Why did God choose Mary?

Why, Oh God, did you choose Mary?
     A woman who might seem ordinary.

Spared at birth from original sin
     Immaculate conception, the miracle within

Virgin, who conceived beyond nature
     And birthed and mothered Christ our Saviour

Holiness she does possess
     All generations do call her blessed

Upon her death she was not entombed
     But body and soul to heaven assumed

Hail, Mary, oh Mother of God
     Hear our prayers both narrow and broad

Perpetually in virginity
     Bending the ear of Trinity

You are the cause of our great joy
     For you brought us Christ, Jesus the boy

I see, Oh God, why you choose Mary
     The woman You've made extraordinary.

I have this image of the Archangel Gabriel wandering through the streets of Galilee, looking for someone good enough to merit bearing God himself, muttering as he finds no one good enough, until he comes to a small alley in the dirty end of Nazareth and finds a young woman perfect and holy, suitable for this great task...

This picture, romantic as it may be, is wholly inaccurate. The Incarnation wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision.

No, Mary is the height, zenith and summit of creation. She is the perfect being made perfect from the very beginning of her life by God's grace for the purpose of bearing his Son. As Pius IX wrote in Ineffabilis Deus:

From the very beginning, and before time began, the eternal Father chose and prepared for his only-begotten Son a Mother in whom the Son of God would become incarnate and from whom, in the blessed fullness of time, he would be born into this world.

She is foretold in the Hebrew Scriptures, where she is celebrated

as the spotless dove, as the holy Jerusalem, as the exalted throne of God, as the ark and house of holiness which Eternal Wisdom built, and as that Queen who, abounding in delights and leaning on her Beloved, came forth from the mouth of the Most High, entirely perfect, beautiful, most dear to God and never stained with the least blemish

God formed his chosen people, dwelling in his chosen land, to have among them his Son. And out of them, and foremost among them, he fashioned Mary. He fashioned her not because he had to! God could, if he so chose, have become incarnate from a sinner, and yet he chose to fashion Mary:

it was quite fitting that, as the Only-Begotten has a Father in heaven, whom the Seraphim extol as thrice holy, so he should have a Mother on earth who would never be without the splendor of holiness.

He did this in order that she might "give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation"^{(Cat. §490)} and give herself "entirely to the person and to the work of her Son".^{(Cat. §494)}

So God chose Mary before the creation of the world, and formed her to be holy, perfectly without sin at every moment of her life, for the sake of the Incarnation. He made her to be a meet and fitting mother for his Son, redeemed by the anticipation of his works. Her election was not because she was particularly fitting: she was so fitting because God had chosen her to be so, "by a singular grace and privilege ... preserved free from all stain of original sin".

And because of this special, overwhelming gracious act of God, we can speak with Pius IX and with the Fathers of the Church and say:

God alone excepted, Mary is more excellent than all, and by nature fair and beautiful, and more holy than the Cherubim and Seraphim. To praise her all the tongues of heaven and earth do not suffice.

God’s will for Mary

One day the angel, Gabriel, shows up and says in effect, Mary, God has this fantastic plan. He’s going to come to earth so people will know what God’s like. He’s going to use your body to enter the human family. You are going to be the mother of Jesus Christ. Many girls would have answered, Can’t you get somebody else. I’ve already got my plans and this whole things really doesn’t fit in. I’ve really got to think of what’s best for me. Instead, Mary answered Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word. Mary was willing to do what God wanted her to do.

There are three things about Mary that reveal she earnestly desired to know and do God’s will.

1. She was sensitive to finding out what God wanted her to do. In Luke 2:19 we read, "Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart." Whenever there was a clear message from God, Mary would ask, "What is God saying and how does it apply to me?" We get our clear messages from God from the scriptures. Every day we ought to have a private time to read God’s word and ask, "What is God saying and how does it apply to me?" If we are truly sensitive to knowing God’s will He will show it to us.

2. She was joyful and enthusiastic about doing God’s will. Luke 1:46, 47, "And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior." Mary was not like some who say, "Well, I know God wants me to do so and so. That’s not what I wanted to do, but I guess I’ll have to just grin and bear it." Mary was joyful and enthusiastic about doing God’s will.

