Mother of God—it’s more of a statement about Jesus than it is about Mary. It’s also something that desperately needs to be remembered today. To really understand what it means to say that Mary is the Mother of God we have to contrast it with another title: Mother of Jesus. She certainly is that, but it isn’t the title we remember today. This is because there are some who would be quite happy to call Mary the Mother of Jesus and at the same time deny that she is the Mother of God. Even an atheist historian might acknowledge that Mary is the Mother of Jesus, while at the same time denying his divinity. So when we say Mary is the Mother of God, we are saying that Jesus is God.
Obviously, it is important to say that Jesus is God. He is fully God and fully man. That is the mystery of the Incarnation which we celebrate during this Christmas season. Christ’s double nature is the source of the efficacy of his reconciliation between God and man. We all know that it was because God died on the cross that we have forgiveness of our sins. It is a fine thing to ponder in the abstract. But do we realize what it means in our everyday lives?
Jesus is God. If we keep this in mind then the things he teaches us must be interpreted differently than if he were merely a man. For example, Jesus promises that when two or three gather in his name there he is in the midst of them. For an ordinary man to say this, it would mean that the man’s memory is alive in them or that those gathered carry on the spirit of his life. But because Jesus is God, when he says he will be with us it can be interpreted quite literally. God does not need to be physically present to be with us. When we receive graces from God we also receive God in those graces. God is present in every gift he gives to us. This is how Jesus comes to us when we gather together in his name. The family who believes this will pray together entirely differently from the family who is only recalling the memory of Jesus.
God is all powerful. Since Jesus is God, he has the power to answer any prayers we raise to him. It is good to ask the saints and Mary to pray for us, but the heart of our prayer must still be a friendship with Jesus who is man and God. Because God became man, we can be his friends. Because God did not set aside his power when he became man we can have confidence in his ability to help us when we ask. When we turn to Jesus in prayer, we pray to him as God even as we also relate to him as man. Jesus has promised that when we pray we will receive good things. Because Jesus is God, we can trust in his wisdom to know what those good things are and in his power to give them to us.
Today we celebrate Mary as the Mother of God. As always, Mary points us to Jesus. The honor we give her as the Mother of God honors her son as God. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
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Image: Gerard van Honthorst, Adoration of the Shepherds
