My Spirit Rejoices in God My Savior

 

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
and my soul shall be joyful in my God:
for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation:
and with the robe of justice he hath covered me,
as a bridegroom decked with a crown,
and as a bride adorned with her jewels.
Isaiah 61, 10

And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.
Behold, from henceforth shall all generations call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.”
Luke 1, 46-49

The Catholic Church has always taught that God alone infallibly knows who His elect are and who have been predestined to glory. And although Catholics believe that Mary’s salvation must have been assured, especially since she was predestined to be the Mother of God and, by a singular Divine favor was preserved free from contracting the stain of original sin in view of her Son’s foreseen merits, our Blessed Lady couldn’t possibly have presumed that her individual salvation was guaranteed just by pronouncing her Fiat (Lk. 1:38). This is evident by the fact she conceived Jesus because of her poverty of spirit and deep humility. In her Canticle of Praise, Mary owns that God has looked upon the lowliness (humble estate) of his handmaiden (Lk 1:48). "The Lord hath heard the desire of the poor: thy ear hath heard the preparation of their heart" (Ps 10:17).

The Annunciation did, in fact, happen because Our Lady was humble of heart and poor in spirit by the grace of God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob led the Israelites all the way through the wilderness to the promised land for forty years to test them so that they would know what was in their hearts and whether they would keep His commands. They were humbled by hunger and having had to feed on only the manna that fell from heaven. Those who couldn’t humble themselves never made it to the promised land since they could not learn and accept how more important the word of God was than the foods of the earth (cf. Deut 8:2-3). Mary had found favor with God for she had proven herself worthy to be the mother of the Lord, unlike the unfaithful Israelites who were being prepared as a nation for the coming of the Messiah (Lk 1:30).

In any event, being shielded from the effects of original sin, notably the pride of life, Mary didn’t have the disposition to be so presumptuous. Unless Jesus had told her at some point that she would be with him body and soul in heaven, her personal salvation was something she purely hoped for and worked out in “fear and trembling” (Phil 2:2). Thus, she would understand that she should never cease to pray for all the graces she needed to persevere to the end and attain what she hoped for. God never ceased to be her source of strength and song. Mary’s trust in God’s promises was never misplaced in any way either. Nor did she ever fear that God might prove to be unfaithful in their covenant with each other. If any of the two could ever be unfaithful, it would surely be her.

Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.
Isaiah 12, 2

Because of her faith, Mary trusted God with all her might and had complete confidence in His promises throughout her entire life once she was mature enough to know and personally relate to Him. God was her salvation because she trusted Him with a steadfastness in faith. And so, she had no cause to be afraid, having found favor with God for doing His will by trusting His goodness and mercy (Lk 1:30). What the Lord’s handmaid was sure of was that God would never disown her if she never disowned Him (2 Tim. 2:12).

Thus, Mary must have prayed constantly for the plenitude of grace she received, so that she finally would be united with God in His heavenly kingdom. It was more God’s faithfulness than her own faith in God that she had confidence in. God could never withhold from Mary the many graces she asked for in prayer. If her heart did not condemn her, Mary knew that she would reap the fruits guaranteed by God’s goodness and righteousness. In faith, she was assured that she would receive countless blessings from God if she obeyed His commandments and did what pleased Him (1 Jn 3: 21-22). Only then could she declare in the imperative mood: “My spirit rejoices in God my savior!” God bestowed peace on Israel for the sake of the faithful because of their steadfastness in faith which enabled them to always trust God (cf. Isa 26:3-4). Mary, too, was blessed for believing in the words of God’s messenger (Lk 1:45).

Indeed, Mary must have concurred with her Son that she was more blessed for having heard the word of God and keeping it than for being his natural mother (Lk 11:28). She couldn’t have rejoiced in God her savior if it hadn’t been for her faith working through love (Gal 5:5-6). Mary had, in fact, rejoiced when she declared to the angel: “Be it done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). She was more disposed to please God rather than please herself by receiving the blessing of being the mother of God incarnate. Not even spiritual pride (an effect of original sin) could touch her.

