Mary adhered freely to God's path (Paul VI)

"... the sweetness and the enchantment emanating from the sublime virtues of the immaculate Mother of God attract souls in an irresistible way to imitation of the divine model, Jesus Christ, of whom she was the most faithful image...

Mary's eminent sanctity was not only a singular gift of divine liberality. It was also the fruit of the continuous and generous cooperation of her free will in the inner motions of the Holy Spirit...

It can be asserted that the whole life of the humble handmaid of the Lord, from the moment when she was greeted by the Angel, until her assumption in body and soul to heavenly glory, was a life of loving service.

We therefore, associating ourselves with the Evangelists, with the Fathers and the Doctors of the Church, full of admiration, contemplate Mary:

• firm in her faith,
• ready in obedience,
• simple in humility,
• exulting in praising the Lord,
• ardent in charity,
• strong and constant in the fulfilment of her mission to the point of sacrificing herself,
• in full communion of sentiment with her Son, who immolated himself on the Cross to give men a new life. "

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Paul VI,

Apostolic Exhortation Signum Magnum, May 13, 1967, part I)