. . . She was planned for a role in the drama of redemption by God, as a child is planned for a musical career by his physical parents, but it was not fulfilled until this moment. The Holy Trinity never possesses a creature without the consent of His will. When, therefore, Mary had heard how this was to take place, she uttered words which are the greatest pledge of liberty and the greatest charter of freedom the world has ever heard: “Be it done unto me according to thy word.” As in Eden there took place the first espousals of man and woman, so, in her, there took place the first espousals of God and man, eternity and time, omnipotence and bonds. In answer to the question: “Will you give me a man?” the marriage ceremony of love becomes bathed with new depths of freedom: “I will” – And the Word was conceived in her.
Here, then, is freedom of religion; God respects human freedom by refusing to invade humanity and to establish a beachhead in time without the free consent of one of His creatures. Freedom of Conscience is also involved: before Mary could claim as her own the great gifts of God, she had to ratify those gifts by an act of will in the Annunciation. And there is the freedom of a total abandonment to God: our free will is the only thing that is really our own. Our health, our wealth, our power – all these God can take from us. But our freedom he leaves to us, even in hell. Because freedom is our own, it is the only perfect gift that we can make to God. And yet here a creature totally, yet freely, surrendered her will, so that one might say that it was not a matter of Mary’s will doing the will of her Son, but of Mary’s will being lost in that of her Son, Later on in His life he would say: “If the Son of Man makes you free, you will be free indeed.” If this be so, then no one has ever been more free than this belle of Liberty, the lady who sang the Magnificat.
Bishop Venerable Fulton J. Sheen
The World’s First Love
