Can one imagine the tone of the Virgin Mary’s voice? In her one hears her supernatural purity, the bearer of natural light, a purity younger than the first morning of heaven and earth.

Even if one has never had the privilege of seeing the Virgin Mary, nor of hearing her speak as Bernadette or Catherine Labouré did, one can still imagine that her voice has an extraordinary elegance and produces an absolutely magical effect on those who hear it. It is not the stories of Marian apparitions that convince us of the enchanting power of the Virgin’s voice, but a sentence in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:44): “ For behold, when the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy ,” it was Elizabeth who said this to the Virgin Mary, her cousin. And the child who leaped for joy in his mother’s womb was none other than John the Baptist, the greatest of prophets.

The Voice That Made John the Baptist Jump

So it was not only the presence of Jesus that made the Forerunner leap, but also the voice of the Mother of the Messiah! In fact, before Mary greeted Elizabeth, Jesus was already present in the house of the Virgin’s cousin, in Mary’s womb. However, John the Baptist waited for the Virgin Mary to greet his mother first before leaping in her womb! It was therefore the voice of Mary that had this effect on the Forerunner.

What does this mean? On the one hand, it is undeniable that John the Baptist leaped for joy at the messianic event of Jesus coming among us. Christ was the cause of John the Baptist’s joy and therefore our joy. On the other hand, it was through the voice of Jesus’ Mother that the Forerunner, John the Baptist, recognized the presence of the awaited Messiah. It was the voice of the Virgin who was literally carrying Jesus, just as she carried him in her body, like any other pregnant woman, moving here and there. Just as the Virgin’s voice expressed her feelings, her thoughts, and her heart, this voice was the vehicle of her Son because it made John the Baptist react as if Jesus were speaking to him in person – something he could not do because he was not yet born.

Two hearts united as one

What can we conclude from this wondrous and wondrous scene? In fact, Mary is so powerfully and completely united to her Son that her voice becomes the channel through which the Presence of the divine Word is brought to pass, to the point that it makes John the Baptist leap for joy, for he is the one who will announce the presence of the Messiah among men!

If Mary’s voice brings Jesus, one can sense what power, virtue and grace she must have had to achieve such a result. Such an impact also allows us to guess the union that exists between the hearts of Mary and her Son – a union so powerful that John the Baptist immediately recognized the presence of the Son through the voice of the Mother! Moreover, it was Elizabeth who foretold the union between the Son and his Mother, between Jesus and Mary, using the same adjective for both: “blessed”. “ Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb ” (Luke 1:42). Thus, Mary’s holiness is linked to that of Jesus. If the holiness of Jesus constitutes his being, overflowing into the being of his Mother, then that holiness imprints the mark of God’s holiness on her nature and being. Mary is “full of holiness.”

A voice as clear as crystal

Let us return to Mary’s voice. Mary radiates a purity of soul, a purity that surpasses all effort, all hardships to achieve it. In this voice one hears a natural purity, like the first morning of the world that came directly from the hands of the Creator. While the first morning of the world was established in natural purity, the Virgin was filled with supernatural grace from the moment of her conception – a grace that would continue to grow during her pilgrimage of faith on earth. Something of this grace must therefore be evident in her voice. There are voices that are so captivating that one is captivated by them at first hearing. That is the voice of the Virgin. She combines the extreme spontaneity of youth with the strength of someone who is extremely kind, who knows what she wants and how to achieve it, both zealous and prudent. A voice as clear as crystal, clear to the point of purity and full of the eternal youth of God, and imbued with all the wisdom of the traditions of His people,

A supernatural purity, reflecting the brightness of God

The Virgin’s voice touches our dull life, which longs to awaken to the wonders of Creation and, even more, to awaken to the wonders of Redemption and rejoice in them. In short, Mary’s voice echoes the virtues of her Son’s voice. Is it not true that at the sound of the Son of God the dead come to life: “Now the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; those who hear will live ” ( Jn  5:25)? Thus, Mary’s voice allows us to see a corner of the ultimate reality of Life in its first source. It is the voice of a young girl, in whom joy and innocence unite to form an indestructible crown. A unique music. Unique like the Virgin. Unique like each of us. Because our voices and faces reveal the uniqueness of each of us.

In this respect, listening has many advantages over looking. The parish priest of Ambricourt himself confessed this in Bernanos’s “Diary of a Country Priest”:

As they say, I am not good at remembering faces, but I have a memory for  voices  , I never forget voices, I love  voices. A blind man  who  is not distracted by anything must learn a lot from voices.

How many mysteries the voice of the Virgin would reveal to us if we were able to hear her voice!

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