritual maturity. In order to
proceed in our understanding of the link between the theological virtue of hope and
human suffering we must discuss and expound upon their meanings and significance
before investigating them as they are found in the life of the Virgin Mary. As stated by
Josef Pieper in his book, appropriately entitled Faith, Hope, Love, we see that if one is to
consider hope as a virtue at all it must be radically a theological virtue. The virtue of
hope can only be as such by being theological in its nature35; that is to say, that it is
infused in man by God. Theological virtue in relation to man allows him to surpass all
that he can be of himself. Further, theological virtue is something that cannot be owed to
man’s own natural efforts; rather it is a “supernatural potentiality for being,”36 which God
alone can actuate in man.
First, the virtue of hope has its source in a “divine substance in man;” namely in
grace.37 Secondly, hope’s primary aim is directed towards “supernatural happiness in
God, who alone is known in a supernatural manner.”38 Finally, “only through divine
revelation” is the “existence, origin and object of this theological virtue known to us.”39
This virtue, however, by means of divine revelation is most greatly manifest in the person
35 Pieper, Josef, Faith, Hope, Love, trans. Sister Mary Frances McCarthy, S.N.D. (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1986), 99. 36 Ibid. 37 Ibid., 99-100. 38 Ibid., 100. 39 Ibid.
16
of Mary, Mother of the Incarnate Word. Moreover, as the Catechism clearly states, “the
virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart
of every man.”40 Hope inspires men’s actions and purifies them in such a way that it
orders them to the Kingdom of heaven. It is through the hope of Mary that she aspires in
union with her Son that all men be saved, which is the purpose of her acceding to the
message of the angel during the Annunciation. As St. Alphonsus of Liguori states in his
work, The Glories of Mary, “[Mary] is the mother who gives birth to holy hope in our
hearts; not to the hope of the vain and transitory goods of this life, but of the immense
and eternal goods of heaven.”41 That “immense and eternal” good of heaven is the Word,
who takes flesh under the virgin heart of Mary, is crucified by the sins of men, and now
reigns at the right hand of the Father. St. Paul also exclaims in his letter to the Ephesians
in speaking on the goodness of God, “who has blessed us… with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:3). Certainly he refers to Christ, born of Mary who
through hope believes and thus becomes the Mother of the Son of God, the Redeemer of
all men.
Suffering, on the other hand, is an experience that all men are called to endure due
to the result of man’s sin. More importantly, however, because of the Redemption,
suffering now possesses salvific value precisely because it unites one with the Passion of
Christ. Jesus, in his sinless human nature, experiences suffering on the Cross revealing
the horrendous rupture in the relationship between God and man. Mary’s soul, like a
mirror, perfectly reflects the sufferings of Christ. Her suffering is clearly not a result of
her own personal sinfulness, since she is preserved by God from the stain of original sin
40 CCC, 1818. 41 Liguori, Alphonsus di, The Glories of Mary, ed. Eugene Grimm (Brooklyn, NY: Redemptorist Fathers, 1931), 110.
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at her conception, but precisely because “the object of her martyrdom [is] the martyrdom
of the Redeemer himself.”42 As the mother of the Savior and the source from whom the
Word takes flesh, Mary’s suffering is indeed a sharing in Christ’s suffering. By way of
her graced condition, she alone is directly, humanly involved in Christ’s redemptive act.
This suffering can only be comprehended in an interiorly supernatural and eternal way.
Due to Mary’s purity, solidarity and supernatural union with her Son, we are obliged to
say that when Christ cries out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, la’ma sabach-tha-ni,” that Mary,
at that moment, shares the great pain of his suffering in addition to the infinite separation
between God and the human family, which Christ himself reveals through His Cross.
This is why in order to understand how far grief for sin can go one must necessarily turn
one’s inward gaze to the immaculate heart of Mary, for her suffering is “heroic in the
highest degree.”43 The greatness of Mary’s suffering, however, lay in the intensity of her
love for God and all men.
Moreover, by her sufferings Mary experiences a growth in the virtues of charity
as well as in faith, and hope; in fact, she grows in all of the virtues, but none so far as
necessary as humility. “Humility,” as proclaimed by the Abbot of Clairvaux, “is the
foundation and guardian of virtues.”44 It is true, for without the virtue of humility no
other virtue can exist in the human soul. St. Francis de Sales writes to St. Frances de
Chantal, “God so loves humility, that whenever he sees it, he is immediately drawn
thither.”45 Such is the reason for God’s condescension and search for a home in the
womb of a humble and tender virgin at Nazareth. It is certain, that with humility Mary is
42 Thurian, op. cit., 88. 43 Garrigou-Lagrange, Reginald, O.P., The Mother of the Saviour and Our Interior Life, trans. Bernard J. Kelly (Rockford, Illinois: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1993), 116. 44 Alphonsus di Liguori, op.cit., 547. 45 Ibid.
