Sunday:       Mary, Mother of God.
Date:         January 1, 2000          
Year:         B
The readings: [Num. 6:22-7; Gal. 4:4-7; Lk. 2:16-21]
The message:  God sent His Son, born of a woman.
Prepared by:  CATHOLIC DOORS MINISTRY
Total words:  1185 words

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Good morning my brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus. I wish you all a Happy New Year and hope that you all had a very good evening last night.

Today, we are celebrating the Feast of "Mary, Mother of God." I personally believe that this special Feast is very appropriate for the start of a new day, a new year and a new thousand years. This Feast echoes that the Blessed Virgin Mary who is the Mother of God, is also our Heavenly Mother. This Feast echoes "Through Mary to Jesus!" It also echoes God's Divine progressive Plan of Redemption through the Virgin Mary.

Today, I would like to tell you about the origin of this very special Feast. While not all Christians accept that Mary is the Mother of God, we Catholics believe it to be so. We base our faith in this dogma on the words of Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary. When the Blessed Virgin Mary visited Elizabeth after the angel had appeared to her and told her that she would be the mother of Jesus, Elizabeth said, "And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?" [Lk. 1:43] Through Elizabeth who was full of the Holy Spirit, it was acclaimed that Mary was the Mother of God.

When Elizabeth said "the mother of my Lord," she was referring to the Lord, the God of the Old Testament, He being present in the womb of Mary. Based on this passage alone, it cannot be denied that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of God.

In 431 A.D, the Council of Ephesus affirmed that Mary was truly Mother of God because "according to the flesh" she gave birth to Jesus, who was truly God from the first moment of his conception. The words that they used to affirm this truth are,

"We confess, then, our lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God perfect God and perfect man of a rational soul and a body, begotten before all ages from the Father in his godhead, the same in the last days, for us and for our salvation, born of Mary the virgin, according to his humanity, one and the same consubstantial with the Father in godhead and consubstantial with us in humanity, for a union of two natures took place. Therefore we confess one Christ, one Son, one Lord. According to this understanding of the unconfused union, we confess the holy virgin to be the mother of God because God the Word took flesh and became man and from his very conception united to himself the temple he took from her."

Twenty years later, in 451 A.D. at the Council of Chalcedon, it was affirmed that the Motherhood of Mary was a truthful dogma and an official doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church. The Council based its proclamation on the truth that "The birth of flesh reveals human nature; (while the) birth from a virgin is a proof of Divine power."

The Feast of the Mother of God affirms that Mary was the mother of Jesus who was both God and human. The Holy Scriptures teaches us that Jesus was both God and human in the Gospel of John. "The Word became flesh and lived among us." [Jn. 1:14] The Holy Bible also teaches us that Mary was the Mother of Jesus [Mt. 1:18-25] and that Jesus is God. [Jn. 20:28]

The Blessed Virgin Mary was not always the Mother of God. Her Motherhood began when the eternal God entered human history. The second Divine presence of the Trinity, the Word, took on a human nature in the womb of Mary. Therefore, Jesus had two natures, a Divine and a human nature. Mary was the mother of His human nature.

Now, I will try to explain the Motherhood of Jesus in easier terms for all to understand. First of all, let us consider what your soul is. It is your self-awareness, your consciousness, the "I" or the "me" within you. Secondly, let us consider when we were born. Where did our bodies come from? They came from the seed of our biological parents. But where did our soul come from since it is not physical? It was created by God who implanted our soul in our bodies at the moment of our conception. Therefore, within us, there is a physical and a non-physical part of our being, both being united as one.

Now, when a mother has a child, she rightfully claims to be the mother of that child. In reality, her claim should be limited to the physical body of the child. But, the mother also claims to be the mother of the soul that God has created in that little body of the baby. Therefore, the mother is the mother of the physical and the non-physical part of the being of the child that coexists as one.

Now, if we are to take Jesus, His soul is eternal. The "I" or the "me" always existed because He is God. While God created our souls at the moment of conception, in the case of Jesus, the Word of God came upon the Virgin Mary by the power of the Spirit. While the Blessed Virgin Mary provided the body of Jesus by nourishing Him in her womb, she was blessed with the indwelling of the eternal soul of God.

Now, going back to human mothers, they all claim to be the mother of the physical and non-physical part of the being of the child. Equally, the Catholic Church proclaims that the Blessed Virgin Mary was the mother of the physical and non-physical part of the being of her child. In this case, Jesus who was Divine. He was God! As such, Mary is the Mother of the human nature of Jesus through the birth of His physical body and the Mother of His Divine nature as God.

My brothers and sisters, this is the mystery of the Motherhood of Mary as the Mother of God. When the shepherds heard from the angels that the Lord Jesus had been born, this is the mystery that they perceived. They had just learned of the fulfillment of God's promises that are found in the Old Testament. That when the fullness of time would come, God would send His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that all may receive adoption as children.

Today, we are starting a new day, a new year and a new thousand years with an understanding of the greatness of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Mother of God. In our hearts, we can perceive the potential benefits of having a daily relationship with the Virgin Mary because she is the Mother of God. In our hearts, we can perceive that if anyone can obtain favours for us in our time of need, surely, it is the Blessed Virgin Mary for she is the Mother of God.

Knowing this truth, let us continue the celebration of the Holy Mass in thanksgiving to God for the gift that He has given us... His Mother, our Mother, she who is full of grace!

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The readings...

[The readings were taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (C) 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the United States of America.]

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First Reading...

"The Lord spoke to Moses: 'Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, 'Thus you shall bless the Israelites: you shall say to them,

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.'" [Num. 6:22-7]

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Second Reading...

"When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.

And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God." [Gal. 4:4-7]

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Gospel Reading...

"When the angels had left them the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.'

So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb." [Lk. 2:16-21]

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