Article 2 IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME

From The Catechism of the Catholic Church

2617
Mary’s prayer is revealed to us at the dawning of the fullness of time. Before
the incarnation of the Son of God, and before the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit, her prayer cooperates in a unique way with the Father’s plan of loving
kindness: at the Annunciation, for Christ’s conception; at Pentecost, for the
formation of the Church, his Body.⁸⁸ In the faith of his humble
handmaid, the Gift of God found the acceptance he had awaited from the
beginning of time. She whom the Almighty made “full of grace”
responds by offering her whole being: “Behold I am the handmaid of the
Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word.” “Fiat”:
this is Christian prayer: to be wholly God’s, because he is wholly ours.

PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER