Can Mary Reestablish the Order of the Universe?

Gospel of Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

I – A Universe Composed of Creatures With Deficiencies

If we could contemplate the vastness of the possibilities of God, namely, the innumerable beings that He, in his omnipotence could have created, we would see creatures similar to those of this world, but without their characteristic defects. For example, porcupines with an entirely harmless coat, exquisite mosquitoes endowed with a pleasing and beneficial sting; vultures with an appearance as elegant as their flight, and so on.

Why did God not place creatures like this in the universe—creatures without defect, which could have been created yet were not?

It is a difficult question to answer. What is certain is that in the universe we inhabit, three creatures are unsurpassable: the humanity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, hypostatically united to the divinity; the beatific vision, and Our Lady.¹ All other beings, considered individually, could be more perfect.

Nevertheless, this world composed of creatures with deficiencies is excellent in its entirely, as St. Thomas Aquinas teaches: “The universe, the present creation being supposed, cannot be better, on account of the most beautiful order given to things by God; in which the good of the universe consists. For if any one thing were bettered, the proportion of order would be destroyed; as if one string were stretched more than it ought to be, the melody of the harp would be destroyed.”²

The universe created by God is necessarily that which would glorify Him the most, for He could not have chosen to create it less perfectly than was most fitting. Everything defective that exists in it serves to keep before man’s eyes his debility, weakness and continual dependence on God. In a word, it reminds him that he is a contingent being. We are part of a world with deficiencies.

These considerations help us analyse the role of Our Lady in Creation, which is specifically recalled in the liturgy chosen by the Church for the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord.

II – The “Fiat” of Mary Most Holy

It might seem there is nothing new to say about the well-known and oft commented Gospel passage of the Annunciation. But just as an excellent wine reveals different nuances in each vintage, we can always discover new marvels within the great event of the Incarnation of the Word.

Appearances not at a par with the event

Before examining St. Luke’s narration, let us turn our attention to the place where Mary was when the Archangel St. Gabriel visited her. It was not a magnificent palace, as so many artists have depicted, but a modest brick house. It was situated in Nazareth, then an insignificant city, in which the Holy Family would live in poverty, humility and anonymity.

There are no other elements in this episode whose appearances were at a par with the event that would transpire there, other than the presence of the Virgin Mary, and St. Joseph. For the eminent sanctity of both must have certainly radiated through their gestures, countenances, and comportment.

Our Lady at prayer at the time of the Annunciation

What was Mary doing when the angel came to her? Undoubtedly she was praying, perhaps considering the disastrous state in which humanity floundered. The Jewish people had deviated from the practice of the true religion and the pagans, beginning with the Romans, lived in dire moral decadence. What St. Paul called the “fullness of time” (Eph 1:10) had arrived.

St. Bernard describes the scene of the Annunciation, with the Blessed Virgin praying to the Father in her dwelling, highlighting the importance of prayer in order that God manifest Himself. One thing is evident: her prayers move the heavens: “The salutation of the angel, made with such reverence, shows how much the prayers of Mary have pleased the Most High,”³ affirms the Mellifluous Doctor.

In one of his meditations on the life of Christ, St. Bonaventure presents the young Mary arising at midnight in the Temple to make seven supplications before the Altar, praying in this way: “I ask of Thee the grace to witness the time in which will be born that most holy Virgin who will give birth to the Son of God, to preserve my eyes so that I might see her, my tongue so that I might  praise her, my hands to serve her, my feet to go where she orders, my knees so that I might adore the Son of God within her.”⁴

Her humility prevented her from concluding who this Lady would be whom she ardently desired to serve, however, possessing infused knowledge and receiving progressively more graces, she was able to vividly sketch in her mind the moral figure of the promised Messiah. Mary “conceived Christ in her mind before conceiving Him in her womb,” St. Augustine affirms.⁵

Mary showed no astonishment when she saw her home illuminated by a supernatural light and the Archangel St. Gabriel appear before her. According to various authors, including St. Peter Chrysologus and St. Bonaventure, “angelic apparitions were surely frequent for her whom God had showered with so many graces, for whom such a noble destiny was reserved, and who the angels venerated as their Queen and the Mother of God.”⁶ We can even conjecture that St. Gabriel himself was known to her.

