FFC SAINTS AND MARY
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January 1, the Octave of
Christmas
Mary, Mother of God
Mary’s divine motherhood broadens the
Christmas spotlight. Mary has an important role to play in the Incarnation of
the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. She consents to God’s invitation
conveyed by the angel (Luke 1:26-38). Elizabeth proclaims: “Most blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this
happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:42-43, emphasis added). Mary’s role as mother of God
places her in a unique position in God’s redemptive plan.
Without naming Mary, Paul asserts that “God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4). Paul’s further statement that “God sent the spirit
of his Son into our hearts, crying out ‘Abba, Father!’“ helps
us realize that Mary is mother to all the brothers and sisters of Jesus.
Some theologians also insist that
Mary’s motherhood of Jesus is an important element in God’s creative plan. God’s
“first” thought in creating was Jesus. Jesus, the incarnate Word, is the one
who could give God perfect love and worship on behalf of all creation. As Jesus
was “first” in God’s mind, Mary was “second” insofar as she was chosen from all
eternity to be his mother.
The precise title “Mother of God” goes back at least to the third or fourth
century. In the Greek form Theotokos (God-bearer), it became the touchstone
of the Church’s teaching about the Incarnation. The Council of Ephesus in 431
insisted that the holy Fathers were right in calling the holy virgin Theotokos.
At the end of this particular session, crowds of people marched through the
street shouting: “Praised be the Theotokos!” The tradition reaches to our own day. In
its chapter on Mary’s role in the Church, Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution
on the Church calls Mary “Mother of God” 12 times.
Comment:
Other themes come together at today’s celebration. It
is the Octave of Christmas: Our remembrance of Mary’s divine motherhood injects
a further note of Christmas joy. It is a day of prayer for world peace: Mary is
the mother of the Prince of Peace. It is the first day of a new year: Mary
continues to bring new life to her children—who are also God’s children.
Quote:
“The Blessed Virgin was eternally predestined, in
conjunction with the incarnation of the divine Word, to be the Mother of God.
By decree of divine Providence, she served on earth as the loving mother of the
divine Redeemer, an associate of unique nobility, and the Lord’s humble handmaid.
She conceived, brought forth, and nourished Christ” (Dogmatic Constitution
on the Church, 61).
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