All the joy that the Incarnation brought to the Blessed Trinity, Mary to
a great extent must have shared. There was the joy of God the Father,
because He saw His designs in creating man fulfilled, His justice
satisfied and a human creature doing Him perfect homage and bringing Him
so much glory. There was the joy of God the Son, because at last He was
united to our human nature, because He being God had nevertheless a
human Soul and a human Body, to which He could unite all the Divine
perfections, and by means of which He could carry out all His Father's
designs for the lost human race. There was the joy of the Holy Spirit
Who had overshadowed Mary and by His Divine power created in her a Soul
and a Body so beautiful that they were worthy to be taken by the Eternal
Word and for ever united to the Divinity. The Holy Ghost saw now a human
Soul into which He could pour _all_ the grace that would be needed by
the whole human race. Of His fulness all were to receive (St. John I.
16).
And what was the means whereby all this joy was given to the Blessed
Trinity? The Body which had been formed from the most pure flesh and
blood of Mary. She had lent herself at God's request to be the
instrument used, and now she was the Tabernacle where the God-Man lay
hidden. As He shared His life with His Mother, since it was her blood
which was coursing through His Veins, so He shared all His acts with
her. That first perfect act of adoration made by a human Soul to God was
shared by Mary--she adored too. That first whole-hearted oblation of a
human Soul to God was shared by Mary when she said her: "_Fiat mihi
secundum verbum Tuum_." That first perfect act of love from a human
Heart was shared by Mary for how close was the union between the Sacred
Heart of JESUS and the most pure heart of Mary! When JESUS made acts of
reparation of humility, of conformity to His Father's Will, Mary made
them too--she could not but do so, for her life was so closely bound up
with that of her Son; He became the mainspring of all she did. It was
the charity and humility in _His_ Heart that made her go to visit her
cousin Elizabeth and make herself her handmaid; it was _His_ salutation
that made hers so powerful with regard both to Elizabeth and to the
infant John; it was the thanksgiving in _His_ Heart which overflowed
into hers and made her sing her _Magnificat_. That Mary spent the nine
months in adoration we may well believe, but she spent them also in
union with her Son, sharing all with Him and giving us a perfect model
of the interior life--which means not only that God shares in the acts
of the soul, but also that the soul shares in the acts of God,
Emmanuel--God with us--in order that we may be "with the King for _His_
works" (1 Paralip. IV. 23).