“Behold the handmaid of the Lord!”, Mary: Day 200

Last updated on: February 6, 2016 at 3:30 am by Pete Socks

“Behold the handmaid of the Lord!”, Mary: Day 200 2016-01-01T14:43:00-05:00 Pete Socks

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“Behold the handmaid of the Lord!”

St. Alphonsus finds in Mary’s response to the angelic greeting an expression of her great humility.

Let’s consider the great humility of the Blessed Virgin in her answer to the angel Gabriel. She was fully enlightened as to the greatness of the dignity of a Mother of God. She had already been assured by the angel that she was this happy mother chosen by our Lord. But with all this, she in no way rises in her own estimation. She doesn’t stop to rejoice in her exaltation. Instead, she sees on the one side her own nothingness, and on the other the infinite majesty of God, who chose her for his mother. So she acknowledges how unworthy she is of so great an honor, but she won’t oppose God’s will in the least matter. When her consent is asked, then, what does she do? What does she say?

Within herself, she sees nothing, yet she’s all enflamed at the same time by the ardor of her desire to unite herself still more closely with God. So abandoning herself entirely to the divine will, she replies, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” Behold the slave of the Lord, obliged to do whatever her Lord commands. As if she meant to say: Since God chooses me for his mother—I who have nothing of my own—and since all that I have is his gift, who can ever think that he chose me on account of my own merits?

“Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” What merit can a slave ever have, that she should become the mother of her Lord? “Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” May the goodness of God alone be praised, and not his slave, since it is all his goodness, that he fixes his eyes on so lowly a creature as I am, to make her so great. O great humility of Mary, which makes her little to herself, but great before God! Unworthy in her own eyes, but worthy in the eyes of that immense Lord whom the world cannot contain. —St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
What is true humility? In what areas of my life do I struggle to cultivate humility?

CLOSING PRAYER
From a prayer of St. Alphonsus: O most pure Virgin Mary, I venerate your most holy heart, which was the delight and resting place of God, your heart overflowing with humility, purity, and divine love.

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