One week after the birth of Our Lord, every January first, we pause to consider one major implication of his birth: The divine motherhood of the Virgin Mary. Today we acclaim her with one of the most ancient titles given to her by Christians: Mother of God, Theotokos or God bearer.
We hail the Virgin Mary with such a lofty title in virtue of her role in the plan of salvation which Saint Paul so beautifully summarized: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman… so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
In that cold Christmas evening in Bethlehem, Mary gazed in awe at her son, who was the Son of God, God made man, God among us, Emmanuel.
By honoring her we fulfill her prophecy recorded by Saint Luke in his Gospel, when Mary said to her cousin Elizabeth, “from this day all generations will call me blessed, the almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.”
Because of the wonders God has worked in her, we join generations of Christians in calling Our Lady Blessed. Being a disciple of Christ requires recognizing the blessedness of His mother. She is more than an instrument used by God to become man, she is more than just an example of obedience to God; she is the Mother of God, chosen from all women to play an active role in God’s plan of salvation.
How can it be, that a human being, the Blessed Virgin Mary, becomes the Mother of God? It is puzzling because mothers exist before their children, and with Mary, we have a Son who exists before His mother. The easy answer is: God willed it so, He willed to be born of Mary. But here comes the long answer:
To acclaim Mary as the Mother of God is to acclaim Jesus Christ as the Son of God, God made man.
Mary gave birth to the person of Jesus, who is a divine person, the second person of the Trinity.
This divine person, Jesus, shares a divine nature with the Father and the Holy Spirit. There are three persons in one divine nature. Three persons in one God. This divine person, Jesus, keeping his divine nature has taken upon himself a human nature like ours. Jesus Christ is one divine person with two natures: human and divine. He is perfectly man and perfectly God.
The Blessed Virgin Mary gave birth to the person of Jesus who is truly God and truly man. Mary did not just give birth to a human nature or a human body. She gave birth to a person, to Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity. She is the Mother of Jesus, she is the Mother of God.
Some Christians believe that by calling Mary the Mother of God we somehow take away from the glory of God. But the truth is the opposite. If we deny Mary the title of Mother of God, we deny the divinity of her Son! If Mary is only the Mother of Jesus, then the child born of Mary is not God, just a human being whom God controls like a puppet.
The Church addressed and settled this issue of Mary’s Divine Motherhood centuries ago at the Council of Ephesus where Mary was proclaimed the Theotokos, the God Bearer, the Mother of God. Those who deny it ignore the history of Christianity by going against the witness of the earliest Christians.
Let us join today generations of Christians in proclaiming the unique role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the plan of salvation. I will close with beautiful prayers from the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, prayed Sunday after Sunday by the Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholics:
It is truly right to call you blessed, O Theotokos. You are ever blessed and all blameless, and the Mother of our God. Higher in honor than the cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the seraphim. You gave birth to God the Word in virginity. You are truly Mother of God! You do we exalt.
Through the prayers of the Mother of God, O Savior, save us. Remembering our most holy, most pure, most-blessed and glorious Lady, the Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary, let us commend ourselves and one another, and our whole life, to Christ, our God. Amen.
Below are pictures of the now ruined Church of the Virgin Mary in Ephesus where the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus was held in 431 which affirmed the Christian title for the Virgin Mary as Mother of God or Theotokos, leading to an explosion of Marian devotion throughout the Christian world. The Church’s floorplan is unique since it’s a double church, two churches connected by a narthex area.
The Church can be visited during the regular tour of the ruins of Ephesus but it is not included in the tourist route! You have to get off the route and find it.
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