Most Blessed Mary, Role Model of Obedience

“Ecce ancilla Domini: fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum”
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord: let it be done to me according to your word”
Lc 1:38

*Summary Mary's obedience was incomparably more perfect than that of other saints; because, immune from every lip of guilt, she was like a wheel that was ready to move with every divine inspiration. By virtue of this virtue, Mary remedied the damage that Eve had caused by her disobedience. And you, how do you obey your superiors? How do you observe the laws of God and the Church and the duties proper to your state? Remember that the virtue of obedience brings the blessed into glory.

I. Because of the affection that Mary had to the virtue of obedience, when Saint Gabriel the Archangel came to announce her divine motherhood, she did not want to be called by any name other than handmaid: Here is the handmaid of the Lord. Yes, says Saint Thomas of Villanova, because this faithful handmaid, neither with her works nor with her mind, ever contradicted the Lord; but, stripped of all self-will, she lived always, and in everything, obedient to the Divine Will.

Saint Bernardino de Siena observes that Mary's obedience was much more perfect than that of other saints, because all men have inclinations to evil due to original sin and find it difficult to do good. Mary, on the other hand, immune as she was from every guilt, was like a wheel that readily moved at every divine inspiration and did nothing but observe and execute what pleased God. – It was said of her: Anima mea liquefacta est, ut dilectus meu locutus est (Cc. 5, 6) – “My soul melted as soon as my beloved spoke”; because, in Ricardo's explanation, the Virgin's soul was like molten metal, ready to take whatever shape God wanted.

How ready she was to obey, Mary clearly showed when, to please God, she also wanted to obey the Roman emperor, making the journey to Bethlehem, in winter time, pregnant and so poor that she was forced to give birth in a cave. – She was just as ready when St. Joseph warned her to set out in the same night for a longer and more dangerous journey to Egypt.

But, above all, she demonstrated her heroic obedience when, to obey the Divine Will, she offered her Son to death, with such great constancy that, as Saint Ildefonso said, she would be ready to crucify her Son if the executioners were lacking. – Wherefore Saint Bede, the Venerable, wrote that Mary was happier for her obedience to the Divine Will than for being made mother of the same God. And Saint Augustine concludes by saying that the divine Mother with her obedience remedied the damage that Eve did with her disobedience.

II. Mary is very pleased with those who are lovers of obedience, and one day she herself rebuked a religious who, having heard the bell for a certain exercise of the community, took some time to finish certain private devotions. – When the Blessed Virgin spoke to Saint Bridget about the safety of obeying the spiritual father, she told him that it is obedience that makes the blessed enter into glory. She added that, by the merit of her obedience, she obtained from the Lord that all sinners who repent to her, obtain forgiveness.

If, therefore, you want to please Mary Most Holy and ensure the salvation of your soul, make a firm resolution today to always imitate her obedience and to fulfill exactly all the duties of your state. – However, ask her Son for forgiveness of the faults you committed in the past against such a beautiful virtue.

Oh my Jesus! For my salvation you were obedient even to death and even death on the cross, and I, ungrateful, so as not to deprive myself of some miserable satisfaction, I often disrespected and disobeyed You. My Lord, bear with me; do not abandon me as I deserve. I regret all the heartache I gave You and I wanted to die of pain. I hear Your divine voice that invites me to Your love; I don't want to resist anymore. Here I am, I give myself to You; do not refuse to accept me.

Tell me what I must do to please You; I'm ready for anything. (I renew my vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience ¹) I promise that from now on I will never again resist the orders of my superiors. I love You, oh Jesus, my God, I love You above all things, and because I love You, I want to do everything to please You. Give me your assistance in carrying out this resolution. – And you, my Queen and Mother Mary, pray to Jesus for me, and by the merit of your obedience, obtain for me the grace to obey his holy will and the orders of my spiritual Father.

Footnotes:

1. If religious ↩