MODULE 3: GOD, THE

SON, JOURNEYS WITH

Lesson 1
MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS AND A WOMAN
OF FAITH
INSPIRED WORD
 The Birth of Jesus Foretold
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a
town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man
named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was
Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord
is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and
pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel
said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor
with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a
son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be
called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the
throne of David, his father, and he will rule over the house of
Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” But
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no
relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The
holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High
will overshadow you.
 Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the
Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also
conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month
for her who was called barren; for nothing will be
impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid
of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26-38)
 In the Gospel of Luke,
Mary’s “Behold…may it be
done” (1:38) is grounded in her
intimate and humble
relationship with her God. In the
end, it is in her “Behold”
moment wherein she turned and
rested her future in Greater
 Luke’s story of Mary includes
a woman’s spiritual life of prayer and
relationship with God. Moreover, it
portrays her wisdom to discern deep
waters, her need for practical
encouragement, and her courage to
enter into the ways that God might
act in her life, maybe wanting more
concrete answers, but still willing to
 The announcement to Mary
of the birth of Jesus is parallel to
the announcement to Zechariah of
the birth of John. In both the angel
Gabriel appears to the parent who
is troubled by the vision and then
told by the angel not to fear.
 After the announcement is
made the parent objects and a sign
is given to confirm the
announcement. The particular
focus of the announcement of the
birth of Jesus is on his identity as
Son of David and Son of God.
 Mary’s questioning response
is a denial of sexual relations and is
used by Luke to lead to the angel’s
declaration about the Spirit’s role
in the conception of this child.
 According to Luke, the
virginal conception of Jesus takes
place through the Holy Spirit, the
power of God, and therefore Jesus
has a unique relationship to
Yahweh: He is Son of God.
 The sign given to Mary in
confirmation of the angel’s
announcement to her is the
pregnancy of her aged relative
Elizabeth. If a woman past the
childbearing age could become
pregnant, why, the angel implies,
should there be doubt about Mary’s
pregnancy, for nothing will be
CHURCH TEACHING
 For Mary, the announcement
is almost overwhelming but her
faith and purity animated her to
God’s truth. She accepted the
angel’s message and all its
implications for her own life – a
radical, unforeseen change in her
plans.
 Mary’s total YES (FIAT) to
Go’s plan of salvation makes the
incarnation possible. Mary
remained faithful to her mission
unto the cross-making Jesus
available to us. If we love Jesus,
then we also love his mother and
follow her lead bringing us to Jesus.
 Luke’s story of Mary
encourages you to notice and
wonder both with your minds and
hearts how God is with you, to be
curious and to ask pointed
questions, even of God’s great
messengers.
 Luke’s story also calls you to
notice and ponder how God is
forever stirring up wild
possibilities, and how God invites
you into the ongoing story of
wonder, inclusive of happiness and
sorrows, but, according to Luke,
into a life where God’s joy
 The “Annunciation” refers to
“The visit of the angel Gabriel to
the Blessed Virgin Mary to inform
her that she was to be the Mother
of the Savior. After giving her
consent to God’s word, Mary
became the Mother of Jesus by the
power of the Holy Spirit.”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church,
 The Annunciation of the Lord
is a Solemnity, which is a Feast of
the highest rank in the Catholic
Church. The Catechism of the
Catholic Church notes that: “In the
liturgical year the various aspects
of the Paschal Mystery unfold.
 This is also the case with the
cycle of the feasts surrounding the
mystery of the Incarnation
(Annunciation, Christmas,
Epiphany). They commemorate the
beginning of our salvation and
communicate to us the first fruits of
the Paschal Mystery” (CCC, 1171).
 The Annunciation to Mary
inaugurates "the fullness of time", the
time of the fulfillment of God's
promises and preparations. Mary was
invited to conceive him in whom the
"whole fullness of deity" would dwell
"bodily". The divine response to her
question, "How can this be, since I
know not man?", was given by the
power of the Spirit: "The Holy Spirit
 The mission of the Holy Spirit is
always conjoined and ordered to that of
the Son. The Holy Spirit, "the Lord, the
giver of Life", is sent to sanctify the
womb of the Virgin Mary and divinely
fecundate it, causing her to conceive
the eternal Son of the Father in a
humanity drawn from her own. (CCC,
485)
 The Father's only Son, conceived
as man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, is
"Christ", that is to say, anointed by the
Holy Spirit, from the beginning of his
human existence, though the
manifestation of this fact takes place only
progressively: to the shepherds, to the
magi, to John the Baptist, to the disciples.
Thus, the whole life of Jesus Christ will
make manifest "how God anointed Jesus of
 What the Catholic faith believes
about Mary is based on what it believes
about Christ, and what it teaches about
Mary illumines in turn its faith in
Christ.
The name Mary is almost synonymous
with full of grace. One who is full of
grace is very humble, recognizing
one’s own limitations and incapacities
and then simply waiting for the
assurance from the Holy Spirit. One
who is full of grace magnifies the Lord.
 This is how significant Mary is
as portrayed in the story of the
Annunciation.
 According to his Eminence, Luis
Antonio Cardinal Tagle, in one of his
homilies, the Annunciation was the
beginning of the Incarnation: a silent
and mysterious event that changed the
world because at that moment, “in the
fullness of time and fullness of love,
heaven and earth would unite in the
Womb, in that Son-truly God but also
truly human…for God so loved the
 (CCC, 967) Since Mary is the
mother of Jesus, she is also the
mother of the church (CCC, 963.)
We have already seen that the
church is Jesus carrying on his
mission on earth to teach, to heal
and to give glory to God.
 We are the church, we live
with the life of Christ, we carry on
his mission to the world. Therefore,
Mary is our mother also, and that
fact alone should serve as a source
of great devotion to her. (Knox, Ian
1999)
END OF THE TOPIC