Mary’s Expectation

In order to know something about Mary’s feelings during her months of gestation, let us place ourselves in analogous situations.

If today we question a woman who is expecting a child concerning the feelings that she is presently experiencing, and this woman is a very faithful and spiritual person, she would probably not know what to answer... It’s no wonder. It’s so unfathomable what she lives! Finally, with difficulty, she will speak, but with halting words, I don’t know how to express it, but she will come to express thoughts of an awesome world, a world that is born and passes on within her own maternity.

How can we describe the spiritual stature of Mary during these days of gestation? See how Mary held herself in control, and capable of an exceptional capacity of interior reflection during the Annunciation. She does this so well, far exceeding what would be expected of some one of her age.

If we are to measure her spiritual stature by the contents of the Magnificat, we will verify that when it is a question of dealing with the mystery of her Lord and Savior, Mary is passionate and joyful, in spite of the fact that she is generally reserved and silent. She knows the history of Israel and is fully conscious of the significance of the Incarnation. Besides, she is sinless, full of grace, inhabited by the substantial presence of the Word and impacted by the direct action of the Holy Spirit.

Mary finds herself living in a shapeless and bottomless universe focused contemplatively at the heart of her being, where the Infinite Mystery of the Incarnation is residing. Mary’s whole body and soul was centered and concentrated upon the Magnificent Lord who had taken up His dwelling in her body.

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