Mary, The Holy Mother of God

The feast day that we celebrate today is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, yet it is as much about understanding who Jesus is as it is about understanding the Blessed Virgin Mary. At the time of the Council of Ephesus in the year 431 AD, there were theologians led by Nestorious who claimed that Mary was the Christotokos (Greek for “Christ Bearer”) or, mother of Christ, but not the Theotokos (Greek for “God Bearer”) or, mother of God. This could be seen as denying the divinity of Christ! The whole question of whom Jesus is as well as the importance of understanding His divinity gave rise to the great theological declaration by the bishops of the Council of Ephesus that He is the Son of God as well as the Son of Mary. Jesus is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity with both a divine nature as well as a human nature. Although she is herself is fully a human being (in other words, not a goddess), Mary is also the Mother of God. Through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, Mary conceived within herself the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity who has both a divine nature and a human nature. And so we pray, “Holy Mary, Mother of God,” and we celebrate today the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.

Mary was a woman of faith; complete faith. She had faith that somehow God would care for her in her pregnancy, in the childbirth, throughout her life, at the foot of the cross, and beyond. On this, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, we pray for faith - real faith. Not a faith that demands proof and is therefore a very weak if not non
existent faith, but a faith that God is working His plans in and through us in mysterious ways. We pray today for the Gift of the Holy Spirit called understanding. The gift of understanding helps us realize that God is far greater than our intelligence can comprehend. This gift leads us to take the step of faith in which we proclaim along with Mary that the child of Bethlehem is the Son of God. Faith demands our taking a step away from our human perspective and trusting in God to do the incomprehensible.

Today we pray with Mary, the Mother of God. We ask her to petition her son for us so that we also might have the courage, the humility, and the faith to proclaim with the Church that Jesus is Lord.