Mary’s presence was particularly significant in the first Christian community. In John’s narrative of the passion and death of the Lord, we find those words with which Jesus entrusted his mother to John and the latter to his mother (cf. Jn 19, 25-27). The scene is like a representation of Mary’s relationship with those who were her son’s disciples, with those who shared life with him during the years of his public ministry. After the resurrection of the Lord, they progressively discover the true meaning of the words of the Master and feel how the Spirit elicitS in them a powerful urge to dedicate themselves totally to the propagation of the Kingdom which Jesus proclaimed and for which he offered his life. Mary’s presence gradually introduces them to that experience which is only comprehended through the “heart”.

Mary had experienced the presence of the Spirit of the Lord when she opened her heart to the Word, which was inviting her to take up a mission that was pertinent to the history of salvation. She knew the transforming strength of the Spirit of the Lord. The words of her canticle transmitted to us by Luke (cf. Lk 1, 46-55), express the experience of a person confident that she is in God’s hands and not afraid to be guided by his Words. To read and meditate on them would help us to recognize the presence of God in our own lives, to see him as a faithful guide and companion through life’s journey and to desire that the Spirit may transform the reality of our world so that it may reflect God’s plan of salvation. We feel called to “respond to so much goodness”.