Question About Mary

[Veridicus]

Why did God speak to Mary through the angel Gabriel rather than face-to-face like he did with Moses in the Old Testament (Ex 33:11)? It seems like out of all people she could have handled the face-to-face contact given her sanctity (and after all she was His daughter, spouse, and mother...)?

I haven't been able to come up with a really good answer and I like to be prepared in case a Protestant puts me on the spot. I don't want one of those "If she was immacualtely conceived then why didn't....? issues getting thrown in my face without a decent well-thought-out response. I always try to come up with the hard questions myself.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Ultimately, we can't question God's method of announcing things, but I suspect that God spoke to Moses face-to-face to put the fear of God in him and in the Israelites. We know that they needed to see God's power and came to believe through that; we also know that, knowing that Moses was on the mountain seeing the face of this Almighty and "frightening" God, the Israelites understood the authority of Moses.

Mary, on the other hand, being Immaculate, did not need to have such an encounter with God. She could be sent an angel, who frightened her nonetheless. Mary already had a perfect relationship with God. Further, she may not have seen God face to face, but she was overshadowed by God and bore Him in her womb. If not seeing God face to face is a proof against her Immaculate Conception, surely being the Mother of God trumps it; that is far more intimate a relationship than Moses had with God.

God bless,

Micah