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able to engage the mystery of the divine plan with a love that completely surrenders itself
for the instrumentation of the divine will. Any love, therefore, if it be not like that of
Mary – humble – cannot ascend to or partake in genuine love, which most properly is a
supernatural act.
Love & Humility: Mary’s Participation in the Divine
According to St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and other theologians the love
with which we are to love God and our neighbor is but one and the same virtue, namely,
the theological virtue of love – or agape/caritas. The reason why love is not simply any
virtue, but a theological virtue, is precisely because “to love” is a supernatural act that
God graciously shares with his creatures. The only love that is worthy of being called
“genuine” is that with which God loves his own Being and with which he also loves his
creation. Hence, human love is only rightly to be called love as a participation in the
divine act itself. Therefore, in order that we may adhere to the Lord’s commandment to
love, we are then called to love God with His own love for himself. To explain, one must
understand that in God is found all of the perfections of every being that he has created
and even those which he has willed not to create. These perfections, however, as we
understand them are the Divine Images, or blueprints, which are found within the Divine
Mind itself and are God’s very essence and those things that God both fully knows and
loves in one eternal pure act. Hence, our love of neighbor is merely a created
participation in this single act of God’s love for himself, which consequently includes his
love for us and our neighbor. Ultimately, in God’s act of love there is but one subject and
one object both loving and being loved, namely, He himself. It is only this love,
therefore, that can satisfy and is genuinely worthy of the Divine Being, for no human
love is capable of adoring God as He is to be adored, since all forms of human love fall
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short of love’s truest meaning. We must keep in mind that to love God does not append
anything to his glory, but rather elevates and serves for man’s own sanctification.
Moreover, as St. John Eudes points out, “to love God in this way is to love Him in our
neighbor, and to love our neighbor with love similar to our love for God.”46 This then
leads us to the second component of the Lord’s commandment: if man then desires to
love his neighbor he must love him with God’s own love for him. In other words, we
must love our neighbor “in God and [towards] God,”47 who is the Supreme and most
desirable Good, and the only good that is capable of satisfying every human longing.
Since in God is found all of the perfections of being – including that of us and our
neighbor – man, by his love for the perfections that are found in his neighbor (i.e.,
virtues, beauty, goodness, eye color, etc.), must love the Source of those perfections, and
as a result man must love his neighbor towards that Source, which is the goal or telos for
the fulfillment of his being. This, in fact, is the true meaning of Christian charity. This
love then for our neighbor, as explained, must stem from our love for God since he is the
Source from which we love and for whose sake we love. The love (agape/caritas) of
God with which we are to love our neighbor is thus the same love with which Mary
expresses her concern for all men. This love then serves as the motivating force behind
Mary’s sincere desire that all men attain salvation and eternal union with God, who “is
love” (1 Jn. 4:8). More importantly, as St. Alphonsus professes, “Mary is our Mother,
not as we have already observed, according to the flesh, but by love.”48 Mary, who
genuinely loves all men with such great intensity, presents Christ to all “a thousand and a
thousand times,” and if only, says St. Anselm, the “executioners had been wanting, she
46 Ibid. 47 John Eudes, op. cit., 227. 48 Alphonsus di Liguori, op. cit., 56.
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herself would have crucified him, in order to obey the Eternal Father who willed his
death for our salvation.”49 It is, therefore, Mary’s love for God as the Source of the
perfection of her being that she, in turn, is able to love all men to that same Source of
perfection and to the attainment of that eternal bliss. Consequently then, because all men
are redeemed by the Crucifixion of Christ, Mary therefore loves and protects them all.
Certainly, this love with which Mary loves all men is merely her participation in
the supernatural love of agape, or caritas. This agape/caritas form of love poses a
demand on the individual, and it is left to that individual to respond to the Lord’s
command: “love one another…as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (Jn.
13:34). Love as agape, however, does not demand in a coercive way, much less does it
call for an immediate reciprocated gesture, but rather it seeks more than just feeling, for
“feeling is instinctive but agape is chosen.”50 It is a full expression and act of the will.