Moreover, in charity and grace, Mary was no less mindful of the world’s redemption than she was of her own. Her Lord and Saviour wasn’t only personally hers, but just as importantly everyone’s. She joyfully proclaimed her Magnificat immediately after her kinswoman Elizabeth had praised her for having believed in the word of God for the spiritual benefit of the whole human race (Lk 1:45). The two of them could rejoice in the formal redemption of Israel and the entire world. That both Mary and Elizabeth were celebrating the final assurance of their own personal salvation wasn’t the case. The promised land was something they still hoped for and must be attained at the end of the course of their pilgrimage of faith now that salvation has come from the Jews through the person of and the faith of Mary.

O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt You,
I will give thanks to Your name;
for You have worked wonders,
Plans formed long ago,
with perfect faithfulness.
Isaiah 25, 1

If it hadn’t been for her Immaculate Conception, we can be sure that if Mary boasted in anything, it would have been in moral weaknesses that required the aid of divine grace for the influence of her divine Son to persuade her (2 Cor 12:9). Of course, she was liberated from contracting the moral ill-effects of original sin, but she was still free to say No to God in her innocence just as Eve was before her fall from grace. Mary was perfected by a lasting grace (Lk 1:28), but she wasn’t created absolutely perfect. So, it was by her collaboration with the Holy Spirit that our Blessed Lady merited to be the mother of the Divine Messiah and the gift of salvation for all humanity in the incarnation. She first had to conceive Jesus in her heart, as St. Augustine puts it, before she could conceive him in her womb. Human pride can be a good thing, but the Lord’s handmaid never judged or acted on inordinate pride or excessive love of self which original sin essentially is.

Grace preceded Mary in her collaboration with God in His work of redemption; so, unless she united her spirit with the Spirit of God by acceding to His prompting, there could be no salvation for her or anybody. Mary must not receive the grace of God in vain if His work were to be accomplished first in her before it should be in the world by His Anointed One (2 Cor 6:1). Fortunately for us, as well as for Mary, she sought to exalt God when she pronounced her Fiat. This was more important to her than any eternal reward she might receive because of her faith. Her love of God was impeccable, which gave her just cause to rejoice in her salvation. From this love flowed her love of fallen humanity which God honored to her credit before He would become a man.

As a daughter of true faith, Mary joyfully received the words of the angel in the depths of her heart, for she saw what God graciously desired for the lasting happiness of humankind would redound to the glory of His love and mercy. She said Yes to the angel in a spirit of thanksgiving, ever mindful of how faithful God was in keeping His promises, albeit the ungratefulness and unworthiness of fallen humanity. Mary’s spirit had rejoiced in God her savior, who alone could have wrought wonders beyond all human understanding outside the sanctifying light of faith. Mary understood all too well that the redemption of humanity was a certainty provided she was faithful to God in return. All that was asked of her was that she should align her spirit with the Spirit of God so that the Divine work be made complete as promised through her as a true daughter of Israel.

And it will be said in that day,
“Behold, this is our God
for whom we have waited
that He might save us.
This is the LORD for whom we have waited;
Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”
Isaiah 25, 9

Mary did not simply rejoice in her salvation for the sake of being saved, though she had a good reason to, seeing that it meant enjoying eternal life with God in heavenly bliss. Despite how joyful she must have been with the prospect of this great blessing – the Beatific Vision – presented before her, Mary rejoiced first and foremost in the Divine Messiah himself from the depths of her soul in faith and love. That she should have been chosen to bring the living Source of salvation into the world as a daughter of Zion was reason enough for her to be overjoyed in God’s mercy and love. For this, Mary was thankful that God should look upon her humble state to manifest His infinite glory in a fallen world through her. She was indeed blessed as Israel was for having been chosen from among all peoples to bear and bring forth our Lord and Savior.

Our Blessed Lady understood, that before the Holy Spirit should come upon His chosen bride and cover her with His shadow, she had to have adorned herself with the jewels of divine grace by allowing it to supernaturally transform her heart and mind in the depths of her soul in greater perfection; she would have had to array herself with the garments of salvation by “putting on” the holy child she would bear (Rom 13:14), and only then could she become His mother, that is by being like Him.

Hence, what was most important to Mary was that she loved God with all her heart, mind, strength, and soul for the glory of His holy name despite the personal sacrifices she might have to make in union with her divine Son. She rejoiced in the One whom she must array herself in if He were to bring the gift of salvation to the world through her. And she rejoiced in the marvelous work God accomplished in her by His grace. The Lord had done “great things” for her in His mercy, for which she should be thankful and glad. Mary’s salvation initially depended on the One who was the living source of all the graces she had received so that she could be saved by consenting to conceive and bear Him. Our Blessed Lady humbly owned there could be no salvation for her or anyone else without the Divine initiative.

Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
Your neck with strings of beads.”
Song of Solomon 1, 10

The apostle Paul teaches us that our “perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body put on immortality” (1 Cor 15:53). Only then can our redemption and resurrection from the dead be personally realized. Mary saw herself in God’s plan as a woman who should be removed from sinful humanity, as Israel was separated from the surrounding pagan nations if the formal redemption of the world were to be accomplished by the promised Messiah through the untilled soil of her virgin womb. Mary’s spirit could rejoice in God her savior since it conformed to His Spirit and the Spirit of the Son whom she would bear.

Not unlike the holy child that she would be the mother of, Mary made no provision for the flesh or gratified any vain desires that would offend God; she had a compassionate heart, she was kind, humble, meek, and patient; holy and beloved by God because of her faith in charity and grace (cf. Col 3:12). Her interior disposition attested to what it meant to be saved. Mary rejoiced in God’s salvation by her impeccable virtuous living that rendered her worthy to be the mother of our Lord.  A wicked spirit, such as the offspring of the serpent, has no cause to rejoice.

The Incarnation happened and, as a result, so did the world’s redemption and hope of salvation because Mary was “robed in a mantle of justice” through the plenitudes of grace she was endowed with and never spurned at any time in her life (Lk 1:28). Mary’s spirit rejoiced in God her savior by being one in spirit with Him and like Him through His grace. So, unless Mary had led a life of obedience to the will of God, by shedding what was perishable in the flesh and putting on what was imperishable in the Son whom she would bear, she could not be God’s chosen and beloved handmaid. By living a life in the flesh and in disobedience to God together with fallen humanity, and her exiled ancestors, she could not rejoice in the One who was the world’s salvation, since she could only then reject the One in whom she would have no joy. The Divine Word chose to come into the world and become a man on the condition that the woman whom He chose to be His mother would find no joy except in Him.

And my soul shall rejoice in the LORD;
It shall exult in His salvation.
Psalm 35, 9

Mary’s spirit rejoiced in God her savior because her soul magnified the Lord. The supernatural quality of Mary’s soul proclaimed His glory in a fallen world. She embodied in her person what it takes to be saved and enjoy eternal life with God. Mary never presumed that her personal salvation was guaranteed, but the state of her soul attested that it was, provided she should persevere in God’s grace. If her heart did not condemn her, Mary had confidence before God. Mary’s spirit could rejoice in God her savior, for it was perfected in the love of God and neighbor. The Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary because of her perfect love which conformed to the love God has for all His created children. This pleased God (1 Jn 3:21-22). By joyfully pronouncing her Fiat, Mary essentially begged God to come into the world as its salvation. Her prayer was answered since her spirit rejoiced in what pleased God, “that everyone might be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4). Mary’s spirit was united with the Spirit of God; her joy was what pleased God and what He desired of her.

In faith and love, Mary rejoiced in what should be to the glory of God’s goodness and righteousness. Nor could she bear to imagine the desolation of never ever seeing God face to face in His heavenly kingdom. Mary did not exalt in only her salvation, but also in the salvation that only God could offer all humanity in His love and mercy. She rejoiced in God’s benevolence for the salvation of the world. And what God offered Mary was something she couldn’t possibly resist, having been supernaturally transformed by His grace, as to be worthy to bear His salvation in the promised Messiah. She rejoiced in her Son Yeshua, which in Hebrew means “God is salvation”. Meanwhile, Mary desired for the world what she desired for herself, for she knew that no soul could find true happiness separated from God. She desired God more than anything else. The salvation of her soul meant nothing if it did not entail eternal life with God and seeing Him face to face. The hope of the Beatific Vision gave Mary’s soul a cause to rejoice in God her savior (Ex 24:11).

