“Mary, who was empty of all egotism, free from all sin, was a pure as the glass of a very clean window that has no other function than to admit the light of the sun. If we rejoice in that light, we implicitly praise the cleanness of the window. And of course it might be argued that in such case we might well forget the window altogether. This is true. And yet the Son of God, in emptying Himself of His majestic power, having become a child, abandoning Himself in complete dependence to the loving care of a human Mother, in a certain sense draws our attention once again to her. The light has wished to remind us of the window, because He is grateful to her and because He has an infinitely tender and personal love for her.” — Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation
