With two thousand years of Christianity behind us, we have little idea of the innovation that Our Lord Jesus Christ’s teaching represented in His time.
Considering man in his innermost being—that is, his relationship with the Creator—we see that the pagan gods of Antiquity were often portrayed as implacable judges and tormentors of humanity. Such beliefs even held some sway among the Chosen People, the only nation to worship one God—personal, eternal, the origin of all things. Strict justice prevailed in the Old Testament to subdue those people’s harsh nature. The terrifying scene of Yahweh speaking to Moses on Mount Horeb stands in contrast with Jesus’ kindness in pardoning the repentant adulteress.
The Divine Redeemer inaugurated the law of mercy, patience and compassion. He revealed Himself as God, as well as the Friend and Brother of those whose flesh he had assumed and for whose salvation He would die upon the Cross—something unimaginable before. And this plan of love goes even deeper. Jesus could easily have become incarnate as a grown man, ready to embark on His preaching ministry. But He wanted to be born of a Mother; He chose to spend nine months in her womb and to depend on her throughout His infancy like any ordinary child. In so doing, He raised a mere creature to the highest possible plane, making her Mother of God. From the first moment of her existence, she enjoyed a fullness of grace that surpassed the peak attained by the greatest saints and Angels.
In this way, humanity came to know God Who is love, and came to know His Mother and ours—the personification of goodness, kindness and pardon to those who have recourse to her and await her protection, aid and understanding in the difficult perseverance in this valley of tears.
In his famous True Devotion to Mary, St. Louis de Montfort transcribes an inspired expression from St. Antoninus: “God the Father gathered all the waters together and called them the seas [mare ]. He gathered all His graces together and called them Mary” (n.23). Mary is God’s masterpiece, yet she chose to remain completely hidden during her life, so that there is barely a mention of her in the Gospels.
Through this we see a beautiful design in salvation history, where Our Lady was gradually venerated among the first Christians and devotion to her later spread throughout the entire early Church. Her role in the sanctification of souls also grew in a crescendo, in proportion to the growing weakness of successive generations. Who today can imagine a Church without the Blessed Virgin?
As the beloved daughter of the Eternal Father, admirable Mother of God the Son and most faithful spouse of God the Holy Spirit, the best part, so to speak, was reserved for her—that of being the Queen of a historical period in which humanity will correspond to grace in an unprecedented way, resulting in the attainment of the goal for which man was created. Humanity will then give God all the glory that is His due. It will be the Reign of Mary, in which human wickedness will have finally been vanquished, not by the rigour of justice, but by the unsurpassable maternal love of the Virgin Mary!