Mother of God

Sisters and brothers. Today, as we continue our Renewed series, we’re given the opportunity to talk about the first and the greatest of all, the disciples of Jesus Christ, and that is Mary of Nazareth.

Mary, who grew up a faithful and devout Jewish girl, was attentive to God and attentive to the life of her Jewish Faith. If we follow Mary’s life, we can start from the very beginning, what we call the Immaculate Conception, that one of the fundamental teachings of the Church assumed from our tradition is that Mary was born without original sin.

How did it happen? It happened because God chose to grace her with freedom from original sin, in order that she might be willing and available and ready to be the carrier, as it were, the Tabernacle of the Christ Child. So the Immaculate Conception was not a doctrine of the Church as a declared doctrine until 1854 when Pope Pius the Ninth declared from the chair of Peter that our Catholic belief is that Mary, indeed, was conceived immaculately. 

Mary, then throughout life, remains faithful until that great event of the Annunciation, in which the angel Gabriel appears to her and says, Mary, you have found favor with God.

You will bear a child. And Mary was confused. How is this to happen? I haven’t had relations with a man, she says. She is told by the angel, the Holy Spirit will overshadow you.

The tradition among some of the Church Fathers is that Mary conceived Christ. And it’s an odd thing to hear you conceive Christ through the ear, and that is by hearing the Word of God. She conceives the word of God. It’s a great message for us, sisters and brothers, that as we attend mass, as we reflect on Scripture when we hear the Word of God, it’s an invitation for us for Christ to be conceived and carried within us in a spiritual way, as opposed to the physical way that Mary did. 

Speaking of physical, one of the titles that Mary has, and this was again, the articulation of Church teaching, was the name Theotokos. It’s a Greek word that means, God-Bearer. Or the one who gave birth to God. It’s the teaching from the Council of Ephesus in 431, and which the Church declared that Mary was indeed not only the Mother of the human Jesus but the Mother of God.

In Galatians 4, it says that in the fullness of time, God sent His Son to be conceived and born of the Virgin Mary. And so Mary has that wonderful title of the Mother of God.

Mary lives with Jesus. And so when we say Mary is a disciple, she not only taught Jesus but learned from Jesus. We hear as she found Jesus in the temple and throughout her life that she pondered the truth and the life of Jesus in her heart all the way to the cross, all the way through the Resurrection, all the way through being with the disciples and the apostles at the event of Pentecost.

Mary, through her whole life, the Church teaching you as Mary was a perpetual virgin, very often people will hear and say, but there’s a story in the Scripture where it talks about the brothers of Jesus.

There are two understandings of that. One is in the Jewish custom. Those family members who were cousins were very often referred to as brothers or sisters. The second interpretation that's available to us, there’s not an answer, but these brothers may have been children of Joseph by a previous marriage. Joseph, we understand, was older than Mary. He became her husband and the foster father of Jesus.

Mary’s life continues. Certainly present at the cross, present at Pentecost. And then the greatest next event in Mary's life, the Church, teaches that Mary was bodily assumed into heaven. Important for us because Mary is the first human who is not divine to enter into heaven. Jesus Christ is true God and true man who entered into heaven.

Mary is the first human, as it were, to fully be embraced bodily, bodily in heaven. Its connected to that cradle teaching of believing in the bodily resurrection. Others certainly had been spiritually welcomed into heaven. Mary was the first one bodily received into heaven after the Resurrection of Christ.

That teaching was declared for the Church by Pope Pius the 12th in 1950. The two times the Church has had a pope teach what we call a cathedra from the Chair of Peter, that I declare this to be the Faith of the Catholic Church, the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary. Both, doctrines related to Mary.

Another wonderful image that we have here at Saint Theresa's, in our fellowship hall, is an icon that was drawn for us, written for us, of Mary, the Mother of the Church. Mary the Mother of the Church was a title given to Mary in 1964 in the midst of the Vatican Council. Pope Paul the Sixth declared Mary to be the Mother of the Church. A wonderful understanding for us of the importance of Mary. 

Sisters and brothers, when we say that famous prayer, Hail Mary, full of grace. For indeed she was, blessed are you amongst women, because indeed she was and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death that Mary is with us through the birth, through the carrying through the life of Christ, and then praying for us that we indeed might experience the fullness of grace in heaven. Sisters and brothers, if we were following and walking along this disciple, the first and the greatest, we indeed will be renewed.

Reflection Questions:

1. How can Mary’s attentiveness to the call of God inspire your daily Faith journey?

2. How can you spiritually conceive and carry Christ in your life, as Mary did physically?

3. What lessons from Mary’s life can deepen your understanding of discipleship and devotion?