It’s the Sunday before Christmas, and what better time to write about Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

The religious imagination has always had a special place for the feminine. This should be no surprise to us since we have so often heard these words of Genesis:
“Let us make man in our image. Male and female He created them.”

The image of God that emerges from Scripture is not only that of father and creator. It is also that of mother and lover (read the Canticle of Canticles). Mary, the mother of Jesus, draws us to this side of God. And that is one reason why she has always been so precious to so many followers of her Son.

Evidence of devotion to the blessed mother is very ancient. A second century parchment bears witness to it. Special prayers like the ‘Memorare’ have been crafted especially for her. In the Hail Mary, the prayer we know best, we ask that she “pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death.” For centuries, Christians have instinctively turned to Mary for strength in a crisis, perhaps because she had so many of her own, from the moment that Joseph decided to “put her away,” to the hour that Jesus lay dead in her arms.

Mary’s courage is undeniable as she faced the sword that would pierce her heart. But her tender love and quiet trust are even more appealing. What is most endearing about Mary is her quiet trust in the Lord, and her humble way of doing God’s will without any fanfare or exaggerated self-aggrandizement. Her very being, as she utters in her Magnificat, spoke of her commitment to God ( Luke 1 : 46 ). She uses few words because her actions speak louder than words. What a contrast Mary is to the constant drumbeat today of those who proclaim their greatness and importance so that they can dominate others.

Mary is the most powerful example of faith, hope and love in any ordinary human being apart from Jesus who, as the Son of God, is the actual embodiment of faith, hope and love. But it was Mary’s faith, her acceptance God’s will (“Thy will be done”), that brought Jesus into her life and into our lives as well.

Mary joins the line of great servants for whom God’s call is an unsolicited interruption in their routine. In this respect, Mary’s summons was no different from God’s summons to Moses, Abraham and Isaiah. They all found themselves surprised by the call of God. Mary “was greatly troubled” by God’s call, we read in scripture ( Luke 1 : 29 ). Thus, when the angel appeared to her, he greeted her as one whom she herself did not fully understand: the chosen one “full of grace.”

Mary is unique among prophets and saints because she is for us the means of the incarnation, God made flesh. In her call from God, she becomes the model of our calling to be bearers of Christ in our world and doers of God’s will. Mary deserves our deepest respect because of what God has done in her for us.

Hail Mary, Full of Grace.

—Fr. Hugh Duffy