MOTHER OF THE REDEEMER
(Redemptoris Mater)


ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF JOHN PAUL II on the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Life of
the Pilgrim Church

March 25, 1987

1. The Mother of the Redeemer has a precise place in the plan of
salvation, for "when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son,
born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the
law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons,
God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, `Abba!
Father!'" (Gal. 4:4-6)

With these words of the Apostle Paul, which the Second Vatican Council
takes up at the beginning of its treatment of-the Blessed Virgin Mary,[1]

I too wish to begin my reflection on the role of Mary in the mystery of
Christ and on her active and exemplary presence in the life of the
Church. For they are words which celebrate together the love of the
Father, the mission of the Son, the gift of the Spirit, the role of the
woman from whom the Redeemer was born, and our own divine filiation, in
the mystery of the "fullness of time."[2]

This "fullness" indicates the moment fixed from all eternity when the
Father sent his Son "that whoever believes in him should not perish but
have eternal life" (Jn. 3:16). It denotes the blessed moment when the
Word that "was with God...became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn. 1:1, 14),
and made himself our brother. It marks the moment when the Holy Spirit,
who had already infused the fullness of grace into Mary of Nazareth,
formed in her virginal womb the human nature of Christ. This "fullness"
marks the moment when, with the entrance of the eternal into time, time
itself is redeemed, and being filled with the mystery of Christ becomes
definitively "salvation time." Finally, this "fullness" designates the
hidden beginning of the Church's journey. In the liturgy the Church
salutes Mary of Nazareth as the Church's own beginning,[3] for in the
event of the Immaculate Conception the Church sees projected, and
anticipated in her most noble member, the saving grace of Easter. And
above all, in the Incarnation she encounters Christ and Mary indissolubly
joined: he who is the Church's Lord and Head and she who, uttering the
first fiat of the New Covenant, prefigures the Church's condition as
spouse and mother.

2. Strengthened by the presence of Christ (cf. Mt. 28:20), the Church
journeys through time towards the consummation of the ages and goes to
meet the Lord who comes. But on this journey-- and I wish to make this
point straight-away she proceeds along the path already trodden by the
Virgin Mary, who "advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and loyally
persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross."[4]

I take these very rich and evocative words from the Constitution Lumen
Gentium, which in its concluding part offers a clear summary of the
Church's doctrine on the Mother of Christ, whom she venerates as her
beloved Mother and as her model in faith, hope and charity.

Shortly after the Council, my great predecessor Paul VI decided to speak
further of the Blessed Virgin. In the Encyclical Epistle "Christi Matri"
and subsequently in the Apostolic Exhortations "Signum Magnum" and
"Marialis
Cultus"[5] he expounded the foundations and criteria of the special
veneration which the Mother of Christ receives in the Church, as well as
the various forms of Marian devotion--liturgical, popular and
private--which respond to the spirit of faith.

3. The circumstance which now moves me to take up this subject once more
is the prospect of the year 2000, now drawing near, in which the
Bimillennial Jubilee of the birth of Jesus Christ at the same time
directs our gaze towards his Mother. In recent years, various opinions
have been voiced suggesting that it would be fitting to precede that
anniversary by a similar Jubilee in celebration of the birth of Mary.

In fact, even though it is not possible to establish an exact
chronological point for identifying the date of Mary's birth, the Church
has constantly been aware that Mary appeared on the horizon of salvation
history before Christ.[6] It is a fact that when "the fullness of time"
was definitively drawing near--the saving advent of Emmanuel--she who was
from eternity destined to be his Mother already existed on earth. The
fact that she "preceded" the coming of Christ is reflected every year in
the liturgy of Advent. Therefore, if to that ancient historical
expectation of the Savior we compare these years which are bringing us
closer to the end of the second Millennium after Christ and to the
beginning of the third, it becomes fully comprehensible that in this
present period we wish to turn in a special way to her, the one who in
the "night" of the Advent expectation began to shine like a true "Morning
Star" (Stella Matutina). For just as this star, together with the "dawn,"
precedes the rising of the sun, so Mary from the time of her Immaculate
Conception preceded the coming of the Savior, the rising of the "Sun of
Justice" in the history of the human race.[7]

Her presence in the midst of Israel--a presence so discreet as to pass
almost unnoticed by the eyes of her contemporaries--shone very clearly
before the Eternal One, who had associated this hidden "daughter of Sion"
(cf. Zeph. 3:14; Zech. 2:10) with the plan of salvation embracing the
whole history of humanity. With good reason, then, at the end of this
Millennium, we Christians who know that the providential plan of the Most
Holy Trinity is the central reality of Revelation and of faith feel the
need to emphasize the unique presence of the Mother of Christ in history,
especially during these last years leading up to the year 2000.

4. The Second Vatican Council prepares us for this by presenting in its
teaching the Mother of God in the mystery of Christ and of the Church. If
it is true, as the Council itself proclaims,[8] that "only in the mystery
of the Incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light," then this
principle must be applied in a very particular way to that exceptional
"daughter of the human race," that extraordinary "woman" who became the
Mother of Christ. Only in the mystery of Christ is her mystery fully made
clear. Thus has the Church sought to interpret it from the very
beginning: the mystery of the Incarnation has enabled her to penetrate
and to make ever clearer the mystery of the Mother of the Incarnate Word.
The Council of Ephesus (431) was of decisive importance in clarifying
this, for during that Council, to the great joy of Christians, the truth
of the divine motherhood of Mary was solemnly confirmed as a truth of the
Church's faith. Mary is the Mother of God (= Theotokos), since by the
power of the Holy Spirit she conceived in her virginal womb and brought
into the world Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is of one being with the
Father.[9] "The Son of God...born of the Virgin Mary...has truly been
made one of us,"[10] has been made man. Thus, through the mystery of
Christ, on the horizon of the Church's faith there shines in its fullness
the mystery of his Mother. In turn, the dogma of the divine motherhood of
Mary was for the Council of Ephesus and is for the Church like a seal
upon the dogma of the Incarnation, in which the Word truly assumes human
nature into the unity of his person, without canceling out that nature.

5. The Second Vatican Council, by presenting Mary in the mystery of
Christ, also finds the path to a deeper understanding of the mystery of
the Church. Mary, as the Mother of Christ, is in a particular way united
with the Church, "which the Lord established as his own body."[11] It is
significant that the conciliar text places this truth about the Church as
the Body of Christ (according to the teaching of the Pauline Letters) in
close proximity to the truth that the Son of God "through the power of
the Holy Spirit was born of the Virgin Mary." The reality of the
Incarnation finds a sort of extension in the mystery of the Church--the
Body of Christ. And one cannot think of the reality of the Incarnation
without referring to Mary, the Mother of the Incarnate Word.

In these reflections, however, I wish to consider primarily that
"pilgrimage of faith" in which "the Blessed Virgin advanced," faithfully
preserving her union with Christ.[12] In this way the "twofold bond"
which unites the Mother of God with Christ and with the Church takes on
historical significance. Nor is it just a question of the Virgin Mother's
life-story, of her personal journey of faith and "the better part" which
is hers in the mystery of salvation; it is also a question of the history
of the whole People of God, of all those who take part in the same
"pilgrimage of faith."

The Council expresses this when it states in another passage that Mary
"has gone before," becoming "a model of the Church in the matter of
faith, charity and perfect union with Christ."[13] This "going before" as
a figure or model is in reference to the intimate mystery of the Church,
as she actuates and accomplishes her own saving mission by uniting in
herself--as Mary did--the qualities of mother and virgin. She is a virgin
who "keeps whole and pure the fidelity she has pledged to her Spouse" and
"becomes herself a mother," for "she brings forth to a new and immortal
life children who are conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of God."[14]

6. All this is accomplished in a great historical process, comparable "to
a journey. " The pilgrimage of faith indicates the interior history, that
is, the story of souls. But it is also the story of all human beings,
subject here on earth to transitoriness, and part of the historical
dimension. In the following reflections we wish to concentrate first of
all on the present, which in itself is not yet history, but which
nevertheless is constantly forming it, also in the sense of the history
of salvation. Here there opens up a broad prospect, within which the
Blessed Virgin Mary continues to "go before" the People of God. Her
exceptional pilgrimage of faith represents a constant point of reference
for the Church, for individuals and for communities, for peoples and
nations and, in a sense, for all humanity. It is indeed difficult to
encompass and measure its range.

The Council emphasizes that the Mother of God is already the
eschatological fulfillment of the Church: "In the most holy Virgin the
Church has already reached that perfection whereby she exists without
spot or wrinkle (cf. Eph. 5:27)"; and at the same time the Council says
that "the followers of Christ still strive to increase in holiness by
conquering sin, and so they raise their eyes to Mary, who shines forth to
the whole community of the elect as a model of the virtues."[15] The
pilgrimage of faith no longer belongs to the Mother of the Son of God:
glorified at the side of her Son in heaven, Mary has already crossed the
threshold between faith and that vision which is "face to face" (l Cor.
13:12). At the same time, however, in this eschatological fulfillment,
Mary does not cease to be the "Star of the Sea" (Maris Stella)[16] for
all those who are still on the journey of faith. If they lift their eyes
to her from their earthly existence, they do so because "the Son whom she
brought forth is he whom God placed as the first-born among many brethren
(Rom. 8:29),"[17] and also because "in the birth and development" of
these brothers and sisters "she cooperates with a maternal love."[18]

7. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places" (Eph. 1:3). These words of the Letter to the Ephesians reveal the
eternal design of God the Father, his plan of man's salvation in Christ.
It is a universal plan, which concerns all men and women created in the
image and likeness of God (cf. Gen. 1:26). Just as all are included in
the creative work of God "in the beginning," so all are eternally
included in the divine plan of salvation, which is to be completely
revealed, in the "fullness of time," with the final coming of Christ. In
fact, the God who is the "Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"--these are the
next words of the same Letter--"chose us in him before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined
us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose
of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he freely
bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his
grace" (Eph. 1:4-7).

