When Adam and Eve committed the first sin, the result was three curses. The devil was cursed, and the Lord put enmity between us and him (Gn 3:15). Women were also cursed through the pains of childbearing (Gn 3:16). Men were cursed through manual labor (Gn 3:17).

These three curses have been turned into blessings by Jesus. In Jesus, Mary reverses the curses. At Jesus' Incarnation, the archangel Gabriel announced that Mary was blessed among women. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out: "Blest are you among women and blest is the Fruit of your womb" (Lk 1:42). Mary herself magnified the Lord and said: "All ages to come shall call me blessed" (Lk 1:48). "Blessed" is the opposite of "cursed."

The Lord has empowered Mary to reverse the curses because she and the other disciples of her Son put the devil's enmity to death by quickly crushing him under their feet (Rm 16:20). (Look at Mary's feet in a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe.) Moreover, Mary's childbearing was not a curse, but the birth of the One Who freed us from the curses. (The picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe shows Mary pregnant.) Finally, Mary spent her life doing hard work. In her work, she was blessed, not cursed. (Our Lady of Guadalupe wears the work clothes of a peasant woman.) Love Jesus as Mary does. Reverse the curses.

Rescript:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, June 13, 2006

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