Mary played an important role in the life of our Lord and salvation-history. She was his mother (by virgin conception) and was indeed instrumental in his spiritual upbringing, training in the Lord, and helped him constantly during his earthly ministry. Mary was also a sinner needing the grace of God as well. She refers to God as her savior implying her need for forgiveness and deliverance from the penalty of sin (Luke 1:47). She was a young Jewish girl—who by her Magnificat in Luke 1:46-55 shows that she was spiritually sensitive to God—whom God chose for a special purpose. There is no revelation in the New Testament that her role in God’s redemptive plan was any more than this and it is in this sense that we call her “blessed by God” (Luke 1:46).