The Church, in her maternal wisdom, sets before us on this feast the praises of divine Wisdom from Ecclesiasticus and the angelic salutation to the Virgin of Nazareth in the Gospel of St. Luke. In these readings, she invites us to meditate upon Mary as the living tabernacle of Wisdom, the vessel of election, and the one whose name alone brings consolation and strength to the faithful.
“All these things are the book of the covenant of the most high God…” (Sirach 24:23)
The sapiential text, though speaking first of the Law, finds its spiritual fulfillment in her who bore the Lawgiver Himself. St. Ambrose, commenting on the intimate union between the Word and Mary, writes: “She was the book written by the finger of God, because in her the Word was made flesh.” The Fathers often saw in Mary the embodiment of divine Wisdom’s dwelling among men. St. Bernard of Clairvaux exclaims: “In her, Wisdom built for Himself a house, and that house was filled with the glory of God.”
Sirach further proclaims: “I will water my best garden, and will water abundantly my garden bed: and lo, my brook became a river, and my river became a sea” (24:31). The Fathers applied this image to the fecundity of Mary’s maternity. St. Ephrem the Syrian, in his poetic hymns, saw the Virgin as the garden irrigated by the Spirit, from whom the River of Life—the Incarnate Word—sprang forth for the salvation of the world.
“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” (Luke 1:28)
The Gospel transports us to that decisive moment when heaven bent low and the angel Gabriel greeted the Virgin by name. Her holy name—Mary—would henceforth resound throughout the Church, as a name filled with sweetness and terror: sweetness for the faithful, terror for the powers of darkness. St. Bernard, whose devotion to the Name of Mary is well known, assures us: “In dangers, in perplexities, in doubtful things, think of Mary, call on Mary. Let her not depart from your lips, let her not depart from your heart.”
Mary’s “fiat”—her humble consent—stands as the crown of Israel’s hope and the dawn of our redemption. St. Augustine marvels: “Through the Virgin’s faith, the Word was conceived; through her consent, the world was saved.” The very simplicity of her reply reveals the profound depth of her union with the divine will.
The Sweet Power of the Name of Mary
The liturgy of this feast invites us to ponder not only Mary’s role in salvation but the grace contained in the very utterance of her name. The Fathers perceived in it a sign of her maternal intercession. As St. Anselm teaches: “O Name of Mary, who can measure your greatness? You are the comfort of the sinner, the joy of the just, the terror of the enemy.”
The lesson of today is clear: in the Law and the Prophets, in the sapiential writings and in the Gospel, Mary shines forth as the Ark of the Covenant and the dwelling of Wisdom. To invoke her holy Name is to place ourselves under the mantle of her maternal protection.
Conclusion
As we honor the Most Holy Name of Mary, let us echo the prayer of St. Bernard: “Look to the star of the sea, call upon Mary.” In her, the garden of Wisdom is watered with heavenly grace, and through her consent the Incarnate Word has come to dwell among us. Her name, sweet upon our lips, becomes for us a shield of faith, a balm in affliction, and a pledge of eternal joy.