Incredible depth and detail that opened up the Mass Readings for me.
Please please put it on a DVD..
Great introduction to the catechism. Left me wanting more. We need a explanation on every paragraph.
it is a very special text from Galatians 4:4–7. This is Paul’s sole mention of the Virgin Mary. Paul never talks about Mary, never names Mary in person, but he does mention her as mother on one key occasion, and that is in Galatians 4 when he writes these words. It says:
But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir.
So you’ll see there a very fleeting reference to Mary, but it is important. “God sent forth his Son, born of woman” (Gal 4:4). If you look at that verse you will see right there, the mystery both of Jesus’ divinity and of his humanity. On the one hand, Jesus is the eternal Son of God sent by God from heaven to come and take on a mortal human nature, human flesh; but at the same time, because he is born of woman, he really is also the son of man. He’s the son of woman, and not just any woman, he is the son of Mary. That truth was actually the truth of the fullness of the incarnation, that the Jesus is fully human and fully divine. That he is the eternal Son of the Father and he is truly the son of Mary. Those truths together were what had to be fought over in the early centuries the Church, which ultimately led to the Church having a Council, called the Council of Ephesus. At the Council of Ephesus in 431, the Church defined and confessed the truth that Mary is not just “mother of the Christ,” as some people were saying—who were denying the fullness of Jesus’ humanity or denying that Mary could be the mother of the Son, of the divine Son of God. The Church says no. Mary is not just the mother of the Messiah, she is the Mother of God. And so at the Council of Ephesus, the Church defined that term and called Mary, Theotokos. It is tricky to translate in English. Theos—we get the word Theology—means God and tokos—from the Greek word tiktó—means “to bear” or “to give birth.” So literally you can translate this term as the “God-bearer,” Mary is the God-bearer, or as we usually translate it in English, she’s the Mother of God. In that way, by calling Mary the Mother of God, the Church safeguarded the fact that Christ was divine from the moment of his conception. In other words, he wasn’t made divine when he was resurrected, he wasn’t made divine when he ascended, he wasn’t made divine when he was adopted. He was God from his conception and he was born fully human and fully divine. That’s what we are celebrating on this great feast of Mary, the Mother of God.
You’ll see this in the Gospels—it’s important to point out—because sometimes there will be Christians who object to calling Mary the Mother of God. I have met a number of non-Catholic Christians in my life who say you should not call Mary the Mother of God, and they will give different reasons for it. Sometimes people think that when Catholics call Mary Mother of God, they think that we are saying that she’s greater than God, or that she is somehow divine. We are not saying that. Mary is a creature and calling her Mother of God is certainly not in any way saying that she’s greater than God. Other Christians will say that when we say Mary is the Mother of God, we mean she’s the mother of the Trinity, or that we are implying that she’s the mother of the Trinity, which would make her, in a sense, pre-existent to God himself. That is not what we are saying either. The Church has never said that Mary is the mother of the Father. The Church never said that Mary is the mother of the Holy Spirit. Mary is only the mother of the second person of the Trinity and that second person of the Trinity is the Son of God and that Son of God became fully man in the incarnation. So that when Mary bore Christ, she didn’t just become the mother of his body, she became the mother of a person, and that person is a divine person, the eternal Son of the Father.
So the Catechism actually gives two points in favor of this that we might reflect on in closing. First, when we use the language of “Mother of God,” it’s actually coming from Scripture, it is rooted in Scripture, because in Luke 1:43—as I already mentioned—inspired by the Holy Spirit, when Elizabeth hears Mary’s greeting, she calls her “mother of my Lord.” And the Greek word there Kyrios, in the Old Testament over 1000 times, is used to refer to God. And in the Gospel of Luke you can make a very strong case that again the word Kyrios here is specifically referencing the Lord of Israel, the Lord of the universe, who has now become man. So when we call Mary, Mother of God, we’re in a sense taking the language of Elizabeth and just adapting it slightly to make clear that it is the God of the universe who has become man in Christ. The other thing is that the Catechism of the Catholic Church makes this clear in paragraph 495. It says that when we confess Mary as Mother of God, what we are saying is this, that Mary is the mother of the “eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity” and that that second person of the Trinity is “truly her Son according to the flesh.”2 So he is fully human and fully divine. And as you will see, if you study the teachings about Mary in the Church and feast days like this, they always function this way. Anytime the Church says something about Mary, the reason she says it about Mary is in order to shed light on some truth about Christ or to protect some truth about Christ that is in danger of being distorted. And in this case the danger was that some Christians were denying the fullness of Jesus’ humanity and the fullness of his divinity, and so the Church confesses Mary as Mother of God in order to safeguard the mystery of the incarnation. And that is what we are really celebrating on the day of Mary, the Holy Mother of God.
it is a very special text from Galatians 4:4–7. This is Paul’s sole mention of the Virgin Mary. Paul never talks about Mary, never names Mary in person, but he does mention her as mother on one key occasion, and that is in Galatians 4 when he writes these words. It says:
But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir.