She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth…
And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth,
so that when she bore her child, he might devour it.
Revelation 12, 2-4

With Mary’s joy would come sorrow, without which there could be no heavenly bliss in God’s presence. The greatest trial our Blessed Lady ever faced in her pilgrimage of faith must have been when she stood at the foot of the Cross. She could have felt as abandoned by God as her Son might have had in his humanity, if he weren’t a Divine person, as she witnessed his humiliating and cruel death at the hands of ungrateful sinners, who certainly didn’t deserve God’s love and mercy. Yet Mary remained steadfast in her faith together with her Son in his steadfast obedience to the will of the Father. Here lies the paradox of faith: Concomitant with Mary’s sorrow was her joy in having to face this terrible trial for the salvation of all souls, including her own. Her soul was joyfully exalted in God’s salvation even when it was pierced by immense sorrow, and because of her shared agony (Lk 2:34-35). To live and reign with Christ one must suffer and die with him.

Mary knew that the passion of her Son was all for a greater good, that God would never renege on His promised inheritance. At the foot of the Cross, God faithfully upheld His end of the covenant by establishing His handmaid’s second maternal role. It was through her agonizing sorrow – the sword that pierced her heart – that Mary gave birth to the countless sons and daughters of all nations who would form the mystical Body of her Son, which is the Church, upon his resurrection and ascension into heaven, where he established his authority and everlasting rule after casting out Satan and his angels from heaven (Rev 12:5, 9-11).

When Mary gazed upon her suffering and dying Son with a loving mother’s terrible anguish, she understood that the testing of her faith produced endurance; and by letting her endurance have its full effect, she would become mature and complete in her faith, lacking nothing which, being associated with her Son in his redemptive work, required (Jas 1:3). God would be faithful in keeping His promise if she was faithful to Him. Mary rejoiced in God her savior because of her faith in God’s faithfulness, despite this difficult trial.

Golgotha was indeed the climactic point in Mary’s journey of faith, but even on this heart-rending occasion, her soul continued to magnify the Lord and proclaim His glory. Mary’s spirit could rejoice in God her savior for the salvation of all humanity demanded that our Blessed Lady should suffer for the sins that had offended God, whom she wished to propitiate on behalf of all ungrateful humanity because of her perfect love for Him. The interior suffering that was imposed on her she gladly accepted, not only because of her love of God but also because of her love and compassion for fallen humankind.

Our sorrowful Mother’s merciful spirit resembled the compassion God had for all His created children. Without Mary’s willing collaboration with God in and through the Holy Spirit, the temporal reparation she was called to make would be left undone. Without it, her divine Son would not make eternal reparation and be the expiation for the sins of the world (1 Pet 1:3-7). Mary could rejoice in her suffering since it was united with the suffering of her beloved Son for the salvation of humanity. She drew all her moral courage from him.

Our Blessed Lady possessed a love for the world that emulated the love her divine Son had in his humanity. The divine image that she was created in reached full perfection as she stood beneath the Cross under the weight of her sorrow. Because of her supernatural love for God and humanity, Mary could rejoice in His salvation, but not without rejoicing in her interior suffering. Jesus made suffering the necessary means of redemption, that is willing to suffer out of love of God for sin which offends Him and has ravaged humankind, so that the equity of justice between God and humanity may be restored. The apostle Paul rejoiced in his suffering for the sake of his flock and the glory his sheep might attain because of it (Col 1:24).

In agony, Mary gave new birth to mankind. Adam’s trespass resulted in the condemnation of humanity; so also the righteous act of her Son, the second Adam resulted in justification and new life for all (Rom 5:18), but on the condition that his mother Mary, the second Eve, and helpmate, suffer in union with him by offering the fruit of her womb back to God to complete and perfect his super-abundant peace offering of reconciliation.

God’s plan of salvation required Mary’s full moral participation since the Fall involved both genders and, therefore, could not be totally undone without full reciprocation. Mary’s willingness to suffer on Calvary, because of sin, was her loving response to God’s will in union with her Son, which eradicated Eve’s unfaithfulness to God and her transgression because of her inordinate love of self. Mary vindicated Eve by acting in an alternate way. She denied herself to the point of dying to her maternal self, thereby becoming the spiritual mother of redeemed humankind.

On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Fear not, O Zion;
let not your hands grow weak.
The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
Zephaniah 3, 16-18

Mary was more of a mother to Jesus and further blessed in this capacity (Lk 11:27-28). Subjectively, her love of God and compassion for fallen humanity had redeeming value. Her obedient act of faith pleased God because of the supernatural quality of her soul. Grace preceded Mary, and so she could merit the grace, which her Son produced by his self-immolation, for fallen humanity by right of friendship with God. Our Blessed Lady could rejoice in God’s salvation, for she understood and accepted what was required of her for His salvation to be perfect and complete. Her soul was quieted by the peace that only God’s love could provide because she reciprocated her love in mutual faith with God who exalted Mary for her faith. The Lord her God was in her midst as He had always been in the midst of His chosen people despite their suffering. But for Our Lady of Sorrows, God was much closer, right above her shedding His blood on the Cross in dying agony for the sins of the world.