The divine plan of salvation--which was fully revealed to us with the
coming of Christ--is eternal. And according to the teaching contained in
the Letter just quoted and in other Pauline Letters (cf. Col. 1:12-14;
Rom. 3:24; Gal. 3:13; 2 Cor. 5:18-29), it is also eternally linked to
Christ. It includes everyone, but it reserves a special place for the
"woman" who is the Mother of him to whom the Father has entrusted the
work of salvation.[19] As the Second Vatican Council says, "she is
already prophetically foreshadowed in that promise made to our first
parents after their fall into sin"-- according to the Book of Genesis
(cf. 3:15). "Likewise she is the Virgin who is to conceive and bear a
son, whose name will be called Emmanuel"--according to the words of
Isaiah (cf. 7:14).[20] In this way the Old Testament prepares that
"fullness of time" when God "sent forth his Son, born of woman...so that
we might receive adoption as sons." The coming into the world of the Son
of God is an event recorded in the first chapters of the Gospels
according to Luke and Matthew.

8. Mary is definitively introduced into the mystery of Christ through
this event: the Annunciation by the angel. This takes place at Nazareth,
within the concrete circumstances of the history of Israel, the people
which first received God's promises. The divine messenger says to the
Virgin: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Lk. 1:28). Mary "was
greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of
greeting this might be" (Lk. 1:29): what could those extraordinary words
mean, and in particular the expression "full of grace"
(kecharitomene).[21]

If we wish to meditate together with Mary on these words, and especially
on the expression "full of grace," we can find a significant echo in the
very passage from the Letter to the Ephesians quoted above. And if after
the announcement of the heavenly messenger the Virgin of Nazareth is also
called "blessed among women" (cf. Lk. 1:42), it is because of that
blessing with which "God the Father" has filled us "in the heavenly
places, in Christ." It is a spiritual blessing which is meant for all
people and which bears in itself fullness and universality ("every
blessing"). It flows from that love which, in the Holy Spirit, unites the
consubstantial Son to the Father. At the same time, it is a blessing
poured out through Jesus Christ upon human history until the end: upon
all people. This blessing, however, refers to Mary in a special and
exceptional degree: for she was greeted by Elizabeth as "blessed among
women."

The double greeting is due to the fact that in the soul of this "daughter
of Sion" there is manifested, in a sense, all the "glory of grace," that
grace which "the Father...has given us in his beloved Son." For the
messenger greets Mary as "full of grace"; he calls her thus as if it were
her real name. He does not call her by her proper earthly name: Miryam (=
Mary), but by this new name: "full of grace." What does this name mean'?
Why does the archangel address the Virgin of Nazareth in this way?

In the language of the Bible "grace" means a special gift, which
according to the New Testament has its source precisely in the
Trinitarian life of God himself, God who is love (cf. I Jn. 4:8). The
fruit of this love is "the election" of which the Letter to the Ephesians
speaks. On the part of God, this election is the eternal desire to save
man through a sharing in his own life (cf. 2 Pt. 1:4) in Christ: it is
salvation through a sharing in supernatural life. The effect of this
eternal gift, of this grace of man's election by God, is like a seed of
holiness, or a spring which rises in the soul as a gift from God himself,
who through grace gives life and holiness to those who are chosen. In
this way there is fulfilled, that is to say there comes about, that
"blessing" of man "with every spiritual blessing," that "being his
adopted sons and daughters...in Christ," in him who is eternally the
"beloved Son" of the Father.

When we read that the messenger addresses Mary as "full of grace," the
Gospel context, which mingles revelations and ancient promises, enables
us to understand that among all the "spiritual blessings in Christ" this
is a special "blessing." In the mystery of Christ she is present even
"before the creation of the world," as the one whom the Father "has
chosen" as Mother of his Son in the Incarnation. And, what is more,
together with the Father, the Son has chosen her, entrusting her
eternally to the Spirit of holiness. In an entirely special and
exceptional way Mary is united to Christ, and similarly she is eternally
loved in this "beloved Son," this Son who is of one being with the
Father, in whom is concentrated all the "glory of grace." At the same
time, she is and remains perfectly open to this "gift from above" (cf.
Jas. 1:17). As the Council teaches, Mary "stands out among the poor and
humble of the Lord, who confidently await and receive salvation from
him."[22]

9. If the greeting and the name "full of grace" say all this, in the
context of the angel's announcement they refer first of all to the
election of Mary as Mother of the Son of God. But at the same time the
"fullness of grace" indicates all the supernatural munificence from which
Mary benefits by being chosen and destined to be the Mother of Christ. If
this election is fundamental for the accomplishment of God's salvific
designs for humanity, and if the eternal choice in Christ and the
vocation to the dignity of adopted children is the destiny of everyone,
then the election of Mary is wholly exceptional and unique. Hence also
the singularity and uniqueness of her place in the mystery of Christ.

The divine messenger says to her: "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have
found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear
a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be
called the Son of the Most High" (Lk. 1:30-32). And when the Virgin,
disturbed by that extraordinary greeting, asks: "How shall this be, since
I have no husband?" she receives from the angel the confirmation and
explanation of the preceding words. Gabriel says to her: "The Holy Spirit
will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God" (Lk.
1:35).

The Annunciation, therefore, is the revelation of the mystery of the
Incarnation at the very beginning of its fulfillment on earth. God's
salvific giving of himself and his life, in some way to all creation but
directly to man, reaches one of its high points in the mystery of the
Incarnation. This is indeed a high point among all the gifts of grace
conferred in the history of man and of the universe: Mary is "full of
grace," because it is precisely in her that the Incarnation of the Word,
the hypostatic union of the Son of God with human nature, is accomplished
and fulfilled. As the Council says, Mary is "the Mother of the Son of
God. As a result she is also the favorite daughter of the Father and the
temple of the Holy Spirit. Because of this gift of sublime grace, she far
surpasses all other creatures, both in heaven and on earth."[23]

10. The Letter to the Ephesians, speaking of the "glory of grace" that
"God, the Father...has bestowed on us in his beloved Son," adds: "In him
we have redemption through his blood" (Eph. 1:7). According to the belief
formulated in solemn documents of the Church, this "glory of grace" is
manifested in the Mother of God through the fact that she has been
"redeemed in a more sublime manner."[24] By virtue of the richness of the
grace of the beloved Son, by reason of the redemptive merits of him who
willed to become her Son, Mary was preserved from the inheritance of
original sin.[25] In this way, from the first moment of her
conception--which is to say of her existence--she belonged to Christ,
sharing in the salvific and sanctifying grace and in that love which has
its beginning in the "Beloved," the Son of the Eternal Father, who
through the Incarnation became her own Son. Consequently, through the
power of the Holy Spirit, in the order of grace, which is a participation
in the divine nature, Mary receives life from him to whom she herself, in
the order of earthly generation, gave life as a mother. The liturgy does
not hesitate to call her "mother of her Creator"[26] and to hail her with
the words which Dante Alighieri places on the lips of St. Bernard:
"daughter of your Son."[27] And since Mary receives this "new life" with
a fullness corresponding to the Son's love for the Mother, and thus
corresponding to the dignity of the divine motherhood, the angel at the
Annunciation calls her "full of grace."

11. In the salvific design of the Most Holy Trinity, the mystery of the
Incarnation constitutes the superabundant fulfillment of the promise made
by God to man after original sin, after that first sin whose effects
oppress the whole earthly history of man (cf. Gen. 3:15). And so, there
comes into the world a Son, "the seed of the woman" who will crush the
evil of sin in its very origins: "he will crush the head of the serpent."
As we see from the words of the Protogospel, the victory of the woman's
Son will not take place without a hard struggle, a struggle that is to
extend through the whole of human history. The "enmity," foretold at the
beginning, is confirmed in the Apocalypse (the book of the final events
of the Church and the world), in which there recurs the sign of the
"woman," this time "clothed with the sun" (Rev. 12:1).

Mary, Mother of the Incarnate Word, is placed at the very center of that
enmity, that struggle which accompanies the history of humanity on earth
and the history of salvation itself. In this central place, she who
belongs to the "weak and poor of the Lord" bears in herself, like no
other member of the human race, that "glory of grace" which the Father
"has bestowed on us in his beloved Son," and this grace determines the
extraordinary greatness and beauty of her whole being. Mary thus remains
before God, and also before the whole of humanity, as the unchangeable
and inviolable sign of God's election, spoken of in Paul's letter: "in
Christ...he chose us...before the foundation of the world,...he destined
us...to be his sons" (Eph. 1:4, 5). This election is more powerful than
any experience of evil and sin, than all that "enmity" which marks the
history of man. In this history Mary remains a sign of sure hope.

12. Immediately after the narration of the Annunciation, the Evangelist
Luke guides us in the footsteps of the Virgin of Nazareth towards "a city
of Judah" (Lk. 1:39). According to scholars this city would be the modern
Ain Karim, situated in the mountains, not far from Jerusalem. Mary
arrived there "in haste," to visit Elizabeth her kinswoman. The reason
for her visit is also to be found in the fact that at the Annunciation
Gabriel had made special mention of Elizabeth, who in her old age had
conceived a son by her husband Zechariah, through the power of God: "your
kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is
the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing will
be impossible" (Lk. 1:36-37). The divine messenger had spoken of what had
been accomplished in Elizabeth in order to answer Mary's question: "How
shall this be, since I have no husband?" (Lk. 1:34) It is to come to pass
precisely through the "power of the Most High," just as it happened in
the case of Elizabeth, and even more so.