3. She was humble and yielded. "Behold the maidservant of the Lord!". Luke 1:38. "...For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant …" Luke 1:48 She didn’t think, "God is sure lucky to get me! With my abilities I’m going to do a lot of great things for Him." She was thankful that God was willing to use her. Mary desired to do God’s will.

I'll try to give an answer from a Catholic perspective, to the extent I understand it (which is admittedly only a partial extent). In some respects, Mary's situation is similar to ours: We need some grace from God in order to do anything pleasing to Him. Once God has given us this grace, we need to cooperate with it, and the degree of our cooperation can influence God's decision about what additional graces to give us. In Mary's case, the initial grace was huge --- exemption from original sin plus a tremendous amount of actual grace --- but then it was up to Mary, and she cooperated fully with those graces, loving God more than any other mere creature.

God had, from all eternity, chosen Mary to be the mother of His Son, and He provided the graces necessary to make her a fit place for Jesus to enter our world by His incarnation. But Mary still had free will and could have chosen to reject grace and commit sin; her total cooperation with every grace and her total love for God resulted in her present heavenly glory.

God the Father prepared a Mary, and she was indeed found to be in God's favor as a virtuous young lady. Mary was predestined by His design. Just as God prepared a Jewish people, by His design. The Jewish people, being the combination of a lineage of descendents as well as a religious people, existed for who they were for the purpose of making ready, at the appropriate time, the arrival of Jesus, who would come in response to Adam and Eve's sin and save mankind from certain eternal death.

Remember that God is eternal, and the overall story is His design. Even the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was a total set-up, by His design, so that He could paint a picture, like a movie storyline, of mankind willfully choosing to sin, discovering from the fruit the essence of knowledge of morality, and subsequently needing a savior that mankind could willfully choose to believe in, or not believe in. Jesus is that savior, and He came at a predetermined time and place. He came from Mary's womb because that is how God designed it.

There would have been thousands of women in Nazareth and in the whole of Israel; and out of these women, God chose our Blessed Virgin Mary to be the mother of Christ. But why God Almighty did chose Mary to be the mother of Christ, out of the many women in the whole of Israel and indeed the world; we would have to be God Himself to be able to answer that question because it is God's mind that we are trying to understand. However we get to have a glimpse of God's mind in Bible, where He has revealed many of His secrets to us.

As per God’s plan of salvation:

When we look at God to be All-knowing and Almighty, we have a view of what was happening in God's scheme of salvation.

1 Peter 1:20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was manifested in these last times for your sake.

Here Bible tells us that God planned the salvation of mankind well before the foundation of the world. In that case God must have planned well in advance, every milestone of that plan of salvation and that include Our Lady.

God planned that Christ would be born into the world by a woman; the same way that all human beings were born. He is God and it is very possible to send Christ into the world without the process of being born by a woman, but that was not God's plan and He had revealed this plan through the prophets in the scriptures.

God prefers humble and lowly: Throughout the Bible we find that there is a general theological and narrative of God's preferential option for the least, the last, and the lost. In Genesis, the stories of Abraham (a wandering nomad...a nobody), Isaac (the second born of Abraham), Jacob (the second born of Isaac), and Joseph (11th of Jacob's sons) reveal a pattern that would have been quite unusual: it was usually the eldest son who received the primary portion of the inheritance, but in these stories the "least" become the greatest. The Old Testament presents a preferential option for the least.

So God chooses to work through one of the lowliest people imaginable...an unmarried peasant girl from a little off-the-map town in a province that the most powerful empire in the world looked on with great scorn. To further underscore this theme, Jesus was born in a stable and was countenanced by shepherds and foreigners. All these events help us to have the glimpse of God's mind and the possible reason why He chose Mary to bear Jesus.

God is Holy: God himself is holy, and it would only require a holy vessel to give birth to Christ and that holy vessel must be a virgin; but the question may arise out of the whole of Israel: was Mary the only virgin?, The answer would be a no but Mary was chosen not only because of her virginity but because she possessed the purest of hearts, and that was the essential ingredient that God needed from her to be the mother of Christ. A pure heart as at then required constant prayers directly to God from the heart and Mary was the only virgin in Israel and indeed the world to possess the purest of hearts and be a virgin.

Foreseeing all these qualities, Mary was ordained for her role, even prior to her own birth. God decided that he would choose her even before she was born. That is why she is Immaculate Conception. It was all God's plan that was taking shape. God made Mary free of original sin at the time of her own conception in readiness for her role as Christ’s mother.

To quote the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium:

“the holy Fathers see [Mary] as used by God not merely in a passive way, but as freely cooperating in the work of human salvation through faith and obedience.”

Virtues of Mary: Mary was free to reject this role,yet she grew up perfectly as God planned. Mary was a simple young woman of no great talent. She was not rich or famous. However, she did develop the qualities that God was looking for to bear his Son: Courage, willingness, love for God, and purity. Mary was a brave woman who would not shrink from this monumental task. That is how she bravely said:

Luke 1:38 So Mary said, “Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

She was an incredible role model then and now. Mary exhibited complete femininity in her response to the angel Gabriel. She surrendered completely to the will of God. She had much to lose potentially - her husband, reputation, and even her life - yet she trusted in the providence of God. She was knowledgeable about her own religion and surrendered freely to the will of God. Mary understood the Jewish prophecies foretelling the Messiah.

God chose Mary to be the mother of Christ; the reason is that God still remains God himself and just like when he created man in Genesis, he holds the reason for the mystery and why it has to be so.

Well, the Savior had to fulfill prophecy, which included being a descendant of the lineage of David, and Mary was in the line (Luke 3:32-33, compare with Jeremiah 23:5-6). So she and Joseph both had to be Jews, so that narrowed her ethnicity.

Also, He had to be on earth during the foretold year, so she had to be alive during that year [Prophecy: Daniel 9:24-26 (49 + 434 years), Nehemiah 2:1-8 (445 B.C.) Fulfillment: Jesus alive in 30 A.D.)]. That again narrowed down the possibilities of who could carry the Christ Child.

She had to be from Bethlehem, so that when the taxation time came, she would go back and have the child there, again, fulfilling prophecy (Matthew 1:6).

Bethlehem itself was a very small town, so that significantly narrowed the pool of available young women whom God could choose. Read the Magnificat in Luke 1:46-55 and you'll see a woman who was well versed in the scriptures (and who was humhly obedient to the Lord's plan), so she would be a wonderful person with whom to entrust a Child this precious.

Simply put, because she found favor with God -

Luke 1:30

30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.

Now, what did she do? We don't know if God chose her ante previsa merita or post previsa merita, but we also know that God is no respecter of persons.

Why did he choose Abraham? Because he wanted to.

Why did he choose Moses? Because he wanted to.

Why did he choose David? Because he wanted to.

We simply know that at the right time God wanted to choose Mary. And why?

Simply put, God knows.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Now, logically, in order for the Christ to have been born of a woman, God would have needed to choose a woman. We know from other Scripture that ... "the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7). Additionally, we are told in Chronicles that:

the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. (2 Chron 16:9)

From this we can deduce:

1. Mary was not great in and of herself.

2. Her heart was perfect towards God.

Much in the same way that David - though he was a murderer and adulterer was as 1 Kings 11:4 says "perfect towards him." Catholics believe in the Immaculate Conception, meaning that Mary was selected "before the world began" to be this vessel. Because this happened "before" Mary was, the logical position is that Mary was chose ante previsa merita meaning before God "knew" what Mary was. (Note: This cannot necessarily exclude God's 'foreknowledge of what Mary would have been, and thus cannot exlcude a post previsa merita selection, but the traditional understanding would be implied.)

Pope Pius echoes this in Ineffablis Deus (God Inexpressable)

From the very beginning, and before time began, the eternal Father chose and prepared for his only-begotten Son a Mother in whom the Son of God would become incarnate and from whom, in the blessed fullness of time, he would be born into this world. Above all creatures did God so lover her that truly in her was the Father well pleased with singular delight.

As such, God chose Mary, and by removing her sin, made her able to "walk worthy of the calling to which [she] was called" (Eph. 4:1.) That this was truly a "gift" is the point of the document above.

