For God all things are possible

In Luke’s gospel the mature faith of Mary is like a melody that blends seamlessly with a noble symphony. And that faith is brilliantly highlighted by a background orchestration in which the attitudes of Mary and Zacharias are contrasted.

Elizabeth, on whose house had fallen simultaneously the blessing of a son and the punishment of Zachary for not having believed, says to Mary: You are blessed because you have believed, you dear Daughter of Zion! You believed that for God all things are possible; all those wonderful things that were told to you will be fulfilled exactly as a reward of your faith.

On the other hand, Zachary is not able to speak because he did not believe. Zachary is told that he and Elizabeth, in their “advanced age,” are going to have a son” invested with the power and spirit of Elias.” (Luke 1:17)

Mary is told that “without human participation” she will conceive in her womb through the power of the Holy Spirit a Son who will be great and whose reign will endure forever. (Luke 1:33)

Zachary does not believe. He says that it is impossible. I’m an old man and my wife is also advanced in age. We have passed the age of having children. Do give me a sign that this will happen. (Luke 1:18)

In contrast, Mary does not ask questions neither have doubts nor demands guarantees. With the characteristic attitude of one of the Poor people of God, The Mother submits against all hope, or knowledge of evidence, but in complete obscurity. (Luke 1:38)

Zachary, because he persists in not accepting God’s word, is mute until John’s birth. For her part, Mary, having believed, is transformed into the Mother of God, blessed among all women and proclaimed, the privileged one, throughout every generation now and to come

On a that morning, “in a certain mountainous region of Judah” there took place a spiritual celebration, and in the culminating moment of that feast, three people, Mary, Elizabeth and Zachary must have repeated solemnly in chorus words central to the eternal truth of the mystery of faith: for God nothing is impossible. (Luke 1:37)

From the book The Silence of Mary by Fr. Ignacio Larrañaga