Moved by charity, therefore, Mary goes to the house of her kinswoman.
When Mary enters, Elizabeth replies to her greeting and feels the child
leap in her womb, and being "filled with the Holy Spirit" she greets Mary
with a loud cry: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit
of your womb!" (cf. Lk. 1:40-42) Elizabeth's exclamation or acclamation
was subsequently to become part of the Hail Mary, as a continuation of
the angel's greeting, thus becoming one of the Church's most frequently
used prayers. But still more significant are the words of Elizabeth in
the question which follows: "And why is this granted me, that the mother
of my Lord should come to me?" (Lk. 1:43) Elizabeth bears witness to
Mary: she recognizes and proclaims that before her stands the Mother of
the Lord, the Mother of the Messiah. The son whom Elizabeth is carrying
in her womb also shares in this witness: "The babe in my womb leaped for
joy" (Lk. 1:44). This child is the future John the Baptist, who at the
Jordan will point out Jesus as the Messiah.

While every word of Elizabeth's greeting is filled with meaning, her
final words would seem to have fundamental importance: "And blessed is
she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to
her from the Lord" (Lk. 1:4-15).[28] These words can be linked with the
title "full of grace" of the angel's greeting. Both of these texts reveal
an essential Mariological content, namely the truth about Mary, who has
become really present in the mystery of Christ precisely because she "has
believed." The fullness of grace announced by the angel means the gift of
God himself. Mary's faith, proclaimed by Elizabeth at the Visitation,
indicates how the Virgin of Nazareth responded to this gift.

13. As the Council teaches, "'The obedience of faith' (Rom. 16:26; cf.
Rom. 1:5; 2 Cor. 10:5-6) must be given to God who reveals, an obedience
by which man entrusts his whole self freely to God."[29] This description
of faith found perfect realization in Mary. The "decisive" moment was the
Annunciation, and the very words of Elizabeth: "And blessed is she who
believed" refer primarily to that very moment.[30]

Indeed, at the Annunciation Mary entrusted herself to God completely,
with the "full submission of intellect and will," manifesting "the
obedience of faith" to him who spoke to her through his messenger.[31]
She responded, therefore, with all her human and feminine "I," and this
response of faith included both perfect cooperation with "the grace of
God that precedes and assists" and perfect openness to the action of the
Holy Spirit, who "constantly brings faith to completion by his
gifts."[32]

The word of the living God, announced to Mary by the angel, referred to
her: "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son" (Lk.
1:31). By accepting this announcement, Mary was to become the "Mother of
the Lord," and the divine mystery of the Incarnation was to be
accomplished in her: "The Father of mercies willed that the consent of
the predestined Mother should precede the Incarnation."[33] And Mary
gives this consent, after she has heard everything the messenger has to
say. She says: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me
according to your word" (Lk. 1:38). This fiat of Mary--"let it be to
me"--was decisive, on the human level, for the accomplishment of the
divine mystery. There is a complete harmony with the words of the Son,
who, according to the Letter to the Hebrews, says to the Father as he
comes into the world: "Sacrifices and offering you have not desired, but
a body you have prepared for me.... Lo, I have come to do your will, O
God" (Heb. 10:5-7). The mystery of the Incarnation was accomplished when
Mary uttered her fiat: "Let it be to me according to your word," which
made possible, as far as it depended upon her in the divine plan, the
granting of her Son's desire.

Mary uttered this fiat in faith. In faith she entrusted herself to God
without reserve and "devoted herself totally as the handmaid of the Lord
to the person and work of her Son."[34] And--as the Fathers of the Church
teach--she conceived this Son in her mind before she conceived him in her
womb: precisely in faith![35] Rightly therefore does Elizabeth praise
Mary: "And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment
of what was spoken to her from the Lord." These words have already been
fulfilled: Mary of Nazareth presents herself at the threshold of
Elizabeth and Zechariah's house as the Mother of the Son of God. This is
Elizabeth's joyful discovery: "The mother of my Lord comes to me" !

14. Mary's faith can also be compared to that of Abraham, whom St. Paul
calls "our father in faith" (cf. Rom. 4:12). In the salvific economy of
God's revelation, Abraham's faith constitutes the beginning of the Old
Covenant; Mary's faith at the Annunciation inaugurates the New Covenant.
Just as Abraham "in hope believed against hope, that he should become the
father of many nations" (cf. Rom. 4:18), so Mary, at the Annunciation,
having professed her virginity ("How shall this be, since I have no
husband?") believed that through the power of the Most High, by the power
of the Holy Spirit, she would become the Mother of God's Son in accordance
with the angel's revelation: "The child to be born will
be called holy, the Son of God" (Lk. 1:35).

However, Elizabeth's words "And blessed is she who believed" do not apply
only to that particular moment of the Annunciation. Certainly the
Annunciation is the culminating moment of Mary's faith in her awaiting of
Christ, but it is also the point of departure from which her whole
"journey towards God" begins, her whole pilgrimage of faith. And on this
road, in an eminent and truly heroic manner--indeed with an ever greater
heroism of faith--the "obedience" which she professes to the word of
divine revelation will be fulfilled. Mary's "obedience of faith" during
the whole of her pilgrimage will show surprising similarities to the
faith of Abraham. Just like the Patriarch of the People of God, so too
Mary, during the pilgrimage of her filial and maternal fiat, "in hope
believed against hope." Especially during certain stages of this journey
the blessing granted to her "who believed" will be revealed with
particular vividness. To believe means "to abandon oneself" to the truth
of the word of the living God, knowing and humbly recognizing "how
unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways" (Rom.
11:33). Mary, who by the eternal will of the Most High stands, one may
say, at the very center of those "inscrutable ways" and "unsearchable
judgments" of God, conforms herself to them in the dim light of faith,
accepting fully and with a ready heart everything that is decreed in the
divine plan.

15. When at the Annunciation Mary hears of the Son whose Mother she is to
become and to whom "she will give the name Jesus" (= Savior), she also
learns that "the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father
David," and that "he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever and of
his kingdom there will be no end" (Lk. 1:32-33). The hope of the whole of
Israel was directed towards this. The promised Messiah is to be "great,"
and the heavenly messenger also announces that "he will be great"--great
both by bearing the name of Son of the Most High and by the fact that he
is to assume the inheritance of David. He is therefore to be a king, he
is to reign "over the house of Jacob." Mary had grown up in the midst of
these expectations of her people: could she guess, at the moment of the
Annunciation, the vital significance of the angel's words? And how is one
to understand that "kingdom" which "will have no end"?

Although through faith she may have perceived in that instant that she
was the mother of the "Messiah-King," nevertheless she replied: "Behold,
I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word"
(Lk. 1:38). From the first moment Mary professed above all the "obedience
of faith," abandoning herself to the meaning which was given to the words
of the Annunciation by him from whom they proceeded: God himself.

16. Later, a little further along this way of the "obedience of faith,"
Mary hears other words: those uttered by Simeon in the Temple of
Jerusalem. It was now forty days after the birth of Jesus when, in
accordance with the precepts of the Law of Moses, Mary and Joseph
"brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord" (Lk. 2:22). The
birth had taken place in conditions of extreme poverty. We know from Luke
that when, on the occasion of the census ordered by the Roman
authorities, Mary went with Joseph to Bethlehem, having found "no place
in the inn," she gave birth to her Son in a stable and "laid him in a
manger" (cf. Lk. 2:7).

A just and God-fearing man, called Simeon, appears at this beginning of
Mary's "journey" of faith. His words, suggested by the Holy Spirit (cf.
Lk. 2:25-27), confirm the truth of the Annunciation. For we read that he
took up in his arms the child to whom-- in accordance with the angel's
command--the name Jesus was given (cf. Lk. 2:21). Simeon's words match
the meaning of this name, which is Savior: "God is salvation." Turning to
the Lord, he says: "For my eyes have seen your salvation which you have
prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the
Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel" (Lk. 2:30-32). At the same
time, however, Simeon addresses Mary with the following words: "Behold,
this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a
sign that is spoken against, that thoughts out of many hearts may be
revealed"; and he adds with direct reference to her: "and a sword will
pierce through your own soul also" (cf. Lk. 2:34-35). Simeon's words cast
new light on the announcement which Mary had heard from the angel: Jesus
is the Savior, he is "a light for revelation" to mankind. Is not this
what was manifested in a way on Christmas night, when the shepherds came
to the stable (cf. Lk. 2:8-20)? Is not this what was to be manifested
even more clearly in the coming of the Magi from the East (cf. Mt.
2:1-12)? But at the same time, at the very beginning of his life, the Son
of Mary, and his Mother with him, will experience in themselves the truth
of those other words of Simeon: "a sign that is spoken against" (Lk.
2:34). Simeon's words seem like a second Annunciation to Mary, for they
tell her of the actual historical situation in which the Son is to
accomplish his mission, namely, in misunderstanding and sorrow. While
this announcement on the one hand confirms her faith in the
accomplishment of the divine promises of salvation, on the other hand it
also reveals to her that she will have to live her obedience of faith in
suffering, at the side of the suffering Savior, and that her motherhood
will be mysterious and sorrowful. Thus, after the visit of the Magi who
came from the East, after their homage ("they fell down and worshipped
him") and after they had offered gifts (cf. Mt. 2:11), Mary together with
the child has to flee into Egypt in the protective care of Joseph, for
"Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him" (cf. Mt. 2:13).
And until the death of Herod they will have to remain in Egypt (cf. Mt.
2:15).

17. When the Holy Family returns to Nazareth after Herod's death, there
begins the long period of the hidden life. She "who believed that there
would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord" (Lk.
1:45) lives the reality of these words day by day. And daily at her side
is the Son to whom "she gave the name Jesus"; therefore in contact with
him she certainly uses this name, a fact which would have surprised no
one, since the name had long been in use in Israel. Nevertheless, Mary
knows that he who bears the name Jesus has been called by the angel "the
Son of the Most High" (cf. Lk. 1:32). Mary knows she has conceived and
given birth to him "without having a husband," by the power of the Holy
Spirit, by the power of the Most High who overshadowed her (cf. Lk.
1:35), just as at the time of Moses and the Patriarchs the cloud covered
the presence of God (cf. Ex. 24:16; 40:34-35; I Kings 8:10-12). Therefore
Mary knows that the Son to whom she gave birth in a virginal manner is
precisely that "Holy One," the Son of God, of whom the angel spoke to her.