Mary’s spirit rejoiced in God her savior, for our Blessed Lady was “buried with Christ” at the hour of his passion. Mary stood beneath the Cross dead to the world with all its vain allurements. Calvary was her forty-year sojourn in the desert so that all the faithful among God’s chosen people could eventually reach the promised land. She sacrificed her maternal rights when she offered her beloved Son back to God for the salvation of the world. The hope of our salvation, which only Christ could initially produce by his merits alone, was completed, however, by the Blessed Mother who crucified her flesh and died to self in union with her Son’s passion and death so that everyone might be saved (cf. Col 1:24; Eph 3:13).

Beneath the Cross, Mary raised her heart and mind to things that are above this world, as our Lord was raised in spirit when he was lifted high on the Cross by his obedience to the will of the Father so that we might share in his glory, provided we die with him in spirit (cf. Col 3:1-4). God honored Mary’s interior sorrow as a temporal means of reparation for the sins of the world, and thereby He exalted His faithful and loving handmaid by designating her Mother of the Church (Jn 19:26-27).

The Incarnation happened because Mary did not doubt God. She wasn’t like “the wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind, being double-minded and unstable in every way.” And, so, she could expect to “receive anything from the Lord” both for her and the human race (cf. Jas 1:2-8). Her spiritual work of mercy completed her faith by animating it. Our Blessed Lady couldn’t have appeased God’s justice and make temporal satisfaction to God for the sins of the world if her faith had been nothing but a mental construct. Mary could rejoice in God her savior only by possessing a living and active faith (cf. Jas. 2:14-25). Her faith anticipated the faith of the Church: a faith that sought what she could do for God rather than what God could do for His bride. The Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles and the disciples of Christ who were gathered in the upper room on the day of Pentecost days after his ascension (Acts 2:1-13). But first, the Holy Spirit had to come upon and overshadow the Blessed Virgin Mary because of her faith which prevailed over death’s vain claim to victory with the resurrection of her Son.

Jesus chose to die on the cross with his mother kneeling before him in anguish, for if we hope to be saved, we must take up our crosses after him (Mt 16:24; Mk 8:34; Lk 9:23). Only then, we should have cause to rejoice in our salvation together with our Blessed Mother. Without suffering and having to die to ourselves in this imperfect world, we could never show our love for God by choosing to make sacrifices to Him for our transgressions. His faithful handmaid chose to suffer for humanity because of her love for God. This act of worship she offered God who was grieved by sin was paradoxically an expression of her joy in God’s salvation. As Mary gazed upon her afflicted Son, she rejoiced in her King and Maker. She praised His name in her sorrow instead of in merriment and dancing. She experienced joy in her anguish since her soul made music to God with tambourine and harp despite a mother’s agony (cf. Ps 149:2). The adagio that flowed from Mary’s pierced heart overwhelmed her with God’s love that gave her peace. Mary could rejoice in her salvation for she suffered together with her beloved Son.

GIVE praise, O thou barren, that bearest not:
sing forth praise, and make a joyful noise,
thou that didst not travail with child:
for many are the children of the desolate,
more than of her that hath a husband,
saith the Lord.
Isaiah 54, 1

God would never have chosen Mary to be the mother of His Son if He knew that she would prove to be unfaithful at the hour of His Son’s perfect obedience to His will. Her spirit must rejoice in God her savior, which could be expressed by nothing less than Mary accepting her sorrow and uniting her interior suffering with the suffering of her Divine Son for the remission of sin. Christ used suffering as a means by which he merited the grace of redemption for the entire world. He sanctified suffering from his passion. What was once an evil effect of original sin and a condition of it had been given a “quasi-sacramental” value, by which we might be saved if offered to God in union with our Lord and Savior (cf. Dom Bruno Webb, Why Does God Permit Evil? Sophia Institute, 2004). God was temporally appeased by Mary’s suffering, for her Son lived in her while she willingly suffered in union with him for the sins of the world.

