Apostolic Letter of October 11, 2011, titled Porta Fedei (The Door of Faith), His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI declared the Year of Faith. The Year began on October 11, 2012. It will end on November 24, 2013. Pope Benedict’s Year of Faith may be named too Year of the Blessed Virgin Mary chiefly because the faith of Mary is not only unsurpassable, but it is also the most extraordinary thing in her life. Her fiat was the first Pentecost, the first mission in the spirit which gave flesh and blood to the WORD at the Annunciation. The Incarnation is a mystery described by the Angelic Doctor St. Thomas Aquinas as the miracle of miracles (miraculum miraculorum). Mary gave herself up completely. She surrendered her body and soul to the invitation by God. “AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Mary had wholehearted faith in her vocation: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, ”  (Luke1:38). She did not quibble. She did not ask herself if or not her lowly existence was compatible with the announcement made to her. She completely trusted in God and was ever ready to do God’s will. God needed a mother to effectuate the redemption of mankind, to regain for humanity the Paradise that was Lost  by the Fall of our first parents -  Adam and Eve. Mary would be a mother and still remain a virgin; she would bear a son, a saviour who would redeem the world, an incomparable being who would rule eternally. Mary’s reaction to the angel’s message revealed a humility that was infinitely truer than anything anybody could ever have imagined. She trusted in God and said “Yes”. She believed that God needed a mother, a daughter who was faithful enough to become his mother.

The Blessed Virgin Mary had a very accurate notion of God and, so, was infinitely humble. She acquiesced, once and for all, and said, “Do with me as you wish”. Her fiat was the fiat of Gethsemane, just the very same: “Not my will, but yours” (Luke 22:42). It is the fiat we repeat when we say the Our Father: “May your will be done on earth”. We are all required to reach the level where we can truly say: “Do what you want with me.” I t is true that we pray: Jesus I love  you, all I have is yours; yours  I am; yours I would like to be, do with me whatever you will.”REALLY?  But at the least obstacle or problem we revolt. We reject the cross – the emblem of Jesus he so disinterestedly, dearly and devotedly loved that he had to lay down his life on it. We seek the Christ of joy and glory and reject the Christ of pain and sacrifice, the Christ of Calvary. We welcome the King of Glory and repulse the Man of Sorrows.  We are either experimenting with syncretism or with religious pluralism. We seek deliverance, throw away the cross and seek solutions from all manner of religious panderers, those making money, exploiting people in the name of Jesus. We lips words without thought. And so King Claudius in Shakespeare’s HAMLET is eternally correct: ‘Words without thought never to heaven go.”

Mary consented to let God take over her life; and, as always, God set to work immediately. No sooner had she agreed than she began to be humiliated, perplexed and thwarted. She began to suffer. And Mary knew that God was at work on her; that God trains the ones that he loves and he punishes all those that he acknowledges as his children (Heb12:6-7). God asked Mary for everything and led her to sacrifice it so completely that she realised that only God could require that much. Her deep-seated attitude toward God found scope in her Son. The more he wanted, the more she understood that he was God. And, we imagine, she kept repeating, I am your servant, Lord. May what you have said be done in me.

Before the birth of Jesus, things started to go wrong. In the first place, Mary had to sacrifice her fiancé – Joseph. Mary and Joseph loved each other very much. But Mary did not think that she had the right to divulge God’s secret. We ought to appreciate the fact that throughout the life of Mary she always felt that she should not interfere or rush God’s plans. She had, rather trust and wait no matter how long. Like St. John the Baptist, Mary allowed herself to be imprisoned in her solitude. Do we ever imagine the humiliations, the anguish and the problems that Mary faced at every turn. All this time, we must note, Joseph was exceptional. It is germane, too, to realise that it is by loving each other the way Mary and Joseph did that the vicissitudes, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and the sea of troubles (HAMLET) can be overcome. Never once did Joseph doubt Mary. Joseph reached a state of total respect, compliance and docility to the workings of God. We can assert that his faith in Mary brought out and strengthened his faith in God. Because Joseph loved and trusted Mary, he learned to believe that all was well, that all that comes from God is good. Then, much later, an angel arrived, woke Joseph up from sleep and explained everything to him. The Blessed Virgin always waited for God to reveal his secrets.

If only we would be as patient! We ought to realise that it is by being patient that God will further his plans in us. But wait a minute! We always want to hurry things up and act on our own.

The story of Sara is a superb exemplification. God had promised her a son. But to her and to us God was moving pretty too slowly. When Sara had exhausted herself waiting, she decided to take her fate in her own hands. She felt that God’s speed was too sluggish, a kind of snail-speed! She said to herself: I know what to do. She did.

She gave Agar to her husband Abraham as his mate. You see, she discovered a way to make Abraham a father. What was the consequence? Squabbles between the two women, scuffles between the sons, Ishmael against Isaac and Agar against Sara, and finally, disappointment, anguish, heartbreak estrangement and bitterness for everyone. The household was in an uproar (Gen 15:2-18:15, 21:1-21).

Mankind continues to interfere with God’s design, lacking faith and patience. Mankind now makes  man  woman; legalises contraception, homosexuality, lesbianism, same-sex marriage, abortion, euthanasia  and all manner of sexual deviancy and genetic engineering. In so many countries, in so many quarters, with so many people there is a denial that God exists. After the so many speculations, apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the twentieth century, particularly, asking for repentance and reparation, have in human calculation, been deemed a fantasy, there is a move by mankind to indulge in sinfulness with a vengeance. The twenty-first century has a pride of place in total faithlessness, in complete dependence on science and technology. The existence of God is eclipsed. The sad scenarios in this century seem to have provoked the frightful poser: “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?” (Luke18:8).

The fidelity of Mary was put to stiff test right from the beginning. Her baby was born in loneliness and destitution. She had never been poorer, never more tired or solitary. Nevertheless it was the Lord Himself who had chosen the exact hour of his birth. But for us, we would have ruled out that hour, that circumstance, that environment.

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