Mary’s faith was tested

Mary is the first believer; her greatness consists in the greatness of her faith. She was subject to all the obscurities, doubts, and fears to which all of us, the lowest and the highest, are subject. But she believed, and blessed is she for her believing. There were hard moments for Mary, but she believed. She shines forth as the exemplar of faith. She constantly kept her faith at all times and situations, to do the will of God in all things.

We are often inclined to imagine that the life which Mary, Joseph and Jesus led together in the intimacy of their home in Nazareth was sweet and soft. Far from that! Mary spent the whole of her life in the severe ordeal of faith  not understanding but believing with a faith which increased through pondering and through living in close contact with the growing Child. And she experienced the salne difficulties in life as we do in ours, but she always submitted in faith to the incomprehensible events of her life of which God was the Author.

To no other creature were things so profound and so difficult proposed for belief as to Blessed Virgin Mary. Her faith surpassed that of all other creatures. Since her love for God was great, her belief and trust in Him were correspondingly great. She believed the word of the Angel Gabriel (cf. Lk 1:30-35) when he implicitly revealed to her the ineffable mystery of one God in three Divine Persons. She did not understand this mystery, nor the astounding mystery of a virgin’s bringing forth a child, and that Child being God; but she believed without hesitation (cf. Lk 1 :45). St Augustine exclaims, “When Mary consented to the Incarnation of the Eternal Word by means of her faith she opened Heaven to men.”