So you’ll see there a very fleeting reference to Mary, but it is important. “God sent forth his Son, born of woman” (Gal 4:4). If you look at that verse you will see right there, the mystery both of Jesus’ divinity and of his humanity. On the one hand, Jesus is the eternal Son of God sent by God from heaven to come and take on a mortal human nature, human flesh; but at the same time, because he is born of woman, he really is also the son of man. He’s the son of woman, and not just any woman, he is the son of Mary. That truth was actually the truth of the fullness of the incarnation, that the Jesus is fully human and fully divine. That he is the eternal Son of the Father and he is truly the son of Mary. Those truths together were what had to be fought over in the early centuries the Church, which ultimately led to the Church having a Council, called the Council of Ephesus. At the Council of Ephesus in 431, the Church defined and confessed the truth that Mary is not just “mother of the Christ,” as some people were saying—who were denying the fullness of Jesus’ humanity or denying that Mary could be the mother of the Son, of the divine Son of God. The Church says no. Mary is not just the mother of the Messiah, she is the Mother of God. And so at the Council of Ephesus, the Church defined that term and called Mary, Theotokos. It is tricky to translate in English. Theos—we get the word Theology—means God and tokos—from the Greek word tiktó—means “to bear” or “to give birth.” So literally you can translate this term as the “God-bearer,” Mary is the God-bearer, or as we usually translate it in English, she’s the Mother of God. In that way, by calling Mary the Mother of God, the Church safeguarded the fact that Christ was divine from the moment of his conception. In other words, he wasn’t made divine when he was resurrected, he wasn’t made divine when he ascended, he wasn’t made divine when he was adopted. He was God from his conception and he was born fully human and fully divine. That’s what we are celebrating on this great feast of Mary, the Mother of God.
You’ll see this in the Gospels—it’s important to point out—because sometimes there will be Christians who object to calling Mary the Mother of God. I have met a number of non-Catholic Christians in my life who say you should not call Mary the Mother of God, and they will give different reasons for it. Sometimes people think that when Catholics call Mary Mother of God, they think that we are saying that she’s greater than God, or that she is somehow divine. We are not saying that. Mary is a creature and calling her Mother of God is certainly not in any way saying that she’s greater than God. Other Christians will say that when we say Mary is the Mother of God, we mean she’s the mother of the Trinity, or that we are implying that she’s the mother of the Trinity, which would make her, in a sense, pre-existent to God himself. That is not what we are saying either. The Church has never said that Mary is the mother of the Father. The Church never said that Mary is the mother of the Holy Spirit. Mary is only the mother of the second person of the Trinity and that second person of the Trinity is the Son of God and that Son of God became fully man in the incarnation. So that when Mary bore Christ, she didn’t just become the mother of his body, she became the mother of a person, and that person is a divine person, the eternal Son of the Father.
So the Catechism actually gives two points in favor of this that we might reflect on in closing. First, when we use the language of “Mother of God,” it’s actually coming from Scripture, it is rooted in Scripture, because in Luke 1:43—as I already mentioned—inspired by the Holy Spirit, when Elizabeth hears Mary’s greeting, she calls her “mother of my Lord.” And the Greek word there Kyrios, in the Old Testament over 1000 times, is used to refer to God. And in the Gospel of Luke you can make a very strong case that again the word Kyrios here is specifically referencing the Lord of Israel, the Lord of the universe, who has now become man. So when we call Mary, Mother of God, we’re in a sense taking the language of Elizabeth and just adapting it slightly to make clear that it is the God of the universe who has become man in Christ. The other thing is that the Catechism of the Catholic Church makes this clear in paragraph 495. It says that when we confess Mary as Mother of God, what we are saying is this, that Mary is the mother of the “eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity” and that that second person of the Trinity is “truly her Son according to the flesh.”2 So he is fully human and fully divine. And as you will see, if you study the teachings about Mary in the Church and feast days like this, they always function this way. Anytime the Church says something about Mary, the reason she says it about Mary is in order to shed light on some truth about Christ or to protect some truth about Christ that is in danger of being distorted. And in this case the danger was that some Christians were denying the fullness of Jesus’ humanity and the fullness of his divinity, and so the Church confesses Mary as Mother of God in order to safeguard the mystery of the incarnation. And that is what we are really celebrating on the day of Mary, the Holy Mother of God.