Growing in grace with each passing moment

The words of the angel in greeting her are rich in meaning and merit consideration.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, Redeemer of mankind, is the only creature with absolute plenitude of grace, from the beginning, without any possibility of increase. When the Gospel affirms that Jesus “increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man” (Lk 2:52), this refers to the exterior manifestations of His sanctity. “Yet, interiorly, the treasure of celestial gifts which made Him pleasing to God were so perfect they could not increase in any way.”⁷

The same was not so with Our Lady. Her spiritual progress was incessant throughout her life whether due to the supernatural merits obtained by the practice of countless good works, as a fruit of her humble, confident and persevering prayer, or, at the end of her life, as an effect of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. This is without counting the increases in grace, of incalculable proportions, experienced by her soul when the Incarnation of the Word was effected, at the foot of the Cross, and on the occasion of Pentecost.⁸

Therefore, from one moment to the next she grew in grace, as Campana clearly expresses: “At each moment of her life, Mary was penetrated by divine rays of grace; in every minute of her life, her will was docile to rendering honour and glory to God; every beat of her heart was for God. […] Mary’s ascension toward the ideal of holiness was continuous, uniform, without shock or interruption.”⁹

Thus, when the angel proclaims her “full of grace”, he reveals that her soul is participating in the divine life in the highest degree possible at that moment; but a minute later this plenitude will have become greater.

Campana concludes: “Mary progresses in grace because new capacities of grace continually unfolded in her, and which were soon filled. This is the characteristic difference between the plenitude of sanctity in Mary and Jesus Christ.”¹⁰

Fullness of superabundance

Based upon the Angelic Doctor, Garrigou-Lagrange distinguishes three fulnesses of grace: absolute, exclusive to Christ; superabundant, special privilege of Mary; and sufficient, common to all the saints.¹¹ The eminent Dominican theologian explains: “These three fullnesses have been well compared to an inexhaustible spring, to the stream or river that flows from it, and to the different canals fed by the river which irrigate and make fertile the whole region they traverse—that is to say, the whole Church, universal in time and space.”¹²

Therefore, from the moment of her creation, Mary participated in the divine life more than all the angels and blessed combined. Indeed, if she distributed to these all the graces that each one required, nothing would be lacking to her, because, “under the form of merits, prayers and sacrifices, this river of grace can be traced back to God, ocean of peace.”¹³

St. Lawrence of Brindisi affirms that the plenitude of Mary’s grace “is understood only by God, because only He encompasses the immense abyss and almost infinite sea of this grace.”¹⁴

Cause of Mary’s concern

Our Lady’s reaction reveals the depth of her spirit.

Endowed with infused knowledge, she perfectly understood the scope of the angel’s noble affirmation, and pondered not only its immediate significance, but also their consequences and interconnection within the span of history.

Nevertheless, being full of grace, one of her attributes was eminent humility. Never concerned with self, all of her thoughts were turned to God and the salvation of humanity: When would the Messiah come? When would the redemption occur?

St. Gabriel’s presence caused her no disquiet. However, his greeting left her with a doubt, for she could not imagine that those words could be applied to her. As St. Thomas explains: “The Blessed Virgin did indeed believe explicitly in the future Incarnation; but, being humble, she did not think such high things of herself. Consequently she required instruction in this matter.”¹⁵

Fear of staining a spotless humility

Although exempt from original sin, Our Lady was created in the state of trial and clearly perceived the need for vigilance. She was afraid to apply the angel’s words to herself, and thereby offend God by a yielding to pride.

“Do not be afraid, Mary” meant: “Do not be perturbed, because your humility will be in no way compromised.” With these words, St. Gabriel exhorted her to have confidence that she would never stray from the right path. This would not be due to her merits. He did not say: “Do not be afraid, because you are strong,” but rather because “you have found favour with God.”

And why did she find favour with God?

