- As a virgin. The Holy Scriptures tell us that the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a young virgin who was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, of the family of David. The virgin was called Mary, whose response was: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” And the Holy Spirit, who is Lord and giver of life, is sent to fertilize the virginal womb of Mary. The Gospel accounts therefore present the virginal conception as a divine work that surpasses all human logic: “What was conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit,” the angel tells Joseph because Mary was already his betrothed (Mt 1:20).
- As a wife. She is the wife of the Holy Spirit, who makes her conceive the Son of the eternal Father in a humanity taken from her own. The relationship of the Virgin Mary with God, with the three divine Persons, is so unique, so sublime, so ineffable, that She is called “the Mother of God the Son, the beloved daughter of God the Father and the temple of the Holy Spirit.” God the Trinity, sending the angel Gabriel, asks Mary to accept that, through her, the second divine person of the Holy Trinity assumes human nature. Without a moment’s hesitation, Mary asks herself how to accept or collaborate with the divine will, and the answer is given through the power of the Spirit: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you” (Luke 1:35). This is why the Holy Spirit is considered the husband of the Virgin Mary.
- As a mother, the Holy Spirit accepts the Trinitarian decision to unite and bind himself to Mary so that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, may be born from her. And Mary accepts to give herself to the Spirit of God, to become the Mother of God. By freely agreeing to be the Mother of the Saviour, the author of grace, she also conceived us spiritually at that moment, since, being the Mother of the Head, who is Christ, she is also the Mother of the faithful members of the Mystical Body. The Virgin is our Mother, by the express will of the Lord, for He gave her to us, when He was on the Cross, with these words: “Jesus, seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there, said to his mother, Woman, behold, your son. Then he said to the disciple, Behold, your mother” (John 19:26-27).
- As a woman. The new man says to God, his Father: “Behold, I have come to do your will.” The new woman answers the angel: “Let it be done to me according to your word.” Like Jesus, the new Man, Mary, the new Woman, has as her only nourishment the Will of the Father. In pain and suffering she repeats like Jesus in Gethsemane: “Not as I will, but as you will.” And just as Jesus can end his earthly pilgrimage with the ineffable words: “It is finished.” Adherence to the Will of God that arises from faith and love.
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