All Nations Call Her Blessed

Mary has been one of the most common names for women throughout the last couple thousand years for good reason: this is the name of the Mother of God. She has been called the God-bearer (Theotokos), the Blessed Virgin/Mother, the Mater Dolorosa, the Second Eve, the Queen of Heaven, the (Black) Madonna, Notre Dame, and the Woman for All Seasons. Her name has been sung on the lips of numerous choirs (Ave Maria), and she has been portrayed in art more than any other woman in history.¹ She is a symbol of hope and liberation for many nations. Concerning Hispanic culture, one distinguished commentator has observed that

...the Virgin of Guadalupe symbolizes the entire coherence of Mexico, body and soul.... [Her] image ... has become the unofficial, the private flag of Mexicans.²

Writing c. 305 A.D., St. Methodius extolled her, saying:

Hail to you for ever, you virgin mother of God, our unceasing joy, for unto you do I again return. You are the beginning of our feast; you are its middle and end; the pearl of great price that belongest unto the kingdom; the fat of every victim, the living altar of the bread of life. Hail, you treasure of the love of God. Hail, you fount of the Son's love for man. Hail, you overshadowing mount of the Holy Ghost. You gleamed, sweet gift-bestowing mother, of the light of the sun; you gleamed with the insupportable fires of a most fervent charity, bringing forth in the end that which was conceived of you before the beginning, making manifest the mystery hidden and unspeakable, the invisible Son of the Father— the Prince of Peace, who in a marvellous manner showed Himself as less than all littleness. Wherefore, we pray you, the most excellent among women, who boastest in the confidence of your maternal honours, that you would unceasingly keep us in remembrance. O holy mother of God, remember us, I say, who make our boast in you, and who in hymns august celebrate the memory, which will ever live, and never fade away.³

Kings and queens have looked to her for comfort and guidance. Mary represents "the unbreakable link between Jewish and Christian history, between the First Covenant within which she was born and the Second Covenant to which she gave birth."⁴ All generations have indeed called her blessed.⁵

What Makes Mary So Special?

Luke points out in his Gospel that St. Joseph was of the house of David.⁶ But theologians and scholars have speculated through the centuries why this was of importance to the narrative, since Jesus was conceived without the seed of Joseph. It is agreed that it is important for Jesus to have this lineage in order to fulfill prophecy as the Jewish Messiah (Christ), but does this 'count' if the lineage is reckoned through the human father, when Jews generally consider the Jewish faith to be matri-lineal and Joseph was not involved in the conception? This led some early Fathers and scholars to propose that Mary is also of the house and lineage of David.⁷

Early Church Fathers also saw Mary foretold in the Old Testament, especially in the woman of the Song of Solomon (which is where the title 'Black Madonna' comes from) and in the woman of virtue/valor in the book of Proverbs.⁸ St. Jerome even saw the Song of Solomon 4:12-13 as evidence of Mary's perpetual virginity:

That which is shut up and sealed reminds us of the mother of our Lord who was a mother and a Virgin. Hence it was that no one before or after our Saviour was laid in his new tomb, hewn in the solid rock. And yet she that was ever a Virgin is the mother of many virgins.⁹

But why was she chosen? Pius IX decreed concerning the Blessed Virgin Mary (and was partially quoted earlier),

All are aware with how much diligence this doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God has been handed down, proposed and defended by the most outstanding religious orders, by the more celebrated theological academies, and by very eminent doctors in the sciences of theology. All know, likewise, how eager the bishops have been to profess openly and publicly, even in ecclesiastical assemblies, that Mary, the most holy Mother of God, by virtue of the foreseen merits of Christ, our Lord and Redeemer, was never subject to original sin, but was completely preserved from the original taint, and hence she was redeemed in a manner more sublime.¹⁰

Simply put, God found favor with her and blessed her by His grace.

