What know about her is a lot, considering how little we know of Mary from Scripture itself. We know a lot because Mary is writ large in the Tradition of the Church and in the testimony of the Fathers of the Church and in the proclamations of the ongoing doctrines by the Holy See. And she continues to reveal new aspects of who she is in private revelations to individual Christians throughout the centuries.
The cloud is beginning to be less dense, less impenetrable, and a whole theology of Mary continues to grow and enlighten her role in the history of salvation. But as with God and with Jesus, there remains a cloud of unknowing around Mary. It clouds the impenetrable sanctuary of the mystery of who she is in God that is never wholly transparent, but continues to draw us in as far as our human minds and hearts can go.
—from the book Nourishing Love: A Franciscan Celebration of Mary
by Murray Bodo, OFM
