THE OCTAVE DAY OF CHRISTMAS; SOLEMNITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD
- Dn. Prosper (Njoroge)
- Jan 1, 2022
- 3 min read
MARY MOTHER OF GOD
We want to become a member of God’s family. St Maximilian Kolbe expressed, we cannot claim to have God our Father and Jesus our brother if we refuse to have our Lady to be our Mother. That is the family of God. This is true even in any natural family, how can the new born know the members of the family, his father, siblings, unless the Mother points them all to him or to her. She is the one who points who his father is and the rest of the family are. The same in our Christian family, Mary is our Mother who points and leads us to God because she has already reached there.
A very poor and sad protestant understanding about Mary. For them, Mary is nothing else than someone who was prepared by God to make and conceive in her womb His Son. She remains passive. She has never played any role or influence in the conception and growth of the God in her womb. She is completely separated from her Son because she is nothing else than a sinner and a poor woman like the rest of us. Mary is just like the box that was wrapping the gift. We can though the wrapping away and enjoy the gift and its beauty.
This is so poor understanding of our Lady as the Mother of God that we celebrate every year as we begin New Year.
But for us catholic, Mary is truly and really the Mother of
God. She is called her “Theotokos”, which means “God-bearer”, for indeed, she bore in her womb the Son of God. She is called Mother of God, not in the sense that she is the source of the life of God, for she is not. She is called Mother of God not because she is higher than God, for she is just a creature. She is called Mother of God simply because she bore in her womb and gave birth to Jesus Christ, the Son of the Eternal God, who is truly God and Man.
On the day of Christmas, we celebrated Jesus Christ as God who has become Man. He has two natures: divine and human. Mary is not only the mother of the human Jesus; for we cannot divide the One Person into two. He has two natures but one person.
As a Mother, She has a powerful role and influence on her Son. We can see that in her intercession at the Wedding at Cana. It was not yet his will to start revealing his divine work, but when His Mother asked Him, He anticipated his public ministry. She was a very powerful intercessor. This influence still continues in Heaven now and forever. Mary stands in heaven and intercedes for all of us until we all reach our heavenly Home.
She is also our Blessed Mother. We are the brother of Jesus her Son. Her son gave her us as Mother. St Augustine said, Mary is the Mother of the whole Christ, Christ the Head, and Christ the body and Christ the members of the same body. She is to mediate to us. She is not just begging her Son but she has power and authority, capacity over us.
This is a great gift given to us. We should trust her more and more and make her the queen of our hearts.
With gratitude and hope, we begin the New Year with
Mary, the Mother of God, and our Mother too. We gaze upon the image of the Baby Jesus, sleeping so soundly in the arms of His Mother. He invites us to do the same. Let us come to Mary our Mother. Let us take refuge in the comfort and protection of her loving embrace. Full of trust in God’s providence and protection, we enter the New Year filled with hope, joy and peace.
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