Mary of Nazareth knew very well what it meant to be strong.

She was strong enough to know that she had been favored by God when the society said she couldn’t be so favored, and the tradition said she wouldn’t be so favored.

She was strong enough to realize the strength of another woman when she went to Elizabeth for support and affirmation rather than to the synagogue to try to persuade the priests of the legitimacy of their visions, or to the government for protection, or even to the men to whom they were espoused to explain or cajole or plead.

She was strong enough to bring the right concerns, the right questions, the right witness, the right insight into our world, even if it meant questioning the angels.

At Cana she was strong enough to insist on miracles and to get them.

She was strong enough never to give up, not to be afraid, to begin over again and again and again, after Bethlehem, and after Egypt, and after the crucifixion.

Mary is not simply “Mary, the Mother of God.” No, on the contrary. The Mother of God is the image of women everywhere. The Mother of God is Mary, independent woman; Mary, the unmarried mother; Mary, the homeless woman; Mary, the political refugee; Mary, the Third World woman; Mary, the mother of the condemned; Mary, the widow who outlives her child; Mary, the woman of our time who shares the divine plan of salvation; Mary, the bearer of Christ.

Mary of Nazareth made feminism an article of the faith, and power holy. Mary shows us the sanctifying power of a human being who has become fully human.

—Introduction to 2020 Joan Chittister Calendar (from Women Strength: Modern Church, Modern Woman by Joan Chittister).