THE BIRTH OF MARY.

Whenever we are given a mission by God we are always given the graces needed to carry out the task.   The Trinity had a plan to for the salvation of man from sin and death so did they look at all the young Jewish girls and decide which one was the best to be the mother of Jesus.?   And did they decide that a young girl in Nazareth would do, and sent Gabriel to announce she was the candidate chosen?    Unfortunately Mary is given so little attention these days that one could quite believe that this was the case.   Yes, thank you Mary for being the mother of Jesus, remember to pray for us.

When we read what Gabriel said to Mary "Hail, Full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee"  we may prefer the modernist translation "Hail, highly favoured one.." since grace is not a word used much nowadays, and we might  even believe that it means the same thing.  Grace is a gift given by God to the soul and the meaning is totally different.   Grace in the soul is the measure of holiness, our closeness to God.    We learn that Mary was troubled by this saying.   This was because the young lady was so humble.   She did not see herself as anyone of importance.  Gabriel went on to tell her that the Father had chosen her to be the Mother of his only-begotten Son and that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her and make her a Mother.    Now Mary had free willl in this, but mankind should be grateful for her answer  "Behold the HANDMAID of the LORD  be it done unto me according to your will"

For far too many people that is the end of the story.   But scholars in the Church throughout the centuries have struggled to understand Mary and her role with God.   She was very important  to the Trinity since in order for God the Son to take flesh she was needed.   Her flesh wast the same flesh that covered Jesus.   She was the bridge between the Father and the Son and without her consent the plan that God had already spoken of in Genesis could not have been accomplished.   There was to be enmity between Satan and the woman and between her seed and his.     But what did all this mean.?

Mary of course was not a random choice.   She was especially created by God for the task of being the Mother of Jesus.    She had to be worthy of that task for how could a sinner be the mother of the HOLY ONE.   At her birth God gave her all the help he could to overcome obstacles and be a worthyMother of Jesus.    "Hail, full of Grace..."   Yes, she was holy and had all the graces needed for  her role.    And to ensure she would be the perfect vessel to carry Jesus, at her own conception all the graces that were needed were infused into her soul and that weakness for sin in our nature called original sin was removed.   She was the Immaculate Conception.   So Mary, who was chosen before time even began to be the Mother of Our Saviour, grew up becoming ever closer to God, humble and obedient `till at last God was ready.
      

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