Here she is, the strong woman!

Adam had climbed the mountain of pride; the Son of God sought to descend into the valley of humility. Today he has found a valley to descend into. Where is this valley? Not in you, Eve, Mother of our misfortune, not in you! But in the blessed Mary.

She is indeed this valley of Hebron, because of her humility and because of her strength. She is strong because of her participation in the strength of which it is written: "The Lord is strong and mighty." She is that strong woman that Solomon called for: "A strong woman, who will find her?"

Eve, though created in paradise without corruption, without defilement, without infirmity or pain, proved to be so weak, so infirm! "Who will find this strong woman? Can she be found in this miserable land when she could not be found in the bliss of paradise?

Today, God the Father has found this woman, he has found her in order to sanctify her; the Son has found her in order to dwell in her; the Holy Spirit has found her in order to illuminate her; and the angel has found her in order to greet her thus: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!" Here she is, the strong woman, the one in whom temperance replaced curiosity, in whom humility excluded all vanity, and in whom virginity stood free of all voluptuousness.

Saint Aelred of Rievaulx ( ca. 1109-1167)