During the years of Jesus' hidden life in the house at Nazareth, Mary's
life too is "hid with Christ in God" (cf. Col. 3:3) through faith. For
faith is contact with the mystery of God. Every day Mary is in constant
contact with the ineffable mystery of God made man, a mystery that
surpasses everything revealed in the Old Covenant. From the moment of the
Annunciation, the mind of the Virgin-Mother has been initiated into the
radical "newness" of God's self-revelation and has been made aware of the
mystery. She is the first of those "little ones" of whom Jesus will say
one day: "Father, ...you have hidden these things from the wise and
understanding and revealed them to babes" (Mt. 11:25). For "no one knows
the Son except the Father" (Mt. 11:27). If this is the case, how can Mary
"know the Son"? Of course she does not know him as the Father does; and
yet she is the first of those to whom the Father "has chosen to reveal
him" (cf. Mt. 11:26-27; 1 Cor. 2:11). If though, from the moment of the
Annunciation, the Son--whom only the Father knows completely, as the one
who begets him in the eternal "today" (cf. Ps. 2:7)--was revealed to
Mary, she, his Mother, is in contact with the truth about her Son only in
faith and through faith! She is therefore blessed, because "she has
believed," and continues to believe day after day amidst all the trials
and the adversities of Jesus' infancy and then during the years of the
hidden life at Nazareth, where he "was obedient to them" (Lk. 2:51). He
was obedient both to Mary and also to Joseph, since Joseph took the place
of his father in people's eyes; for this reason, the Son of Mary was
regarded by the people as "the carpenter's son" (Mt. 13:55).

The Mother of that Son, therefore, mindful of what has been told her at
the Annunciation and in subsequent events, bears within herself the
radical "newness" of faith: the beginning of the New Covenant. This is
the beginning of the Gospel, the joyful Good News. However, it is not
difficult to see in that beginning a particular heaviness of heart,
linked with a sort of "night of faith"--to use the words of St. John of
the Cross--a kind of "veil" through which one has to draw near to the
Invisible One and to live in intimacy with the mystery.[36] And this is
the way that Mary, for many years, lived in intimacy with the mystery of
her Son, and went forward in her "pilgrimage of faith," while Jesus
"increased in wisdom...and in favor with God and man" (Lk. 2:52). God's
predilection for him was manifested ever more clearly to people's eyes.
The first human creature thus permitted to discover Christ was Mary, who
lived with Joseph in the same house at Nazareth.

However, when he had been found in the Temple, and his Mother asked him,
"Son, why have you treated us so?" the twelve-year-old Jesus answered:
"Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" And the
Evangelist adds: "And they (Joseph and Mary) did not understand the
saying which he spoke to them" (Lk. 2:48-50). Jesus was aware that "no
one knows the Son except the Father" (cf. Mt. 11:27); thus even his
Mother, to whom had been revealed most completely the mystery of his
divine sonship, lived in intimacy with this mystery only through faith!
Living side by side with her Son under the same roof, and faithfully
persevering "in her union with her Son," she "advanced in her pilgrimage
of faith," as the Council emphasizes.[37] And so it was during Christ s
public life too (cf. Mk. 3:21-35) that day by day there was fulfilled in
her the blessing uttered by Elizabeth at the Visitation: "Blessed is she
who believed."

18. This blessing reaches its full meaning when Mary stands beneath the
Cross of her Son (cf. Jn. 19:25). The Council says that this happened
"not without a divine plan": by "suffering deeply with her only-begotten
Son and joining herself with her maternal spirit to his sacrifice,
lovingly consenting to the immolation of the victim to whom she had given
birth," in this way Mary "faithfully preserved her union with her Son
even to the Cross."[38] It is a union through faith--the same faith with
which she had received the angel's revelation at the Annunciation. At
that moment she had also heard the words: "He will be great...and the
Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will
reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be
no end" (Lk. I :32-33)

And now, standing at the foot of the Cross, Mary is the witness, humanly
speaking, of the complete negation of these words. On that wood of the
Cross her Son hangs in agony as one condemned. "He was despised and
rejected by men; a man of sorrows...he was despised, and we esteemed him
not": as one destroyed (cf. Is. 53:3-5). How great, how heroic then is
the obedience of faith shown by Mary in the face of God's "unsearchable
judgments"! How completely she "abandons herself to God" without reserve,
"offering the full assent of the intellect and the will"[39] to him whose
"ways are inscrutable" (cf. Rom. 11:33)! And how powerful too is the
action of grace in her soul, how all-pervading is the influence of the
Holy Spirit and of his light and power!

Through this faith Mary is perfectly united with Christ in his
self-emptying. For "Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God,
did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied
himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of
men": precisely on Golgotha "humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even death on a cross" (cf. Phil. 2:5-8). At the foot of the Cross
Mary shares through faith in the shocking mystery of this self-emptying.
This is perhaps the deepest "kenosis" of faith in human history. Through
faith the Mother shares in the death of her Son, in his redeeming death;
but in contrast with the faith of the disciples who fled, hers was far
more enlightened. On Golgotha, Jesus through the Cross definitively
confirmed that he was the "sign of contradiction" foretold by Simeon. At
the same time, there were also fulfilled on Golgotha the words which
Simeon had addressed to Mary: "and a sword will pierce through your own
soul also."[40]

19. Yes, truly "blessed is she who believed"! These words, spoken by
Elizabeth after the Annunciation, here at the foot of the Cross seem to
re-echo with supreme eloquence, and the power contained within them
becomes something penetrating. From the Cross, that is to say from the
very heart of the mystery of Redemption, there radiates and spreads out
the prospect of that blessing of faith. It goes right back to "the
beginning," and as a sharing in the sacrifice of Christ--the new Adam--it
becomes in a certain sense the counterpoise to the disobedience and
disbelief embodied in the sin of our first parents. Thus teach the
Fathers of the Church and especially St. Irenaeus, quoted by the
Constitution Lumen Gentium: "The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by
Mary's obedience; what the virgin Eve bound through her unbelief, the
Virgin Mary loosened by her faith."[41] In the light of this comparison
with Eve, the Fathers of the Church--as the Council also says--call Mary
the "mother of the living" and often speak of "death through Eve, life
through Mary."[42]

In the expression "Blessed is she who believed," we can therefore rightly
find a kind of "key" which unlocks for us the innermost reality of Mary,
whom the angel hailed as "full of grace." If as "full of grace" she has
been eternally present in the mystery of Christ, through faith she became
a sharer in that mystery in every extension of her earthly journey. She
"advanced in her pilgrimage of faith" and at the same time, in a discreet
yet direct and effective way, she made present to humanity the mystery of
Christ. And she still continues to do so. Through the mystery of Christ,
she too is present within mankind. Thus through the mystery of the Son
the mystery of the Mother is also made clear.

20. The Gospel of Luke records the moment when "a woman in the crowd
raised her voice" and said to Jesus: "Blessed is the womb that bore you,
and the breasts that you sucked!" (Lk. 11:27) These words were an
expression of praise of Mary as Jesus' mother according to the flesh.
Probably the Mother of Jesus was not personally known to this woman; in
fact, when Jesus began his messianic activity Mary did not accompany him
but continued to remain at Nazareth. One could say that the words of that
unknown woman in a way brought Mary out of her hiddenness.

Through these words, there flashed out in the midst of the crowd, at
least for an instant, the gospel of Jesus' infancy. This is the gospel in
which Mary is present as the mother who conceives Jesus in her womb,
gives him birth and nurses him: the nursing mother referred to by the
woman in the crowd. Thanks to this motherhood, Jesus, the Son of the Most
High (cf. Lk. 1:32), is a true son of man. He is "flesh," like every
other man: he is "the Word (who) became flesh" (cf. Jn. 1:14). He is of
the flesh and blood of Mary![43]

But to the blessing uttered by that woman upon her who was his mother
according to the flesh, Jesus replies in a significant way: "Blessed
rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it" (Lk. 11:28). He
wishes to divert attention from motherhood understood only as a fleshly
bond, in order to direct it towards those mysterious bonds of the spirit
which develop from hearing and keeping God's word.

This same shift into the sphere of spiritual values is seen even more
clearly in another response of Jesus reported by all the Synoptics. When
Jesus is told that "his mother and brothers are standing outside and wish
to see him," he replies: "My mother and my brothers are those who hear
the word of God and do it" (cf. Lk. 8:20-21). This he said "looking
around on those who sat about him," as we read in Mark (3:34) or,
according to Matthew (12:49), "stretching out his hand towards his
disciples."

These statements seem to fit in with the reply which the twelve-year-old
Jesus gave to Mary and Joseph when he was found after three days in the
Temple at Jerusalem.

Now, when Jesus left Nazareth and began his public life throughout
Palestine, he was completely and exclusively "concerned with his Father's
business" (cf. Lk. 2:49). He announced the Kingdom: the "Kingdom of God"
and "his Father's business," which add a new dimension and meaning to
everything human, and therefore to every human bond, insofar as these
things relate to the goals and tasks assigned to every human being.
Within this new dimension, also a bond such as that of "brotherhood"
means something different from "brotherhood according to the flesh"
deriving from a common origin from the same set of parents. "Motherhood,"
too, in the dimension of the Kingdom of God and in the radius of the
fatherhood of God himself, takes on another meaning. In the words
reported by Luke, Jesus teaches precisely this new meaning of motherhood.

