Mary, the New Eve

When Mary said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to thy word," she was found to be obedient. Eve, for her part, had proven to be disobedient: she had disobeyed while still a virgin. Just as Eve, thus, by her disobedience, became the cause of death for herself and the entire human race; so also did Mary, betrothed to man but nevertheless a virgin, by yielding obedience, become the cause of salvation, both to herself and the whole human race. The reason being that what has been tied once can only be untied if one does again in reverse order the loops of the knots. Thus, the knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience, for what Eve had tied by her lack of faith the Virgin Mary untied with her great faith.