From a young woman of Nazareth to the Queen of Heaven — ten chapters in the story God wrote with her consent.
By a singular grace of God and in view of the merits of Christ, Mary was preserved from original sin from the first moment of her conception in the womb of her mother, St. Anne. She was born — tradition holds — around 20 BC, the daughter of Sts. Joachim and Anne.
Tradition holds that the young Mary was presented in the Temple at age three and consecrated to God. There she grew in wisdom and grace, preparing in silence for her unique vocation.
In Nazareth, the angel Gabriel greeted her: 'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.' At her fiat — 'Be it done unto me according to thy word' — the Word became flesh in her womb. Salvation history turned on a young woman's consent.
Mary journeyed to her cousin Elizabeth, who proclaimed her 'blessed among women.' Mary's response — the Magnificat — remains the Church's great song of God's mercy lifting the lowly.
In Bethlehem, in a stable, she brought forth the Son of God. Shepherds and Magi came to adore him. Mary, says the Gospel, 'kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.'
Warned in a dream, the Holy Family fled Herod's wrath into Egypt, returning to settle in Nazareth. There Jesus grew under her care for some thirty hidden years — the long obedience of ordinary love.
At Cana, Mary's quiet intercession — 'They have no wine' — drew forth her Son's first public miracle. Her last recorded words still address every disciple: 'Do whatever he tells you.'
She stood by the Cross on Calvary as her Son died. From there Jesus gave her to the beloved disciple — and to the whole Church — as Mother: 'Behold thy mother.'
She prayed with the Apostles in the upper room when the Holy Spirit descended in tongues of fire. Mother of the Redeemer, she became Mother of the Church being born.
At the end of her earthly course, Mary was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory and crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth — the first fruits of the resurrection promised to all the faithful.