Mary, Mother of God January 1, 2019
Fr. Albert St. Peter’s, New Iberia
It’s a dogma, you know. That Mary is the Mother of God. It’s an official doctrine of the Church and rejecting it means rejecting the Catholic Church. There are lots of dogmas, but only some of them apply directly to Mary. The Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, the Perpetual Virginity. You know what isn’t a dogma? What she wore or who her childhood friends were. We don’t have an official doctrine on Mary’s brothers and sisters. We don’t have an official doctrine on where her childhood home is or how old she was when she died. I’m not saying we don’t know those things, but they are not doctrines – you can disagree with those and still embrace the full Catholic Faith.
But why? Why are those four teachings about Mary doctrines and not the others? Because Mary isn’t the point. Those doctrines are crucial in understanding something about Jesus, so we make them dogmas. The other beliefs about Mary are interesting and even edifying, but they aren’t really about Jesus. The title “Mother of God” is a perfect example.
One thousand five hundred eighty-seven years ago, the Catholic Church was torn by a massive argument over Jesus and Mary. Really, Bishops and Priests in the Church had been arguing about who Jesus is basically since the beginning. On the scale of the world and history, the whole reality of Christianity was still pretty new. Even the official list of books in the bible had only been around about 50 years by that point, so there were lots of reasons that not everyone agreed on what was true about Jesus and what wasn’t.
Well, in the year 431 the argument was this: How is Jesus both God and Man? 50/50, 25/75, some other mixture? Thanks to the Holy Spirit and God’s promise to the Catholic Church, we were able to pin down the truth: Jesus is fully God and Fully Man and he was that way from the first moments of his conception. His humanity and his divinity are not mixed up, but they are still perfectly united.
And Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is fully God and Fully Man. She didn’t give birth to an empty human body that then got filled with God. Jesus didn’t start out human and then become God later in life. He was conceived, carried, and born as both human and divine. Mary is the mother of Jesus and Jesus is and has always been God. Therefore, Mary is the mother of God. If someone gets mad about calling Mary the mother of God, then they are indirectly rejecting the truth that Jesus is and has always been God. If you reject the idea that Jesus is God, are you even really a Christian?
So yeah, this feast day is important and this doctrine is important. It’s not because we are pagans or idolaters. It’s because we worship Jesus. Calling Mary the Mother of God is about one of the most fundamental beliefs of Christianity. It means we believe Jesus is God.
Now, here’s what this dogma does not mean. It does not mean we worship Mary; We don’t. It does not mean that Mary is God; She isn’t. It does not mean that Mary is greater than God; She isn’t. It does not mean that Mary created God or came first; She didn’t.
The Trinity always existed: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. At a certain point in time, the Son of God, who is fully God, added a human nature to his divine nature. That Divine-Human union took place in Mary’s womb, making her the mother of Jesus who is also the Son of God. Mary is not the mother of the Father or the Holy Spirit, but she is the mother of the Son of God, Jesus, who is fully God.
Yeah, it’s not easy to fully understand. Truly, it’s impossible to fully understand, just like the doctrine of the Trinity. It is beyond reason and requires faith, but that doesn’t mean we can just be careless about how we describe it. Mary is the Mother of God. God didn’t have to do it this way. He could have just appeared as a fully-grown man. But he did do it this way and we have to stick to the truth.
So, why does this dogma matter? Because it’s true. But it’s also important because it’s good because it is beautiful. It’s good because it is God’s plan. It’s good in that it reveals God’s humility in being a vulnerable baby, born of a woman. It is beautiful that God didn’t just do everything by himself but included humanity in every step of the way. It is beautiful that God not only gave us his Son, but also made someone into his mother and then gave her to us as well. It is beautiful that God took the poetic step of being the son of a human being in order to make human beings into the sons of God.
Mary is the Mother of God. It’s a dogma we defend because it is true. It’s a dogma we teach because it is good to know. It’s a dogma that should affect our lives because it is yet another way that the beauty of God’s love and wisdom enters into the world. Believe it. Love it. And let it change your life just as it changed the life of Mary – and of the whole world – forever.