/ by Edward Mullany

Meaning, the integrity of her response to Gabriel (when he tells her that the Holy Spirit will overshadow her, and that she will bear a child, who will be called the Son of God, though she is yet a virgin) is evidenced by her fidelity to that response in all the years of her life that follow. And it is the understanding of the Church that such integrity is a consequence of a prayerful or recollected spirit.