Why did God choose such a young girl in Mary?

Father Maletta Responds: Mary was a young, age 13-15 years old at the time of her pregnancy. I appreciate how distasteful it is for people in our culture to think of a little girl having a child, but I do not think the fact that the Virgin Mary was that age is a secret. Again, I sound like a broken record here, but the most common mistake we make when reading scripture is to impose our values and societal standards on ancient peoples. Girls in the ancient culture existed primarily to bring forth new life. Because of wars, famine, disease, life was very fragile then – life expectancy was far less than it is today. As soon as a girl “flowered” or began have menstrual cycle and was able to produce offspring, it was believed that she should be married and procreate shortly thereafter. For the world in which Jesus was born this was commonplace and in fact, a girl unwed past that age would be look at with some disapproval. Today life is different, we live longer, our lives are more stable, and our children are not needed to increase our tribe or provide numbers to our armies. As we have developed different ways of living so too have our standards changed. With our knowledge of brain development and the extensive psychological awareness we believe that a girl child of that age would be harmed if married and pregnant. Mary’s people did not have the advantage of the effects of the Gospel for 2,000 years shaping our understanding of God’s plan for human kind, or the dignity of life and they did not comprehend the immorality of treating women as things. We do, and because of that we know that a teenage pregnancy can be harmful and marrying a child to a 30-plus year old is immoral. We know that, given the standards of our society and culture, teen pregnancies are to be avoided. We know that one of the most important factors for poverty, for example, is unwed teenage pregnancy. Would you consider the things you did as a child appropriate for you to do today? As we all mature as individuals, the human race has also matured. To reject the mindset of ancient Israel in the area of child brides and pregnancies does not mean that we cannot appreciate and rejoice in God’s action in and through that ancient culture relative to the Incarnation.