Mary, the second and better Eve, Mary: Day 158

Mary, the second and better Eve

Since ancient times, Christian teachers have noted both the parallels and the contrasts between Eve and Mary. Blessed John Henry Newman sums up the traditional teaching about Mary as the “second and better Eve.”

Eve had a part in the fall of man, though it was Adam who was our representative, and whose sin made us sinners. It was Eve who began, and who tempted Adam. It was fitting then in God’s mercy that, as the woman began the destruction of the world, so woman should also begin its recovery, and that, as Eve opened the way for the fatal deed of the first Adam, so Mary should open the way for the great achievement of the second Adam, even our Lord Jesus Christ, who came to save the world by dying on the Cross for it. Hence Mary is called by the holy Fathers a second and a better Eve, as having taken that first step in the salvation of mankind which Eve took in its ruin.

How, and when, did Mary take part, and the initial part, in the world’s restoration? It was when the angel Gabriel came to her to announce to her the great dignity which was to be her portion. It was God’s will that she should undertake willingly and with full understanding to be the mother of our Lord, and not to be a mere passive instrument whose maternity would have no merit and no reward.

The higher our gifts, the heavier our duties. It was no light thing to be so intimately near to the Redeemer of men, as she experienced afterwards when she suffered with him. Therefore, weighing well the angel’s words before giving her answer to them, first she asked whether so great an office would be a forfei- ture of that virginity which she had vowed. When the angel told her no, then, with the full consent of a full heart, full of God’s love to her and her own lowli- ness, she said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word.” —Blessed John Henry Newman, Meditations and Devotions

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
What does it mean to say “the higher our gifts, the heavier our duties”? What gifts have I been given that oblige me to heavier duties?

CLOSING PRAYER
Mary, teach me how to say yes to God, to consent to his will with a whole heart, so that I too might crush the head of the serpent in my life.

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