Our secular new year began on Sunday… and with it, like every year the Feast of the Blessed Mary Mother of God. Now people brought up in different religious traditions may flail at this thought, but when thought about properly, this truly is a beautiful and significant statement of Truth.
I have seen many people over the years take the “Theotokos” ( Mother of God) claim and take it too far. Obviously the biggest blasphemy would be to call Mary anything other than human. Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are the only one we should worship or adore (in its truest definition) or call God.
Mary, who is she
Mary, wife of Joseph is spoken about in all of the Gospels. She may play a smaller part in Mark than the others, however she is there, taking care of the family leading the family giving the feminine genius as all women do.
But we have to address the elephant in the room, she indeed did carry Jesus the Messiah in her womb, gave birth to him, and raised him alongside Joseph her husband. Most everyone gives her that. But the implications of this are quite clear. We easily accept that Jesus was indeed God and from this we can reason so many other things as well.
But on the other hand rejecting Mary right out of the discussion is non Biblical and simply wrong headed.
Immaculate Conception
We know that God can only be in a holy place. There cannot be sin and the typical muck and garbage that surrounds much of our lives. So since God was inside of her womb, she must be a pure vessel or using church speak, a pure tabernacle… None of that muck and mire which surrounds our lives could be there. She would have been protected from this as well as being protected from all sin. Hence the Immaculate Conception. This is the teaching that Mary was born without original sin. By a special grace, God protected her from any stain of sin. God gives gifts all of the time. So with this gift already in place, the Angel Gabriel was able to announce to Mary, “Hail, full of grace”. Not partially, not a one-time period for 9 months, but full of grace. Every part of her for all time. This gave her the unique opportunity to carry the Messiah.
Mother of God
And with this all of the pieces are in place. Mary gave birth to her first son Jesus the Messiah… Our Lord and Savior. God came to us on this Earth and dwelt amongst us. She was, and still is the Mother of God. Someone who we must acknowledge has a special place in this world and held a special place in God’s world as well.
We can call her Theotokos, Mother of God simply because she is. The term has been used since God came to this world and was born, just as any other baby. It is amazing that God would do such an amazing thing, but He did. And Mary was given the grace and was given a place to be honored.
In our next post will come some additional thoughts I have on Mary, as well as some other teachings that may be misunderstood or perhaps not known. But that is for another week. Be thankful for the grace that God gives to all of us, each and every day.
Our readings for today are for January First and can be read Here
How long have we been celebrating Mary Mother of God?
Mary is the Mother of God. In Greek it is Theotokos. From the beginning she was recognized as this title as she was indeed the Mother of Jesus, and therefore Mother of God. The term itself is linked to the Eastern Churches and celebrations for her are recorded in the 3rd century. So like most things it can be assumed it began before this.
The Nestorian debate brought with it the formal declaration at the Council of Ephesus in 491 AD. Nestorius held that Mary was only mother of Christ tin his humanity, but this would have split God into two separate Gods. This could not be and wiser heads prevailed.
Mary is indeed the Mother of God in that Jesus was both 100% God and 100% man. In what other way coudl we be saved..
I am looking forward to reading your thoughts on Coredemptrix as a fifth Marian dogma.
I will of course wait to comment until I have my Doctorate in Marionology. However, I am still waiting for a school to accept me.. .I am trying for Otter Creek Elementary. The curriculum seems to best suit me… 😉