MARY MOTHER OF GOD
Solemnities are the highest rank of liturgical celebration. By celebrating a solemnity dedicated to Mary’s motherhood, the Church highlights the significance of her part in the life of Jesus.
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel, God with us.
Isaiah 7:14
It is fitting to honor Mary, as Mother of God, following the birth of Jesus. We are not only honoring Mary, who was chosen among all women throughout history to bear God incarnate, but we are also honoring our Lord, Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully human.
Just as Christmas honors Jesus as the “Prince of Peace,” the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God honors Mary as the “Queen of Peace” Every year on January 1 the Holy Father marks the World Day of Peace, inviting all people to reflect on the important work of building peace.
Some may wonder why we refer to Mary as Queen. From the moment Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would conceive and bear a great son, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,,, Luke 1:26, Mary becomes future Queen..
In the Hebrew tradition, Mary is Queen Mother. Unlike modern-day kingdoms, the Queen of Israel was not the king’s wife but his mother. The king often had many wives but only one Mother.
From antiquity, Mary has been called “Theotokos, “God-Bearer.” The term was used as part of the popular piety of the early first millennium church. It lies at the heart of the Latin Rite’s deep Marian piety and devotion.
This is seen dramatically in Mary’s visitation to her cousin, Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. LUKE 1:41-42
BLESSED ART THOU AMONG WOMEN
LUKE 1:42-43
Although Mary is the Mother of God, she is not the source of her Son’s divinity. Women give birth to persons. Mary carried and gave birth to the person, Jesus Christ, and the person she gave birth to is God. Jesus is one Divine Person, consubstantial with the Father and the Spirit.
Mary is the Mother of God because she carried Jesus in her womb and contributed the genetic material for His human nature. Jesus is God; Mary is the Mother of God.
In the 4th and 5th centuries there was much debate about Jesus’ human nature and divine nature. The debate was about Christ’ divine nature. At the center of this debate was the particular title of Mary Mother of God.
Referring to Mary this way was popular in Christian devotion, but the patriarch of Constantinople from 428-431, Nestorius, objected on theological grounds.
Nestorius suggested that Mary was only the mother of Jesus’ human nature, but not his divine nature. Nestorius’ ideas were condemned at the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, and again at the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451.
The Council’s insistence on the use of the title Mary Mother of God reflected an effort to preserve the teaching of the Church that Jesus was both Divine and human, that the two natures were united in His One Person.
This wonderful title, Mary, the Mother of God, “Theotokos”, reveals a profound truth not only about Mary, but about each one of us. We too are invited to become “God-bearers,
THEOTOKOS–GOD-BEARER
WHAT A GREAT INTERCESSOR WE HAVE IN MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD!
WHO CAN REFUSE A MOTHER’S REQUEST???
JESUS CERTAINLY COULDN’T AT CANA!