Mary, Mother of Faith, Mary: Day 146

Mary, Mother of Faith

Through Mary’s faith, St. Alphonsus declares, her divine Son was conceived, and our salvation was secured.

As the Blessed Virgin is the mother of holy love and hope, she is also the Mother of Faith: “I am the mother of beautiful love, of fear, of knowledge, and of holy hope” (Sir 24:18). With good reason do these words apply to her, for as St. Irenaeus says, “The evil done by Eve’s disbelief was remedied by Mary’s faith.”

This is confirmed by the ancient writer Tertullian. He says that because Eve, contrary to the assurance she had received from God, believed the serpent, she brought death into the world. But our queen believed the angel when he said that she, remaining a virgin, would become the mother of God. In doing so, she brought salvation into the world.

As St. Augustine says, “When Mary consented to the incarnation of the Eternal Word, by means of her faith she opened heaven to men.” Richard of Saint Lawrence, commenting on the words of St. Paul that ‘‘the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife” (1 Cor 7:14), observes: “Mary is the believing woman by whose faith the unbelieving Adam and all his posterity are saved.”

It was because of Mary’s faith that Elizabeth called the holy Virgin blessed: “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (Lk 1:45). St. Augustine adds: “Mary was blessed more by receiving the faith of Christ than by conceiving the flesh of Christ.” —St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
Is my faith being tested right now by doubts or difficult circumstances? Have I asked Mary to share her faith with me?

CLOSING PRAYER
Blessed Mother, I thank you that through your faith, you became the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, the One who is “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:2).

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