+ A week ago today we celebrated a "feast of Jesus": his birthday; today we celebrate the "feast of the one who gave birth to him": his Holy and Immaculate, Virgin Mother: Mary: wife of Joseph of Nazareth of the House of David. It is really an amazing feast honoring the Mother of Jesus, who was also the Mother of God!
Mary is the greatest of the Church's saints, and "Mother of God" (Theotokos) is the highest of her titles. It is the basis for every other title and dignity accorded to her. Although she was the Mother of God from the moment she conceived Jesus in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit, her motherhood of God was not formally recognized by the Church until the first half of the fifth century, in response to a theological controversy that focused not upon her, but upon her Son.
The Patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius, argued that there are two whole and distinct natures in Christ, one human and one divine, each having its own "personal" manifestation. For him, and others like him, to say that "God has suffered" and "God was nursed at his mother's breast" were offensive because they seemed to deny the full meaning of the Incarnation. Nestorius wanted to emphasize that the Son of God really took on our humanity, but he went overboard. This meant that it was Jesus (the human person), not the Second Person of the Trinity, who nursed at his mother's breast and who later suffered on the cross. According to Nestorius, Mary was the mother of the human person Jesus, and not of the Son of God, since a true mother should be of the same essence as what is born of her.
A crisis erupted when in his preaching, Nestorius publicly denied to Mary the title: "Mother of God" calling her instead the mother of Christ (Christotokos).
To make a long story short, Nestorius was condemned at the church Council of Ephesus in 431. This council condemned his views and deposed him as patriarch of Constantinople.
The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (which we recite at Sunday Mass and on Solemnities) was established at this council at it was made clear that Jesus had two natures: one human (of Jesus Emmanuel) and one divine (of the Word of God that was with God in the beginning), but only one Person. Therefore, Mary could rightly be considered Mother of God.
At the Cross, Jesus extended the Motherhood of God, to the Motherhood of the Church when he gave his own mother, Mary, to the Apostle John (who represented all of us). If he is Son of God and Son of Man, and he is also the Church in its mystical form: then Mary is Mother of the Church and our Mother: for we are members of that Mystical Body of Christ. Perhaps that is why another beautiful title of Mary is "Mystical Rose."
Just as Mary treasured
everything that ever happened concerning Jesus in her heart, so should we; and so should we enjoy the benefits of being true spiritual children of Mary – by thinking about her every day, praying to her, and asking her to intercede to her Son for us. Jesus cannot rightly refuse any requests that his "Queen Mother" asks him! Hail Mary, Pray for us, always!
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