Further Speculation

To further speculate, we can also look at her parents, Joachim and Anna. Early theologians and scholars have speculated that Mary was born to Joachim and Anna as a result of their fervent prayers in their old age.¹¹

Catholic Christians still say these words in the liturgy on the Nativity of Mary:

Your nativity, O Virgin, has proclaimed joy to the whole universe. The Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God, has shone from you, O Theotokos. By annulling the curse he bestowed a blessing. By destroying death he has granted us eternal life. (Troparion)

By your nativity, O most pure virgin, Joachim and Anna are freed from barrenness; Adam and Eve from the corruption of death. And we, your people, freed from the guilt of sin, celebrate and sing to you: The barren woman gives birth to the Theotokos, the Nourisher of our Life. (Kontakion)

The Catholic Church has historically taught that Mary was presented to the temple and had made a vow of virginity (which is the reason for her protest to the angel in Luke 1:34).

As Joachim belonged to the royal family of David, so Anna is supposed to have been a descendant of the priestly family of Aaron; thus Christ the Eternal King and Priest sprang from both a royal and priestly family.¹²

Conclusion

From a Catholic perspective, if God chose to preserve Mary from original sin prior to her birth, to what in her life can we point as a reason for choosing her? According to Pope Pius IX, "by virtue of the foreseen merits of Christ, our Lord and Redeemer." This is truly the answer given by the Roman Catholic Church.

¹ _{Jaroslav Pelikan. Mary Through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998), 2.}

² _{Richard Rodriguez. Days of Obligation: An Argument With My Mexican Father. (New York: Penguin Books, 1993), 16-20.}

³ _{Methodius, "Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna On the Day that They Met in the Temple", XIV, translated by William R. Clark. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 6. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Available on New Advent.}

_{Also cf. Philip Schaff. Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 6: Fathers of the Third Century: Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius, and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arn. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1885), XIV, 393. Publicly available on CCEL.}

⁴ _{Pelikan, 25.}

⁵ _{cf. Luke 1:48, where Mary sings, "Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed." Some manuscripts of Luke 1:28 also record the angel Gabriel as saying, "Blessed are you among women" in addition to pointing out that she is "favored" by God and that God is with her.}

⁶ _{cf. Luke 1:27.}

⁷ _{Pelikan, 24-25. Specifically, cf. St. Augustine and later in history, Annius of Viterbo, who both made similar propositions concerning the lineage of Heli/Joachim/Eliachim.}

⁸ _{Ibid., 25. cf. Song of Solomon 1:5, which in the Latin Vulgate is rendered 'Nigra sum sed formosa' ("I am black but comely"). Interestingly, the Hebrew text actually says that she is "black and beautiful" (not but), which is also indicated in the Septuagint ("Μέλαινά εἰμι καὶ καλή"). This has made Mary a powerful symbol for many non-white cultures, especially Hispanics.}

_{Also cf. Proverbs 31:10, which in the Latin Vulgate reads 'Mulierem fortem quis inveniet?' ("The woman of valor, who will find?").}

⁹ _{Jerome. Against Jovinianus (Book I). Translated by W.H. Fremantle, G. Lewis and W.G. Martley. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 6. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1893.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight, 31. Available on New Advent.}

¹⁰ _{Constitution Ineffabilis Deus of December 8, 1854, under section entitled "Testimonies of the Catholic World." Available on New Advent.}

¹¹ _{Specifically St. John Damascene, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Germanus of Constantinople, and St. Fulbert of Chartres. "The [apocryphal] Protoevangelium [of James] gives the following account: In Nazareth there lived a rich and pious couple, Joachim and Hannah. They were childless. When on a feast day Joachim presented himself to offer sacrifice in the temple, he was repulsed by a certain Ruben, under the pretext that men without offspring were unworthy to be admitted. Whereupon Joachim, bowed down with grief, did not return home, but went into the mountains to make his plaint to God in solitude. Also Hannah, having learned the reason of the prolonged absence of her husband, cried to the Lord to take away from her the curse of sterility, promising to dedicate her child to the service of God. Their prayers were heard; an angel came to Hannah and said: "Hannah, the Lord has looked upon thy tears; thou shalt conceive and give birth and the fruit of thy womb shall be blessed by all the world". The angel made the same promise to Joachim, who returned to his wife. Hannah gave birth to a daughter whom she called Miriam (Mary)." cf. New Advent article on Anne/Hannah. An astute reader cannot help but see the similarity with the biblical account of the birth of Samuel.}

¹² _{cf. Aug., Consens. Evang., l. II, c. 2}