St. Bernard replies: “If Mary had not been humble, the Holy Spirit would not have descended upon her; and, if He had not come down, she could not have conceived by his power. Because how could she conceive by Him without Him? Therefore, it is clear that, for her to conceive of Him, the Lord ‘regarded the low estate of His handmaiden’ (Lk 1:48) much more than her virginity; Mary certainly pleased God by her virginity, but she became his Mother because of her humility.”¹⁶

Do we act accordingly? Are we careful to avoid vanity, as Our Lady did in this circumstance? Are we aware that yielding to a proud thought can be the starting point for a grave decline in the spiritual life? Or are we delighted to accept any praise, real or imaginary?

The act of virtue that Lucifer and the bad angels failed to practice in heaven, and that Adam and Eve neglected in terrestrial paradise, Mary practiced most perfectly. What a sublime example she gives us, who are so often concerned with acquiring merited or unmerited honours!

“He will be called the Son of the Most High”

In these three verses, the angel indicates the extraordinary characteristics of He whom Our Lady would conceive. They coincided perfectly with Sacred Scripture, which Mary knew like no one else, and with the magnificent image she had formed of the Messiah in her mind over time.

We can imagine what the reaction of a young newlywed of that time would be, upon being told by an angel that her son will be great, both in the supernatural order: “will be called the Son of the Most High,” and the natural order: “the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David.” It is impossible to imagine anything more sublime!

However, Mary reacts to the angel’s message with new proofs of heroic humility. St. Gabriel announces that she will be the Mother of the most important of the sons of Israel—the Messiah! She listens, tranquil and serene, because she is unmoved by personal glory.

Perplexed by the announcement

Here, Mary’s exceptional faith shines, with the angel’s announcement. Hearing him say “you will conceive and bear a son,” she perceives that it is a divine message, and places no obstacle to its fulfillment. Yet, among the graces with which she was filled, there brightly shone an unmatched love for the virtue of chastity. When betrothed to St. Joseph, she agreed with him that they would remain virgins for their entire lives.¹⁷ In this context is understood the expression “I have no husband.” We can suppose that she and St. Joseph had had long conversations regarding this, concluding that the vow of chastity which they had both made was clearly inspired by God.

Even with this conviction rooted in her soul, she did not doubt the words of St. Gabriel. She merely expressed her perplexity, seeking to know more clearly how the divine plan would be fulfilled.

Wholly supernatural origin of the Word Incarnate

Who other than God, her Creator, could fathom the Virgin’s extraordinary love for the virtue of purity? Thus, He, who is Delicacy in essence, made certain to order the heavenly messenger to resolve her holy perplexity with extraordinary nobility and reverence.

The angel, being divinely instructed regarding the doubt that the divine maternity would awaken in her, showed her that, just as her cousin Elizabeth had been permitted to conceive a son in her old age, the divine Omnipotence could make her conceive without the cooperation of man. And she, resplendent in wisdom and intelligence, understood the explanations of the angel in their entire depth and immediately accepted them.

The entirely supernatural origin of the Word Incarnate was revealed at that moment. What thoughts must have passed through Mary’s mind in knowing the magnitude of this event!

Mary begot in time the same Person begotten by the Father from all eternity

Slavery is the most deplorable state for a human creature. Under Roman law, whoever fell into this situation was considered to be a thing, res, losing all rights pertaining to the human person. When the Virgin Mary said: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord,” she did so with full consciousness, placing herself entirely in God’s hands, with absolute confidence in his liberality.

With this radical act of acceptance, carried out in humility and faith, the conception of the Word Incarnate in her virginal womb immediately took place.

Let us now consider a particularly touching aspect of this fiat.

The Word of God was begotten by the Father from all eternity. Knowing Himself, He begot an eternal Son without the cooperation of a mother, in a mysterious way that our intelligence cannot grasp.

Now, soon after the Virgin’s consent—“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word”—the Holy Spirit began the process of the gestation of Word Incarnate in her. She became Mother without the cooperation of a natural father.

There is, then, between the Eternal Father and Mary most holy a parallel of impressive grandeur: in considering his own magnificence, God the Father begot the Son in eternity; and Mary, placing her contingence in God’s hands, begot the Son of God in time!