Is Jesus thereby distancing himself from his mother according to the
flesh? Does he perhaps wish to leave her in the hidden obscurity which
she herself has chosen? If this seems to be the case from the tone of
those words, one must nevertheless note that the new and different
motherhood which Jesus speaks of to his disciples refers precisely to
Mary in a very special way. Is not Mary the first of "those who hear the
word of God and do it"? And therefore does not the blessing uttered by
Jesus in response to the woman in the crowd refer primarily to her?
Without any doubt, Mary is worthy of blessing by the very fact that she
became the mother of Jesus according to the flesh ("Blessed is the womb
that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked"), but also and especially
because already at the Annunciation she accepted the word of God, because
she believed it, because she was obedient to God, and because she "kept"
the word and "pondered it in her heart" (cf. Lk. 1:38, 45; 2:19, 51) and
by means of her whole life accomplished it. Thus we can say that the
blessing proclaimed by Jesus is not in opposition, despite appearances,
to the blessing uttered by the unknown woman, but rather coincides with
that blessing in the person of this Virgin Mother, who called herself
only "the handmaid of the Lord" (Lk. 1:38). If it is true that "all
generations will call her blessed" (cf. Lk. 1:48). then it can be said
that the unnamed woman was the first to confirm unwittingly that
prophetic phrase of Mary's Magnificat and to begin the Magnificat of the
ages.

If through faith Mary became the bearer of the Son given to her by the
Father through the power of the Holy Spirit, while preserving her
virginity intact, in that same faith she discovered and accepted the
other dimension of motherhood revealed by Jesus during his messianic
mission. One can say that this dimension of motherhood belonged to Mary
from the beginning, that is to say from the moment of the conception and
birth of her Son. From that time she was "the one who believed." But as
the messianic mission of her Son grew clearer to her eyes and spirit, she
herself as a mother became ever more open to that new dimension of
motherhood which was to constitute her "part" beside her Son. Had she not
said from the very beginning: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let
it be to me according to your word" (Lk. 1:38)? Through faith Mary
continued to hear and to ponder that word, in which there became ever
clearer, in a way "which surpasses knowledge" (Eph. 3:19), the
self-revelation of the living God. Thus in a sense Mary as Mother became
the first "disciple" of her Son, the first to whom he seemed to say:
"Follow me," even before he addressed this call to the Apostles or to
anyone else (cf. Jn. I :43).

21. From this point of view, particularly eloquent is the passage in the
Gospel of John which presents Mary at the wedding feast of Cana. She
appears there as the Mother of Jesus at the beginning of his public life:
"There was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was
there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples" (Jn.
2:1-2). From the text it appears that Jesus and his disciples were
invited together with Mary, as if by reason of her presence at the
celebration: the Son seems to have been invited because of his mother. We
are familiar with the sequence of events which resulted from that
invitation, that "beginning of the signs" wrought by Jesus--the water
changed into wine--which prompts the Evangelist to say that Jesus
"manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him" (Jn. 2:11).

Mary is present at Cana in Galilee as the Mother of Jesus, and in a
significant way she contributes to that "beginning of the signs" which
reveal the messianic power of her Son. We read: "When the wine gave out,
the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine.' And Jesus said to
her, 'O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come'"
(Jn. 2:3-4). In John's Gospel that "hour" means the time appointed by the
Father when the Son accomplishes his task and is to be glorified (cf. Jn.
7:30; 8:20; 12:23, 27; 13:1; 17:1; 19:27). Even though Jesus' reply to
his mother sounds like a refusal (especially if we consider the blunt
statement "My hour has not yet come" rather than the question), Mary
nevertheless turns to the servants and says to them: "Do whatever he
tells you" (Jn. 2:5). Then Jesus orders the servants to fill the stone
jars with water, and the water becomes wine, better than the wine which
has previously been served to the wedding guests.

What deep understanding existed between Jesus and his mother? How can we
probe the mystery of their intimate spiritual union? But the fact speaks
for itself. It is certain that that event already quite clearly outlines
the new dimension, the new meaning of Mary's motherhood. Her motherhood
has a significance which is not exclusively contained in the words of
Jesus and in the various episodes reported by the Synoptics (Lk. 11:27-28
and Lk. 8:19-21; Mt. 12:46-50; Mk. 3:31-35). In these texts Jesus means
above all to contrast the motherhood resulting from the fact of birth
with what this "motherhood" (and also "brotherhood") is to be in the
dimension of the Kingdom of God, in the salvific radius of God's
fatherhood. In John's text on the other hand, the description of the Cana
event outlines what is actually manifested as a new kind of motherhood
according to the spirit and not just according to the flesh, that is to
say Mary's solicitude for human beings, her coming to them in the wide
variety of their wants and needs. At Cana in Galilee there is shown only
one concrete aspect of human need, apparently a small one of little
importance ("They have no wine"). But it has a symbolic value: this
coming to the aid of human needs means, at the same time, bringing those
needs within the radius of Christ's messianic mission and salvific power.
Thus there is a mediation: Mary places herself between her Son and
mankind in the reality of their wants, needs and sufferings. She puts
herself "in the middle," that is to say she acts as a mediatrix not as an
outsider, but in her position as mother. She knows that as such she can
point out to her Son the needs of mankind, and in fact, she "has the
right" to do so. Her mediation is thus in the nature of intercession:
Mary "intercedes" for mankind. And that is not all. As a mother she also
wishes the messianic power of her Son to be manifested, that salvific
power of his which is meant to help man in his misfortunes, to free him
from the evil which in various forms and degrees weighs heavily upon his
life. Precisely as the Prophet Isaiah had foretold about the Messiah in
the famous passage which Jesus quoted before his fellow townsfolk in
Nazareth: "To preach good news to the poor...to proclaim release to the
captives and recovering of sight to the blind..." (cf. Lk. 4:18).

Another essential element of Mary's maternal task is found in her words
to the servants: "Do whatever he tells you." The Mother of Christ
presents herself as the spokeswoman of her Son's will, pointing out those
things which must be done so that the salvific power of the Messiah may
be manifested. At Cana, thanks to the intercession of Mary and the
obedience of the servants, Jesus begins "his hour." At Cana Mary appears
as believing in Jesus. Her faith evokes his first "sign" and helps to
kindle the faith of the disciples .

22. We can therefore say that in this passage of John's Gospel we find as
it were a first manifestation of the truth concerning Mary's maternal
care. This truth has also found expression in the teaching of the Second
Vatican Council. It is important to note how the Council illustrates
Mary's maternal role as it relates to the mediation of Christ. Thus we
read: "Mary's maternal function towards mankind in no way obscures or
diminishes the unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its
efficacy," because "there is one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus" (I Tim. 2:5). This maternal role of Mary flows, according
to God's good pleasure, "from the superabundance of the merits of Christ;
it is founded on his mediation, absolutely depends on it, and draws all
its efficacy from it."[44] It is precisely in this sense that the episode
at Cana in Galilee offers us a sort of first announcement of Mary's
mediation, wholly oriented towards Christ and tending to the revelation
of his salvific power.

From the text of John it is evident that it is a mediation which is
maternal. As the Council proclaims: Mary became "a mother to us in the
order of grace." This motherhood in the order of grace flows from her
divine motherhood. Because she was, by the design of divine Providence,
the mother who nourished the divine Redeemer, Mary became "an associate
of unique nobility, and the Lord's humble handmaid," who "cooperated by
her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the Savior's work of
restoring supernatural life to souls."[45] And "this maternity of Mary in
the order of grace. . .will last without interruption until the eternal
fulfillment of all the elect."[46]

23. If John's description of the event at Cana presents Mary's caring
motherhood at the beginning of Christ's messianic activity, another
passage from the same Gospel confirms this motherhood in the salvific
economy of grace at its crowning moment, namely when Christ's sacrifice
on the Cross, his Paschal Mystery, is accomplished. John's description is
concise: "Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his
mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus
saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to
his mother: 'Woman, behold your son!' Then he said to the disciple,
'Behold, your mother!' And from that hour the disciple took her to his
own home" (Jn. 19:25-27).

Undoubtedly, we find here an expression of the Son's particular
solicitude for his Mother, whom he is leaving in such great sorrow. And
yet the "testament of Christ's Cross" says more. Jesus highlights a new
relationship between Mother and Son, the whole truth and reality of which
he solemnly confirms. One can say that if Mary's motherhood of the human
race had already been outlined, now it is clearly stated and established.
It emerges from the definitive accomplishment of the Redeemer's Paschal
Mystery. The Mother of Christ, who stands at the very center of this
mystery--a mystery which embraces each individual and all humanity--is
given as mother to every single individual and all mankind. The man at
the foot of the Cross is John, "the disciple whom he loved."[47] But it
is not he alone. Following tradition, the Council does not hesitate to
call Mary "the Mother of Christ and mother of mankind": since she
"belongs to the offspring of Adam she is one with all human beings....
Indeed she is 'clearly the mother of the members of Christ...since she
cooperated out of love so that there might be born in the Church the
faithful."'[48]

And so this "new motherhood of Mary," generated by faith, is the fruit of
the "new" love which came to definitive maturity in her at the foot of
the Cross, through her sharing in the redemptive love of her Son.

