Mary

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end. (Luke 1:26-33)

The Blessed Virgin Mary is the greatest among the saints, the pinnacle of all creation. At the Annunciation, Mary said “yes” to God and became the Mother of Jesus, the eternal Son of God incarnate. We believe in Mary’s Immaculate Conception (that she was without sin from the moment of her conception and she remained “full of grace” by the saving work of the son she was to bear) and that, because of her sinless state, she was assumed bodily into heaven at the end of her earthly life. The Church also teaches that Mary is ever-virgin – before and after the birth of Jesus.

Mary embraced her vocation of being God’s handmaiden, and her role in salvation history, becoming the mother of Christ, who is God & man. Jesus made her sinless from her first moment of existence in her mother's womb because of the singular role she was to play in our salvation. No other human person offers as vital and direct a link in the coming of Christ. The Magnificat, or Canticle of Mary, is the longest set of words uttered by a woman in the New Testament.