The sign of Mary’s inherent goodness

Mary was reserved, the gospels testify to it: she was never seen as talkative or presumptuous.

Through the entirety of the four gospels, if I remember correctly, Mary’s words are reported no more than four times. The first time, she addressed the angel, but only after he himself had spoken to her twice. The next time was at Elizabeth's house, where the sound of Mary’s voice made John leap in his mother's womb: her cousin has just praised her and Mary immediately turned to praise the Lord himself. The third time, she spoke to her Son, who was then twelve years old at the time, to complain that she and his father, who were worried, had to look for him.

The last time, at the wedding of Cana, she spoke to her Son and the servants, and this time her words bear the most certain mark of her native goodness and virginal reserve. Making the embarrassment of others her own, she cannot help telling her Son that the wine has run out. When her Son rebuked her, gentleness and humility prevent her from answering him, and yet, without being disconcerted, she commanded the servants to do what her Son said.

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

Sermon for the Octave of the Assumption § 10

The 12 prerogatives of the Blessed Virgin Mary