24. Thus we find ourselves at the very center of the fulfillment of the
promise contained in the Proto-gospel: the "seed of the woman...will
crush the head of the serpent" (cf. Gen. 3:15). By his redemptive death
Jesus Christ conquers the evil of sin and death at its very roots. It is
significant that, as he speaks to his mother from the Cross, he calls her
"woman" and says to her: "Woman, behold your son!" Moreover, he had
addressed her by the same term at Cana too (cf. Jn. 2:4). How can one
doubt that especially now, on Golgotha, this expression goes to the very
heart of the mystery of Mary, and indicates the unique place which she
occupies in the whole economy of salvation? As the Council teaches, in
Mary "the exalted Daughter of Sion, and after a long expectation of the
promise, the times were at length fulfilled and the new dispensation
established. All this occurred when the Son of God took a human nature
from her, that he might in the mysteries of his flesh free man from
sin."[49]

The words uttered by Jesus from the Cross signify that the motherhood of
her who bore Christ finds a "new" continuation in the Church and through
the Church, symbolized and represented by John. In this way, she who as
the one "full of grace" was brought into the mystery of Christ in order
to be his Mother and thus the Holy Mother of God, through the Church
remains in that mystery as "the woman" spoken of by the Book of Genesis
(3:15) at the beginning and by the Apocalypse (12:1) at the end of the
history of salvation. In accordance with the eternal plan of Providence,
Mary's divine motherhood is to be poured out upon the Church, as
indicated by statements of Tradition, according to which Mary's
"motherhood" of the Church is the reflection and extension of her
motherhood of the Son of God.[50]

According to the Council, the very moment of the Church's birth and full
manifestation to the world enables us to glimpse this continuity of
Mary's motherhood: "Since it pleased God not to manifest solemnly the
mystery of the salvation of the human race until he poured forth the
Spirit promised by Christ, we see the Apostles before the day of
Pentecost 'continuing with one mind in prayer with the women and Mary the
mother of Jesus, and with his brethren' (Acts 1:14). We see Mary
prayerfully imploring the gift of the Spirit, who had already
overshadowed her in the Annunciation."[51]

And so, in the redemptive economy of grace, brought about through the
action of the Holy Spirit, there is a unique correspondence between the
moment of the Incarnation of the Word and the moment of the birth of the
Church. The person who links these two moments is Mary: Mary at Nazareth
and Mary in the Upper Room at Jerusalem. In both cases her discreet yet
essential presence indicates the path of "birth from the Holy Spirit."
Thus she who is present in the mystery of Christ as Mother becomes by the
will of the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit--present in the mystery
of the Church. In the Church too she continues to be a maternal presence,
as is shown by the words spoken from the Cross: "Woman, behold your
son!"; "Behold, your mother."

25. "The Church 'like a pilgrim in a foreign land, presses forward amid
the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God,'[52]
announcing the Cross and Death of the Lord until he comes (cf. 1 Cor.
11:26)."[53] "Israel according to the flesh, which wandered as an exile
in the desert, was already called the Church of God (cf. 2 Esd. 13:1; Num
20:4; Dt. 23:1ff.). Likewise the new Israel...is also called the Church
of Christ (cf. Mt. 16:18). For he has bought it for himself with his
blood (Acts 20:28), has filled it with his Spirit, and provided it with
those means which befit it as a visible and social unity. God has
gathered together as one all those who in faith look upon Jesus as the
author of salvation and the source of unity and peace, and has
established them as the Church, that for each and all she may be the
visible sacrament of this saving unity."[54]

The Second Vatican Council speaks of the pilgrim Church, establishing an
analogy with the Israel of the Old Covenant journeying through the
desert. The journey also has an external character, visible in the time
and space in which it historically takes place. For the Church "is
destined to extend to all regions of the earth and so to enter into the
history of mankind," but at the same time "she transcends all limits of
time and of space."[55] And yet the essential character of her pilgrimage
is interior: it is a question of a pilgrimage through faith, by ' the
power of the Risen Lord,"[56] a pilgrimage in the Holy Spirit, given to
the Church as the invisible Comforter (parakletos) (cf. Jn. 14:26; 15:26;
16:7): "Moving forward through trial and tribulation, the Church is
strengthened by the power of God's grace promised to her by the Lord, so
that...moved by the Holy Spirit, she may never cease to renew herself,
until through the Cross she arrives at the light which knows no
setting."[57]

It is precisely in this ecclesial journey or pilgrimage through space and
time, and even more through the history of souls, that Mary is present,
as the one who is "blessed because she believed," as the one who advanced
on the pilgrimage of faith, sharing unlike any other creature in the
mystery of Christ. The Council further says that "Mary figured profoundly
in the history of salvation and in a certain way unites and mirrors
within herself the central truths of the faith."[58] Among all believers
she is like a "mirror" in which are reflected in the most profound and
limpid way "the mighty works of God" (Acts 2:11).

26. Built by Christ upon the Apostles, the Church became fully aware of
these mighty works of God on the day of Pentecost, when those gathered
together in the Upper Room "were all filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts
2:4). From that moment there also begins that journey of faith, the
Church's pilgrimage through the history of individuals and peoples. We
know that at the beginning of this journey Mary is present. We see her in
the midst of the Apostles in the Upper Room, "prayerfully imploring the
gift of the Spirit."[59]

In a sense her journey of faith is longer. The Holy Spirit had already
come down upon her, and she became his faithful spouse at the
Annunciation, welcoming the Word of the true God, offering "the full
submission of intellect and will...and freely assenting to the truth
revealed by him," indeed abandoning herself totally to God through "the
obedience of faith,"[60] whereby she replied to the angel: "Behold, I am
the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." The
journey of faith made by Mary, whom we see praying in the Upper Room, is
thus longer than that of the others gathered there: Mary "goes before
them," "leads the way" for them.[61] The moment of Pentecost in Jerusalem
had been prepared for by the moment of the Annunciation in Nazareth, as
well as by the Cross. In the Upper Room Mary's journey meets the Church's
journey of faith. In what way?

Among those who devoted themselves to prayer in the Upper Room, preparing
to go "into the whole world" after receiving the Spirit, some had been
called by Jesus gradually from the beginning of his mission in Israel.
Eleven of them had been made Apostles, and to them Jesus had passed on
the mission which he himself had received from the Father. "As the Father
has sent me, even so I send you" (Jn. 20:21 ), he had said to the
Apostles after the Resurrection. And forty days later, before returning
to the Father, he had added: "when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you...you shall be my witnesses...to the end of the earth" (cf. Acts
1:8). This mission of the Apostles began the moment they left the Upper
Room in Jerusalem. The Church is born and then grows through the
testimony that Peter and the Apostles bear to the Crucified and Risen
Christ (cf. Acts 2:31-34; 3:15-18; 4:10-12; 5:30-32).

Mary did not directly receive this apostolic mission. She was not among
those whom Jesus sent "to the whole world to teach all nations" (cf. Mt.
28:19) when he conferred this mission on them. But she was in the Upper
Room, where the Apostles were preparing to take up this mission with the
coming of the Spirit of Truth: she was present with them. In their midst
Mary was "devoted to prayer" as the "mother of Jesus" (cf. Acts 1:13-14),
of the Crucified and Risen Christ. And that first group of those who in
faith looked "upon Jesus as the author of salvation,"[62] knew that Jesus
was the Son of Mary, and that she was his Mother, and that as such she
was from the moment of his conception and birth a unique witness to the
mystery of Jesus, that mystery which before their eyes had been disclosed
and confirmed in the Cross and Resurrection. Thus, from the very first
moment, the Church "looked at" Mary through Jesus, just as she "looked
at" Jesus through Mary. For the Church of that time and of every time
Mary is a singular witness to the years of Jesus' infancy and hidden life
at Nazareth, when she "kept all these things, pondering them in her
heart" (Lk. 2:19; cf. Lk. 2:51).

But above all, in the Church of that time and of every time Mary was and
is the one who is "blessed because she believed"; she was the first to
believe. From the moment of the Annunciation and conception, from the
moment of his birth in the stable at Bethlehem, Mary followed Jesus step
by step in her maternal pilgrimage of faith. She followed him during the
years of his hidden life at Nazareth; she followed him also during the
time after he left home, when he began "to do and to teach" (cf. Acts
1:1) in the midst of Israel. Above all she followed him in the tragic
experience of Golgotha. Now, while Mary was with the Apostles in the
Upper Room in Jerusalem at the dawn of the Church, her faith, born from
the words of the Annunciation, found confirmation. The angel had said to
her then: "You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall
call his name Jesus. He will be great...and he will reign over the house
of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end." The recent
events on Calvary had shrouded that promise in darkness, yet not even
beneath the Cross did Mary's faith fail. She had still remained the one
who, like Abraham, "in hope believed against hope" (Rom. 4:18). But it is
only after the Resurrection that hope had shown its true face and the
promise had begun to be transformed into reality. For Jesus, before
returning to the Father, had said to the Apostles: "Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations...lo, I am with you always, to the close of the
age" (cf. Mt. 28:19-20). Thus had spoken the one who by his Resurrection
had revealed himself as the conqueror of death, as the one who possessed
the kingdom of which, as the angel said, "there will be no end."

27. Now, at the first dawn of the Church, at the beginning of the long
journey through faith which began at Pentecost in Jerusalem, Mary was
with all those who were the seed of the "new Israel." She was present
among them as an exceptional witness to the mystery of Christ. And the
Church was assiduous in prayer together with her, and at the same time
"contemplated her in the light of the Word made man." It was always to be
so. For when the Church "enters more intimately into the supreme mystery
of the Incarnation," she thinks of the Mother of Christ with profound
reverence and devotion.[63] Mary belongs indissolubly to the mystery of
Christ, and she belongs also to the mystery of the Church from the
beginning, from the day of the Church's birth. At the basis of what the
Church has been from the beginning, and of what she must continually
become from generation to generation, in the midst of all the nations of
the earth, we find the one "who believed that there would be a
fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord" (Lk. 1:45). It is
precisely Mary's faith which marks the beginning of the new and eternal
Covenant of God with man in Jesus Christ; this heroic faith of hers
"precedes" the apostolic witness of the Church, and ever remains in the
Church's heart, hidden like a special heritage of God's revelation. All
those who from generation to generation accept the apostolic witness of
the Church share in that mysterious inheritance, and in a sense share in
Mary's faith.

