Historically, Mary has been upheld as the ideal woman, her characteristics and attributes unattainable by most. For example, she is often seen as a perpetual virgin and her self-sacrifice as often devoid of agency. In her domestication, she is used as a way to silence women, particularly Latin American women whose spirituality has been formed on the heels of Spanish colonization. I wonder, Has the Marian image that no “ordinary” woman can identify with ultimately shamed us for existing as we are?