For instance, as Jesus undergoes his Passion, although there is no relationship between
him, Pilate or his executioners he still loves them, and indeed, dies for them. In some
way, it is the nature of agape to choose and prefer, in a constant manner, the good of
another as opposed to the good of oneself; however, paradoxically, this means to indeed
choose one’s own good. For in choosing the good of one’s neighbor one is seeking for
him that Source and eternal wellspring of Goodness, which is one’s own source of
beatitude as well. This is truly what the Lord means when he says that, “He who loses
his life for my sake will find it” (Mt. 10:39). Man’s sole purpose is not self-preservation,
but rather self-donation – as one receives one’s existence as gift, man, in turn, is to be gift
to others. Agape, therefore, allows man to love his neighbor with almost a contempt for
49 Ibid., 60. 50 Kreeft, Peter, The God Who Loves You: Knowing the Height, Depth, and Breadth of God’s Love for You (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Books, 1988), 38.
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himself. Man then is responsible for his agape or lack thereof, because the choice to love
comes not from without, but from the very center of his being, yet always with God as
the Source from which he loves. It is in the Virgin Mary’s response to the angel that we
encounter the greatest expression and free act of volition given by any of God’s creatures:
“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Lk.
1:38). “True love,” as Mary genuinely demonstrates, “demands that the will to love
should precede the act of possession.”51 This means that one must love without seeking
or desiring that immediate response from the beloved, and that there be no ulterior
motives other than to love for Love’s own sake. After the celebration of the “Divine
Nuptials” at the Annunciation we witness that truly two are found in one flesh; the
reciprocal response then to Mary’s free act of love and submission of intellect and will is
God’s free and pure act of love incarnate. Truly, in Mary does one observe the unity
between God and man; for she conceives Him first in mind, but now she is one with Him
in Body. Surely no one in the history of humanity, except Christ, has loved God to the
degree to which Mary expresses in her fiat. This love, however, could only have been
what it was through the guardianship of humility, which we will now explore.
To begin our exploration of the virtue we must first understand that the word
humility derives from the Latin humus, which literally means “dirt” or “dust.” Surely of
all creatures Mary is the perfect reflection of God’s own humility, for she indeed is the
poorest and lowliest of people in her society: the anawim. Mary herself humbly admits
of her lowly status in the words of her Magnificat by saying that the Lord “has regarded
the low estate of his handmaiden” (Lk. 1:48). Although through the message of the angel
God addresses Mary as “full of grace,” this does not diminish her humility, but continues
51 Fulton J. Sheen, op. cit., 161.
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to define Mary’s stance before the all-loving God. In her assent to the divine will Mary
partakes in the “humilitas Dei in fullest measure,”52 meaning that, as God’s lowly
handmaid, she “reflects more brilliantly than anyone else”53 the greatness and glory of
God. As many may see through the scriptures “God’s glory often times appears as
lowliness,” for “His glory is his humility.”54 Indeed, it is through the Cross that the
blessedness and humility of both Mary and God are most clearly revealed. Mary
experiences the humility of God through the suffering of her Son on the Cross, which is
not in any way a loss of his kingly right, but a further revelation of the profundity of his
love. It is precisely Mary’s purity and sinless nature that allows her to singularly share in
the humilitas Dei, who empties himself in order to fill all men with His glory. Moreover,
it is this humility that allows Mary to deepen her love for the divine with a kenosis
similar yet not equal to that of her Son. This kenosis of Mary, who calls herself the
handmaid and servant of the Lord, is to be understood as her “offer to be used in service
to the divine kenosis…for her assent already stands within the saving economy of the
biblical God.”55 In other words, Mary’s kenosis is not identical with God’s kenosis, since
the beings of God and Mary are infinitely distanced; nonetheless, Mary’s is a temporal
participation in the eternal kenosis of the Word. The source of both forms of “self-
emptying” love, however, are rooted in the same Love, for Mary’s desire to offer herself
as a vessel for God’s salvific act stems from her own love for God, which most deeply is
His own love for His own Being, which includes His love for Mary, and most of all His
52 Hickey, James Cardinal, Mary at the Foot of the Cross: Teacher and Example of Holiness (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1988), 63. 53 Ibid. 54 Ibid. 55 Balthasar, Hans Urs von, Explorations in Theology: Spirit and Institution, trans. Edward T. Oakes, S.J. (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1995), 134.
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love for all humanity. Essentially, in this one act it is God who does all of the loving
even through the participatory act of his handmaiden.