Elizabeth's words "Blessed is she who believed" continue to accompany the
Virgin also at Pentecost; they accompany her from age to age, wherever
knowledge of Christ's salvific mystery spreads, through the Church's
apostolic witness and service. Thus is fulfilled the prophecy of the
Magnificat: "All generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty
has done great things for me, and holy is his name" (Lk. 1:48-49). For
knowledge of the mystery of Christ leads us to bless his Mother, in the
form of special veneration for the Theotokos. But this veneration always
includes a blessing of her faith, for the Virgin of Nazareth became
blessed above all through this faith, in accordance with Elizabeth's
words. Those who from generation to generation among the different
peoples and nations of the earth accept with faith the mystery of Christ,
the Incarnate Word and Redeemer of the world, not only turn with
veneration to Mary and confidently have recourse to her as his Mother,
but also seek in her faith support for their own. And it is precisely
this lively sharing in Mary's faith that determines her special place in
the Church's pilgrimage as the new People of God throughout the earth.

28. As the Council says, "Mary figured profoundly in the history of
salvation.... Hence when she is being preached and venerated, she summons
the faithful to her Son and his sacrifice, and to love for the
Father.[64] For this reason, Mary's faith, according to the Church's
apostolic witness, in some way continues to become the faith of the
pilgrim People of God: the faith of individuals and communities, of
places and gatherings, and of the various groups existing in the Church.
It is a faith that is passed on simultaneously through both the mind and
the heart. It is gained or regained continually through prayer.
Therefore, "the Church in her apostolic work also rightly looks to her
who brought forth Christ, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the
Virgin, so that through the Church Christ may be born and increase in the
hearts of the faithful also."[65]

Today, as on this pilgrimage of faith we draw near to the end of the
second Christian Millennium, the Church, through the teaching of the
Second Vatican Council, calls our attention to her vision of herself, as
the "one People of God...among all the nations of the earth." And she
reminds us of that truth according to which all the faithful, though
"scattered throughout the world, are in communion with each other in the
Holy Spirit."[66] We can therefore say that in this union the mystery of
Pentecost is continually being accomplished. At the same time, the Lord's
apostles and disciples, in all the nations of the earth, "devote
themselves to prayer together with Mary, the mother of Jesus" (Acts
1:14). As they constitute from generation to generation the "sign of the
Kingdom" which is not of this world,[67] they are also aware that in the
midst of this world they must gather around that King to whom the nations
have been given in heritage (cf. Ps. 2:8), to whom the Father has given
"the throne of David his father," so that he "will reign over the house
of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

During this time of vigil, Mary, through the same faith which made her
blessed, especially from the moment of the Annunciation, is present in
the Church's mission, present in the Church's work of introducing into
the world the Kingdom of her Son.[68]

This presence of Mary finds many different expressions in our day, just
as it did throughout the Church's history. It also has a wide field of
action. Through the faith and piety of individual believers; through the
traditions of Christian families or "domestic churches," of parish and
missionary communities, religious institutes and dioceses; through the
radiance and attraction of the great shrines where not only individuals
or local groups, but sometimes whole nations and societies, even whole
continents, seek to meet the Mother of the Lord, the one who is blessed
because she believed is the first among believers and therefore became
the Mother of Emmanuel. This is the message of the Land of Palestine, the
spiritual homeland of all Christians because it was the homeland of the
Savior of the world and of his Mother. This is the message of the many
churches in Rome and throughout the world which have been raised up in
the course of the centuries by the faith of Christians. This is the
message of centers like Guadeloupe, Lourdes, Fatima and the others
situated in the various countries. Among them how could I fail to mention
the one in my own native land, Jasna Gora? One could perhaps speak of a
specific "geography" of faith and Marian devotion, which includes all
these special places of pilgrimage where the People of God seek to meet
the Mother of God in order to find, within the radius of the maternal
presence of her "who believed," a strengthening of their own faith. For
in Mary's faith, first at the Annunciation and then fully at the foot of
the Cross, an interior space was reopened within humanity which the
eternal Father can fill "with every spiritual blessing." It is the space
"of the new and eternal Covenant,"[69] and it continues to exist in the
Church, which in Christ is "a kind of sacrament or sign of intimate union
with God, and of the unity of all mankind."[70]

In the faith which Mary professed at the Annunciation as the "handmaid of
the Lord" and in which she constantly "precedes" the pilgrim People of
God throughout the earth, the Church "strives energetically and
constantly to bring all humanity...back to Christ its Head in the unity
of his Spirit."[71]

29. "In all of Christ's disciples the Spirit arouses the desire to be
peacefully united, in the manner determined by Christ, as one flock under
one shepherd."[72] The journey of the Church, especially in our own time,
is marked by the sign of ecumenism: Christians are seeking ways to
restore that unity which Christ implored from the Father for his
disciples on the day before his Passion: "That they may all be one; even
as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so
that the world may believe that you have sent me" (Jn. 17:21). The unity
of Christ's disciples, therefore, is a great sign given in order to
kindle faith in the world, while their division constitutes a
scandal.[73]

The ecumenical movement, on the basis of a clearer and more widespread
awareness of the urgent need to achieve the unity of all Christians, has
found on the part of the Catholic Church its culminating expression in
the work of the Second Vatican Council: Christians must deepen in
themselves and each of their communities that "obedience of faith" of
which Mary is the first and brightest example. And since she "shines
forth on earth,...as a sign of sure hope and solace for the pilgrim
People of God," "it gives great joy and comfort to this most holy Synod
that among the divided brethren, too, there are those who give due honor
to the Mother of our Lord and Savior. This is especially so among the
Easterners."[74]

30. Christians know that their unity will be truly rediscovered only if
it is based on the unity of their faith. They must resolve considerable
discrepancies of doctrine concerning the mystery and ministry of the
Church, and sometimes also concerning the role of Mary in the work of
salvation.[75] The dialogues begun by the Catholic Church with the
Churches and Ecclesial Communities of the West[76] are steadily
converging upon these two inseparable aspects of the same mystery of
salvation. If the mystery of the Word made flesh enables us to glimpse
the mystery of the divine motherhood and if, in turn, contemplation of
the Mother of God brings us to a more profound understanding of the
mystery of the Incarnation, then the same must be said for the mystery of
the Church and Mary's role in the work of salvation. By a more profound
study of both Mary and the Church, clarifying each by the light of the
other, Christians who are eager to do what Jesus tells them as their
Mother recommends (cf. Jn. 2:5) will be able to go forward together on
this "pilgrimage of faith." Mary, who is still the model of this
pilgrimage, is to lead them to the unity which is willed by their one
Lord and so much desired by those who are attentively listening to what
"the Spirit is saying to the Churches" today (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17).

Meanwhile, it is a hopeful sign that these Churches and Ecclesial
Communities are finding agreement with the Catholic Church on fundamental
points of Christian belief, including matters relating to the Virgin
Mary. For they recognize her as the Mother of the Lord and hold that this
forms part of our faith in Christ, true God and true man. They look to
her who at the foot of the Cross accepts as her son the beloved disciple,
the one who in his turn accepts her as his mother.

Therefore, why should we not all together look to her as our common
Mother, who prays for the unity of God's family and who "precedes" us all
at the head of the long line of witnesses of faith in the one Lord, the
Son of God, who was conceived in her virginal womb by the power of the
Holy Spirit?

31. On the other hand, I wish to emphasize how profoundly the Catholic
Church, the Orthodox Church and the ancient Churches of the East feel
united by love and praise of the Theotokos. Not only "basic dogmas of the
Christian faith concerning the Trinity and God's Word made flesh of the
Virgin Mary were defined in Ecumenical Councils held in the East,"[77]
but also in their liturgical worship "the Orientals pay high tribute, in
very beautiful hymns, to Mary ever Virgin...God's Most Holy Mother."[78]

The brethren of these Churches have experienced a complex history, but it
is one that has always been marked by an intense desire for Christian
commitment and apostolic activity, despite frequent persecution, even to
the point of bloodshed. It is a history of fidelity to the Lord, an
authentic "pilgrimage of faith" in space and time, during which Eastern
Christians have always looked with boundless trust to the Mother of the
Lord, celebrated her with praise and invoked her with unceasing prayer.
In the difficult moments of their troubled Christian existence, "they
have taken refuge under her protection,"[79] conscious of having in her a
powerful aid. The Churches which profess the doctrine of Ephesus proclaim
the Virgin as "true Mother of God," since "our Lord Jesus Christ, born of
the Father before time began according to his divinity, in the last days,
for our sake and for our salvation, was himself begotten of Mary, the
Virgin Mother of God, according to his humanity."[80] The Greek Fathers
and the Byzantine tradition, contemplating the Virgin in the light of the
Word made flesh, have sought to penetrate the depth of that bond which
unites Mary, as the Mother of God, to Christ and the Church: the Virgin
is a permanent presence in the whole reality of the salvific mystery.

The Coptic and Ethiopian traditions were introduced to this contemplation
of the mystery of Mary by St. Cyril of Alexandria, and in their turn they
have celebrated it with a profuse poetic blossoming.[81] The poetic
genius of St. Ephrem the Syrian, called "the Iyre of the Holy Spirit,"
tirelessly sang of Mary, leaving a still living mark on the whole
tradition of the Syriac Church.[82]

In his panegyric of the Theotokos, St. Gregory of Narek, one of the
outstanding glories of Armenia, with powerful poetic inspiration ponders
the different aspects of the mystery of the Incarnation, and each of them
is for him an occasion to sing and extol the extraordinary dignity and
magnificent beauty of the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Word made flesh.[83]

It does not surprise us therefore that Mary occupies a privileged place
in the worship of the ancient Oriental Churches with an incomparable
abundance of feasts and hymns.

