Hail Mary, Full of Grace
by Rev. Michael Dogali
Her statues have always radiated sweetness. She is always young and pink-cheeked and slender, with hair cascading down to her waist. But the Mary of the Gospels is neither a fairy-tale princess nor the romanticized "lovely lady dressed in blue." In flesh and blood Mary was an altogether human woman - the pregnant adolescent who was painfully misunderstood by the man she loved, the frantic parent searching for her lost child in the big city, the caring woman who was not afraid to speak her mind or voice her questions, the grieving mother who stood by courageously as her son was being executed.
The figure we venerate in mysterious icons was a woman with her feet planted on earth. Mary of Nazareth knew the pain that only a mother could feel; she knew the joy that only a totally selfless and giving woman could experience. Mary carried Jesus in the same way all mothers carry their children and yet there was a difference. The Annunciation marked a very crucial moment because, in it, we find the very essence of Christianity; the love-filled response of a human being to God. "Be it done to me as you say," is the perfection of Christian faith.
A remarkable, "yes!" Remarkable because Mary offers her whole self to whatever God wills. When the Archangel Gabriel came to Mary, she saw in him and beyond him, the whole of heaven, straight up to God. The archangel was the fulfillment of Mary's prayer, not in the sense that she had prayed for the appearance, or prepared herself for it, but rather in the sense that Mary has held herself in readiness for a mission still unknown to her.
What was asked of Mary was something glorious, but all its splendor would have meant nothing unless she had wanted to yield to God's will. Mary was totally human and made the most complete surrender of herself to God. "Be it done to me as you say," then and now is the most direct and wholehearted surrender to God's will. It is like a stroke of lightening which fuses together God's question and humankind's answer. Specifically at the Annunciation, the Virgin Mary was asked to give her consent in the name of the whole human race. Our Lady is so much more than a model. Her unique "yes" is not simply something to admire. Mary's "yes" did something and does something. Her "yes" brought God to birth on earth and continues to link God with his people.
Why is Mary so loved by the Catholic faithful? Why is it that on Marian feasts we seem to know the hymns and actually sing? We love Our Lady because she reminds us that we have the same Saviour who graced her life. We love Our Lady because there are four instincts deeply embedded in the human heart: affection for the beautiful, admiration for purity, reverence for a queen, and love for a mother. All of these come to a focus in Mary.