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the mystery of her Son, and went forward in her
pilgrimage of faith”.217
288. There is a Marian “style” to the Church’s
work of evangelization. Whenever we look to
Mary, we come to believe once again in the rev-
olutionary nature of love and tenderness. In
her we see that humility and tenderness are not
virtues of the weak but of the strong who need
not treat others poorly in order to feel important
themselves. Contemplating Mary, we realize that
she who praised God for “bringing down the
mighty from their thrones” and “sending the rich
away empty” (Lk 1:52-53) is also the one who
brings a homely warmth to our pursuit of justice.
She is also the one who carefully keeps “all these
things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2:19).
Mary is able to recognize the traces of God’s
Spirit in events great and small. She constantly
contemplates the mystery of God in our world,
in human history and in our daily lives. She is
the woman of prayer and work in Nazareth, and
she is also Our Lady of Help, who sets out from
her town “with haste” (Lk 1:39) to be of service
to others. This interplay of justice and tender-
ness, of contemplation and concern for others,
is what makes the ecclesial community look to
Mary as a model of evangelization. We implore
her maternal intercession that the Church may
become a home for many peoples, a mother for
217 J ohn P aul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Mater (25
March 1987), 17: AAS 79 (1987), 381.