Here, one immediately discovers through the life of Mary the intricate link
between love and humility, and that without humility love is unable to touch the heart of
a humble God. Mary, in her humility understands that she can do nothing on her own,
unless she receive inspiration from a supernatural source; namely again, the humilitas
Dei. The humility of Mary helps her to further acknowledge that, of herself, she
possesses nothing, but that in her humble consent and love for the word of God she
possesses all.
Mary: the Archetype for Man’s Spiritual Perfection
In his encounter with the theological virtues of faith, hope and love, man
discovers in Mary a model for his spiritual journey towards perfection; however, not
without solidarity with Mary’s obedience, suffering, and humility. It is in man’s
“obedience of faith,” like that of Mary, which allows him to enter into deeper union with
the Word of God. So also as Mary conceives the Word in her womb, so too must man
conceive Christ and give birth to him through his actions as Mary did during the
Visitation. As we have witnessed she does not keep the Word for herself, but shares it
with her cousin Elizabeth and Zechariah for three months. For it is through faith and
obedience that man allows the Divine Teacher to work through him, since already one’s
spiritual disposition has become one of submission and resignation. How essential it is
for man to imitate the Virgin Mary in his spiritual journey, for in doing so his love
remains undivided and unperturbed by the scoffing and mockery of the world’s
temptations, as Mary experiences at the foot of the Cross. Just as Mary’s faith attains its
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great integrity at Calvary, so also does man discover his very dignity and significance
underneath its shade.
To possess faith and be obedient like Mary means to become a slave – that is, a
slave of charity – agape/caritas. And to be a slave of charity, according to the divine
paradox, means to be free, for as St. Paul says to the Corinthians: “For he who was called
in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord….he who was free when called is a slave
of Christ” (1 Cor. 7:22). In Mary is where man encounters that freedom of which St.
Paul speaks, for Mary was rightly the first to assent to the word of God without
reservation, thus becoming the first disciple of Christ. It is she who places herself at the
disposal of the divine will, so that, as a result, all may be made holy as she has already
been made holy and prepared beforehand as a pure vessel for God’s presence. Slavery,
then, only becomes servitude when the motive of the individual is not driven by love for
the sake of Love Itself. It is because of her “reckless” act of abandonment to God’s will
that has inspired many to become saints, and thus followers of Mary in the journey
towards perfection, and ultimately the attainment of the Beatific Vision.
Further on in man’s journey he must reconcile himself with the fact that, like
Mary at the presentation in the Temple, God’s plan of salvation for each individual
entails some sort of suffering. Every Christian sees in Mary the realities of faith, the
promises of hope and signs of the love of God jostling with the realities of life, the test of
suffering and the signs of men’s hate.56 All forms of suffering are instances in which
man’s faith is tested, but there is a need and a call for “heroic perseverance.”57 In her
struggle with the trials of the world that bring her Son closer to death on the Cross, Mary
56 Max Thurian, op.cit., 107. 57 Ibid.
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becomes a figure not only for man, but for the Church; nevertheless, her suffering is far
greater than anyone else has experienced precisely because the object of her faith is the
very one to whom she has given birth and whom she loves as a human mother. Mary’s
faith, however, cannot arise victorious unless she accepts in faith that her Son is at one
and the same time Messiah King and Suffering Servant, the Son of God and the
Crucified.58 In and with Mary, each Christian experiences what St. Paul expresses to the
Colossians, as each finds joy in his sufferings and thus completes in his flesh that which
is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for His Body, which is the Church. It is also with
Mary that we place our hope in the Redemption of Christ, for through Christ our
suffering assumes a salvific value. In order, therefore, that we may discover the meaning
of our suffering we must turn our gaze to Mary’s hands so that, as St. Bonaventure says,
“through them we may receive the graces that we desire”59 and so attain to perfection
even amidst our sorrow.
As the great beacon of light that she is, Mary leads us always to her Son who is
the goal of every man and woman seeking perfection. In his spiritual journey man must
face, as Mary did, the trials of daily life and experience the bitter pain of the sword with
an upright faith and obedience to God’s will so that his soul may be transparent and
receptive to God’s splendor and glory. Moreover, man is to view his suffering as a path
towards greater intimacy with Christ, as Mary shares with him at the foot of the Cross.
By imitating the virtue of humility, as manifested in the person of Mary, that virtue which
serves as the guardian of all virtues, man is indeed capable of soaring to the spiritual
heights and superior degrees of love to which God calls all men. It is only then with
58 Ibid., 108. 59 Alphonsus di Liguori, op. cit., 114.
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