3.1 Response
STAGE 3: In Communion with Mary
MARY AND THE INCARNATION
THE NECESSARY WAY
RESPONSE
Aim: To give our response to God’s plan, which makes Mary “necessary” both to the Trinity and to us.
Reading
Mary is necessary to God (TD 14.15.39):
“With the whole Church I acknowledge that Mary, being a mere creature fashioned by the hands of God is, compared to his infinite majesty, less than an atom, or rather is simply nothing, since he alone can say, ‘I am he who is’. Consequently, this great Lord, who is ever independent and self-sufficient, never had and does not now have any absolute need of the Blessed Virgin for the accomplishment of his will and the manifestation of his glory. To do all things he has only to will them”.
“However, I declare that, considering things as they are, because God has decided to begin and accomplish his greatest works through the Blessed Virgin ever since he created her, we can safely believe that he will not change his plan in the time to come, for he is God and therefore does not change in his thoughts or his way of acting”.
“We must conclude that, being necessary to God by a necessity which is called ‘hypothetical’, (that is, because God so willed it), the Blessed Virgin is all the more necessary for believers to attain their final end”.
Comment
Mary is necessary to us because she is, first and foremost, “necessary” to God. God – not us – chose the way of the Incarnation. God – not us – chose Mary and made her necessary.
Hence, Montfort writes: “God the Father gave his only Son to the world only through Mary […] The Son of God became man for our salvation but only in Mary and through Mary. God the Holy Spirit formed Jesus Christ in Mary but only after having asked her consent” (TD 16).
To emphasise the extraordinary success of the Trinity’s plan in Mary, Montfort goes on to say: “God the Father imparted to Mary his fruitfulness […] to enable her to bring forth his Son and all the members of his body”.
Such “fruitfulness” resulted so intensely in God the Son as to make Montfort feel that the climax itself of the mystery of redemption, the Passover, occurred in the womb of Mary before it became visible on Calvary. In fact, “God the Son found freedom in imprisoning himself in Mary’s womb. He displayed power in allowing himself to be borne by this young maiden. He found his glory and that of his Father in hiding his splendours from all creatures here below and revealing them only to Mary. He glorified his independence and his majesty in depending upon this lovable virgin in his conception, his birth, his presentation in the temple, and in the thirty years of his hidden life. Even at his death she had to be present so that he might be united with her in one sacrifice and be immolated with her consent to the eternal Father […] It was Mary who nursed him, fed him, cared for him, reared him, and sacrificed him for us” (TD 17-18).
Finally, “It is with her, in her and of her that God the Holy Spirit, after producing God-made-man, continues to produce every day, until the end of the world, the members of this adorable Head. For this reason the more the Holy Spirit finds Mary in a soul the more powerful and effective he becomes in producing Jesus Christ in that soul and that soul in Jesus Christ. […] This is a mystery of grace unknown even to many of the most learned and spiritual of Christians” (TD 20-21).
Personal Reflection and Sharing
“With such a compelling example of the three divine Persons before us, we would be extremely perverse to ignore Mary and not consecrate ourselves to her. Indeed we would be blind if we did not see the need for Mary in approaching God and making our total offering to him” (TD 140).
The response of Montfort to God’s “compelling example” is that of “bewilderment”: “The human mind is bewildered when it reflects seriously upon this conduct” (TD 139).
How does “bewilderment” manifest in me when I reflect on the mystery of God “needing” Mary? And what is my personal response to the same “need” in my life?
[3-1] CALL RESPONSE COMMITMENT PRAYER