By Leon Bent –
January 1 has had many names and many identities, for the Catholic Church, through the years. In our secular society, of course, it is New Year’s Day. In the life of the Church, it is the octave day of Christmas, a reminder that the greatest feasts in the Catholic Liturgical Year are celebrated for eight days. At one time it marked the circumcision of Jesus, the Hebrew ritual that commemorates the Mosaic covenant.
The current Church calendar names it as the feast of Mary, the Mother of God, recognizing Mary in the great plan of salvation. Belief in the incarnation of God the Son through Mary is the basis for calling her the Mother of God, which was declared a dogma at the Council of Ephesus in 431 (Redemptoris Mater, 52 – Pope John Paul II).
The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God is a liturgical celebration observed on January 1st. Solemnities are the highest rank of liturgical celebration, higher than other feast days or memorials. It is a holy day of obligation for Catholics.
In the Gospels “the Mother of Jesus,” Mary, is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit, and even before the birth of her son, as “the Mother of my Lord” (Lk. 1:43; Jn. 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt. 13:55; et al). In fact, the One whom she conceived as “man” by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father’s eternal Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Hence, the Church confesses that Mary is truly “Mother of God” (Council of Ephesus, 431: DS 251).
The feast is a celebration of Mary’s mother-hood of Jesus. The title “Mother of God” is a derivation from the Greek word Theotokos, which means “God-bearer”. On this day, we are reminded of the role that the Blessed Virgin played in the plan of our salvation. Through the Holy Spirit, God the Father prepared Mary to be the dwelling place where His Son and His Spirit could dwell among men. Christ’s birth was made possible by Mary’s fiat, or sanctioning of God’s plan with her words, “Be it done to me according to thy word”. Calling Mary “Mother of God” is the highest honour we can give to her. Just as Christmas honours Jesus as the “Prince of Peace”, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God honours Mary as the “Queen of Peace”.
The Virgin Mary, who at the message of the angel received the Word of God in her heart and in her body and gave Life to the world, is acknowledged and honoured as being truly the Mother of God and Mother of the Redeemer. Redeemed by reason of the merits of her Son and united to him by a close and indissoluble bond, she is endowed with the high office and dignity of being the Mother of the Son of God, by which account she is also the beloved daughter of the Father and the temple of the Holy Spirit (see Lumen Gentium, No. 53).
“The heart of Mary, more than any other, is a humble heart, capable of accepting God’s gifts. In order to become man, God chose precisely her, a simple young woman of Nazareth, who did not dwell in the palaces of power and wealth, who did not do extraordinary things. Let us ask ourselves if we are prepared to accept God’s gifts, or prefer instead to shut ourselves up within our forms of material security, intellectual security, the security of our plans… (Pope Francis).
Mary is called the Mother of God in the Catechism of the Catholic Church 29 times. Within these paragraphs that call Mary the mother of God, we see some pretty bold statements about her.
• “The all-holy ever-virgin Mother of God is the masterwork of the mission of the Son…” (CCC 721)
• “The Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, Mother of the Church” (CCC 975)
• “Our inviolate Lady, the holy Mother of God…” (CCC 1161)
• “This spiritual beauty of God is reflected in the most holy Virgin Mother of God…” (CCC 2502).
Pope Benedict XVI stated that Marian studies have three separate characteristics: first personalizing the Church so it is not seen just as a structure but as a person, secondly, the Incarnational [Word made flesh) aspect and the relation to God, and third Marian piety which involves the heart and the emotional component (Benedict XVI, Walker & Von Balthasar 2005, pp. 34-35).
At the beginning of the year, we too, as Christians on our pilgrim way, feel the need to set out anew, to leave behind the burdens of the past, and start over from the things that really matter. Today, we have before us the point of departure: the Mother of God. For Mary is exactly what God wants us to be, what he wants his Church to be: a Mother who is tender and lowly, poor in material goods and rich in love, free of sin and united to Jesus, keeping God in our hearts and our neighbour in our lives. To set out anew, let us look to our Mother. In her heart beats the heart of the Church. Today’s feast tells us that if we want to go forward, we need to turn back: to begin anew from the crib, from the Mother who holds God in her arms (Pope Francis).
If our faith is not to be reduced merely to an idea or a doctrine, all of us need a mother’s heart, one which knows how to keep the tender love of God and to feel the heartbeat of all around us. May the Mother, God’s finest human creation, guard and keep this year, and bring the peace of her Son to our hearts and to our world (Pope Francis).
Now, this gold nugget! “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (Jn. 3:16). At the centre of this mystery, in the midst of this wonderment of faith, stands Mary. As the loving Mother of the Redeemer, she was the first to experience it: “To the wonderment of nature you bore your Creator” (RM 51)! “Assist, yes assist, your people who have fallen” (RM 52)!
And this final flourish! The term “Mother of God” appears within the oldest known prayer to Mary, dates to around 250 AD: “Under thy protection we seek refuge, Holy Mother of God”.
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received the Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.
Salve Regina!