Since the Annunciation, the life Mary led as the mother of our Lord wasn’t merely the natural life of a mother, but a life lived by faith in her divine Son and what he came to accomplish for us all. Her motherhood was a divine vocation. The mother of our Lord lived her faith by putting it into action for the salvation of souls. Her exile into Egypt together with the infant Jesus was her first great act of sacrificial love and spiritual worship of God. Mary made temporal satisfaction for sin in union with her Son long before Calvary arrived (Mt 2:13-23). All she could do then was ponder God’s mystery in her afflicted heart and brace herself with the help of God’s grace for what other trials must still lie ahead.

Our sorrowful Mother understood, by the sanctifying light of faith, that God’s salvation should be completed by having to suffer and die because of sin. And she knew by the Holy Spirit’s gift of knowledge, that she had no cause to rejoice in God her Savior unless she were willing to suffer for God her “spiritual worship.” Her salvation, not unlike ours, meant offering herself as a living sacrifice to God holy and pleasing to Him (Rom 12:1-2). Mary’s spirit (pnuema) had rejoiced in God her savior by the life she had led in faith in her Son as his mother. She was more or truly (menoun) a mother to him in this respect (Lk 11:27-28). Mary’s Divine Maternity was a sublime form of discipleship. Catholics have long praised her as Queen of Apostles and Martyrs.

Your sun will never set again,
and your moon will wane no more;
the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and your days of sorrow will end.
Then all your people will be righteous
and they will possess the land forever.
They are the shoot I have planted,
the work of my hands,
for the display of my splendor.
Isaiah 60, 20-21

Fortunately, for both her and humankind, our Blessed Lady never doubted God, not even on Golgotha; since, as she knelt and gazed upon her dying Son, she fervently prayed for the graces she needed to endure her interior suffering in union with his suffering. By her perseverance in faith, Mary accepted God’s will, that her heart should also be pierced, if her Son was to redeem the world and reconcile it to God (Lk 2:34-35). What God had ordained for her was spoken of by the prophets in the metaphor of Daughter Zion ( Isa 49:21; 54:1-3; Jer 4:31). That Our Lady of Sorrows should cradle her beloved Son’s lifeless body in her arms because of man’s sins against God was a condition of the salvation she rejoiced in. Her spirit rejoiced in God her Saviour up to this culminating moment, albeit the pain and the loss. She possessed a faith that pronounced “Christ crucified” (1 Cor 1:23) and “died with Christ” so that she and all humanity could hope to live eternally with her divine Son in heavenly glory (Rom 6:8). Our Blessed Mother suffered and died for us all “with the Redeemer,” and so we rightly hail her as our co-Redemptrix.

Mary rejoiced in her suffering and found consolation in it because of the suffering her beloved Son was willing to endure in his love for humanity and its salvation. Mary rejoiced in God her savior, the Father’s suffering servant, by reciprocating her love for her Son who was wounded for our transgressions. She could return her love only by willingly suffering with him for all the sins which had offended God the Father. Her virtue of faith gave cause to her soul’s rejoicing in God her savior amid the piercing sorrow. This was a faith informed by love in charity and grace, the faith we need to be saved: faith put into loving action in union with Christ’s work of sacrificial love for the sake of God’s goodness and righteousness.

Hence, Our Sorrowful Mother understood what the Apostles hadn’t until Pentecost, that she could rejoice in being alive with her Son in the Resurrection only by dying to self and being buried with him in his death through suffering. Despite her sorrow at the foot of the Cross, Mary had cause to rejoice and be glad in God’s salvation – that is in what it must take for us to be saved. Mary perceived, by the sanctifying light of faith, as she looked upon her suffering and dying Son, that our salvation may be attained only if we suffer and die to self and to this world in obedience to God in union with Jesus in perseverance to the end (Rom 6:5-8). Jesus did not come into this world only to save us, but also to show us what we must do if we hope to be saved in and through his merits. His Blessed Mother faithfully answered the call from beginning to end to make all things new with him and, so, God had exalted her (cf. Isa 60:20-21).

“Let us not be astonished that the Lord, who came to save the world, began his work in Mary,
so that she, by whom the salvation of all was being readied, would be the first to receive from her
own child its fruits.”
St. Ambrose of Milan, In Lk. II, 17
(ante A.D. 397)

Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion,
for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst,
declares the Lord.
Zechariah 2, 10

Salve Regina!