Mary, being fully human, could not have known what the future held. Nowhere does any Catholic doctrine proclaim that the Blessed Virgin Mary, when Gabriel visited, suddenly became omniscient. The fact that she did not, does not negate her role in pointing us toward her Son. Which is what she apparently did for the young man who is the subject of the article that began this thread.
She co-operated with God for the benefit of all mankind. She points to Christ as her salvation, and the salvation of all of us. She was the first Christian, and her acceptance and obedience to God Almighty are an example for all humanity.
Thanks for this post , Judith Anne :-)
Something that seems to be forgotten is that in the first chapter of Luke, we are told that the “Holy Spirit overshadowed” Mary. Scripture doesn’t illuminate to us the full meaning of that text, but it is obviously a very important happening.
She may easily have understood a great deal in that “over-shadowing”. It certainly seems so, considering her response to the Angel Gabriel; we call that response the Magnificat.
However, actually EXPERIENCING the prophetic nature of the words spoken to her is different from understanding what may come to be.
We can’t know for certain how much the Holy Spirit imparted to her, because, as Scripture itself tells us, many things happened that are not recorded.