Mary Did Her Part (I)

The holiness of the Old Testament saints, and indeed that of St Joseph and the Blessed Virgin, came through their absolute obedience to God’s will. […] This was the hidden motive behind Mary’s behavior. She was the simplest of humans and the one who made the most complete surrender of herself to God. Her laconic reply to the angel - “Let it happen to me as you have said” (Lk 1:38) - embodies all the mystical theology of her ancestors. This, then as now, meant the most direct and wholehearted surrender to God’s will, however it revealed itself. This noble and exalted frame of mind was the basis of Mary’s spiritual life and reveals itself perfectly in those very simple worlds: “Let it happen to me as you have said.”