For some, Mary can be someone who is hard to relate to. As the one who was immaculately conceived, she can seem completely different from us because she is without sin. But we don’t have to look at Mary as a foreign creature. In fact, Fr. Carl Pieber stopped by Morning Air® to share how Mary is not only human, but the model of humanity for us all.

Fr. Carl said, “Some think that Mary had a head start on life. Baloney! Of course she didn’t. The Immaculate Conception is really a demonstration of God’s love for us, for all of humanity. Mary represented all of humanity, all of us.”

Fr. Carl explained that Mary is a model for us in three specific ways: prayer, action, and silence.

Prayer
We have her prayer, her great prayer, the Magnificat where she tells us how great God is in her life. Everything she does and says is about God, and that’s why she’s a model. Mary raised Jesus and she models Him, which is the great mystery in our life. How do we have a savior inside us, that we can take and give to the world?

Action
It’s just amazing, because in giving to the world we’re giving ourselves. Ourselves modeled and formed in the form of Jesus Christ – we’re going to give that to others. Mary was a woman of action. She was told she was going to be the mother of God, and she would make the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity incarnate – and that her cousin was pregnant. And she goes to see her cousin. She doesn’t go tell everybody she is going to be the mother of God, she looks at who needs help. Elizabeth needs help and so off she goes.

Silence
When she gets to Elizabeth she says this beautiful, beautiful prayer, and then she goes silent. All of a sudden the Nativity happens, and then silence. How many times do we cry out to God, we don’t understand God, we are angry with God, and we wonder why, why, why? But not Mary. Because she knows, and she believes, and she experiences grace in her life. She knew that beyond anything she could know, God had a bigger, greater plan. And I think she brings that home in her silence and in her prayer. I invite everyone to think about silence in your own life.