These words, “Do not fear”, must have deeply penetrated Mary’s heart. We can imagine how in various situations the Virgin must have pondered on those words, she must have heard them again.

At the moment when Simeon said to her: “This child is destined to be the downfall and the rise of many in Israel, a sign that will be opposed – and you yourself will be pierced with a sword”, at that very moment in which she might have succumbed to fear, Mary returned to the Angel’s words and felt their echo within her: “Do not fear, God is carrying you”. Then, when contradictions were unleashed against Jesus during his public life and many said, “He is crazy”, she thought once again of the Angel’s words in her heart; “Do not fear”, and went ahead. Lastly, in the encounter on the way to Calvary and then under the Cross, when all seemed to be destroyed, she again heard the Angel’s words in her heart: “Do not fear”. Hence, she stood courageously beside her dying Son and, sustained by faith, moved towards the Resurrection, towards Pentecost, towards the foundation of the new family of the Church.

Pope Benedict XVI