“Mary's faithful response is that of highest obedience to God. The Incarnation is not only the work of God, but it involves the free response of mankind in the person of Mary. Whereas Eve once disobeyed, Mary now obeys; whereas Eve closed herself to God, Mary opens to His will.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Luke 1:38)
“Mary also shows us that she did not live a life of blind and unreasoning faith. By asking Gabriel questions and then accepting God’s will and choosing to do it, she sets an example for us of a faith that engages the whole person including the mind.” (Father Stanley Harakas)
“Mary showed herself to be a person of contemplation and introspection, a person of depth and perfect devotion to the Lord. Starting with her acceptance of the Lord’s will when she said “Let it be according to your word” and throughout her life, Mary followed God’s will even in pain. Luke 2:51 says that concerning the words and actions of her Son, “[she] kept all these things in her heart.” She was clearly seeking deeper meaning in the ordinary events of His and her life. She was actually being a model Christian as she sought to see the extraordinary in the ordinary, to understand God’s will in daily life…” (Sacramental Living)
“You and I have been trained by our culture to not believe in the supernatural. As we saw earlier, as a Jewish woman, Mary had been trained by her culture to not believe that God could ever become a human being. So, though they are different, the barriers she faced against belief in the Christmas message were every bit as big as the barriers you may be facing.” (Pastor Timothy Keller)
“Mary consideration of what Gabriel was telling her and her eventual acceptance of it as truth is the greatest Biblical example of the union of faith and human reason.” (Sacramental Living Blog)