Dear Participants,

Welcome to Day two of our retreat! Today, we will discuss Mary's unfaltering trust.

Her certitude about another world to come resulted in a great feeling of trust: God is at work today, every day!

Mary relied on God from the beginning, and her faithfulness is outstanding: she trusted God as He is almighty, as everything is in His power. 

Mary's confidence is supported by God's characteristics, if we may say so: God is almighty, and God is good. 

Read the Magnificat, the song of praise of Mary - there, you will find mention of both the love and power of God: 

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

my spirit rejoices in God my savior.

For he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness;

behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.

The Mighty One has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

His Mercy is from age to age

to those who fear him.

He has shown might with his arm,

dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.

He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones

but lifted up the lowly.

The hungry he has filled with good things;

the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped Israel his servant,

remembering his mercy,

according to his promise to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his descendants forever.

(Luke 1, 46-55)

Throughout her life, Mary encountered several trials that could have shaken her trust in God, the Passion being a particularly grim one.  However, her confidence was always active in the background, against all the odds. The trials Mary went through could easily obliterate that trust, but it stood firm on the foundations that God is good. 

How does that apply to us? W

e shall acknowledge that at our level, we don't comprehend everything - at least, not immediately. By moving forward through life, we may find a meaning, a consistency, but not always. Surrendering to a higher, to superior intelligence, is essential: it's Abraham's attitude. At his level, it was an absolute contradiction: an offspring was promised to him, who was to be offered in sacrifice... But Abraham surrendered to God: he considered that God knew what He was doing, and we know what happened next.

Mary displayed the same attitude of surrendering in confidence: from her standpoint, it was also an absolute contradiction: virgin yet mother, Savior, and Messiah, yet dead on the Cross... 

But Mary answered "Yes" to the Angel of the Annunciation. She welcomed those contradictions. She probably didn't understand, but she surrendered to a higher authority, who does.

Did she underestimate her intelligence, her own will, by doing so? No. She just considered that it would be reasonable to trust. She merely acknowledged her limitations, accepting the fact that she could not comprehend everything. This attitude is that of the child who knows - with instinctive wisdom - that it is more reasonable to trust his parents than question them.

This is an attitude which is lost to most of us, most of the time. It would be much easier to trust God, and His provision for each one of us, based on the postulate that God is almighty and God is good. 

O Mary, help us adopt an attitude of faithfulness, teach us to trust God and know that what He does is always for our good and His glory, although that may not be obvious at first glance. Amen. 

Let us pray: 

In the presence of all the heavenly court, I choose you this day, for my Mother and Mistress. I deliver and consecrate to you as your slave, my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions, past, present, and future; leaving to you the entire and full right of disposing of me, and all that belongs to me, without exception, according to your good pleasure, for the greater glory of God, in time and eternity. Amen. 

Artwork: The Annunciation, by John Collier