32. In the Byzantine liturgy, in all the hours of the Divine Office,
praise of the Mother is linked with praise of her Son and with the praise
which, through the Son, is offered up to the Father in the Holy Spirit.
In the Anaphora or Eucharistic Prayer of St. John Chrysostom, immediately
after the epiclesis the assembled community sings in honor of the Mother
of God: "It is truly just to proclaim you blessed, O Mother of God, who
are most blessed, all pure and Mother of our God. We magnify you who are
more honorable than the Cherubim and incomparably more glorious than the
Seraphim. You who, without losing your virginity, gave birth to the Word
of God. You who are truly the Mother of God."

These praises, which in every celebration of the Eucharistic Liturgy are
offered to Mary, have molded the faith, piety and prayer of the faithful.
In the course of the centuries they have permeated their whole spiritual
outlook, fostering in them a profound devotion to the "All Holy Mother of
God."

33. This year there occurs the twelfth centenary of the Second Ecumenical
Council of Nice (787). Putting an end to the well-known controversy about
the cult of sacred images, this Council defined that, according to the
teaching of the holy Fathers and the universal tradition of the Church,
there could be exposed for the veneration of the faithful, together with
the Cross, also images of the Mother of God, of the angels and of the
saints, in churches and houses and at the roadside.[84] This custom has
been maintained in the whole of the East and also in the West. Images of
the Virgin have a place of honor in churches and houses. In them Mary is
represented in a number of ways: as the throne of God carrying the Lord
and giving him to humanity (Theotokos); as the way that leads to Christ
and manifests him (Hodegetria); as a praying figure in an attitude of
intercession and as a sign of the divine presence on the journey of the
faithful until the day of the Lord (Deesis); as the protectress who
stretches out her mantle over the peoples (Pokrov), or as the merciful
Virgin of tenderness (Eleousa). She is usually represented with her Son,
the child Jesus, in her arms: it is the relationship with the Son which
glorifies the Mother. Sometimes she embraces him with tenderness
(Glykophilousa); at other times she is a hieratic figure, apparently rapt
in contemplation of him who is the Lord of history (cf. Rev. 5:9-14).[85]

It is also appropriate to mention the icon of Our Lady of Vladimir, which
continually accompanied the pilgrimage of faith of the peoples of ancient
Rus'. The first Millennium of the conversion of those noble lands to
Christianity is approaching: lands of humble folk, of thinkers and of
saints. The Icons are still venerated in the Ukraine, in Byelorussia and
in Russia under various titles. They are images which witness to the
faith and spirit of prayer of that people, who sense the presence and
protection of the Mother of God. In these Icons the Virgin shines as the
image of divine beauty, the abode of Eternal Wisdom, the figure of the
one who prays, the prototype of contemplation, the image of glory: she
who even in her earthly life possessed the spiritual knowledge
inaccessible to human reasoning and who attained through faith the most
sublime knowledge. I also recall the Icon of the Virgin of the Cenacle,
praying with the Apostles as they awaited the Holy Spirit: could she not
become the sign of hope for all those who, in fraternal dialogue, wish to
deepen their obedience of faith?

34. Such a wealth of praise, built up by the different forms of the
Church's great tradition, could help us to hasten the day when the Church
can begin once more to breathe fully with her "two lungs," the East and
the West. As I have often said, this is more than ever necessary today.
It would be an effective aid in furthering the progress of the dialogue
already taking place between the Catholic Church and the Churches and
Ecclesial Communities of the West.[86] It would also be the way for the
pilgrim Church to sing and to live more perfectly her "Magnificat."

35. At the present stage of her journey, therefore, the Church seeks to
rediscover the unity of all who profess their faith in Christ, in order
to show obedience to her Lord, who prayed for this unity before his
Passion. "Like a pilgrim in a foreign land, the Church presses forward
amid the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God,
announcing the Cross and Death of the Lord until he comes."[87] "Moving
forward through trial and tribulation, the Church is strengthened by the
power of God's grace promised to her by the Lord, so that in the weakness
of the flesh she may not waver from perfect fidelity, but remain a bride
worthy of her Lord; that moved by the Holy Spirit she may never cease to
renew herself, until through the Cross she arrives at the light which
knows no setting."[88]

The Virgin Mother is constantly present on this journey of faith of the
People of God towards the light. This is shown in a special way by the
canticle of the "Magnificat," which, having welled up from the depths of
Mary's faith at the Visitation, ceaselessly re-echoes in the heart of the
Church down the centuries. This is proved by its daily recitation in the
liturgy of Vespers and at many other moments of both personal and
communal devotion.

"My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on his servant in her lowliness.
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name:
And his mercy is from age to age
on those who fear him.
He has shown strength with his arm,
he has scattered the proud-hearted,
he has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his posterity for ever."
(Lk. 1 :46-55)

36. When Elizabeth greeted her young kinswoman coming from Nazareth, Mary
replied with the Magnificat. In her greeting, Elizabeth first called Mary
"blessed" because of "the fruit of her womb," and then she called her
"blessed" because of her faith (cf. Lk. 1:42, 45). These two blessings
referred directly to the Annunciation. Now, at the Visitation, when
Elizabeth's greeting bears witness to that culminating moment, Mary's
faith acquires a new consciousness and a new expression. That which
remained hidden in the depths of the "obedience of faith" at the
Annunciation can now be said to spring forth like a clear and life-giving
flame of the spirit. The words used by Mary on the threshold of
Elizabeth's house are an inspired profession of her faith, in which her
response to the revealed word is expressed with the religious and
poetical exultation of her whole being towards God. In these sublime
words, which are simultaneously very simple and wholly inspired by the
sacred texts of the people of Israel,[89] Mary's personal experience, the
ecstasy of her heart, shines forth. In them shines a ray of the mystery
of God, the glory of his ineffable holiness, the eternal love which, as
an irrevocable gift, enters into human history.

Mary is the first to share in this new revelation of God and, within the
same, in this new "self-giving" of God. Therefore she proclaims: "For he
who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name." Her
words reflect a joy of spirit which is difficult to express: "My spirit
rejoices in God my Savior." Indeed, "the deepest truth about God and the
salvation of man is made clear to us in Christ, who is at the same time
the mediator and the fullness of all revelation."[90] In her exultation
Mary confesses that she finds herself in the very heart of this fullness
of Christ. She is conscious that the promise made to the fathers, first
of all "to Abraham and to his posterity for ever," is being fulfilled in
herself. She is thus aware that concentrated within herself as the mother
of Christ is the whole salvific economy, in which "from age to age" is
manifested he who, as the God of the Covenant, "remembers his mercy."

37. The Church, which from the beginning has modeled her earthly journey
on that of the Mother of God, constantly repeats after her the words of
the Magnificat. From the depths of the Virgin's faith at the Annunciation
and the Visitation, the Church derives the truth about the God of the
Covenant: the God who is Almighty and does "great things" for man: "holy
is his name." In the Magnificat the Church sees uprooted that sin which
is found at the outset of the earthly history of man and woman, the sin
of disbelief and of "little faith" in God. In contrast with the
"suspicion" which the "father of lies" sowed in the heart of Eve the
first woman, Mary, whom tradition is wont to call the "new Eve"[91] and
the true "Mother of the living,"[92] boldly proclaims the undimmed truth
about God: the holy and almighty God, who from the beginning is the
source of all gifts, he who "has done great things" in her, as well as in
the whole universe. In the act of creation God gives existence to all
that is. In creating man, God gives him the dignity of the image and
likeness of himself in a special way as compared with all earthly
creatures. Moreover, in his desire to give, God gives himself in the Son,
notwithstanding man's sin: "He so loved the world that he gave his only
Son" (Jn. 3:16). Mary is the first witness of this marvelous truth, which
will be fully accomplished through "the works and words" (cf. Acts 1:1)
of her Son and definitively through his Cross and Resurrection.

The Church, which even "amid trials and tribulations" does not cease
repeating with Mary the words of the Magnificat, is sustained by the
power of God's truth, proclaimed on that occasion with such extraordinary
simplicity. At the same time, by means of this truth about God, the
Church desires to shed light upon the difficult and sometimes tangled
paths of man's earthly existence. The Church's journey, therefore, near
the end of the second Christian Millennium, involves a renewed commitment
to her mission. Following him who said of himself: "(God) has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor" (cf. Lk. 4:18), the Church has sought
from generation to generation and still seeks today to accomplish that
same mission.

The Church's love of preference for the poor is wonderfully inscribed in
Mary's Magnificat. The God of the Covenant, celebrated in the exultation
of her spirit by the Virgin of Nazareth, is also he who "has cast down
the mighty from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly, ...filled the
hungry with good things, sent the rich away empty, ...scattered the
proud-hearted...and his mercy is from age to age on those who fear him."
Mary is deeply imbued with the spirit of the "poor of Yahweh," who in the
prayer of the Psalms awaited from God their salvation, placing all their
trust in him (cf. Pss. 25; 31; 35; 55). Mary truly proclaims the coming
of the "Messiah of the poor" (cf. Is. 11:4; 61:1). Drawing from Mary's
heart, from the depth of her faith expressed in the words of the
Magnificat, the Church renews ever more effectively in herself the
awareness that the truth about God who saves, the truth about God who is
the source of every gift, cannot be separated from the manifestation of
his love of preference for the poor and humble, that love which,
celebrated in the Magnificat, is later expressed in the words and works
of Jesus.

The Church is thus aware--and at the present time this awareness is
particularly vivid--not only that these two elements of the message
contained in the Magnificat cannot be separated, but also that there is a
duty to safeguard carefully the importance of "the poor" and of "the
option in favor of the poor" in the word of the living God. These are
matters and questions intimately connected with the Christian meaning of
freedom and liberation. "Mary is totally dependent upon God and
completely directed towards him, and, at the side of her Son, she is the
most perfect image of freedom and of the liberation of humanity and of
the universe. It is to her as Mother and Model that the Church must look
in order to understand in its completeness the meaning of her own
mission."[93]

38. The Church knows and teaches with Saint Paul that there is only one
mediator: "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all" (1
Tim