Every Christian should be made to realize that he cannot pick and choose in Christ. Mary realized this fully even in the joyful Annunciation. She knew that she was not invited to become only a Mother of Joys, but the Woman of Sorrows as well. But she had always given herself utterly to God, and now she received him completely. With full knowledge, she welcomed that infant life with all it stood for. She was no less willing to endure anguish with him than she was to taste bliss with him. In that moment, those Sacred Hearts entered into a union so close as to approach identity. Henceforth, they will beat together in and for the Mystical Body. Thereby Mary has become the Mediatrix of all Graces, the Spiritual Vessel which receives and gives our Lord's Most Precious Blood. As it was with Mary, so shall it be with all her children. The degree of man's utility to God will always be the closeness of his union with the Sacred Heart, whence he can draw deeply of the Precious Blood to bestow it on other souls. But that union with the heart and blood of Christ is not to be found in a phase of his life, but in the life entire. It is as futile, as it is unworthy, to welcome the King of Glory and to repulse the Man of Sorrows, for the two are but the one Christ. He who will not walk with the Man of Sorrows has no part in his mission to souls, nor share in its sequel of glory.

Handbook of the Legion of Mary

     "Without any doubt, Mary is worthy of blessing by the very fact that she became the mother of Jesus according to the flesh ('Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked'), but also and especially because already at the Annunciation she accepted the word of God, because she believed it, because she was obedient to God, and because she 'kept' the word and 'pondered it in her heart' (cf. Lk 1:38, 45; 2:19, 51) and by means of her whole life accomplished it. Thus we can say that the blessing proclaimed by Jesus is not in opposition, despite appearances, to the blessing uttered by the unknown woman, but rather coincides with that blessing in the persons of this Virgin Mother, who called herself only 'the handmaid of the Lord'." (Redemptoris Mater Mary, Mother of the Redeemer, Pope John Paul II, 1987)

     "I lay special stress on the Magnificat because it seems to me that it may be considered, in a way perhaps not commonly realized, a document of outstanding importance in its bearing on Mary's Motherhood of grace. The most holy Virgin, identified with Christ as we know her to have been from the moment of the Annunciation, proclaims herself the representative of the entire human race, intimately associated with 'all generations,' and bound up with the destinies of those who are truly her own. This canticle of hers is the song of her spiritual maternity." (Bernard, O.P.: Le Mystère de Marie)

"The Magnificat is Mary's prayer par excellence, the song of the Messianic times in which there mingles the joy of the ancient and new Israel. As Saint Irenaeus seems to suggest, it is in Mary's canticle that there was heard once more the rejoicing of Abraham (cf Jn 8:56) who foresaw the Messiah, and there rang out in prophetic anticipation the voice of the Church . . . And in fact Mary's hymn has spread far and wide and has become the prayer of the whole Church in all ages." (MCul 18) 

This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfilment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress and Mediatrix. This, however, is so understood that it neither takes away anything from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficacy of Christ the one Mediator.

"Already at the Annunciation Mary's Motherhood is the first, and secret, shape of the Church. At that moment do not see in Jesus and Mary only the Society of a Son and his Mother, but of God and man, of the Saviour and the first one redeemed by him. All men are called to be incorporated in that Society, which is the Church. And in the persons of Jesus and Mary, the Church acquires not only its essence but even at this stage its principal characteristics. It is perfectly one and holy. It is virtually Catholic, that is to say universal in those two universal Members. There is only lacking to it Catholicity in act and apostleship." (Laurentin)

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