Our Lady teaches us the way of humility. This virtue does not consist essentially in repressing the impulses of pride, ambition, selfishness, vanity..., for Our Lady never had any of these movements and was adorned by God to an eminent degree with this virtue. The name humility comes from the Latin humus, earth, and means, according to its etymology, to bow down to the earth. The virtue of humility consists essentially in bowing down before God and before all that there is of God in creatures4 , recognizing our littleness and indigence before the greatness of the Lord. Holy souls "feel a great joy in humbling themselves before God, and in recognizing practically that He alone is great, and that in comparison with His, all human greatness is empty of truth, and is nothing but a lie". This annihilation does not diminish, it does not shorten the true aspirations of the creature, but it ennobles them and gives them new wings, it opens wider horizons. When Our Lady is chosen to be the Mother of God, she immediately proclaims herself his handmaid. And the moment she hears the praise that she is blessed among all women, she prepares herself to serve her cousin Elizabeth. She is full of grace, but she keeps in her intimacy the greatness that has been revealed to her. Not even to Joseph does she unveil the mystery; she leaves it to Providence to do so at the opportune moment. Filled with immense joy, she sings of the marvels that have happened to her, but attributes them to the Almighty. She, for her part, has offered only her littleness and her will. "She was ignorant of herself. Therefore, in her own eyes she did not count. She did not live in her own eyes, but in God's eyes, in God's will. That is why she could measure the extent of her own lowliness, of her, at the same time, helpless and secure condition as a creature, feeling incapable of everything, but sustained by God. The consequence was to surrender herself, to live for God". She never sought her own glory, nor to appear, nor first places at banquets, nor to be considered, nor to be flattered for being the Mother of Jesus. She sought only the glory of God.
Humility is based on truth, on reality; above all on this certainty: the distance that exists between the creature and his Creator is infinite. The more this distance is understood and the closer God approaches the creature with his gifts, the more the soul, with the help of grace, becomes humble and grateful. The more elevated a creature is the more she understands this abyss; that is why Our Lady was so humble. She, the Handmaid of the Lord, is today the Queen of the Universe. In her the words of Jesus at the end of the parable were fulfilled in an eminent way: he who humbles himself, who takes his place before God and before men, will be exalted. He who is humble always hears Jesus saying to him: friend, come up higher. "May we know how to place ourselves unconditionally at the service of God and we will be raised to an incredible height; we will participate in the intimate life of God, we will be like gods, but by the proper way: that of humility and docility to the will of our God and Lord".