As the humblest of all creatures, Our Lady, in a way, reproduces the generation of the Word in eternity, in giving origin to the human nature of Our Lord on earth. The Father created all things in the Word and for the Word; by the Incarnation, Mary would allow the Son to offer Himself in sacrifice to the Father, for the restoration of all things degraded by sin.¹⁸

The awe-inspiring plan of the Incarnation and the Redemption of mankind depended on Mary’s fiat, for if, by some absurd hypothesis, she had not accepted, there would have been no Redemption.

III – The Feast of Harmony in the Universe

As was seen at the beginning of this article, God chose, among infinite possibilities, to create the best of universes, in which everything would be regulated according to Our Lord Jesus Christ. Because if He had created all beings in their greatest degree of perfection there would arise, paradoxically, a tremendous deficiency, greater than any other that could be imagined: the Word Incarnate could not offer anything of Himself to make Creation more sublime.

We should therefore rejoice in our limitations and, in a certain sense, even with our sins, because they allow Our Lord to exercise mercy, showering upon us, through Mary, that which is in Him in absolute plenitude.

Nevertheless, the fecundity of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus is such that, in repairing and pardoning, He not only restores to us that which we had lost, but also brings us to a level of completion greater than what was ours before. In this way, we may obtain by divine grace that which the most perfect beings—had they been created—would have had by nature.

Through her willingness and obedience, it was the Virgin Mary who introduced into the heart of the divine Work the supreme Creature and archetypical model for everything that exists, from Whom everything flows. Therefore, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord celebrates the restoration of harmony in the universe. It is the commemoration of the day in which Creation began to shine with an entirely divine brilliance, through the merits of Mary most holy. ◊

 

Notes

---

¹ “The humanity of Christ, from the fact that it is united to the Godhead; and created happiness from the fact that it is the fruition of God; and the Blessed Virgin from the fact that she is the mother of God; have all a certain infinite dignity from the infinite good, which is God. And on this account there cannot be anything better than these; just as there cannot be anything better than God” (ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Summa Theologica, I, q.25, a.6, ad.4).

² Idem, I, q.25, a.6, ad.3.

³ ST. BERNARD. Obras Completas. Homilías sobre la Virgen Madre 3,1. Madrid: BAC, 1953, t.I, p.207.

⁴ ST. BONAVENTURE. Meditaciones de la vida de Cristo. Buenos Aires: Santa Catalina, 1945, p.7.

⁵ ST. AUGUSTINE. Sermo 215, 4.ML 38, 1074.

⁶ JOURDAIN, Z.-C. Somme des grandeurs de Marie. 2.ed. Paris: Hyppolite Walzer, 1900, t.II, p.268.

⁷ CAMPANA, Emile. Marie dans le Dogme Catholique – Les Prérogatives de Marie. Montréjeau: Soubiron- Cardeilhac, s.d., t.II, p.281-282

⁸ Cf. ROYO MARIN, OP, Antonio. La Virgen María. Madrid: BAC, 1968, p.252-268.

⁹ CAMPANA, op. cit., p.278.

¹⁰ Idem, p.281

¹¹ Cf. GARRIGOU-LAGRANGE, OP, Réginald. La Mère du Sauveur et notre vie intérieure. Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1954, p.34-36.

¹² Idem, p.35.

¹³ Idem, ibidem.

¹⁴ ST. LAWRENCE OF BRINDISI. Marial – María de Nazaret, “Virgen de la Plenitud”. Madrid: BAC, 2004, p.206.

¹⁵ ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Op. cit., III, q.30, a.1, ad 2.

¹⁶ ST. BERNARD. Op. cit., Homilías sobre la Virgen Madre 1,5, p.189.

¹⁷ Cf. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Op. cit., III, q.28, a.4.

¹⁸  In this regard Alastruey notes: “The Annunciation shows the participation in the Incarnation and, therefore, in the restoration of the fallen world, obtained by the most holy Virgin, whose consent God Himself deigned to await so as to take flesh in her womb” (ALASTRUEY, Gregorio. Tratado de La Virgen Santísima. Madrid: BAC, 1945, p.71).