Fr. Scott A. Haynes
From the moment when the Eternal Word took flesh in her womb, Our Lady's life was a constant interior union with God. Just as Mary's physical life was entwined with life of her Divine Child, so too her spiritual life became one with His. Mary's Immaculate Heart would beat in unison with the Divine Heart of her Holy Child.
During Mary's Divine Maternity, the faculties of her soul were focused upon the remarkable Mystery contained in her womb. Enraptured by the Sacred Presence of her Redeemer, the Virgin Mother cradled the Blessed Babe in her mantle of love. Taught from childhood to keep the Divine Word in the depths of her soul, Mary's constant communion with Christ was the secret of her interior life.
Throughout Jesus' childhood, St. Luke relates that Mary “pondered in her heart” the events of His Incarnation and Nativity, the Holy Family's flight into Egypt, and Christ's Presentation in the Temple. The sublime mystery into which Our Blessed Mother had been initiated by the Holy Archangel when Christ became incarnate in her womb must have been the object of her endless meditation.
Enlighted by God's holy light, the eye of Mary's pure soul penetrated ever deeply into these saving mysteries. She surely must have considered all the implications, the effects upon the salvation history of mankind, and of her own life. Through her union with Christ, Our Lady came to know the ways of men toward God.
As we pray her Canticle (Magnificat) we discover the source of the holy hope radiating from her soul. Through the mystery of the Incarnation, Mary came to comprehend the vocation of the Holy Child contained in her womb, as the Lord began to reveal to her the role of her unique vocation as Mother of God. Once again, even more humbly and generously she exclaims from her heart:
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord” (Luke 1:38).
Her loving desire to attend to her cousin St. Elizabeth in the mystery of the Visitation only demonstrates how Mary's humble heart was utterly consumed by the spirit of her Child, who later would say:
“The Son of Man has not come to be served, but to serve’’ (Mt. 20:28)
As she penetrated the depths of eternal wisdom, the more her faith in the great mystery of the love of God grew. As the divine charity of Mary's soul burned brighter, this Jesus whom she dared to call her Savior and her Son, the more inflamed too became her love for the lost sheep, whom Jesus had come to save.