Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary : Tuesday 8th September 2020

The grace of being immaculately conceived meant that Mary never doubted herself or God. So, when addressed by the Angel Gabriel, she was able to accept what God was asking of her with complete freedom even though it meant abandoning her own human plans — after all, she was already engaged to be married to Joseph.

In St Luke’s Greek text, Mary’s first response to the angel can plausibly be understood as a reference, not to some earlier plan of perpetual virginity formulated for herself — the usual explanation, which is so fraught with difficulties — but a concerning reference to the consequence for Joseph: how can that be because in that case, I cannot know a man (i.e. “I cannot marry Joseph”).

God’s request simultaneously revealed to her the more profound mystery inherent in the prophecy recorded in the book of Isaiah (7:14) and repeated in Matthew’s Gospel (1:23). Because of God’s gift of sinless Freedom to her, Mary’s thoughts were not on herself but upon the “significant other” in her life, a trait we see in her visit to Elizabeth and her approach to Jesus, apprising him of the young couple’s difficulty.

Mary, Mother of God, free from all sin and from all self-referencing, intercede for us that we may be freer from all that is self-centred and self-referencing in our lives.